In this scene, it’s the morning after Deirdre and Tommy spend the night together — no, not like that. She went out for girls’ night and got drunk. She knocked on his bedroom window late at night. Being a gentleman, he took care of her and tucked her in.  Regardless of his bad boy exterior, Tommy O’Malley is all heart.

~~~~~~~~~

Deirdre tried to turn over, but felt trapped. Between her churning stomach and a warm body next to her, she didn’t want to move. Warm body? Her eyes flew open in panic. A tattooed arm wrapped around her waist. Tommy. Pieces of her night came back to her. What had she done?

Tommy snuggled against her, his breath fluttering her hair. His erection pressed into her back. Then she remembered why she’d come here last night. She’d wanted to have sex with Tommy. He pulled away and the mattress shifted as he stretched. She was afraid to move, unsure how bad the pain would be. She ran a hand over her body to discover she still wore her clothes from last night.

“How’re you feeling?”

His voice was low and rough and sexy.

The first two adequately described her. “I think something died in my mouth.”

He chuckled. “That happens when you mix a bunch of booze and then puke.”

Crap. She had puked. She groaned. “You held my hair.”

He sat up, patted her hip. “Having a little sister teaches you about those things. Sit tight.”

She had no plans to go anywhere. Reclosing her eyes, she tried to bring back more of her evening. Maggie, Cara, and Alyson had plied her with drinks all night. They’d danced a lot. She’d flirted with men. A lot of them. She had not been herself. Further evidence of that was the fact that she was in Tommy’s bed.

She couldn’t imagine the stupid things she’d said to him last night. The bedroom door swung open and Tommy was back. He set some clothes at the foot of the bed.

“I borrowed clothes from Norah, and there’s a toothbrush. Take a shower. You’ll feel better. I’m going to get us some food.”

Her stomach clenched. “God, no.”

“Trust me.” He stood next to her, handed her a glass of water and some pills. “Take these.”

She levered herself up on an elbow, putting her eye level with his crotch. His penis had made quite the impression on her back. She accepted the glass and pills. After swallowing, she swung her legs over the edge and let her head hang on her shoulders.

Tommy moved around the room. “Make sure you lock the bathroom door so Sean doesn’t walk in on you.” He paused in front of her again, fully dressed. Then he kissed the top of her head. “I’ll be back. Don’t go anywhere.”

She barely lifted her head to look at him. “I’m in no hurry to face Aunt Eileen.”

“Maggie said she’ll assume you spent the night at her house, so no worries.”

“When did you talk to Maggie?”

“After you fell asleep.” He pulled on his shoes. “Hope you don’t mind. I used your phone. You should probably have a passcode on that, by the way. I figured your aunt would worry about you not coming home.”

If Deirdre had been in her right mind, she probably would’ve worried. “Thank you.”

He smiled. “No problem.” Then he grabbed his keys from the dresser and left.

Deirdre felt weird sitting in Tommy’s room, especially when he wasn’t there. The room wasn’t very homey. Minimal furniture filled the space. A flat screen was mounted above the dresser. The bed took up most of the space. It was much larger than the one she slept on across the street.

Thoughts of her last visit barged into her pounding head and she shook them off. Only mentally, though, because moving her head hurt far too much. She grabbed the clothes and toothbrush and poked her head out. Sean’s door was still closed.

In the bathroom, she brushed her teeth twice and slurped some water. She still felt gross, so she brushed again. Starting the shower, she fought the awkward feeling of being in a stranger’s house naked. She’d never been in this position before. She’d had friends who talked about the walk of shame, but being a virgin in a serious relationship, she hadn’t experienced it. More firsts in Chicago.