Exploding: A Mafia Romance (The O'Keefe Family Collection #1) (5 page)

F
allyn clutched her purse
, keeping her head down as she moved quickly through the office and down the elevator. She was almost to the tall glass double doors when a familiar voice broke her speed-walk. “Fallyn?” Danny called from the hallway to her left.

“Danny!” Her voice was too high pitched to sound natural, but she hoped the forced brightness of her smile masked the tell.

Danny jogged to his sister and scooped her up in a tight hug. “This is a nice surprise. Did you bring me breakfast?”

She held onto her brother four seconds longer than usual, hoping his strength would be transferred to her through osmosis. “No breakfast, just a hug. Missed you, is all. It’s nice we work so close to each other now.”

Danny stiffened. “What’s wrong?”

Fallyn held on tighter so he couldn’t see the regret in her face. “Nothing. Can’t a girl drop in on her favorite brother?”

“Something’s wrong. What is it? Declan mentioned Vince stopped by yesterday to congratulate you. Did he threaten you?”

“No. Vince was fine. Just doing his job of speaking for his family.”

“Then what’s got you doing the sad and scared eyes? Problems with the bakery? Is a customer giving you grief? Are you having trouble figuring out the ordering part? Killian said he walked you through it. You should’ve just let him take care of that for you. You don’t need the hassle.”

Fallyn relinquished her hold on Danny, pushing aside her wishes for a romantic life and landing on feeling grateful she had a family who cared so much about the details. “No way. Everything’s great with the bakery. I just haven’t been making time for you all like I used to. This schedule’s crazy.”

Danny led her to the wall to avoid the morning rush of employees hastening or stumbling to their desks. “Alright. Hey, it’s okay. We all know this is a big deal. Opening a business is hard work. You’ll still make it to family dinner, right?”

“Of course.”

“Then we won’t get upset that you’re around a little less. We get it. But the second you think it might get to be too much, you call me first thing, understood?”

Fallyn nodded, pinching his cheeks. “It’s all going fine. Just missed your surly face.”

“This one?” Danny crossed his eyes and stuck his tongue to the side, evoking a laugh from his baby sister. “Glad you stopped by, then. How about we go out for lunch and you can tell me all about everything.”

Fallyn nodded, realizing the prospect of a nap was long gone. “Sounds good.”

The elevator was opening and closing, but when it opened again, this time it caught Fallyn’s eye. James exited the elevator, glancing around before his eyes fell on hers. She threw her arms around Danny’s neck again turning his back toward James. She gave James a miniscule shake of the head when he took a step toward her. He paused, and then turned toward the front desk, making small talk with the security guard.

Fallyn pulled away and smiled up at Danny. “See you for lunch.”

Danny walked her to the exit, opening the door for her as they said goodbye.

Fallyn made her way down the street, grateful that Danny hadn’t caught wind of her flirtation with James. She didn’t want to cost her brother his job when he inevitably flew off the handle.

“Fallyn, wait!”

Fallyn froze, turning with wide eyes as James made his way toward her down the street. “What are you doing?”

He handed her the stack of resumes that she’d left on his desk by accident. “Forget something?”

“Oh. Thank you.” She glanced around like they were in the middle of a drug deal, expecting Danny to pop his head out and see the crime. “This way,” she ordered, shoving James around the corner of the building down a side street that was less crowded.

“He didn’t see me. I waited until he was back in the building.”

“You have no idea what you’re playing at. You can’t just call out my name like that in public.”

“Are you in witness protection or something? Your brothers can’t possibly be this overbearing.”

“They can and they are. Look, I like you, so you have to stay away from me.”

“That makes absolutely no sense.”

Fallyn led him behind a dumpster that provided some cover from passersby on the main street. “Jeremy’s the only boyfriend I ever had. I’m twenty-five years old. Do you think that’s normal? When he…” she lowered her voice so that James had to lean closer to hear her. “When Jeremy cheated on me, Killian bashed in the hood of his Mustang with a baseball bat. Declan gave him four flat tires. Danny beat him up. Carrigan took Jeremy’s sister out on a few dates, and Finn broke into Jeremy’s house and trashed the place with Keenan. Seamus took him out and got him drunk, took him to a tattoo parlor and had them tattoo “Do Not Resuscitate” across his chest. Then Daddy got the girl he cheated on me with fired from her waitress job.”

James’s mouth fell open. “Are you serious?”

Fallyn nodded. “It was Keenan’s first strike. He’s in prison now, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have reach. I’m not trying to be a tease or make you question yourself. I’m telling you to stay away for your own good.”

James postured, his chest filling with firm defiance. “I’m not asking you for a relationship. It’s a simple date.”

“My first date was when I was nineteen, okay? Nineteen! What loser has to wait until they’re nineteen to go on their first date? Jeremy took me to dinner. That’s it! That’s all. Public place with a firm curfew. Finn ‘just so happened’ to bring his girlfriend to the same restaurant and ‘just so happened’ to nab the table next to ours. Declan called me every ten minutes, and when I didn’t answer once, he called the cops! Carrigan’s a cop, so he showed up with three patrol cars. It was a nightmare! I retaliated in some… um, some not ladylike ways. I didn’t speak to my brothers for months after that.”

James let out a chuckle, holding up his hands when she glared at him. “I’m sorry, okay? I’ve just never heard of anything so ridiculous. And your first date was at nineteen? It makes no sense. You’re a knockout.”

Fallyn smirked, despite herself. “Thanks. It wasn’t because no one asked me out. That was the rule of the house for me. Eventually guys stopped asking, or I stopped listening.”

“You’re exaggerating.”

“I had to take my brother Danny to the senior prom.”

James snorted, covering his mouth to hold back the laughter.

“I took Kill to every function when I worked at the art gallery while I was in college. To say that I’ve got barely any experience with men is an understatement. Trust me, you don’t want a piece of the crazy.” The oppressing burden of defeat and loneliness weighed down on her shoulders. “I’ve made my peace with it. I told myself after the Jeremy fiasco that I wouldn’t drag any other guy down with me. I’m in the pit. No sense in you throwing your life away. Jeremy moved to another state to escape us, you know. You seem pretty established here.”

James began to understand how deep the situation could get if he threw his hat into the mix. “Okay. I get it.” He took a step back, trying to wrap his mind around the strangeness of Fallyn’s life. “Am I allowed to drink coffee at your store?”

“I… no,” she ruled, trying to firmly resist his cologne, his lure, his smile that, despite her horrific story, he still found a way to wear a hint of as he looked down at her heart-shaped face. “Absolutely no coffee.”

“But I drink coffee every morning. Sometimes I even take over a table at a coffee shop and spend an hour or two making phone calls. Yours is the nearest one to the office.”

“No coffee. Not if you value your kneecaps. My brothers have a sixth sense about that kind of thing.”

“How about this? Let me see your cell.” He took the phone she handed him and punched his number in under the name “Larissa”. “See? Now we can talk at least, and they won’t have to know. Then we can get to the bottom of why I can’t shake you.”

Fallyn’s cheeks heated. “Can’t shake me, huh? Even after hearing all that?”

“Are you kidding me? Now you’re the forbidden fruit. If there’s anything you need to know about lawyers, it’s that when we’re told no, all we hear are the many arguments we can use to get a yes.” He took a step to close the distance between them, his finger under her chin to tilt her face up so he could get a better look at her. “I’ll call you tonight.”

Fallyn leaned up on her toes to steal a light embrace, inhaling the cologne that was strongest in the crook of his neck. “I’ll answer.”

F
allyn wasted
no time hiring a second and third baker, seeing her business problems with new clarity after her encounter with James. She picked the women who could start the very next night. Just the brief venture from the shop left her with more kitchen work than she had anticipated. She made batters, iced cakes and chipped away at the many custom orders that were piling up.

When Rina and Loretta came in ready to be trained the following evening, Fallyn was overjoyed at the prospect of getting to go home and actually take a shower. She dreamt about putting on clean pajamas. She longed to return James’ message with more than a quick text between rushed meals.

Loretta had just left a bakery two towns over because of the low pay, and Rina was fresh out of culinary school. They were fantastic hires, and found their rhythm not too long after studying the recipes Fallyn had honed through years of trial and error. Loretta was a husky woman in her forties who had a loud voice, used mostly to wrangle her two children, whom she couldn’t stop showing the staff pictures of. Rina was a cautious but chipper twentysomething who didn’t mind taking orders from Fallyn and Loretta. Fallyn quickly saw after a handful of days that Loretta cast herself in the mama bear alpha role, so she began considering the woman for a managerial position. That way Fallyn could have a bit of time away from the never-ending work weeks she seemed chained to. As the days passed, she began to breathe easier.

“How’re the numbers, sweetie?” Kristy inquired as the workday wound to a close, leaning over Fallyn’s chair at her desk to read over her shoulder. Kristy was Declan’s casual girlfriend of three months, whom her brother had insisted she hire to work the counter for the night shift. Fallyn liked Kristy well enough, but the woman treated Fallyn like she was a kid sister, and not an equal or her boss.

“Looking good. Given that we doubled our staff this week? I think we can handle it and still make a decent profit, provided the crowd stays consistent. Tomorrow I can actually chip away at the custom orders.” She stretched, enjoying the luxury of the motion. “I can sleep in my own bed!”

“Like a real rock star,” Kristy kidded, tossing her long black hair over her shoulder. “I think it went well out there tonight. You’re doing good, kiddo.”

Fallyn smiled, but inwardly cringed at the demeaning nickname. She didn’t mind “sweetie”, “honey” or the other affectionate terms, but “kiddo” felt like a slam her family used too often, though she knew Kristy meant no offense. “See you tomorrow, and thanks for all your help.”

Fallyn closed the books and bid Rina goodnight, leaving her to bake the hundreds of muffins she had been doing on her own the many nights before. She packed up her things and headed home, not answering with more than a grunt when Jen chastised her on the phone for working a fourteen-hour shift.

Fallyn’s home was her haven, and she relished that she lived there by herself. The moment she stepped inside, a layer of stress disintegrated automatically. The soft peach accents of her living room enticed her to relax and stay awhile. Fallyn peeled off the skirt that had felt springish and cheery when she’d put it on before the sun rose, but now it was weighted with wrinkles and food stains. She stepped into the shower and washed away the sleepless nights and days. She scrubbed away the responsibilities of her life. She rinsed off the anxiety that had been creeping upon her with every passing day, taunting her that the work of her adventure might prove to be too much.

When she slipped into her pink boy shorts and tank top, she barely made it to the bed before her cell phone chirped. She grinned with secretive delight, locking her door (though she lived alone) and turning on the ceiling fan to drown out any giddiness that the world might overhear. She answered with a cheerful, “I’m hoping you’re the handsomest Larissa I’ve ever seen. Otherwise I got all happy for a platonic call from a potential vendor.”

James chuckled, his easy smile touching her insides from clear across town. “I’ve got no hints of platonic intentions for this phone call.”

She thrilled at his playfully sexy nature she was only just becoming accustomed to over their back and forth the past couple days over text. “Is that so? What sort of things did you have in mind to discuss?”

“Filthy things. Things like dirty muffin pans. Disgusting tabletops with coffee rings on them.”

“Oh, that gets me so hot,” Fallyn joked in a faux-sexy voice. “How was your day for real?”

“My day was better than usual. Apparently one of the senior partners’ jobs isn’t so much working on cases, but securing new big-name clients. It’s lots of dinners and cocktails for him, and a whole lot of delegating to the various attorneys for me. Hard to keep everything straight, but I’m getting there. I think I’m getting my system down.”

“One day you’ll be the senior partner. Then you can tell me the horrors of the upper crust. You can complain how awful it is that they only put one olive in your martini instead of two.”

James smiled at her good nature. “It’s what I worked for, but now that it’s here I feel like a poser. Like I should still be down in the trenches with the guys I hired in with, and now I’m assigning work to them.”

“Politics didn’t seem to be your kryptonite. I’m sure it’s just like any other new job. Overwhelming for the first couple weeks, and then you take the training wheels off.” Fallyn’s nose wrinkled as she slid under her covers. She smiled with contentment she hadn’t felt in ages. She yawned, stretching like a cat under her peach and cream colored comforter.

“I’m keeping you up. You should go to sleep the second after you tell me when I can take you out on a date. The phone is nice, but I can’t see those sexy legs over the phone.”

“You can see your own sexy legs just fine,” she teased.

“Sure, but mine are all hairy. Not the same.” His tone changed. “I can take you someplace out of the city, if that works better for you.”

“James, it would have to be far out of the city, and I would meet you there.”

James frowned. “I haven’t been on an actual date in a long time, but isn’t the guy supposed to pick the girl up?”

“Not if the guy doesn’t want his plates run by Carrigan.” Fallyn sighed, closing her eyes. “Carri’s a cop. You sure you don’t want to just cut your losses? I can’t imagine you’d have a hard time finding a date without all the drama.”

“I want to see where this goes. Saturday night. There’s a hole in the wall restaurant on the west end of the city I think would be perfect. Cesca’s Eatery. Do you know it?”

“We can’t go there.”

“Your brother works there, too?”

Fallyn sighed. “No, but the family who hates mine owns Cesca’s, so that’s off limits. Anything on the west side is a no-go zone.”

James frowned. “I’ve never run into so many obstacles before. How about Mexican Vila in Clintondale? Do you know it?”

Fallyn shook her head. “No, which makes it perfect. Eight o’clock?”

“See you then, flour girl.”

Fallyn went to sleep within seconds after they ended the call. She drifted off into dreamland with a smile on her face.