Exploding: A Mafia Romance (The O'Keefe Family Collection #1) (4 page)

When Maria demanded he get her another credit card,
that
had been funny. But it was nothing to Fallyn’s youthful giggles and playful jabs of how she would “make him pay for all eternity” if he tried to change her recipe.

They were so caught up in the fun of the moment that Fallyn lost her footing and pitched forward, yelping as she nearly burned herself on the hot pan. Vince’s arm shot around her with his lightning reflexes, his palm landing on her breast as he jerked her backward and pinned her spine to his chest. They were both breathing unevenly from the laughter and the jabbing, and they took a few seconds to catch their breath as they remained stuck to each other.

Vince took in a lungful of the scent of her hair. She smelled of vanilla and lavender, and before he could stop himself, he knew he had never inhaled a sweeter or more enticing scent. He held Fallyn’s left breast, steadying both of them as their hearts banged against each other’s. Maria’s breasts were painfully fake. It had been a long time since he’d felt a firm pair of natural, full breasts. He listened to her breathing hitch, wondering why neither of them were pulling away from the inappropriate entanglement. His hand screamed at him for retreating as his palm migrated from her left breast toward the center of her cleavage. “Sorry. Did you burn yourself?”

“No,” she whispered, afraid to break the tension that had come out of nowhere. She realized she had landed herself in the viper’s arms. She had joked with the snake, laughed with him. If her brothers could see her, she knew there would be fallout not even her best diplomatic reasoning could field. “Thanks for that. I nearly burned myself all over.” She turned her wrist and shook a healthy amount of cayenne pepper into the bowl, grinning as Vince hissed in defeat. “I win.”

“Yes, but your customers lose.” His lips were too close to her ear for the candid business greeting he’d intended. He’d never thought much about Fallyn in the ways that were now running through his head; she was so much younger than he was growing up. She had always been beautiful; there was no denying that, but her time away had transformed the beauty into a bombshell. A bombshell whose breasts he could feel the swell of as she breathed in the sexual tension neither of them were equipped to deal with.

Her hand reached up and rested on his, tangling her fingers through his atop her breasts. “My heart’s racing,” she admitted, shocked that she wanted his hand to stay where it was. She had never been so daring, and knew she was on the edge of something dangerous. “Feel that?”

“Mine, too.” His other hand found its way to her side, snaking around her stomach and causing her to arch her back. “I definitely feel it.”

Fallyn’s free hand took on a life of its own, reaching up behind her to stroke his cheek, feeling the stubble there and holding her breath when his lips turned to her palm to deliver a silent kiss for her to hold onto long after their moment of insanity had passed.

He slowly released her, backing up to assume a more respectable distance. “I should go. Please tell your family I stopped by to wish you luck with your store.” He ran his hand through his black hair, messing the tresses that he usually kept perfectly in place. She was disheveling him, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about a curvy tornado messing up the balance of his life’s plan. “I really do want peace between our families. Any way we can work toward that, we should.”

Fallyn touched her chest where his hand had been, her eyes wide at the thoughts she had been entertaining mere seconds ago. She nodded slowly. “I’ve been saying that all along.” She cleared her throat, standing straighter. “If you really want peace, give it time and tread lightly. Keep an eye on Joey and Tony. They tend to run their mouths, and some of my brothers have hot tempers. Bad combination. Killian wants what you want, though. Daddy put him in charge, so I’d appeal to him. Ignore the others if they seem resistant to the truce. Kill can handle his own people.”

Vince took in her lovely face and mulled over her words. “I can deal with Joey and Tony. Any way you can get Carrigan to stop driving his patrol car around the edge of our neighborhood every night? It makes everyone edgy.”

Fallyn nodded. “I can ask him to stop, but you know Carri does what he wants.”

“You have more sway than you realize. I’m not expecting you to work miracles, but a word or two from you might help.”

“You’re overestimating my reach.”

Vince paused a beat, and then reached forward to wipe a bit of flour off her cheekbone. For those precious seconds, he ignored his inner voice screaming for him to back away from the fire he didn’t recognize might start burning within him if he stood too near her warmth. “I know better than to underestimate your reach, Little Keefer. Enjoy the flowers and that terrible, disgusting caramel you’re making.”

Fallyn’s heart pounded as Vince let himself out the backdoor and out into the alley. “My name’s Fallyn!” she called over her shoulder to him. She turned back to the stove, glad that no one had seen the strangest exchange between a D’Amato and an O’Keefe.

F
or Fallyn
, the next morning was just an extension of the night, which she had worked clean through. She had taken to only going home for a shower and to change clothes, indulging in the briefest periods of rest at the shop when she couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer.

Her hands were shaking with exhaustion, feeling too feeble and thin as she pulled the last pan of muffins out, having made more than she had the day before so she was not caught unprepared. Declan promised her a cashier transferred from one of his stores who was due to be in five minutes ago, which put her ten minutes ahead of Jen. The orders for custom-made cakes were stacking up, and she hadn’t even had a moment to touch the slips that called to her, taunting her that she would fall behind and her brothers would have to swoop in and keep her from drowning. Danny had secured her a catering gig for four hundred at the law firm where he worked, and she worried how she would ever fill such a large order, and still keep on top of everything else.

Then there were thoughts of Vince with his hand pressed against her breasts. It still gave her guilty chills that she tried to shake off, but secretly she reveled in the thrill he gave her. She kept sneaking peeks at the flowers he’d brought, knowing they were a peace offering and nothing more.

Fallyn shook off her exhaustion, determined she would finish the muffins, the cupcakes, the pastries and every other detail before she passed out. Long ago had she toed off her heels, instead roaming around the kitchen with bleary eyes in her bare feet.

“Hey, workaholic. Did you really sleep here again last night?” Jen greeted her friend as she clocked in and fastened her apron in place. Her shoulders slumped as she took in the bags under Fallyn’s eyes. “Please tell me you slept.”

“I did. Just had to get in early to fire everything up.”

Jen stood in the middle of the messy kitchen and waited until Fallyn passed in front of her to grab her friend by the shoulders. “Slow down. You don’t have to work this hard. I know you’re lying to me. I know you didn’t go home last night. When was the last time you went out? Did anything other than this bakery?”

Fallyn wiped a line of lime green icing down her temple in an attempt to mop some sweat off her face. “It’s a new business, Jen. I have to stay on top of things, or I’ll lose it. I’ll lose everything. I’ve worked so hard to get my own place. I can’t drop the ball now!” She could hear the hysteria in her tone, but she couldn’t tame it.

Jen shushed her kindly, rubbing her hands down the length of Fallyn’s arms to calm her. “Hey, it’s alright. You’re not dropping the ball. This is a thriving business, but you can’t keep at this pace. Declan sent over one of his cashiers, right?”

“
He
hired her originally. Not me. He did.” Fallyn lowered her chin in defeat. “Declan doesn’t think I can do this, but I can!”

“Of course you can,” Jen soothed her friend. “You just kept a shop girl from getting laid off and saved yourself the headache of having to sift through yet more resumes to fill the spot. Have you looked at the resumes for hiring a second baker?”

Fallyn turned her head guiltily in the direction of the stack of resumes sitting atop her desk in her office. “Not yet. I wanted to see if I could handle it all myself back here.”

Jen looked her straight in the eye, cupping Fallyn’s chin. “You can’t. No one can. Even with an extra baker, you might still fall behind. This is a lot of work, and your food is the best. The quality will start to suffer if you’re muscling through every day. You have to hire someone today.” A fist pounded on the backdoor. “See? That’s probably the new cashier now. You need to get some space. Get some air. Take those resumes and go home for a bit. Get some sleep. You’re no good to me half-dead.”

Fallyn’s lower lip quivered, and she blamed the offense on the extreme nature of her exhaustion. It had been too many nights she’d worked around the clock. She flung her arms around Jen’s neck and squeezed. “Thanks, Jen. I’m so tired, I can barely see straight.”

“Well, then you’re not driving.”

“I’ll just catch a quick nap at my desk after showing the new girl around the place and training her.”

“How about I train the new girl, and you go home.” Jen opened the door, revealing a leggy blonde in a short skirt that looked to be in her mid-twenties. “I can see why Declan hired you,” Jen simpered, extending her hand to the girl. “I’m Jen. Welcome to Sweet Somethings. Do you have any experience with a cash register?”

“Three years retail. I’m Hannah. And you’re the owner? Fallyn O’Keefe?” She turned to greet Fallyn with a bright smile that Fallyn was sure would attract customers for miles. Declan had an eye for that sort of thing.

“Yes. Good to meet you.” She handed Hannah an apron and was about to start in on showing her around, but Jen had other plans.

Jen placed her hand on her best friend’s back and lightly shoved her toward the door. She trotted to the office and gathered Fallyn’s things, placing the stack of resumes, the pink purse and heels in Fallyn’s hands. “Go find us a new clone of you. Go home, take a shower, take a nap. Come back at noon. Sound good?” Jen didn’t wait for a response. “Good.”

Fallyn stood in the back alley, flabbergasted that she’d been kicked out of her own store. The air was crisp in the early dawn, and she breathed in the scent that was not laced with the constant refrain of sugar she’d been inundated with. She knew she should go home, but the constant call of work would only be solved with hiring a second baker. She drew in several steadying breaths, slipped on her heels and strolled down the street to see if anything was open so she could sit down while she leafed through the stack.

Sweet Somethings was the only place that opened at six, which guaranteed them a solid morning crowd. Fallyn meandered back to her store, but knew she wouldn’t be able to get inside without Jen throwing her back out again. So she took down one of the white aluminum chairs that had been stacked on the patio and flopped down into it. With how overly tired she was, the rigid back and unpadded seat could have been a luxury sofa. Fallyn started reading the first resume, determined not to have another day like yesterday happen every day of her life.

After the third lackluster recounting of a person’s employment history, Fallyn’s eyes began to droop. She fought off her exhaustion valiantly, getting through two more resumes and ruling them unfit before her head found its home on the tabletop. Fallyn shut her eyes, leaving the bakery to take care of itself.

A
man’s
hand ran down Fallyn’s back, softening her trek back to wakefulness. “I can do it by myself, Declan,” she murmured, not bothering to open her eyes.

“Am I so forgettable that you’re confusing me with another barista already?” came a voice that was certainly not her brother’s.

Fallyn’s eyes flew open, and her head shot up, a resume sticking to her cheek as she whipped her head around, shocked that it was almost mid-morning. “Jiminy Cricket! What time is it?”

James chuckled. “I don’t think I’ve heard anyone say ‘Jiminy Cricket’ who wasn’t ninety. It’s eight o’clock.” He took in her puffy eyes and slumped posture. “When was the last time you got a solid night’s sleep?”

Fallyn sorted the papers into a useable stack. “Oh, I shouldn’t have fallen asleep! I have so much work to do. There’s a line! How did I sleep through that?” She was shocked to find not only daylight, but also a line out the door.

James kept his hand on her back as she stood. “Don’t you think you should go home and get some real sleep? I mean, if you’re passing out in a chair, chances are you need more than an hour or two.”

Fallyn’s voice was high-pitched and pinched with strain. “No! I can’t go home because there’s work to do. If I’m not here, it won’t all get done. I can’t fail, James. I just can’t!” An emotional swing hit her that normally would’ve been easy to suppress had she not been so sleep-deprived.

At the sight of Fallyn’s eyes watering, alarms started going off in James’ head. He hadn’t been near a crying woman except for the few he’d had to fire at work. He kept things the lightest, breeziest brand of casual to avoid situations exactly like this. The second the solitary tear rolled down Fallyn’s cheek, James’s wall started to crumble. He awkwardly pulled her into his arms and held her to stave off any more tears from joining the one that had escaped. It was the second hug he’d indulged in in as many days, and both times they had been with her. He could feel his hard insides softening, and wasn’t sure what to make of that.

As soon as his shoulder was deemed strong enough to carry her burdens, she let out a labored sigh. “I have to get out of here. I can’t be seen falling apart l-like this,” she whispered.

She was about to pull away and drive home, but James kept one arm around her, picking up the resumes and starting off down the street away from the bakery. “My office is just a short walk this way. You can take a breather there. I’ve got a couch you can even take a nap on.”

“What? No, I couldn’t do that to you. I… I should go home. Where did I park?” She fished in her purse for her keys, but lost her grip on the short strap and dropped the whole thing. “Doggonit!” she cried, invoking her non-curse word of choice. “I stink at everything today!”

James knelt down with her to scoop the contents of her purse back inside, noting that she did not carry condoms or anything else that might imply she would be up for coming home with him. It was the pang of a missed opportunity that surprised him the most. He knew he didn’t need to be wasting his time trying to take home a girl who was clearly not up for the distraction. His eyes widened when they glossed over her fingers that quickly scooped up a small gun. “Um, is that…”

“I have my CPL,” she pushed out, chagrinned.

“Hey, it’s your purse.” He couldn’t decide if the gun was a turn-on or a blaring red flag. “And you don’t stink at everything. It’s a new business. It’s supposed to feel like this. Come on.”

“I need some coffee. Then I can get back to it.”

James stood, steadying her by letting her lean on his arm as he carried her purse and the resumes for her. “You don’t need coffee. Coffee can only be expected to do so much.” He had never carried a woman’s purse before, and cringed at the pinkness of the bag. He didn’t know how he’d volunteered for the position of the man who carried a woman’s purse around. He wasn’t sleeping with her, yet he volunteered his office for her use and treated her slight, yet curvy body with care he normally skimped on. As he led her to the elevator inside his law office, he realized he was completely had by this woman. “Right down this hallway.”

“Mr. Jensen?” The redheaded assistant stood, confused at the new client she did not have in her appointment book. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t see anything on the books for this morning until nine o’clock. The coffee machine’s fixed. Can I get you a cup, ma’am?”

Fallyn nodded at the same time James ruled with a solid, “No, thank you. See to it my clients are directed to the conference room this morning, and that no one disturbs my office no matter what.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Thank you, Penny.”

James led her into his office and shut the vertical blinds on the floor-to-ceiling window doors so his subordinates didn’t see the beautiful woman snoring on his three thousand dollar couch. “There you go,” he said softly, setting her down on the gray sofa. The whole room looked like ice and steel, using harsh lines with a strict gray and cold blue aesthetic. There were no personal affects, no picture frames or handwritten notes on his large gray desk. James hung Fallyn’s purse on the steel coatrack and set her resumes on the corner of his desk. He turned back to her, expecting her to be asleep already, but she was upright and staring up at him with wide eyes.

“We’re at Fulsom, Wesson and Smith,” she stated, hands clinging to each other in her lap.

“We are. This is where I work. You’re familiar with the firm?”

“Um, sort of. My brother works here. He’s a paralegal. And I’m catering the desserts for your anniversary party. I didn’t realize this was where you worked.” She glanced around like a deer in headlights, completely overwhelmed by her surroundings and suddenly wide awake. “I should go.” She stood, but James held up his hands.

“I told you that you could stay and rest up. I’ve got meetings all morning, so the office is yours. You can take a nap and use the phone to call on those resumes when you wake up.”

“I’m so embarrassed!” She buried her face in her hands.

“Oh, Fallyn. The number of mornings I’ve had where I’ve been beat from working myself into the ground? I get it. Working hard’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“I made you be a barista yesterday!” she moaned. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“Something like, ‘I’m too full of myself to take a joke’? I cut in line, and you punished me for it. Rightly so. Don’t take back that mouthy smile you gave me yesterday. Why do you think I came back to your place this morning? I’ve got news for you, I can get coffee anywhere.”

“You came back to serve coffee?” She wrinkled her nose. “So you’re a bigshot lawyer, but your real dream in life is to stand behind a counter and make twelve bucks an hour? I don’t get it.”

“You really don’t, do you?” He pulled her hands away from her face, revealing the beauty beneath the bleary. “I think you’re fun and sweet and heartbreakingly beautiful. I don’t get a lot of that first thing in the morning. I was going to ask you out. That’s why I came back this morning.”

Fallyn blinked up at him as if he’d just started speaking in another language. “You… what?”

James smirked at her innocence. “I want to take you out, not for coffee. Someplace nice, but you’ll need to have slept before then, so put that couch to use.” He grabbed a file off his desk. “There’s a blanket and pillow under it. I’ve slept here too many nights to count.”

“Wait, you’re asking me out? Like, on a date?” she whispered, standing from the couch and checking over her shoulder to make sure the door was shut.

“Yes, ma’am. It’s not meant to be a secret. Why are you whispering?” He lowered his voice to match hers.

“Because no matter where I am, I’m certain my brothers can hear it whenever a guy asks me out.” She looked up at James, taking in his distinctive chin, his brown eyes and his well-built body with a new appreciation. She took him in with longing, wishing she could make choices as easily as Jen did with men. “No. Thank you, but no.”

James was taken aback. He leaned back on his desk, crossed his arms over his chest and examined her visible debate as she bit her lower lip. “I’ve never been turned down before. Can I ask why? Is it my terrible barista skills?”

Fallyn shook her head, staring down at her shoes, lest she look into his deep orbs and lose herself completely. “It’s got nothing to do with you. You were fun and nice and helpful, even. You brought me here when I was passed out on the street!” That thought gripped her anew. “Oh, man. I was passed out on the street.” She shook her head to clear it and began pacing. “If I could date right now, I might say yes, but I can’t. It’s my brothers.” She fiddled with the material of her knee-length yellow flowing skirt. “They… They don’t like it when I date, so I decided not to get involved with anyone else until they could learn to back off, and that’s not anywhere on the horizon.”

“Your brothers? Well, that’s a new one.”

“It’s complicated. And I’m guessing you’re not big on complicated, so I’ll spare you the details.”

“The one who barked at me for making sure you didn’t fall off the stool. What was his name?”

“Declan, and he’s the least of my problems. They’re all great. They’re my best friends, but they get a little overprotective. I’m the youngest by eight years, and the only girl of eight kids. I don’t sneeze without seven phone calls and a few drop-ins. That I opened the bakery without them is a big deal for me. I don’t want to mess that up. Hence the sleeping on the street.” She closed her eyes as the words mocked her. “Oh, I fell asleep on the street.”

James watched Fallyn wrestle with her answer, his curiosity drawing him deeper into the mystery he needed to solve. “If we took your brothers out of the picture, would you say yes to a date then?”

Fallyn touched her heated cheeks. “You know I would. Look at you. You’re like, every woman’s eye candy. But that’s not reality.”

“Reality’s subjective. That’s what I base my business on.” He took a chance and reached out, placing his hands on her hips, enjoying her sharp inhalation and wide eyes as he drew her closer. “I think you want to see where this goes. I can handle your brothers just fine.”

“My ex moved out of state to escape them. I don’t think you know the disaster you’d be flirting with if you scratched that itch.”

James pulled her closer still, until she was standing between his open knees as he leaned on the edge of his desk. He kept one hand on her hip and cupped her chin with the other one, leading her face next to his so he could whisper in her ear. His lips brushed her skin with a sensuality Fallyn rarely experienced. “I think you’ll want to sneak away from the shop tomorrow night at seven. Meet me at Grady’s downtown. Do you know it?”

“Not Grady’s,” Fallyn protested weakly, leaning into his body space and shivering at his voice. His arm moved from her hip to the small of her back, pushing her impossibly closer. “Killian, the oldest, he owns that restaurant. Nowhere my brothers can see us.”

James tugged her earlobe between his teeth, smirking at how easy it was to make her melt in his arms.

Until she wasn’t in his arms anymore. Fallyn shot herself backward, staring at him with an open mouth and wide eyes. “I can’t date you. We’re too different.”

“You don’t even know me,” he protested, standing straight. He had never had this hard a time baiting a woman before.

“I know that you’re much older than me. I know that you’re a fancy office kind of guy. I know that you’ll suck on a girl’s earlobe the second after you ask her on a date. That’s not my speed, and I know better than to ask a guy to change.”

James was floored. “Fallyn, I’m sorry. I made you upset. Look, you’re a pretty girl who made me laugh, and I was interested. If it’s too complicated, I can look elsewhere. No big deal. You’re still welcome to my couch, and I promise to leave you alone.”

“No, no. I didn’t realize you worked with Danny. If he sees me in here… I don’t want to cause problems for you. I like the little I know about you, and don’t want them to take you down. You seem nice. If I had options, I would say yes to that date, but I don’t.”

He cast her a simpering expression. “Look, not to whip my cock out at you, but I’m a junior partner now. I don’t think I’ll catch any trouble from a paralegal.”

Fallyn shook her head, flustered. “I have to go.” She snatched her purse down from the rack, feeling a pang of regret at turning down the best looking guy she’d been asked out by in ages. “Look, this is my way of telling you I wish I could date you. This is my way of making sure you get to go on a date with a nice girl someday who doesn’t have a million brothers watching her every move.” She reached out and clutched his hand, taking in his handsome face for what she assumed would be the last time. In a rare rush of boldness, Fallyn leaned up and kissed his cheek, wishing she could stay and see where the kiss might lead. “Go out tonight and be happy with someone who can make you smile. You look like you’ve spent too much of your life being unhappy. Utter waste.”

James sunk into her sweet advance that was mingled with a little sexiness, touching her curvy hip before she shot away from him, running out the door and leaving him alone with his confusion.