Page 18 of Mafia Boss' Surprise Baby

“You know why.”

“It’s your favorite? You don’t like to be disturbed in a meeting?”

“Don’t play dumb with me,” he says.

“You want me?” I ask and feel absolutely clueless. Does he? Is he suffering just as much as I am?

“In the interview, you came over and gave me a hug. I thought you were going to know instantly how much I wanted you.”

“I didn’t hug you. I kissed your cheek,” I correct.

“That’s right. Then you lost your balance and I caught you.”

“I swayed and lost my balance because desire hit me like a ton of bricks, Mick. I got too close to you and there was no denying it. I went to kiss your cheek and realized it was the stupidest idea I ever had.”

“Why?”

“Because I had to go home and dosomethingto get my mind right,” I admit.

He smirks, his pupils blown wide. “Did you touch yourself while you thought about me?”

I’m too far in to lie now. “Maybe.”

“And did you come?” his voice drops even lower.

“Harder than I ever have before.”

An involuntary grunt leaves his lips and I’m jolted back to my senses.

I can hardly stay in my chair.

“I’ve got to get out of here,” I gasp.

“Probably a good idea,” he says.

11

MICKEY

“Well fuck me,” I mutter to myself while pouring two fingers of whiskey into a glass and draining it in one gulp.

I’m pissed at myself for how far I let that conversation get. I get back to work and try to ignore the riot of sensations rocketing through my body and the constant loop of her words on repeat in my brain.Harder than I ever have.That is an image that is permanently seared into my memory now.

I should’ve left well enough alone. I should’ve promoted that greasy nephew to cover for Benny Ragucci. At least I wouldn’t be tempted by him. Tempted to jeopardize my longest friendship, to cross the line with an employee. To do more than have a filthy bad-idea fling. To lay my damn heart at her feet like an offering.

Because I love the way she looks at me, and the way she teases me and laughs and tries so damn hard to be perfect at everything. How she doesn’t want to let anyone down. Not me, not my organization, not her brother that hardly pays attention to her. Even though it sounds to me like everybody has let her down time and again all her life.

The next day, Rory and I go for lunch after a meeting uptown. He asks me how his sister is doing with the job.

“She still staying with you? You oughta know,” I shrug.

“We don’t talk much. It’s weird. I didn’t have much time for her when she was a kid because the age difference. It’s not like I wanted to sit around and play Barbie and crap like that. Now she’s back home for a while and doing shit like trying to make Mom’s meat loaf recipe and asking why I’m not staying home to eat.” He shakes his head. “If I wanted a ball and chain, I’d get hitched.”

“Think maybe she just wants to spend time with you?” I hazard. It’s mixed up, the way I feel about this story he’s telling me. He’s my best friend, so my knee-jerk reaction is to say, ‘hell no, you’re a grown man she can get over it’. But this is Katie and all she wants is to get to know Rory better as adults now. I can tell how it hurts her when she goes to the trouble to look up their mom’s meatloaf recipe and make it for him and he acts like a jerk. So part of me feels disloyal to him about taking her side, but the rest of me wants to knock sense into him.

“It can’t be that bad to have actual blood family that wants to hang with you.”

“Are you taking her side?” He nearly chokes on his beer.

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