Page 28 of Her Michigan Mob Boss

“It’s sausages, bacon, potatoes and carrots,” Ciaran explained. “We like to have traditional Irish dishes on special occasions.”

“Well, it smells amazing, and I could use a good home-cooked meal after all the junk I’ve eaten this week.”

“Annie’s on vacation,” Will said as Emily held her hand out for Ciaran’s plate. “She’s leaving tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” Emily’s face fell. “But you and Ciaran look so good together. I thought this was the start of something amazing.”

“You never know what might happen,” Ciaran replied cryptically. He stared at me for a moment, an intensity in his gaze that had me shifting uncomfortably in my seat. That strange sense of dread nagged at me once more, but it disappeared as quickly as it had arrived when Ciaran smiled broadly. “Come on, let’s eat. I’m starving.”

ChapterEleven

Annie

As we headed upstairs after dinner, with a generous slice of Emily’s birthday cake to share, I couldn’t banish a twinge of embarrassment. While the others were going out to a club to celebrate, Ciaran had made no secret of what he wanted to do instead. His declaration that we had better things to do and weren’t to be disturbed made it obvious he intended to fuck me. Though I wasn’t a prude, I was uncomfortable with the thought of Ciaran’s siblings knowing we’d stayed home to have sex.

I wouldn’t let mild discomfort ruin what had been a perfect night, though. I loved Ciaran’s siblings. Though I was wary of Sean at first, he turned out to be warm and funny. Will was a total sweetheart, and Emily was kind and welcoming. She’d been happy to share funny stories from their childhood.

Ciaran had stepped out halfway through dinner to take a call from Jace. He’d been pensive, but a glass of wine and some of his brothers’ banter had soon loosened him up. The rest of the evening had made me sad I wouldn’t be able to stick around and get to know the Reilly family better.

When I reached the top of the stairs, I discovered there were corridors leading off in two different directions. Ciaran led me along the passageway to the left.

“This is my part of the house,” he explained. “The rest of them have rooms in the other wing.”

“That’s mean,” I teased. “You’ve got all this space to yourself, and they have to share.”

“Yes, my heart bleeds for them.” He raised a hand to his chest in an insincere gesture of pity.

“Well, the perks of being the oldest brother, I suppose.”

“And their boss.”

We hadn’t gone into any details about his business, but I had ascertained through snippets dropped into the conversation at dinner that Sean and Will both worked for him. His cousin Jace did, too. That made it quite the family affair.

“Do they like working for you?” I asked, as we stopped at the second door to the right.

“It’s not a question of liking it. They do it because that’s how families like ours operate.”

“Right.” Something about that struck a chord with me. It was like the tangled pieces in my mind were finally coming together. The hints I’d picked up here and there were forming into a coherent thought. I didn’t have time to unravel it, though, because Ciaran opened the door to the most incredible bedroom I’d ever seen. “This is…” Words escaped me. “Wow!”

The entire upstairs of my house would have fit into this room. Decorated in a calming palette of neutral tones, it was masculine, but not overwhelmingly so. An enormous wooden bed dominated the space, but it was the windows on either side of it that caught my eye. Though it was dark now, I could see lights twinkling on the water outside. I’d bet the view was amazing in the daytime.

“You like it?” Ciaran asked, setting the plate with the birthday cake down on the nightstand as I walked around the space.

“I do.”

There was a fireplace off to the left, with two large leather armchairs placed at either side of a wooden trunk that doubled as a coffee table. A long, padded bench lay at the end of the bed. There were a set of small dressers on one side of the room, with a rectangular mirror above them.

On the right side of the room were two doors. One was open, revealing a closet that seemed to stretch back for at least twelve feet. The other door was closed, but I assumed it led to a bathroom whose level of luxury probably matched the bedroom.

I stopped my tour of the room when I came to the portrait of Ciaran on the wall. It was a perfect likeness. She’d captured not just his physical presence but an aspect of his character I’d had several glimpses of. His attire was formal, a three-piece suit with a tie. His stance was rigid, and his smile wasn’t reflected in his dark gaze. It reminded me of the portraits of wealthy landowners that hung in stately homes. This was a man in command, perhaps to be feared.

Ciaran came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my chest.

“What do you think?”

“She’s so talented.” Something about the image unnerved me. “She’s made you look forbidding.”

“Perhaps that’s how she sees me.” He twirled me around so I was facing him. “Do you see me that way?”

---