Connelly Crime Family Trilogy

by Winters, KB

  “Don’t thank me, Layla. I couldn’t have left you here for anything in the world.”

  Her smile trembled with unshed tears. “I know my timing sucks,” she began and sucked in a breath, “but I was planning on telling you tonight or last night and then everything went straight to hell. And I want—”

  “Layla,” I blurted out to stop her nervous chatter.

  She blinked, smiled, took a deep breath. “I’m falling in love with you and I want to see you past tonight.”

  “Signing off,” Rourke said quickly.

  “Not me, I’m not missing this,” Shae said with a smile in his voice.

  I didn’t need my brother around when I finally claimed Layla, body and soul, so I grabbed the device out of my ear, took her hand and helped her inside the car.

  “Let’s get out of here.”

  “That sounds perfect.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Layla

  What in the hell was I thinking, blurting it out like that? He looked terrified. Actually that wasn’t true, he didn’t have time to look anything before he started grumbling to himself about nosy brothers. In fact, he hadn’t said one damn word to me since we got in his car. After a thirty- minute ride, and we’d been at his house for another thirty minutes.

  In absolute fucking silence. Nothing made a rejection sting harder than cold hard silence. We were sitting on his couch and I it was done with the silent treatment. I said, “I’d like to go home now.”

  I was too exhausted to hold it together and it wouldn’t be fair to cry in front of him. Home was the best option.

  “Not yet.” He dropped his hand down on my thigh as he sat next to me on the sofa and squeezed it gently. “I want to talk to you,” he whispered. He sounded as exhausted as I was.

  My shoulders sagged in disappointment but I wasn’t surprised. “We can do our last night tomorrow, Eamon. I’m too tired right now.”

  He turned to me, a frown covering his face. “So you lied?” he said.

  I blinked. “Lied? What did I lie about?”

  “You said you wanted to be with me an hour ago and now you want to talk about rescheduling our last fuck?”

  Oh. That. “Your silence spoke volumes, so if you’re looking for me to beg or cry and scream, I’m too tired.” And to emotionally scarred.

  “I want you to tell me what you want,” he said.

  I mustered a smile. “I already did. You, Eamon. I want you.” I cupped his face again, staring into his eyes. “Just. You.”

  “Good, because I want you too, Layla. So fucking bad.”

  He didn’t wait for my response before his lips were on mine, devouring my mouth like it was his last meal. He tasted of whiskey or maybe it was scotch, but it was spicy and rich. Strong.

  “Layla,” he moaned.

  He pulled back and stared at me, brushing a thumb over the bruise on my cheekbone and then trailing another finger over the bloodstain on my forehead.

  “Eamon, please. Love me.”

  He flashed a grin that was halfway between boyish and rakish before leaning in for another taste. “I already do.”

  I wanted more details. I wanted him to say those three words, to hear his sexy timber as he grunted those words in my ear but when his tongue dipped into the hollow of my throat and when his hands cupped my breasts, I was lost.

  Totally fucking lost.

  “Eamon, please.”

  My hands roamed over him, hungry to feel every inch of his sculpted body. I wanted to look at him, but I was too desperate to touch him and taste him, to give him the same pleasure he gave to me.

  “Yes, Layla, yes.”

  His hands, his mouth were everywhere, and he tore at my clothes until I was naked. Until his clothes were strewn over mine and the hair on his chest scraped against my own smooth skin.

  “It’s been too fucking long,” he growled in my ear.

  I agreed, but my throat wouldn’t work, not when his mouth took a nipple, licking and sucking it until I moaned out loud. He moved back and forth on my breasts, making me feel like my body and brain had been disconnected and the only thing I could do was feel.

  “Too long,” he kept saying over and over.

  We came together and it was fast and rough, inelegant but oh so incredible. His mouth worked magic on every inch of my skin, electrifying me everywhere he touched. It was amazing, a feeling I’d never experienced as he pumped into me. Slow and deep and hard, his gaze never left mine and every push brought us closer together. Closer to the knife’s edge of pleasure.

  “Layla. Oh, Layla.”

  My name came out on a low growl as one hand cupped my thigh and his deep strokes came faster. Harder.

  “Eamon, I’m. So. Close.”

  His smile was predatory and his gaze dark like a man on a mission. “I love watching you come, Layla and I love the way you clench around me. Hell, I just fucking love you baby.”

  And dammit if that didn’t push me right over the edge into a shattering orgasm that was more like an out of body experience. If not for the look in Eamon’s eyes as he thrust, then froze and shook as his own orgasm roared through his body, I might have thought I was dreaming. Or worse, dead. But the benefit of an outer body experience was getting to see that look of love shining in his eyes even as pleasure coursed through him.

  Eamon collapsed on top of me and the weight of his big, warm, ultra-masculine body was enough to send another round of shockwaves bouncing through me.

  “Oh, Layla.”

  “Say it again,” I urged him because I needed to hear it again and I needed to know those words weren’t spoken in lust.

  He pulled back with a smile. “I am in love with you, Layla.”

  My heart stuttered to a stop before it kicked into overdrive and tried to beat its way out of my chest. “That’s good because I am so in love with you too. You saved me,” I told him quietly as tears trekked down my face.

  “I’ll always save you. Always protect you.”

  “Always?”

  “And then some, babe.”

  Suddenly the night—or the morning—didn’t seem so bad.

  Epilogue

  Layla ~ One month later

  I gestured for Eamon, sitting next to me on the couch, to give me a moment to wrap up the phone call with my dad. He curled his arm around my shoulder and kissed my temple by way of an answer. A month had passed since my kidnapping, but Dad still wasn’t convinced that I’d made the right decision by sticking with Eamon. Hell, I wasn’t convinced, but the way he held me, the way he looked into my eyes, I couldn’t fathom being without him.

  “And you’re sure his family is going to protect you?”

  “Yes, Dad. I told you, there are guys protecting me around the clock and Eamon’s house is pretty much a fortress. There are guys protecting you as well.”

  He paused. “I was wondering about that. Ever since I started going to rehab, I’ve seen the same car drive up and down my street.”

  “Well now you know.”

  Eamon’s cell phone rang. He unwound himself from me, stood up from the couch and crossed to the other side of the room to answer it. I turned my attention back to my conversation.

  “Look, Dad, I know this all started in a strange and ugly way, but please believe me when I say I’m happy. Eamon treats me like a princess and even though he’s rough around the edges, he really is a big ole teddy bear.”

  Eamon gave me a wink when he heard that. I grinned back at him, hearing at the same time Dad’s deep sigh travel through the phone line.

  “Okay, sweetheart,” he said. “Just, please be careful. You know what that man can do.”

  “I will, Dad. I love you.”

  “I love you too. Call me tomorrow.”

  I smiled. “Sure thing, Dad. Bye.”

  I slid the phone onto the coffee table. Eamon had finished his call and returned to the couch. He slid next to me and curled his arm around my waist and I cupped his cheek with my hand and pulled him close to m
e.

  If last month was crazy as hell, this month had been heaven on earth. Eamon had been more than I could have ever hoped in a man. Sweet and attentive, still bossy and sexy as hell, and every day he told me how much he loved me.

  Yeah, my life didn’t suck anymore.

  “What’s that grin for?” he asked.

  I was staring at me with an affectionate smile on his lips. “I was just thinking about my hot boyfriend who spoils me rotten.”

  Eamon rolled his eyes, wrapping me in his arms and pulling me onto his lap.

  “I want to spoil you woman, but you make it damn hard.”

  It was true. He’d tried to buy me jewelry and clothes and even a car over the past week, but I didn’t want any of it.

  “With the way you look at me, I have everything I need.”

  “Believe me I get plenty out of looking at you.” He smacked a kiss on my neck and squeezed tight. “I’m going to spoil you the rest of your life. Just wait.”

  Who would’ve ever thought the asshole mobster I found pounding my dad’s face in with his fists would end up the love of my life? Certainly not me, and certainly not my dad. It turned out Eamon wasn’t just a badass enforcer and heir apparent to the Connelly family criminal organization. He was also a romantic.

  “You already do spoil me. Clearing my dad’s debt was more than enough.”

  Eamon offered to pay for rehab for Dad, and at first, we didn’t think he was ready, but finally Dad accepted the help and was in outpatient groups every day. “I appreciate all that you want to do, Eamon, but you’re all that I need.”

  “You know that only makes me love you more, right?”

  I did know and it told me a lot about the man I’d fallen for and his trust issues.

  “All part of my evil plan to get you to fall so in love with me you never fall out.”

  “Not gonna be a problem, princess. You’re stuck with me. And the family.”

  That part still took some getting used to, but his family was great, at least the three I’d met so far. Rourke was the quiet one, Shae was the charming one and Patrick was the father. The leader. The head of the Connelly family. They were all handsome men who carried themselves with the kind of confidence that came from knowing your place in the world. It was hard to remember they were ruthless gangsters when I watched them razz each other over video games or fight over the last piece of meat.

  “No place I’d rather be.”

  “Good because we have some unfinished business.” His smile turned sensual and his touch softened.

  “Do we?”

  His smile turned serious and his eyes softened. “We do. I love you Layla and I want to make sure you’re mine, that I can protect you, love you, for the rest of our lives.”

  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a deep blue box and flipped the lid open.

  My hands flew to my face and I shrieked, “Oh my God!”

  It was a gigantic sapphire in a princess cut setting with what seemed like thousands of diamonds circling it like icy ballerinas. I could barely breathe I was so surprised.

  “It’s gorgeous, Eamon.”

  “Not as gorgeous as you,” he grinned, but with nervous tremor in his voice.

  “Layla Julene Michaels, will you marry me?”

  Tears pooled in my eyes and I shook my head eagerly. He took the ring out of the box and slipped it on my finger. I wrapped my arms around him, trapping the ring box between us as I dotted his face with kisses.

  “I can’t wait to marry you, Eamon.” I pulled back with a frown. “You don’t think it’s too soon?”

  “Fuck no,” he said gruffly. “I’d marry you tonight if you’d go for it.”

  I could see the hope written all over his face and I nearly agreed on the spot.

  “Tonight is a little soon,” I said, my head spinning and my heart overflowing with love. “But I hear spring weddings are nice.”

  Springtime in Rocket was gorgeous, and it would make for a memorable wedding day.

  Eamon’s face darkened and I worried he had changed his mind.

  “Spring is months away,” he grumbled. “It’s too long.”

  “There is one way I might marry you sooner,” I told him playfully.

  “What is it?” His gaze was serious. Dark.

  “Let’s have a baby.”

  He growled and nibbled my ear, using his weight to lay me back on the sofa. “I’m going to give you all the babies you want.”

  Those were the words I wanted to hear. My legs circled his waist and crossed at the ankles. “Eamon? Can we start now?”

  “Yes. Damn, I love to hear you moan my name,” he all but roared, sliding his denim covered cock back and forth between my thighs.

  “I love when you make me moan your name.”

  “I live for it,” he said in a tone that stole my breath away. I pulled him down for a forceful kiss that set my body on fire.

  My shirt was on the floor and one hand was down his pants when his phone vibrated on the coffee table beside us. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “Nope.” Eamon reached for the phone but his gaze never left mine. His hips pushed forward, adding a torturous amount of pleasure to the wet spot between my legs.

  “Yeah?”

  As I watched Eamon, his smile quickly faded, and then turned serious. “Everything okay,” I mouthed but he nodded and brushed me off.

  A short pause then just as he hung up the phone he said, “Those Milano motherfuckers.”

  The Milano name filled me with no small amount of fear. The last time I heard that name, I was tied to a chair by a fat, stinking ginger. “What do they want? Revenge?”

  Eamon let out a long sigh and rubbed his forehead. “Doubtful. They aren’t leaving Reno. I think this is less about revenge and more about a hostile fucking takeover. Those sorry motherfuckers want the family’s business, but the Connelly’s don’t bend over for anyone.”

  I swallowed against the lump in my throat and leaned into Eamon. I knew I’d told my dad that we were protected, safe. And I truly believed we were. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that things were about to get a helluva lot worse.

  I turned to Eamon and held his face in my hands. “Go after these fuckers, babe. Do what you have to do but please, come back to me.”

  His expression melted and a smile crossed his beautiful face. “Always. Babe. Always.”

  * * * *

  ~ T H E ~ E N D ~

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  Copyright © 2019 KB Winters and BookBoyfriends Publishing LLC

  Published By: BookBoyfriends Publishing LLC

  Copyright and Disclaimer

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2019 KB Winters and BookBoyfriends Publishing LLC

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of the trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Chapter One

  Ivy

  This can’t be happening.

  That was the only thought on my mind as I sat on the hard, brown plastic chairs of the hospital waiting room. I craned my neck every time I spotted someone in scrubs or a white lab coat. Someone with
information. An update. Hell, anything.

  Three hours ago an ER nurse called to tell me my baby brother Ian had been in a car accident and still I didn’t know if he was still alive, walking around, or even discharged and I was in the wrong place.

  “Are you family of Ian Anders?”

  I looked up at the silver haired doctor cutting through my fog.

  “I’m his sister. How is he?”

  “I’m Dr. Mannheim. I’m your brother’s surgeon.”

  I managed to get myself up off the chair to shake the hand he offered.

  “Ian’s right leg was mangled in the wreck. He has several pins and plates but we’ve saved his leg. The surgery went well and we’ll help him manage the pain. We’ll don’t expect any problems during recovery, but we’ll keep him here until he’s out of the woods. We might have to go back in for another surgery in a few weeks.”

  “Another surgery?” My legs gave out and I dropped back onto the nearest chair with an inelegant plop. “Will he walk again?”

  Dr. Mannheim’s lips twitched but to his credit, his expression remained stoic. “Yes. It’s just a break. A severe one, but he didn’t do any permanent damage. Ian will heal well, provided he does his physical therapy.”

  If physical therapy meant the difference between Ian’s recovery, his ability to walk again or possibly becoming an invalid, I had my mission. “I’ll make sure it’s his number one priority. I get it. Anything else?”

  “No,” he began, “Ian is young and healthy . . .” but I barely heard another word he said because the relief that rushed through my body made me a little dizzy.

  When I first got the call about the accident, my heart stopped and I couldn’t breathe. It was eerily similar to another call. But at least the news about Ian didn’t end with me losing yet another family member.

  “You should be able to go back and see him soon.”

  Those words brought the air back into the room. “Oh, thank you,” I said. “That’s such good news.” That was just what I needed, to see with my own two eyes that Ian was fine. Then I’d feel better and maybe my heart would beat normally again.