Dad's Irish Mafia Friend (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 110)

by Flora Ferrari

  "You put that thing anywhere near me and I swear to God I'll bite it off."

  CHAPTER 27

  Garrett

  Kilpatrick fancied himself a gentleman gangster, but Tiernan was a paramilitary thug and he always had been. The pair of them were dangerous in different ways, but Kilpatrick was always easier to find.

  Tiernan was all about empty warehouses at the docks and temporary offices in shipping containers and disused farm buildings out of the city. It was a pain in the arse to find him unless you knew where to look.

  But I always knew where to look.

  Today it was the docks. I left Mickey in town and drove myself, taking a detour out to the rental house in Ballyfermot to pick up what I needed to negotiate with the man.

  Parked in the empty lot, I tucked my gun into the holster at the small of my back before I got out of the car. I wasn't taking any chances, even though I knew well enough that pulling a gun on a man like him would get me turned into Swiss cheese faster than I could fire off a shot. He kept an entourage of heavily armed thugs for a reason.

  Overhead towered a rusty crane, but there were no containers on the ground, and no ship was due in to this dock for weeks, which was precisely how I'd negotiated the use of the warehouse for him. He was setting up to distribute goods that were due to arrive into the country by plane in the next few days.

  I stalked up the rusted stairs that led to the offices and slammed the door open.

  At quarter past one, by the clock on the wall above his shoulders, I set a metal file box down in front of him and flipped the catches open.

  "What are you doing here, Brannigan?"

  "You've got something that isn't yours. I've come to get it back."

  His smile rose and I wanted to wipe it off his face with my fists. "You're a bit late if you were hoping for it to be in tact."

  "For your sake you'd better hope not."

  I didn't pull my gun. With the men flanking him holding semi-automatics, it would have been a foolish move. I had to play it smarter than that if I was going to come out of this in one piece, with Kaitlin alive.

  I stood my ground, chin held high and eyes burning into his, until he took the bait. Grudgingly, Tiernan glanced at the file box.

  "What are you going to do, give us all a paper cut? Looks like Kilpatrick was right. Garrett Brannigan's gone soft. You don't bring a knife to a gunfight son, and you sure as hell don't bring your rolodex."

  "Don't test me Tiernan. You take a read of this, remind yourself how much of your business I help you manage. I've got all of your contacts and the times of your shipments and your bank details, here. I really wouldn't want them to fall into the wrong hands, now. What d'you think Kilpatrick would do if he ended up finding all that? I don't think he'd be needing you, now would he? You better decide whether pissing me off is worth your while."

  Tiernan gritted his teeth and I knew I had him.

  Whatever arrangement the pair of them had come to, I knew full well neither man would hand over total control. They were both too ruthless to let the other one live when they served no purpose. If Kilpatrick had everything he needed to take over Tiernan's operation, Tiernan himself became disposable. The same went the other way around, but I could have cared less at the moment.

  Tiernan was the thug holding Kaitlin hostage and I'd run him into the ground without a second thought if it meant getting her back.

  Predictably, he reached for his gun, but I already had mine aimed at his head.

  "Uh-uh. Think it through. I don't walk out of here in five minutes, all of that's hitting Kilpatrick's inbox and there's nothing you can do to stop it."

  The man narrowed his eyes and he set his gun down, signaling for his men to step back. Slowly, he leaned forward, resting his forearms on the desk in as clear a gesture of surrender as I was going to get from him.

  "Let's not be hasty, son. You've always been a sensible man. We can come to an arrangement."

  "That's what I thought. Where's Kaitlin?"

  "You'd better come with me."

  CHAPTER 28

  Kaitlin

  A gunshot rang out, short and sharp and distinctive and everyone around me froze. The seconds stretched in exaggerated silence and then the door at the back of the room burst open.

  Another shot fired and the circle of men scattered, darting for cover.

  "Get down on the floor! Get down now!"

  I dropped like a stone amidst the shouting. Hands still tied behind my back, I was less mobile than the others and in this empty warehouse, there was nowhere to hide. All I could do was keep my head down. The clatter of weapons being drawn was one I was getting used to.

  But the man who'd burst in was a step ahead. He had Biff pinned face down, his knee in the small of his back and his gun to the nape of his neck, poised for a clean kill shot that I had no doubt he'd take.

  "Where is she? Where is she?"

  I held my breath, eyes squeezed tightly closed, certain all hell was about to break loose and that I didn't want to witness it.

  But nothing happened.

  "Play time's over boys." I blinked at the rough voice, peeking up from the concrete to see Tiernan himself stepping forward into the light, towards the gunman who had Biff at his mercy. "Change of plans. We're handing her over to our man here. For safe keeping. Isn't that right, Brannigan? You'll have to forgive him, he's a little impatient about getting her back."

  I followed his gaze, finally recognising Garrett as the avenging angel who’d stormed in to rescue me. Relief rushed through me.

  He slammed Biff's head against the concrete. "You better not have hurt her, so help me God."

  I heard him cock the gun and my blood ran cold.

  "Garrett wait - stop!"

  Through the fury in his eyes, I could see he didn't realise it was me immediately but I could pinpoint the exact moment he did. As fast as I could, I scrabbled to my feet, running over to him despite my arms being tied behind my back.

  Biff stopped existing. Garrett was on his feet in an instant crossing the space between us in one gigantic stride, tugging me in hard against his solid chest.

  I was shaking all over, but nothing could have felt as good as his mouth closing over mine, hot, possessive and demanding.

  When he finally let me come up for air, I pressed my forehead against his face, up on my tip toes so I could keep leaning into him. "I thought I'd never see you again."

  "You're not getting rid of me that easily."

  "Where are the keys?" he snapped, and Biff reluctantly tossed them over to him and he unlocked the cuffs, freeing my stiff wrists.

  It was over. Thank God, it was over. Garrett had me, and I was safe.

  He cradled my jaw, drawing my face up to his again and I winced as he smoothed his fingers over the rising bruise on my forehead. His eyes turned murderous all over again.

  "Who did this?"

  "It doesn't matter."

  "Yes, it fecking well does."

  I couldn't stop running my hands over his chest, lost in the relief that I was touching him again.

  "No, it doesn't. All I want is to be with you. Let's go home. Please Garrett, let's just go home."

  His eyes burned into mine and for a long moment he didn't say a thing. When he scooped me up into his arms and carried me out of there, I knew there was no where else in the world I'd rather be. All those things I'd said to him in the restaurant were so, so wrong. I belonged in his arms and I wanted to stay there.

  CHAPTER 29

  Kaitlin

  I huddled into him when he picked me up and I didn't look up again until he set me down in the passenger seat of the Lotus. I would have rather been cuddled close to him in the back seat of Mickey's car, but all that really mattered was that he was with me. That we were alone.

  Knuckles stretched to white on the steering wheel, he drove like a demon, gunning the engine down narrow lanes he'd never taken me on before, driving like he was trying to shake a tail. Eventually, we were back on
the main road, and he headed north, away from the city.I didn't care where we were going. As long as he was with me, I felt safe again.

  "I don't ever want to lose you again."

  Garrett's eyes were fully serious for once, sincere rather than menacing and I realised it hadn't just been fear for my life that had made me so terrified of what Tiernan's men might have done to me.

  The thought of never seeing Garrett again made my heart clench painfully. But he'd found me like I knew he would and when he looked at me like that I knew he was as much mine as I was his. Possession ran both ways.

  "I'm okay now. I'm right here."

  His knuckles only eased on the steering wheel when he turned into the gravel drive of a sprawling two storey stone farmhouse.

  I peered out at the ominous, looming clouds.

  "Where are we?"

  "A safe house."

  I looked across the car at him.

  "Garrett, all I want to do is go home with you."

  I took his face in my hands to kiss him and he leaned into each nibbled kiss, meeting my mouth with his so tenderly that it felt like he was worshiping my lips.

  His hands skimming along my neckline and I shivered at his touch.

  Galvanised, he pulled me out of my seat and onto his lap, as though the gear stick and the bucket seats were no obstacle at all. The hardness of his fat cock was unmistakable, pressing up against my panties, straining against his fly.

  Pressing myself against him, I practically felt my pupils dilate at the need to obliterate the distance between us. My breath hitched as he rolled his hips up, making me all the more aware of the barrier of our clothes.

  He pulled me hard against his mouth, with his hand at the back of my neck, kissing me solidly enough that it felt like he could fill me up with his desire, all the way up, right from my toes.

  I let out a groan and my hands braced against his chest, my palms over his heart, feeling the pace of it, knowing my hand spread out over the intricate tattoo that I'd come to know so well. I met his eyes and kissed him again as I started pulling at his buttons.

  He leaned forward, scrabbling for something low down, close to the floor, and the car seat jolted back a couple of inches, giving us more room.

  Wriggling in his lap, I hitched up my skirt around my waist, enjoying the way he went very, very still beneath me. My smile pitched higher. "You like that?"

  Garrett growled, tugging my panties down with one hand and his warm, broad fingers pressed in against my clit. "You know damn well I do."

  I let out a groan against his mouth as he started to rub harder, making me so slick for him. All I wanted was for Garrett to obliterate the memory of being trapped in that cold, dark van not knowing what was going to happen to me. And this was just the way to do it.

  Up on my knees, I braced above his lap, just high enough to undo his belt and pants.

  His cock flopped out, rigid and heavy, at a determined diagonal across his lap. I squeezed the hot, hard length of him, loving that I couldn't touch my fingertips together. His solidity and bulk was reassuring and real, and I needed him inside me to make the world alright again more than I ever could have believed.

  "Garrett, I want you."

  "You've got me, Macushla. I'm all yours."

  Still kissing him like I couldn't bear to be apart for longer than a breath, I guided his fleshy head against the waiting lips of my eager body.

  Slowly, I lowered myself onto him, my dripping pussy stretching to take all of him into me.

  I shuddered at the feel of him inside me, my whole body glowing as I inched down his steely pole, setting my nerve endings on fire.

  Garrett had his head thrown back against the seat, but his eyes still tracked my every move.

  "God I love you Kaitlin."

  That breathless whisper shouldn't have gone straight to my heart, but it did. Even I knew those words in the middle of sex weren't really real. But I would have done anything for them to be.

  Hilt deep, Garrett's hands settled over my hips and he thrust up into me, making me cry out as he punched in against the tenderest spots inside me, filling me to the max. And I stopped thinking about anything at all.

  I was a mess of writhing nerves. It felt religious. "Omigod. I love you too."

  Delirious, I was barely able to keep my hips rocking him deeper because each motion paralyzed me with deep, wracking jolts of pleasure.

  He was mine and after everything that had happened, I needed to show him that.

  My body clenched greedily around him every time he tried to draw out even the smallest amount and I kept rocking my hips to match the rhythm of his upward thrusts.

  The windows had fogged up, but I didn't give a damn. All I wanted was him.

  "Garrett. Garrett, please…"

  My fingers smudged a bead of sweat against his forehead and he looked at me with lust-fogged eyes. "What is it?"

  "I'm so - oh god yes."

  He pulled me down hard onto his lap as he spurred upwards one final time and his deep groan met my shout of release.

  He came hard, deep inside me and I felt myself clench and flutter around him, milking him to the last as my orgasm wracked through me.

  Breathless, I couldn't stop kissing him and Garrett showed no signs of letting me go either.

  "I love you," he repeated, in the quiet hum of the comedown. I could still feel my heart racing in my chest and it spiked faster, even knowing you were never meant to take seriously what was said in a moment of passion.

  I kissed him again in reply and tried not to let myself think about anything other than here and now. I loved him too, but I didn't dare say it out loud again, because letting go of him was going to hurt too much if I let myself start to believe him.

  CHAPTER 30

  Garrett

  The next night, we were back in my apartment. I hadn't let Kaitlin out of my sight all day. Every time I looked at her, the sight of her bruised forehead, coming up in yellows and purples made me seethe.

  I'd gotten her back, but I was still fuming. One way or another, Tiernan had to pay. But for now I had to settle with making sure Kaitlin was safe.

  In the middle of the night, I woke up to hear her sobbing. Her tiny body shaking with the effort of keeping her tears as close to silent as possible.

  She thought I wouldn't notice when she was in so much pain?

  I rolled over, switching on the bedside light as I sat up and she tried to curl in on herself, hiding her face.

  "Kaitlin." Arms wrapped around her, I scooped her up, untangling the ball she was trying to fold herself into until I could look right into her eyes. Seeing her like that nearly broke me.

  She tried to look away on a slow blink, but it only spilled more tears down her perfect cheeks like they were joining the dots between her perfect freckles. The glint of them in her eyes felt like a fist squeezing tight around my guts.

  "Jaysus, woman. What's the matter?"

  She tried to turn away again and I wished she'd stop trying to hold it all in.

  "Kaitlin. Tell me. Now."

  Unsure of what to do, I settled my hand on her delicate shoulder. I'd never felt more oafish in my life when she shrugged me off as though she couldn't breathe with me touching her. The rejection stabbed me through the heart.

  "Don't -" She sniffed hard, pressing her eyes with the back of her hand as though that would somehow keep the tears inside her. "Please don't."

  I'd never known what to do about a woman in tears. It was easier when I didn't care about them, but Kaitlin was different. I'd known that as soon as I met her. She was the beat of my heart and seeing her like this damn near broke it.

  "Macushla. I've got you. We're both safe now."

  "I know." She swallowed thickly. "But they tried to kill me. Really tried to kill me. I just - I don't think I can do this anymore. I want to go home, Garrett. I wish I'd never come here."

  That was not what I wanted to hear.

  Didn't Kaitlin feel the bond between us? No
part of my being had any intention of letting her go back home. Over in The States I wouldn't be able to protect her at all. Never mind death threats and assassination attempts, I wasn't going to let an entire collegiate year of hormonal teenage boys get anywhere near the woman who was meant to be my wife.