Hope Restored (Gallagher Brothers Book 3) Read online

  Thank God.

  “I want to tell him I love him and make those promises in front of our friends, but I don’t want it to be a big deal.” Liz sighed into Tessa’s ear, and Tessa almost passed her house to get to her friend and give her a hug, but she was honestly so sweaty, she’d just make Liz feel ill. She promised herself she’d go over after she showered.

  Tessa paced around her front lawn and started her cool down so she wouldn’t end up hurting herself. “Then make it casual. You’ll be fine, babe. Do it in our backyard and only have some family show up like you wanted. Wear jeans if you are feeling frisky.”

  Liz laughed, and Tessa felt a little better. “Owen’s already planned for that, and I need to stop freaking out. It’s just weird that he’s a better planner than I am.”

  Tessa grinned as she opened her front door and walked inside, toeing off her shoes since they were still a little damp from the morning dew. “He’s Owen. It’s what he does. Okay, I’m home and need a shower. After I’m all clean since…oh, my God, I’m sweaty right now, I can come over and have coffee with you. Sound good?”

  “I need to head in to the clinic for a bit, or I would. I’m trying to get everything organized there for when I have the baby. I can’t believe I’m going on maternity leave right after starting a new job.”

  “You’re the best at what you do, Liz. Not even taking the legalities into consideration, they’re lucky to have you. And I might come by the clinic anyway with some coffee just to see how you are. Even though it’s my day off, I need to stop by the hospital later to look up a few things.”

  “And you called me a workaholic,” her best friend teased.

  “That’s still true, and I never said I wasn’t one. Okay, I’m off to shower. Now, go find your fiancé and make out with him a bit before you leave.”

  “As Owen just walked in wearing nothing but boxers and bed head, I can make that happen.”

  Tessa groaned and said her goodbyes, but she knew they fell on deaf ears as Liz let out a squeal at something Owen must have done as the call disconnected. The two of them were so in love it was sickening—in the best way possible. However, Tessa really didn’t need to hear them having sex. Again. The walls in her house weren’t all that thick, so she’d heard enough of Liz’s begging, and Owen’s deep voice in the throes of passion for a lifetime.

  “Eek,” Tessa mumbled and rolled her shoulders as she closed her bedroom door behind her. She hadn’t seen Murphy up and about, but he could still be sleeping since it was a bit early. Since Liz had hung up, Tessa’s music was now blaring again in her ears, but she kept it on since she enjoyed the song. Wiggling her hips to the beat of the music, she stripped out of her sweaty clothes and stuck them in the hamper near her bathroom door. Naked, she closed her eyes and danced her way into the room, that endorphin burst hitting her just right. Maybe after her shower, she’d use her newfound energy and work on another project around the house after she stopped by the clinic to visit Liz. She still had a few things she wanted to upgrade since she’d really only just bought the house.

  Her eyes still closed, she turned and smacked into a wall. Only, it wasn’t a wall. It was a wet, hard, very male body.

  Mortified, Tessa let out a scream, opened her eyes, and pulled out her ear buds. “Oh. My. God.”

  Murphy looked down at her, his wet hair dripping down over his eyes as he blinked, his mouth gaping. He’d gripped her upper arms when she’d slammed into him, so now he held her close, her breasts against his chest, her nipples pebbling into hard points and pressing into his wet skin. His cock hardened quickly between them, and Tessa felt the distinct coldness of the metal piercing on the tip pressing into her stomach. Somehow, her thighs had spread just enough when she ran into him for his thigh to press between her legs and right against her pussy. And since he was wet, hard, and oh so damn sexy, she could feel herself growing more aroused and knew she was just as wet as he was.

  Holy. Fuck.

  This was mortifying.

  “Shit, shit,” Murphy mumbled, shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts. He stepped back quickly, almost jarring her in the process, and reached for a towel. Since she only had the one extra large towel near them, he held that out to her and grabbed a freaking hand towel to cover himself with. Since the towel wasn’t that large, and Murphy seemed to be growing by the second, nothing seemed to help.

  Tessa pulled her gaze from his deliciously thick penis and looked right into his eyes as she wrapped the towel around her.

  “What the hell? Why are you in my bathroom? Why are you naked and wet in my bathroom? Boundaries, Murphy! Boundaries!” She was rambling, and she didn’t care. She’d just run five freaking miles to get him and his pretty dick out of her mind, and now she had a real image of said dick in her brain, and she’d never be able to think straight again.

  Why did the Gallaghers have to be so sexy? Why did this particular Gallagher have to press all her buttons just right and happen to be naked and wet in her bathroom while she was sweaty and naked right in front of him?

  The horror, Tessa thought. The horror.

  Murphy winced and waved over at the sink where another towel lay. She recognized this as one of Murphy’s, so she threw it at him.

  “Sorry, I didn’t want to put it on the floor or on top of your towel so I left it over there.”

  “Still doesn’t explain anything, Murphy Gallagher.” She would never be able to get the sight or feel of him out of her head now.

  “The showerhead in the guest bath broke off. I wasn’t even touching it. When I went to turn on the water, it fell off and sprayed me in the face. The damn thing hit me on the hip on its way down.” He pointed to a growing bruise on his side, and Tessa’s eyes widened, panic leaping into her throat.

  Without thinking, she reached forward and slid her fingers down his hip right above his towel. “Oh God, Murphy. Are you okay? You’re bruising so quickly.” She held back tears, annoyed with herself for showing weakness in front of the man who was actually going through this whole ordeal instead of just witnessing it.

  He put his hand over hers, and she stilled, aware of what she was doing. Blushing once again, she pulled back and tightened her towel around her chest.

  “I’ll be fine. I’m headed into the clinic later anyway for my scheduled blood transfusion. That’s why I needed to jump in your shower. I’m going to be late, and I didn’t have the parts to fix the other one anyway. Since part of the showerhead is still on the wall, at least it’s not spraying water everywhere unless I actually turn on the faucet, but I’ll have to shut off the water to the whole house once I start working on the plumbing. It won’t be a hard job.” Murphy blew out a breath and rubbed his face with his hand, keeping his other hand firmly on the towel around his waist. “I’m sorry for using your shower without asking, but you weren’t here, and I figured I’d clean it before you got back. I didn’t imagine you’d literally dance in naked and bump into me.” He winced, but she saw something in his eyes that looked like interest.

  God, this was all just a mess, and she didn’t know what to do about it.

  “It’s okay,” Tessa said slowly, trying to get images of Murphy and his pierced dick out of her brain. It wasn’t easy since he was still naked and wet in front of her. “Really. We’ll just forget this ever happened and go about our day. Why don’t you, uh, go to your room and get dressed or something, and I’ll shower and put this whole thing out of my mind.” She spoke quickly and hoped he would agree to forget it all as she’d said. Not that she’d actually forget, but she could lie with the best of them. “Do you need me to, uh, go to the hardware store or something and pick up a new showerhead?”

  Murphy shook his head. “I can do it. We have a few on-site that could work, and I can get them at cost to save money. I can even bring a couple home with me if you want so you can pick it out. It’s your house, after all.”

  Right. It was her house, and he was her roommate. Her naked roommate. She really needed to stop th
inking about that.

  “I don’t know what I want for that bathroom yet, I haven’t decided on anything. Liz was the one with the plans for the house.”

  His gaze softened. “No problem. I’ll bring a couple by, and you can choose. If you don’t like any, then we’ll go to the store together to find one that you like that will also work in the space you have. Again, sorry for using your shower without asking, and for…” He waved between them.

  “For slapping your naked body against mine so close I know exactly what your piecing feels like?” Tessa slapped her free hand against her mouth, her eyes going wide.

  Murphy let out a rough chuckle that went straight between her legs. “Yes. That. Though we aren’t thinking about that, right?”

  Tessa nodded, her hand still over her mouth lest she make things worse.

  “Right,” he mumbled. “I’ll just…I’ll go.” He fled the bathroom, careful not to accidentally brush her on his way by, and Tessa lowered her hand, closing her eyes so she could hide from the world and what had just happened.

  This was what happened when you roomed with the guy from your sex dreams.

  Bad things.

  Bad, sweaty, naked, pierced things.

  9

  Murphy was pretty sure he’d end up with a strained groin soon if he didn’t get his dick under control. It had been two hours since he’d had Tessa’s sweaty, naked, curvy, and fucking perfect body pressed tightly against his, and he couldn’t get the memory out of his mind.

  Her breasts had been full, high, and tight, and more than enough to fill his large hands. Her nipples had been hard against his chest, and he’d almost sent out a shocked moan at the sensation once he realized exactly what had happened. Her hips had flared out, wide enough for him to hold onto as he pounded into her from behind. Of course, he’d noticed them right away since he’d always had a fixation on her hips, but he had gripped her upper arms rather than her delicious hips so he didn’t do something stupid like bend her over. Of course, with his grip the way it had been, he could have easily lifted her onto his cock and fucked her hard against the wall. So, of course, he hadn’t done that.

  But then her thighs had spread ever so slightly, and his own thigh had slid between them, her pussy wet and ready on top of him. She’d been so hot, so damn amazing, that he’d almost come right then. He’d just about died and gone to heaven, and he’d only had the barest touch of her—in a situation that neither of them would have ever thought possible.

  He both despised and loved his broken shower now, but he had a feeling there would be no going back after this. He’d try his best, but something had changed. He’d seen the interest in her eyes, and it wasn’t the same as their usual flirting.

  He just had no idea what to do, because when she’d mentioned his cock and his piercing, he’d almost burst…again. Sure, he was attracted to Tessa, but there was no way he should be wanting more than what they had. He couldn’t continue to desire her like this and not make things weird for them. She’d opened up her home to him, and he wasn’t about to jeopardize her graciousness or their friendship because he couldn’t keep his dick under control with her around.

  Murphy wasn't sure what he was going to do, but he knew he would have to do something. He wasn't sure he’d be able to be just friends, or sit there and watch her be who she was. Because Tessa was freaking amazing. She was caring, funny, sexy as hell…just a really deep person. Everything she did was either for someone else, or somehow geared towards helping other people.

  And it didn’t help that all he wanted to do was strip her down and make love to her until they were both exhausted. With everything else going on in his life, he knew doing anything to jeopardize their friendship would ruin everything that he had, and might even break him in the end.

  “Are you okay over there?” Max’s words brought Murphy out of his thoughts, and he shook his head, trying to keep a neutral expression on his face.

  It wasn’t working.

  “I’m fine.”

  “You’re not fine. There’s something going on in that brain of yours. So, why don't you just tell me what it is, because we're going to be sitting here for a few hours. We might as well figure out how to make everything work. I mean, we’ve known each other for years. We may not have seen each other for a few of those years, but I know when you have something on your mind that you need to get out. So, why don’t you just tell me, and we’ll figure it out. It’s a woman, isn’t it?”

  Murphy turned to look at his friend and winced. “It’s a woman.”

  “It’s always a woman.” Max shook his head and reached out to lightly pat Murphy’s free hand. Max had ink up and down his arms, and Murphy figured that he had tattoos down the rest of his body, too. Murphy had some ink, but not as much as Max. Somehow, the ink worked for both of them, and if Murphy, no, when Murphy got better, he knew he would have to get more. You only got tattoos when something was important in your life. At least, that was what Murphy figured. He would beat this. He would get healthy. No matter what.

  Once again, Murphy shook his head, annoyed with himself for letting his thoughts go down that path. Here he was, ready to spill his guts about Tessa to his old friend, and yet he couldn’t get the subject of his mortality out of his brain. There was seriously too much going on in his mind, and talking to Max would just have to help him. It had to.

  “She’s my roommate.” Murphy sucked in a breath as soon as he got the words out and quickly looked around him, praying Liz hadn’t heard. The fact that she worked here was usually great because he always had family around him, but it made it really difficult to talk about her best friend when he didn’t want anyone to know about his feelings. Not that he exactly knew what his feelings were, but still.

  Max smiled. “Your roommate? The hot one that’s friends with your soon-to-be sister-in-law?”

  Murphy took another quick look around. “Do you think you could speak any louder? I’m not sure the building next door heard you.”

  Max threw his head back and laughed. “Liz isn’t around. She’s not going to hear the fact that you might have a crush on her best friend, your roommate. Though, of course, the whole idea that you have the hots for your roommate is one of the best circumstances around, don’t you think?”

  “I never should have told you this." Murphy rubbed his free hand over his forehead, trying to stave off the upcoming headache he knew would be around any minute. He was already exhausted, and the blood transfusion hadn’t given him any energy yet—it had just started. He had a feeling this whole conversation was going to end up giving him a migraine or an ulcer. But, of all people, telling Max was probably the best idea he had—not that it had been his idea in the first place. He couldn’t tell his brothers or any of his friends who worked with the Montgomerys. Everyone was so interconnected, it would eventually get back to Tessa. He just knew it. And he wasn’t ready for that. Hell, he didn’t even know how he felt. How was he supposed to make sure she knew what he felt?

  “Yes, you should have told me. Not that you actually told me anything.” Max smiled again and sighed. “Why don't you just start from the beginning and tell me what's going on in your mind. Like I said, we have a while until we can get out of these chairs. We might as well make it interesting. And you know that healing takes every ounce of mental power and everything in our hearts to work. You can’t be so stressed out about other things in your life that you forget to take care of yourself. So, tell me, what is it about Tessa that’s leaving you in a hard place?”

  Murphy winced at that description. “Maybe we shouldn’t mention the word hard when it comes to Tessa.”

  Maxed cracked up laughing, and the other nurse on call walked in to make sure everything was okay. The two men brushed her off and said they were just joking around and promised not to disturb anyone else. While she thanked them, she said that seeing them laugh was worth any disruptions. Murphy figured there wasn't that much laughter in a room like this, and if telling Max about his feelings f
or Tessa brought a smile to his friend’s face, then so be it.

  “Tessa and I are just friends. We've only been friends. Sure, the two of us have flirted on and off—okay, mostly on—since we met, but that doesn’t mean anything. We just like messing with each other. She’s freaking hot, and frankly, just a kickass person. If she were anyone else and not best friends with Liz, I would have probably already slept with her. Maybe even be in a relationship with her that is something more. But that’s not what happened, and she and I have been very careful to keep our flirting on a level we both could back down from easily.”

  “And now you’re living with her,” Max provided.

  “And now, I’m living with her,” Murphy mumbled. “I knew it would be weird to live with her. I mean, come on, I haven’t lived with anyone since I lived with my family back in the day. And before me, Tessa only lived with her best friend. Hell, I don’t even know if Tessa has ever lived with a man before. But despite that, I thought we were making it work. We were setting up boundaries and made sure we didn’t cross them. Sure, there was still some casual flirting, but it wasn’t like it used to be. We were making things work,” he repeated.

  “Then what happened to change all of that?” Max asked.

  “Other than the fact that my dick is perpetually hard around her, and I can't sleep through the night because all I keep thinking about and dreaming about is her in bed with me. And not even just on the bed. Sometimes, we’re in the shower. Or in the kitchen. In the car. Even on the couch. In my mind, I have crossed so many boundaries that I don’t even know how I can look her straight in the face anymore.”

  “But you haven’t actually crossed those, right? I mean, you haven’t made her uncomfortable or acted on those thoughts?”

  Murphy shook his head. “No, I’ve been good. Before this, she was dating some loser, so I was really careful not to make her feel weird. But now, that’s over, and…”