Smoked and Smitten (The Titans of South Side Book 1)

by Carson Mackenzie

  “Ms. Richie, I am so sorry I am late,” I gasped when I got close enough for her to hear. The woman frowned at me and then pulled the phone from against her ear. She was all business, from the first moment I met her, I knew the woman was a little uptight. She wore her gray dress pants with matching jacket like a shield. Her hair was short and cut close to her head and she NEVER smiled. I had met the woman probably three times and not once did I see her smile, ever.

  “Ms. Nixon, you really should have called if you were going to be late. My time…” the woman said briskly and I nodded and held up a hand.

  “I know, and I would have, but my daughter wasn’t feeling well, I thought I would be on time but it took longer than I anticipated,” I said and pulled out my keys and opened the door.

  “Well, you are a little lucky since the lieutenant who was coming to look things over as well was running behind too,” Ms. Richie said briskly.

  “Sorry about that, Richie. I was just finishing up the report from this morning’s fire. Time got away from me,” the voice said from behind me and I gasped loudly and turned to see Kian O’Malley.

  “Lieutenant O’Malley,” I said with a surprised tone and smiled at him. “Fancy running into you here. If I was paranoid, I would be worrying you were following me.”

  Holy cats, I was actually flirting with a fireman, like a real fireman. I don’t know why he affected me like this, every time I saw him it was like I was suddenly a vixen, which was awesome.

  Kian smiled at me and then winked, “You never know. It might be fate.”

  I opened my mouth to reply and Ms. Richie interrupted, “I’m running behind and I’m sorry to rush this along but I have another inspection on the other side of town.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” I said and then pulled open the door and held it open for her to enter. Kian winked at me again as he grabbed the edge of the door and motioned me in front of him. “You know,” I whispered to him, “I have lived here my whole life and I know I have never seen you before, and now, suddenly I am seeing you everywhere, so that whole fate thing could be right.”

  “Such an exciting possibility,” Kian said and then moved to follow the inspector around. He stopped when he actually looked at the merchandise I already had set up, as well as the boxes which were still sitting waiting to be unpacked. I saw him stop and then turn quickly and raise an eyebrow at me. I put my hand to my mouth and giggled a little and then winked and walked to the desk and waited while they did the inspection. I could hear the rumblings of them talking as they were checking the back storeroom.

  It took around a half an hour and then Ms. Richie and Kian walked back into the storefront where I was still sitting and waiting. They were both smiling and Ms. Richie actually seemed to be blushing at something Kian said, it was a miracle, and here I thought she was gay.

  “Well,” Ms. Richie said briskly when she saw me. “Everything passed, I will file the papers with the city.”

  I smiled and nodded but my eyes were drawn to Kian who was now staring at me intently. “Thank you.”

  “No worries,” Kian said softly and Ms. Richie glared at me.

  “Yes, well, we will get out of your hair now. O’Malley, let’s head out.”

  He looked away from me and then spoke to the inspector. “Ready when you are.”

  The inspector smiled at him and then nodded. She put the piece of paper in front of me and then walked to the door and paused while Kian looked at me and winked, then followed.

  Damn, he was just too freaking cute for words.

  Opening day, I never thought it would get here. I walked with a little bounce in my step as I made my way to the front of the store. In my head I was mentally thinking of everything I needed to get done before I turned the open sign in the window. It was finally happening, everything I had ever dreamed of was right in my reach. And next week, finally our apartment was gonna be done.

  I looked around the street and smiled. I loved this area. It was perfect. When I was young I never dreamed I would be able to do this, but here I am, a business owner. Seeing the awning on the outside of my business I grinned, it was perfect. When I picked it out to add to the front of the shop my father had grumbled about his friends driving by and knowing exactly what I sold because of the female silhouette under the words Sassy and Sexy. He didn’t care, he just didn’t want to get ribbed at the weekly card game he went to.

  With a sigh, I stopped in front of my store, pulled out the key and opened the door. The sense of satisfaction flowed over me. Mine, I thought and then relocked the door behind me. There was two hours to opening, and I needed to make sure everything was set out for the open house. So far, there was a lot of feedback to the ads I placed in the paper as well as on all the social media sites. I had one employee, her name was Veronica or ‘Ronnie’, which she liked to use.

  Mom and her friends were going to come by and help out, while my dad watched Lily. I cringed and hoped he didn’t teach her another drinking song, she was picking up everything these days. I began to gather things up, getting out the bags which I had made for the last week every night, they were just little welcome bags for the people who came in, samples my vendors had given me as well as some coupons.

  As I ran through my list of things to do, I seriously couldn’t stop myself from thinking about Kian O’Malley. I had seen him six times, it was driving me crazy because every time there was no time to talk to him. It was literally bump and miss. It sucked, because for the first time in a long time, I actually enjoyed the flirting I was doing.

  “Yoo hoo!” I heard from the door and I turned and smiled. My mom and her friends were standing in the doorway. They had been so excited when she asked if they would help her today handing out the bags she made on the street in front of her store. They were going to get a few incentives, which honestly I could not think about because it kinda creeped me out to think what my mom had picked. I may need a bleach memory scrub sometime in the near future.

  “Come on in!” I said to them and the women all poured in, wait a second, there were a few extra. I looked at my mom ready to ask her what was going on when she answered.

  “Honey, I know you won’t mind, but Serena O’Malley and Milana Russo were at loose ends, we saw them at the hair salon and told them all about this place and they wanted to come with us,” my mother said and I paused and looked at the two women. Oh shit, O’Malley, it couldn’t be.

  “Okay,” I said slowly. Yeah, that was awesome. I totally looked like an idiot.

  “I’m Serena,” the short, dark-haired woman who was wearing a twin sweater set, no shit. I didn’t think anyone wore them anymore, and she had a scarf around her neck. Holy shit, she looked like a middle aged Barbie. “This is my best friend, Milana.”

  My gaze turned on the other woman, dark hair also, but she was taller, no less gorgeous, but she didn’t look like a Barbie, she looked like a princess. Who in the heck were these perfectly put together women?

  “Welcome to Sassy and Sexy,” I choked out.

  Both of the women smiled and looked around my store with interest. How in the hell could I find out if they were related to Kian?

  “Well, what do you want us to get organized?” my mother said and I snapped my eyes back to her. I nodded and focused.

  For the next hour I got the women organized, and when I heard my mom yell something I looked up and grinned. My dad had brought Lily with a bunch of flowers.

  “Congratulations, honey. Lily wanted to tell her mommy how proud she was of her.”

  I walked to the door where he was standing, Lily screamed loudly and flung herself toward me as I laughed and scooped her up and hugged her. “Thank you, honey,” I said and Lily smacked her hands against my cheek, held my face, and then leaned forward and slobber kissed me.

  “How precious,” I heard someone call. I turned and smiled at Serena who was moving toward her. “Oh, Ana, your mom told us all how precious she was but I have not had a chance to see her before. She is so adorable.�
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  Milana clapped and said, “I love babies. May I hold her?”

  Lily smiled at the women shyly and then turned and buried her head in my neck. “Lily doesn’t really do well with strangers,” I said, right when my daughter lifted her head and held out her arms to Serena who was closest to us. My mouth had to be open in shock. What in the heck?

  “What a doll!” Serena whispered as she held her hands out to Lily and my daughter fell into them.

  “Oh shit!” I heard and I turned and saw a younger version of Serena standing in the doorway. Holy crap, where in the heck did they get their genes from? “Ma, do not be getting any ideas!”

  “Fi!” Serena said and looked at me. “I hope you don’t mind, I called my daughter when I saw what wonderful things you had. Fiona, this is Ana; Ana, my daughter, Fiona, she is single as well, and tends to be well...her brothers call her a ‘man eater’ I thought maybe you know, something here could give her inspiration to soften up a little.”

  I smiled and nodded. “Uh I don’t know, I um think maybe that is a personal decision...”

  “Pft, please, my daughter is not really the kind to take direction well, you have to nudge her along you know. I mean, I have five children and none of them are married and settled down. I swear, if I could just get one of them to give me one of these sweet little babies, I would be happy...for a while,” Serena whispered loudly to me and the younger woman made a noise that let me know she had heard everything her mother said. Like it was hard, but not my family so not my problem. “She needs to settle down. I’m really hoping maybe something here will help her find the ‘right’ man, you know? There is an FBI man who is coming to town, if she would wear one of these little numbers, I’m sure she would be more open to…well.”

  “Mother!” Fiona snapped and shook her head. “You did not. Oh my God, I’m calling Kian and telling him what you are doing now. After last week when you invited Hunchback Betty to dinner and tried to arrange a blind date with him, he is going to kill you.”

  Serena rolled her eyes. “Dramatic, I swear.”

  Well shit, that answered that question, Kian was related to these women, and apparently they were trying to set him up with someone. Great. How the hell was I going to deal with this, today, and Lily wasn’t looking like she wanted to leave the stranger’s arms. I watched as Serena rocked back and forth slowly, without even seeming to notice as she talked to her sister and her daughter. My parents had snuck out front and were talking so when I looked around for support there was none. Okay then, so I stood and watched as the woman held my child and Lily began to fall asleep. Really, I was in awe of this woman, Lily didn’t like to be held by just anyone. It seemed though, that she apparently liked Serena.

  “Ma!” Fiona snapped.

  “What? Come on, look back here. Ana does those parties you know for ‘women only’, she had all this stuff you can look at without being embarrassed. I want to have one, what do you think?”

  Fiona looked at her mom and shook her head. “No, I am not going to deal with this. No way. I don’t care if you have baby fever or not, I am not going to play along with this. It is time you understood, I like my life, I like my job, I do not want to settle down yet.”

  “No one actually believes that, dear,” Milana whispered and shook her head at Serena. “Really, you should have had another girl, this one has been around the guys too much. She is about as bad as they are.”

  I don’t know when I lost control of the situation, but seriously I needed to get it back. My store was opening in less than an hour, and there were still things that needed to be done. So I cleared my throat and then said, “Lily needs to be put down for her nap, I will get Dad to take her home now. Then we can get everything sorted here.”

  Fiona turned and finally seemed to realize I was standing there. “Well shit, if any of my brothers see this one, you could have it all in one straight shot.”

  I opened and shut my mouth, looking at the younger woman who was grinning and rubbing her hands together now. “Oh yeah, this will work nicely. If I help you, then you leave me alone, Mom, do we have a deal?”

  What in the heck were they talking about? I needed to get the hell away from these women. I turned and walked out front motioning for my dad to come and get Lily when I heard Serena say, “Deal, I will give you a reprieve, we need to work on your manners first anyway.”

  Shit, I have no clue what just happened, but I was certain that I didn’t want to know.

  Chapter Four

  Kian

  “Thanks for picking me up. You know you’re my favorite, brother.”

  “Yeah, till the next time you need something and one of the others helps you out. Besides, you share that freakish bond with Fern, I’m surprised he didn’t sense you needed a ride.” I laughed and Fi punched me in the arm and I jerked the steering wheel, which in turn made the truck move into the other lane.

  “Knock it off, Fiona, if a car would have been in the other lane, we would have hit it.”

  “Pooh, you called me Fiona instead of Fi. I must be in trouble. I’m sooo scared.”

  “What are you, five?”

  “What are you, my parent?” I cut my eyes to Fi who stuck her tongue out and made a face.

  “Yeah, well, I am sure you’re gonna want to know what Ma is up to now, especially since she has met a woman with a baby and decided one of her boys needs to fall in love with her,” Fi said and my hands tightened on the steering wheel.

  “Excuse me?” I snapped and she laughed loudly.

  “You heard me, and since I’m so fucking nice, I’m giving you the heads up, I think I convinced her to go with Brodie for this set up, but you owe me like big time. I mean, you could be stuck next Friday sitting at their table while they match make. But no, I spared you, I convinced them that poor woman was suited for Brodie.”

  I smiled and shook my head. “Does he know yet?”

  “Hell no, they aren’t telling him either. I said he would bail, so they are just asking him to come over and fix some loose boards on the back deck. Ma has it all planned out. Just make sure, if something happens, do not accept a dinner invite on Friday. That’s when Ana and Lily are coming over with her parents, you know Chief Nixon and Dad have been friends forever. I don’t remember Ana though, it is strange, but oh well, she is nice,” Fi said.

  “Chief Nixon? As in retired Chief?” I frowned and said.

  Fi laughed loudly. “Duh, what in the heck is wrong with you?”

  “His daughter is Ana Nixon?” I said and she paused and then nodded while looking at me curiously.

  “Yeah,” Fi said and then yelled, “Kian, shit, stop!”

  By the time I noticed what Fi was yelling about I had drove past. I slowed and pulled over to the emergency lane and began to backup. Not the wisest thing to do but when I saw Ana and her baby standing on the side of the road away from the smoking car, I panicked.

  “Fi, call it in,” I said as I stopped the car at a safe distance away from the vehicle.

  “Already on it.” When I looked over Fi had her phone to her ear already and was talking as she opened the door to get out.

  I checked traffic and when it was clear, opened my door and got out, making my way to Ana who stood hugging the little girl tight to her and rocking back and forth.

  “Ana!” I yelled and she looked up. She started toward me and I began to jog toward her. The only thing I could do when she got close enough was to open my arms and catch her. My arms wrapped around her and the little girl to steady us as Ana buried her face in my chest.

  “I’m so happy to see you. My cell is on my parents’ table and I had no way to call for help. As soon as the car sputtered and smoke billowed out from under the hood, I pulled over and got Lilly out. Everything else is still in the car.” Everything she said was on one breath after she lifted her head to look at me.

  “Ana, you’re okay, Lily is okay. Fiona called it in. Engine House 18 should be coming at any minute,” and as I finished, the
sound of sirens could be heard in the distance. A car pulled in front my truck and Fi and I turned toward the vehicle, me with Ana and Lily still wrapped in my arms. The door opened and Lanz Russo, my cousin, unfolded himself out of the compact car and started toward us.

  “What happened?” Lanz asked as he walked up.

  “We were headed to the house for Sunday dinner and saw Ana, here” I motioned with my chin to her, “standing with the car smoking. That where you headed to?” Lanz nodded, then cocked his brow as he looked Ana over and when he looked back at me I glared at him and he smiled.

  “Got it, cuz,” he said and Fiona smacked his chest. Ana pushed away and I released my grip on her. She turned toward Lanz and tentatively smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. Lily on the other hand didn’t turn toward my cousin, instead she looked at me and gave me a big toothy grin.

  “Here comes the cavalry,” Fiona said as we watched Engine House 18’s truck pull up past Ana’s car and stop.

  “Geez, that car doesn’t look that old? What the hell happened?” Lanz said as we all turned to watch the firemen jump into action.

  “I was driving and it just started smoking,” Ana said as she held on tight to Lily who watched the action going on in front of her. Too little to realize the danger of fire but she wasn’t too young not to appreciate the sight she was witnessing. When she clapped Ana looked at her.

  “Baby girl, your poppa would be so proud of you, Gigi not too much.”

  We watched one of the crew pop the hood of the car and jump back as fire shot up barely missing him. The men working the hoses immediately started applying the foam to the bottom of the car to cool it off as one of the other firemen used a dry chemical extinguisher to attack the flame that had started in the engine.

  “Hey! You guys okay? What the hell happened?” We turned at the voice and I shook my head as two of my brothers, Sully and Ferg, along with two more of my cousins, Santo and Zan, walked up.

  Before we could answer, Lieutenant Costa from Engine House18 walked up and looked at each of us. “You guys couldn’t find a better place to have a damn family reunion?”