I was exhausted.

Sean had finally arrived at the hospital shortly before five. He’d caught a late-night flight to Washington D.C., then after getting in touch with somebody he knew, he was able to borrow a car and drive the rest of the way to Philadelphia.

In typical Downing man fashion, he locked eyes with me only seconds after Declan updated him on Brooks’s condition.

I was so tired, my eyelids felt weighted down, and I was definitely too tired to spar with him over why I hadn’t wanted to talk to him.

Declan must have seen something in my eyes because he cut between us and spoke to Sean in a low, quiet voice. Whatever he told our younger brother had Sean clenching his jaw, then turning away with a short, curt nod.

Declan spared me a quick glance.

I couldn’t handle holding his gaze for more than a second, so I just tuned him out and focused on Cormac.

“I’m too tired to drive. Do you feel comfortable leaving your car here? We can just take mine.”

“If you leave me the keys, Cormac, I’ll arrange for it to be taken to wherever you want,” my father said quietly from the side.

I could see a polite refusal forming in Cormac’s eyes.

I didn’t know what drove me to do it.

Shoving my hand out, I wiggled my fingers. “That will be fine, Dad. Cormac’s living with me now, so you can just have it dropped off at my house.”

Cormac cocked a brow, then, without a word, dropped his keys into my hand.

From the corner of my eye, I saw the various reactions on Sean’s, Isabel’s and my father’s faces.

Sean looked shocked. My father was grinning. Isabel’s expression was cool and remote.

As I turned to gather up my things, she tried to catch my eye, but I wouldn’t let her. I wasn’t in the mood to discuss anything, and I definitely wasn’t in the mood to talk about her paranoia.

“Come on,” I said to Cormac, exhausted. “I want to be back here by around noon, so I need at least a couple hours of sleep.”

Without looking at my family again, I hooked my arm through Cormac’s, and we walked out.

I fell asleep on the drive to my place.

Although the city was still mostly asleep this early in the morning, there was still traffic clogging some of the busier thoroughfares. Cormac navigated the roads with ease, and I slipped into numbing unconsciousness, not waking until he reached over and shook my arm gently to let me know we’d arrived at my house.

Feeling logy and sluggish, I just sat there, not thinking, until a gust of cold air whipped over me.

Turning my head, I saw Cormac crouching down next to me in the car’s open door. “You don’t want to sleep out here, do you?”

The smile he gave me was strained.

“No.” I smiled back and turned toward him.

He caught my hand and helped haul me out of the car, pulling me close to him and stroking my back.

I pressed closer, desperate for his heat.

“Let’s get inside,” he whispered.

A few minutes later, as he disappeared to hang up my coat, I sat on the side of my bed and curled my toes into the carpet.

I felt him walk into the room, and I looked up.

He came closer and smoothed my hair back from my face. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know. How would you define okay at this point?”

He hunkered down in front of me. “Want to talk about it?”

“No.” My hands curled into fists. “I don’t want to even think for a little while.” His eyes met mine, and I pressed a hand to his cheek.

“Can you help me with that, Cormac?”

His lids drooped, a drowsy, sexy look settling on his face. “I think I can find a way to help you with that.”

He lowered his head and pressed a kiss to my knee. Through the scrubs I’d been wearing all day, I felt the heat, the soft caress of his mouth. Closing my eyes, I reached down and threaded my fingers through his hair.

Cormac rose, tugging on my hands and guiding me to my feet.

“Let’s get you naked.”

I didn’t argue, allowing him to tug and pull at my clothes until they lay on the floor around us. But when he went to push me back onto the bed, I resisted, my hands going to the hem of his t-shirt. “You next.”

His eyes glittered.

“If you want me naked, make it happen, baby.”

So I did.

Stripping away one piece of clothing after another, I worked my way down. His boots were an obstacle, preventing me from removing his pants, so I knelt in front of him and untied them, tugging them off.

When I straightened, on my knees in front of him, I shot a look up over his body, my gaze tripping, then lingering on the jutting presence of his cock.

Without thinking, I closed my hand around him, right at the base.

He groaned, one hand reaching for me. He never did touch me, though.

I caught his hand and guided it to my hair. “Show me what you want, Cormac. Help me to stop thinking.”

“Fuck,” he muttered. Eyes hot and bright, he fisted a hand in the curls in the back of my head, then tugged me closer, guiding me to his cock. “Open your mouth, Briar. Suck my cock.”

The words arrowed straight down to my core. In seconds, I was wet, aching, ready for him.

But I did as he ordered, leaning forward and opening for him, slowly, yielding to his width only when he started to push forward.

When he reached the back of my mouth, I pulled back.

He let me, but only so far before using his hold on my hair to guide me back down.

Soon, we’d settled into a rhythm. He fisted his free hand around the base of his cock, pumping slightly as he fucked my mouth, while I clung to his thighs, my nails scoring his skin.

His muscles bunched, and I whimpered as a harsh groan tore from his throat.

Yes.

I wanted to have him lose control. I needed it.

But just when I thought he was about to go over, he jerked back, pulling me off his cock. He hauled me to my feet and urged me forward, bending me over the bed.

I sensed him moving behind me and braced myself.

But he didn’t thrust inside.

He went to his knees. Using his hands to open me, he stabbed his tongue into my pussy.

I cried out, the sound muffled against my bed.

He did it over and over until my thighs were quivering and the climax was so, so painfully close.

I could feel it, hovering just beyond me. But he never gave me just the right touch, never moved in just the right angle for me to come.

Then, abruptly, he brought the flat of his hand down on my ass—hard.

I came with a wrench of my hips…and a sob.

A second later, he filled me, pushing past the tightening of my muscles as I orgasmed, gripping my hips in steely hands as he impaled me.

I was full, stuffed tight with him and already trembling with the promise of another climax.

Cormac trailed a hand up my back, then hooked it around my shoulder, holding me tightly in place as he began to thrust. I whimpered again, twisting in his grip as jolts of pleasure and overwhelming sensation mingled inside me.

“Cormac…” I sobbed against the bed.

He grunted out my name and kept right on moving.

The next climax stole my breath.

And the third…it made me see stars.