Page 23 of My Irish Mafia King

Between the kisses, I gasp,“Mo slánaitheoir.”

“I’m nobody’s savior,” he growls. “I’m just trying to do the right thing.”

“And the right thing is fucking me in the kitchen, is it?”

He slowly lowers me to my feet. My body tingles all over, my nipples feeling ultra-sensitive in my bra. My sex aches just as needy.

He takes a shaky step back. “I promised myself I wouldn’t do this. I’m not right for you.”

“More mixed signals…”

“Listen to me, Lucy. You need to lea?—”

“Don’t tell me to leave,” I snap. “I’ve already told you. I made a promise to Mom. I won’t let them intimidate me.”

“You don’t know?—”

I grab his shirt, standing on my tiptoes and getting in his face. “Don’t tell me I don’t know what I’m dealing with. I’ve been dealing with Shane since before you walked into the freaking Crust. Every single week, he’s been here, making threats, shaking me down. Iknowhow bad the mob is. I saw how violent it can be. I saw how violent you are…”

“That should make you want to run as fast as you can,” he snarls. “I’m not telling you to leave forever, just until this is over.”

“I’m not abandoning the Crust. That’s the end of it.”

His lip twitches into a smirk. He frowns it off his face like he’s pissed at himself. “Are you always this stubborn?”

“My mom was the only family I had before she got sick. Dad was an abusive asshole. When he died, me and Mom considered it him doing us a favor. After that, we only had each other… Do you seriously think I’d break a promise I made to her? Nope, not happening. So why don’tyoudo whatever’s necessary to make sure I can run my business and stay safe?”

He shakes his head, moving away from me, looking at me with an icy cold glare. “I could make you leave, Lucy.”

“You could kidnap me, sure. But will you?”

“You saw what I’m capable of. Who I really am.”

“That’s not an answer to my question.”

He grits his teeth.“Fuck.”

Before I know it, he’s got his hands on me again. He grabs my hips and pulls me against him. His touch simmers through the fabric of my clothes. I’m hotter than I understand, and it makes it far too easy to lean in for another kiss. He leans away, stinging me. He looks like he’s in pain from the effort of resisting a kiss.

“If you’re staying in the States, I can’t do this.”

“Do what?”

“Us,” he whispers, trembling, as he takes a step away from me. “Lucky charm… you mess with my head. You made focusing on restaurants difficult enough, let alone a mafia war.”

I try not to let the rejection show, but it hurts. Maybe that’s why I get mean. “It’s not like I planned on getting with a violent psycho, anyway.”

“We understand each other, then,” he says gruffly. “I’ll keep you safe. I’ll shelter you from the storm. But don’t for a second think I’m the same young man who gave you that ring all those years ago… To save you, Lucy, I’ll have to become a monster. Oh, wait, you’re right… I alreadyama monster.”

Wait, I almost yell at him when he turns away, fists clenched, rushing from the kitchen.

I want to tell him I didn’t mean it. That I understand. That I’m grateful for what he did. Without him, Shane would probably still have a prisoner upstairs.

But then the moment is gone, leaving me with his taste on my lips and the memory of his body making mine sizzle.

Ten

KILLIAN

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