O’CONNELL’S FRIENDS SEEMED to take the news of our engagement a lot more calmly than mine did. Nikki was the only person that I told in person, relying on the fact that within ten minutes of telling her, all our friends would know anyway. That girl could get out an alert on social media faster than the CIA could get information out of the Pentagon. Military communications were missing out if they didn’t snap her up straight from university.
“What the fuck!” she was still screaming at me, and jumping up and down.
“Ohmygod, Ohmygod, Ohmygod,” she carried on screaming.
Her completely over-the-top reaction made me smile, and to be honest, it was heart warming to share all my excitement with someone.
“How is it possible to organise a wedding in less than two weeks?” she asked.
“To be honest, I haven’t had to do much other than pick my dress and stuff. O’Connell has organised the rest,” I explained to her.
“Oh, dear God,” she moaned dramatically.
“Yep,” I replied happily. “I have none of the stress and hassle that goes with organising a wedding.”
“Well, at least you’re not a bridezilla. Seriously, some people lose their minds when they get married. Still, I can’t believe you’re not waiting longer. I didn’t even know that you were engaged until five minutes ago.”
“Nikki, neither of us has very much money, you know that. Waiting another year isn’t going to change our situation, and I wouldn’t spend a year’s worth of savings on a wedding anyway. I love him, and he loves me. We want to make a commitment to each other and all the rest of the wedding stuff, as lovely as it is, to me it’s just trimmings,” I shrugged.
I wasn’t at all flippant about the commitment that I was making, but as long as O’Connell was waiting at the end of the aisle for me, I knew I’d be fine. Nikki clearly had something on her mind. I really hoped that she wasn’t going to try to talk me out of this.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I know it’s stupid, and it’s only a small wedding, but can I be your bridesmaid?” she asked me sheepishly.
“I would love you to be, but I can’t afford a dress or anything. Besides, won’t you be going home for Christmas?”
“Girl, if you think I’m missing this wedding, you’re crazy!” She smiled, pleased to have gotten her own way. “I can get my own dress. Now what colour is your bouquet so I can get a dress to match?” she asked.
“I have no idea. O’Connell asked me my favourite colour the other day, and I told him it was blue, but you’re better off asking Kieran if you want to know the details.”
It was fortuitous timing that Nikki’s phone buzzed with a text message. After a few seconds, she started bouncing around happily again.
“Kieran just texted me an invite. Apparently they’ve all gone out by text, but Con wanted Kieran to wait before texting me so that you could tell me yourself.”
“Did he tell you anything about what they’ve organised?” I asked curiously.
“Yep. But I’m sworn to secrecy. Now get your arse up and get ready. Tonight’s your hen night.”
I groaned because I hardly knew any girls and I REALLY didn’t want to do the whole cheesy hen night thing.
“Relax. The guys have organised a combined stag and hen night because O’Connell can’t drink and is refusing strippers, and Tommy wants to let his hair down with the girls.”
I rolled my eyes, but the memory of Tommy shaking his thing to the Weather Girls still made me smile.
WE MADE IT TO O’DONNELL’S pub to find all our friends in great spirits and downing pints like it was the night before the Prohibition. My man was sat in the middle of the guys with a pint of orange juice and lemonade and looking fine. His intense gaze held mine as I walked the length of the bar, and as soon as I was in touching distance, he had me in his lap, his soft lips pressed hard against mine. His kiss was wild and electric. It was a reminder of everything he made my body feel and a promise of everything he was still going to do to me. The slide of his tongue across mine made me moan into his mouth and instantly he was hard beneath me. Our lips parted, and he rested his forehead against mine.
“Why does it feel like I haven’t seen you for a week?” he complained.
“Because Danny makes a day’s training seem like it goes on for a week?” I chuckled.
“Can we go home yet?” he whispered.
“Yes, please,” I agreed.
“Seriously, how soon do you reckon we can slip out of here unnoticed?”
“No way!” Kieran grinned, placing a drink down in front of me. “You two are off the market for good, and this is your last send off before you commit to a life sentence. Now it’s bad enough that Danny’s bitch here is banned from drinking, the least you can do is watch us all get pissed in your honour while I tell Em every story and dirty little secret I know about you.”
“Don’t listen to a fucking word he says.” O’Connell grinned.
Tommy looked at us a little drunk, a little shocked, and a lot bewildered. “I still can’t believe you guys are doing this. I mean, in theory, Em, I would marry you in a heartbeat, but fuck! Sex with only one person for the rest of your life! It sounds a little extreme, don’t you think?”
“Did anyone ever tell you you’re about as shallow as a puddle,” Nikki told him.
“Hey,” replied Tommy, looking all wounded.
“There’s no need to be a bitch. I was just saying, that’s all.”
“What are we talking about?” Albie asked as he and Ryan walked over from the bar. Mac immediately shifted over to make room for them at the table.
“Only being able to shag one bird for the rest of your life,” updated Tommy.
“And being a bitch,” Nikki chimed in.
“There we have it. That’s our toast then,” added Kieran.
“To bitching and hitching,” Kieran called out and held up his glass.
“To bitching and hitching,” everyone else chimed in and slammed back their drinks.
“Fuck me,” O’Connell mumbled, burying his head in the crook of my neck. “Remind me not to let any of these arseholes do a speech at our wedding, especially not Kier,” he told me, and I smiled at the craziness of thinking that we’d have any degree of control over these boys at the wedding.
Despite my reticence, it was a pretty awesome night. O’Connell was happier than I’d ever seen him, and Kieran was right to make us come out like this, even if O’Connell couldn’t drink. Perhaps this was why stag and hen nights were thought up in the first place. To be surrounded by our friends who celebrated the commitment that we were about to make, who supported us in our decision, even if they didn’t understand it, was pretty special. A few hours later, we were at a club, and my feet were killing me from all the dancing we’d done. Desperate for a drink, I was about to abandon Nikki when a strong pair of hands grabbed my hips and pulled them back so that my rear was pressed against a rock hard erection. I smiled, smelling his aftershave and the delicious scent of his skin. Tipping my head back against his shoulder, I let him guide our hips to the rhythm of the song. He pushed aside my hair with his nose and laid tiny little nibbling kisses along my neck that make me damp and needy. When he reached my ear, he nipped lightly at the lobe and whispered to me as he spread one huge hand across my stomach, making the ache even worse.
“Three days, baby, and you’re all mine.”
His deep voice whispering to me in the dark was so erotic. I couldn’t wait to get home so that he could give me what I wanted. He knew exactly what he did to me, but two could play at that game, and I had the same power over him that he had over me.
“I’m already yours,” I replied, knowing it was true.
“Yeah, but in three days, you’ll have my name forever. Do you know how fucking hard that makes me, knowing you’ll be my wife?”
“Mrs, O’Connell,” I mused happily.
“Babe, get used to saying it, ‘cause on our wedding night I’m gonna make you scream it.”
The anticipation of knowing he meant everything he said had me imagining everything that he was going to do tonight. As the tempo of the music increased, he grinded his pelvis against me to the beat, and I did the same. The whole evening had been foreplay for what was to come, and my skin was on fire. This virile mountain of a man exuded confidence and self-assurance. He was the toughest, most dangerous man in here, and he knew it. That self-confidence was like a pheromone to women who all wanted to be owned by him. Those amazing, wolf-like eyes found me wherever I was and told me that I was his and he was mine. It didn’t help that his intense stare made me instantly wet. He used this to his advantage, often.
“Let’s go, baby. If I don’t get to sink myself into that gorgeous body of yours soon then I’m gonna take you inside this club.”
The thought of doing something so personal, in such a public place, was horrifying. O’Connell had given me confidence in my sexuality, but there was a limit as to how far that confidence extended. I turned to face him and wound my arms around his neck.
“Just let me go to the toilet and grab my jacket, and we’ll go,” I promised.
His hungry lips found mine, and he kissed me like it was the last time he’d ever see me. His huge body wrapped around mine made me feel tiny and cherished, and I kissed him harder, knowing that it made us both hungrier. His hands never left my hips as he guided me back to our table, where I left him with the boys to go and find the bathroom.
“I’ll come with you,” Nikki volunteered.
Tradition dictated that we’d make friends with a small posse of women in the toilets, and tonight was no different. It was packed with women fighting each other, like territorial jungle animals, for the tiniest scrap of mirror to refresh their makeup. They made us smile as they recanted, with enthusiasm, their relative successes or failures of the night. I’d had such a wonderful time I figured nothing could sour my good mood. Fate often reminded me that I was wrong, and it was at that point that I ran straight into Katrina. It was patently clear from the way that she was staggering around that she was absolutely out of her mind drunk. I really shouldn’t judge. It wasn’t too long ago that I was in her shoes, publically vomiting on my boyfriend, no less.
“Well, look who it is,” Katrina slurred. “Miss hoity fucking toity, out celebrating her engagement.”
“Hello, Katrina. How are you?” Relishing in the fact that my relative sobriety gave me the moral high ground, I made a conscious decision not to sink to her level.
“Why are you getting married then?” she asked me, completely ignoring my question.
“Not that it’s anyone’s business but ours, but we’re getting married for the reason that people usually marry. We love each other, and we want to spend the rest of our lives together.”
“Oh, fuck off,” she scoffed loudly, looking completely unbalanced. “Everyone knows you’re up the duff. Getting knocked up is the only way you could trap a man like O’Connell, so as far as I’m concerned, he’s fair game.”
Nikki lunged forward as she got ready to put her in her place, but I put my arm out to stop her. I wasn’t just O’Connell’s girlfriend anymore. In three days, I would be his wife, so it was about time I stood up for myself and showed everyone what that meant.
“I’m not pregnant, Katrina. Con hasn’t been trapped into anything. He’s marrying me because he wants to. If you want to know why he’s with someone like me and not you, look in the mirror. You’re so full of hate and envy it makes you ugly on the outside. Take my advice. Stop being a bitch and find your own man. That having been said, if you insist on coming after mine...bring it on.”
I didn’t shout, or scream at her, I just laid it all on the line with as much dignity as I could muster. What she did with it was up to her, but I was done being a doormat. I would fight for O’Connell, but I didn’t need to. If he ever found out about all of the attitude she’d been swinging my way, he’d shoot her down in seconds.
“Fuck off,” she yelled back at me again. “You might think your shit doesn’t stink, but you’re no better than I am. Cormac might be all about you now, but he won’t stay away from girls like me for long. I can give him what he needs. So the next time he goes out with the boys and comes home smelling of my perfume, you won’t need to wonder what happened, because I’ll be happy to fill in the details.”
“Goodbye, Katrina.” I said aloofly.
“That’s it?” Nikki questioned, as we walked off. “That’s all you’re going to say to her after the shit she just said to you?”
“What’s this?” O’Connell asked, hearing the tail end of our conversation as we reached the table. He pulled me onto his lap by the belt loops of my jeans and listened intently as Nikki recanted the whole conversation.
“Who the fuck does she think she is?” O’Connell roared and tried to move me to stand up. Winding my arms around his neck, I kissed him hard and forced him back down.
“Are you with me because you feel trapped?” I asked.
“No, baby, you know I’m not,” he pouted.
“Are you going to get bored of me in a few years?”
“No, I...” I cut him off again with a kiss.
“And are you going to be sleeping around with anyone else when I’m not there?”
“Fuck, no. You know it’s me and you for life,” he replied, angrily.
“Then what difference does it make what she says about us. I’m yours and your mine...”
“And fuck everyone else, right?” he finished with a smile.
“Exactly,” I replied.
“I fucking love you,” he mumbled, kissing me.
“Shit. I’m shocked that Danny lets you anywhere near Con on fight day. You kiss the fight right out of him,” chuckled Mac. He and Albie seemed to be getting on really well, and I liked seeing the guys bonding.
O’Connell was getting impatient, and I could feel the evidence of his desire growing beneath me.
“Okay, baby, let’s go,” I told him with a kiss. He practically jumped out of his seat in his eagerness to get me home. After an emotional goodbye to everyone, and a promise to see them all at the wedding, we left.
“I am so sick of being cold,” O’Connell moaned, as we walked into the freezing cold apartment. “Why don’t you jump in the shower, love, and get warm, and I’ll warm up the bed,” he suggested, waggling his eyebrows. I laughed at his playfulness, pleased that he hadn’t let Katrina sour our good mood.
“Are you sure you don’t want the shower first?” I asked.
“Nah, I’m good,” he replied.
I grabbed one of his t-shirts off the chair, some clean underwear from the drawer, and headed to the bathroom. The shower was tiny, but the blistering heat of the pounding water felt almost luxurious. I tied back my hair to avoid washing it, knowing that there was no way it would be dry before I fell asleep. The t-shirt came to mid-thigh and held the slight scent that was purely O’Connell. I marvelled at how lucky I felt, knowing he belonged to me. I was secure and happy and looking forward to a future that was worlds away from the life I had led a year ago. It felt like a gift that I would happily spend the rest of my life earning.
Knocking off the bathroom light, I opened the door to a runway of candles. Nightlights lined the hallway on either side, leading to the main room, which was all lit up. On every available surface were pillar church candles of different sizes, burning their pure white wax. Every space between was filled with tea lights. They made my crappy apartment beautiful and romantic. In the middle of the room, O’Connell stood in only a pair of half-unbuttoned jeans and holding the biggest bouquet of sunflowers that I’d ever seen. Where he got sunflowers at Christmas I’ll never know. Gone was the self-assured cocky fighter, and in his place was a scared little boy, opening his heart to me.
“This is amazing,” I whispered and covered my mouth with my hands in shock. I walked toward him, and he handed me the bouquet, which was almost bigger than me.
“How...?” I asked.
“I paid one of the kids at the gym to drop off the flowers and candles while we were out.”
He tucked a wayward curl behind my ear, pulled out a small wooden box from his pocket, and sank to one knee.
“I wish I knew the words to tell you how much I love you and how much you’ve changed my life. Meeting you was like seeing the sun for the first time, after a lifetime of living in the dark. I know you can do so much better than me, but if you’ll have me, I promise to spend the rest of our lives fighting to deserve you. Emily Maria McCarthy, will you marry me?”
He opened the box and inside was the most amazing ring that I had ever seen. Instead of the traditional solitaire diamond, he held a beautiful antique looking sapphire surrounded by smaller diamonds.
“Blue,” I whispered to myself. “My favourite colour is blue.”
I was rooted to the spot, wondering if this was all some cruel dream where I’d wake to find I’d imagined the whole thing. I’d already agreed to marry him, so I had no idea why he looked so nervous. Dropping to my knees in front of him, I held his strong, handsome face between my hands.
“I didn’t know that it was possible to love or trust a person as much as I do you. You make me happier than I have any right to be, but now that I’ve found you, I’m not letting you go. I’d be honoured to be your wife.”
“Thank fuck for that,” he replied, in the way that was so typically him. He grabbed me by the waist and kissed me hard, pulling us to the floor and almost catching my hair on fire. I yelped and giggled at the same time, giddy with happiness. Taking the ring from the box, he slid it onto my finger, and it was a perfect fit.
“How could you possibly afford this? I asked, in awe.
“I sold my car,” he admitted sheepishly.
“O’Connell, no,” I cried, feeling horribly guilty.
“It’s okay,” he reassured me, “there’ll be other cars, but I’ll only have one wife. Besides, we can put what I’ve got left towards the deposit on our own place someday.”
“Thank you,” I told him with tears in my eyes, admiring how the ring sparkled in the candlelight.
“You’re welcome,” he beamed, and his huge grin was infectious.
“Now get to bed, wench,” he yelled, throwing me over his shoulder and carrying me effortlessly to bed. “I’ve got plans for this gorgeous body.”