Pursuit: Brandon & Carly (Mafia Ties Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page A

had two picture windows, facing a private courtyard. I’d chosen the apartment for the back and the kitchen. I loved to cook, it was something I’d done with my mother since I was a child. Nic used to give me shit about it until he tasted my food. Shut his ass up real quick.
    I pulled out everything I needed to make chicken parmigiana, grateful that I’d had the foresight to send a text to one of the guys to make sure the kitchen was fully stocked for our return. My eyes swept the room, the cogs in my mind spinning as I thought about how it would look to Carly. I owned the whole building, but since I lived alone, I hadn’t felt the need to expand my apartment. Now that I was moving Carly in with me, and knowing I’d be marrying her and knocking her up shortly, I started thinking about combining the two first floor apartments when the neighbors lease was up.
    Carly wandered in after around fifteen minutes. “Smells great,” she said, making her way to the window near the kitchen area and staring out warily.
    “Carly, c’mere,” I encouraged. She turned around and walked over, straight into the arm I’d held open for her. I pulled her close and kissed her temple. “You’re safe, kitten,” I reassured her. “I’m here, and I’ve got guys watching the building.” I felt her shoulders droop slightly as she relaxed. Kissing her temple again, I held a spoon of the sauce I was stirring to her mouth. She put her mouth around it and just like that, I was hard as fuck again.
    “Damn, Brandon. It’s so good,” she moaned. Special, I reminded myself as I guided her to a chair at the kitchen table, saying a prayer to the Virgin Mary. Seemed appropriate considering the circumstances.
    “Tell me about how you know Nic and why you decided to help him.” Nic had told me some, but I wanted to hear the full story from Carly.
    “What do you want to know?” she asked guardedly.
    I frowned at her. “All of it. Start from the beginning.”
    She sighed and put an elbow on the table, resting her chin in her hand, watching me as I moved around preparing the food.
    “You know about my childhood, mostly. I was home schooled, for lack of a better term,” she spit acidly. “So, I didn’t have a lot of friends, only the kids of my father’s”—she made air quotes—“‘trusted’ men. However, he still made sure I went to Sunday school, needing to keep up appearances and all. We couldn’t have Father Gannon damning him to Hell,” she sneered, rolling her eyes. “As though he doesn’t already have a personally engraved throne at the devil’s side.”
    I put the breaded chicken and French bread in the oven and sat at the table with her. Picking up the clenched fist in her lap, I pulled her fingers apart and began to massage her hand.
    She sighed, her eyes closing in bliss. “Wow, who knew a simple hand massage could cause such comfort?” she said with surprise.
    I smiled. “My mother used to do it for me and my brothers when we were sick.”
    Carly’s eyes softened and the sides of her lips turned up. “That’s really sweet.”
    “I’m a sweet guy,” I quipped, earning myself an eye roll and a chuckle.
    “Anyway, I met a girl who had an Italian father and an Irish mother. Meagan’s mother was considered a traitor and disowned by her family, but she still brought her daughter to Father Gannon’s Sunday school classes. As we got older, we got creative in keeping in touch and stayed friends.” Carly cast her eyes down and dropped her other hand to the table, drawing circles with her finger. I gave her hand a deliberate squeeze to remind her I was with her and urge her to continue.
    Meagan was Enzo’s cousin, but her father worked with Nic’s uncle Antonio in one of our legit businesses, and I didn’t know either of them well.
    “One day, I don’t even remember what I did, I pissed off my da and he beat the shit out of me.” She flinched, and I realized I’d gripped her hand hard and immediately gentled