Back In the Unlikely Event
Chapters (31)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright
  3. Contents
  4. About this book
  5. Dedication
  6. Epigraph
  7. Chapter 1
  8. Chapter 2
  9. Chapter 3
  10. Chapter 4
  11. Chapter 5
  12. Chapter 6
  13. Chapter 7
  14. Chapter 8
  15. Chapter 9
  16. Chapter 10
  17. Chapter 11
  18. Chapter 12
  19. Chapter 13
  20. Chapter 14
  21. Chapter 15
  22. Chapter 16
  23. Chapter 17
  24. Chapter 18
  25. Chapter 19
  26. Chapter 20
  27. Epilogue
  28. Acknowledgements
  29. Read on
  30. Connect with L.J. Shen
  31. Dirty Headlines Preview

I’d never touch a dime he’s earned, and he knows it. The money from Glen remains untouched in my mother’s bank account to this day.

“You can take my money. I never much cared for it.” He dips his head, kissing the side of my neck.

“What do you care about, then, Malachy Doherty?”

He smiles, takes my hands in his, and kisses my knuckles, his purple, magnificent eyes still trained on mine. “You.”

We stumble back into our room at three in the morning, not expecting any company. I head toward the little bar by our window to fix myself a gin and tonic. Mal is bending down next to me to grab a bottle of water from the mini-fridge when the door to our suite flings open.

“Mal? Are you there?” calls a soft voice.

Brandy. My blood immediately boils to an unhealthy temperature, because:

  1. What the hell is she doing in this room, and how did she get the digital key?
  2. She just slept with someone else—her boss!—not even twenty-four hours ago, for crying out loud.

Whatever. I don’t need a reason to be mad at her. She is after my husband. My husband. I want to wave the ring he purchased for me earlier today at a local jewelry store—with a heartfelt promise to get me something bigger and fancier soon.

Like I’d ever care about the size of my ring.

I look down at Mal, who is holding the bottle of water at my feet. He unscrews the cap, takes a big gulp, and presses his index to his lips, smirking, so childlike in his mischievousness.

I get to break the news to her uninterrupted. Sweet.

“Over here,” I sing from behind the bar. She can’t see Mal from his position.

Brandy strolls in, looking like a high-class street worker: red mini dress and blow-dried hair intact, all wrapped in perfect makeup and crimson-red lips.

“Oh, I wasn’t expecting to see you here.” Her smile falls.

She stops a few feet from the bar. I take a sip of my gin and tonic.

“Can I get you anything?” I bat my eyelashes.

“Is Mal on his way? Is he in the shower?” She looks around.

“He’s around.”

As soon as I say that, I feel Mal’s fingers wrapping my bare thigh. He levels his head in front of my groin and hooks his thumbs into my underwear, pulling them down slowly.

What is he doing? We have company.

“What are you doing here at three in the morning?” I ask, trying to keep it as casual as possible when I feel his hot breath against my exposed self, now free of panties. My pulse quickens, and I feel the familiar pool of want coating my insides.