One More Night

by KB Winters

  For me.

  Shae Connelly was in love with me.

  It was a lot to take in. But of all the information I’d received over the past twelve hours, it was the most unbelievable.

  “And so you just shot him? Twice in the shoulder?”

  Shae nodded, hesitant as though he was waiting for me to judge him.

  “Did he make it?”

  “No. That asshole took his last breath sometime that night.”

  He didn’t seem all that sad about it, and I didn’t expect him to. After all, the guy had bashed him in the head and dumped him out like garbage. On top of that they’d kidnapped Layla, so it sounded like that guy got what he had coming.

  “Why do you sound so weird about it?”

  I didn’t look at him while we talked, instead I worked on the cake I planned to take to Patrick’s house for family dinner.

  With the goddamn mob.

  “Do you regret it?” I asked.

  “Fuck no. Frank Milano needed a bullet, and I’m just pissed I didn’t get to put one in his fucking brain.” He let out another long suffering sigh. “I guess I’m worried how it’ll make you look at me.”

  I smiled as I scraped the last of the cake into the glass baking dish and slid it into the oven, offering Shae the bowl.

  “I understand that you have to do what needs to be done, Shae. And I know this guy had it coming. Why would I look at you, the man I love, any differently?”

  “Because, it’s pretty horrifying.”

  I smacked his arm, the one that hadn’t been shot. “Hey, that’s my man you’re talking about.”

  He flashed a sexy grin that made me want to jump him right there in the kitchen. “Sorry, love. You’re really okay with it?”

  “I don’t love it, but I don’t expect you to change for me, Shae. I fell in love with the cocky bad boy mobster and that’s the man I plan to love for as long as he’ll let me.”

  “Sweetheart, love me as long as you can. Forever sounds like a good place to start.” He pulled me in for a kiss that stole my breath away. “Move in with me.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me. Move in with me. We could spend more time together, and I have plenty of room for you to have an office of your own. I love the idea of having you in my bed every night. Every morning.” He kissed me gently on my cheek, my jaw, my collarbone.

  “I’ll think about it. Are you sure I should come to family dinner? Isn’t this all a little soon?”

  “Not for me. I’d marry you tomorrow if I thought you’d say yes. But my girl is much too sensible for that.” He smacked another kiss in the crook of my neck and I shivered. “I want you to meet everyone and this way I’ll know where you are. Right by my side, where I want—no, need—you.”

  How could I deny this man anything? “Okay. Then I need to find something to wear while the cake is baking.”

  “Nothing sounds good to me.”

  I laughed. “That probably wouldn’t go over too well with everyone else.” It was definitely not a meet the mob boss dinner outfit.

  “You’ll look perfect in whatever you wear.” Shae’s footsteps sounded behind me and I grinned, feeling naughty as I pulled a shirt over my head and left it on the stairs.

  “Ivy,” he growled low in his throat, that sound that always got me ready in a flash.

  “We don’t have time for that, Shae.”

  “Then why are you teasing me?”

  I laughed and stepped out of my pants right inside the doorway. “Because it’s fun.” He reached for me just inside the bedroom and pulled me close.

  “Since we don’t have time, we better make this quick.” His mouth was on mine, hard and insistent but his grip was gentle and firm. I felt well loved. Cherished. Aroused as hell.

  Then the phone rang and we both groaned. “You’d better get that.”

  Shae pulled the phone from his pocket and flipped it open. “Yeah.” He listened carefully, his brow dipped in a dark scowl. “Fuck. Yeah, we’re on our way.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  My heart stuttered to a complete stop because I knew, without a doubt, that whatever news Shae was about to share would pop the little bubble we’d wrapped ourselves in, for a few hours anyway.

  “Shae, you’re scaring me.”

  Shae stared off in the distance, looking right past me as his skin paled, then he looked up at me, angry and devastated.

  “My cousin Rourke has been kidnapped.”

  And just like that, the mob world intruded. But this was Shae’s life and if I wanted him—and I did—then I had to get used to this part of his life. Our lives. “Let’s get dressed and get to your father’s house.”

  He turned to me, a smile blooming on his face as one hand brushed my jaw. “Damn, I love you woman.”

  “Right back atcha, Irish. Now let’s get going.”

  We had the rest of our lives to enjoy each other. Right now, I needed to do what I could to protect his family the way he had protected mine.

  I hope you love the Connelly’s. I’ve added a sneak Peek of As Night Falls for your reading pleasure!

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  Sneak Peek As Night Falls

  Chapter One

  Rourke

  I didn’t know where the fuck I was, and I sure as shit couldn’t remember how I got here. Hell, I had no fucking clue even what day it was. Time was lost on me. Plus, I had a low, persistent throbbing in the back of my head. That couldn’t be a good sign, but what worried me more was that I couldn’t even recall what had happened to me.

  The last thing I remembered, Eamon and Shae were beating the living shit out of the younger Milano brothers. I’d given that action a thumbs up and then made my way to the front of the Wet Kitty. Frank and Gio had men stationed all around the place the same as we did, but a few of his guys had been trigger-happy and several men, Milano and Connelly, fell to the floor of the strip club for the last time.

  Then I was outside in the dark parking lot where Ralph was too damn cheap to replace the burned out or busted bulbs. Shattered glass littered the cracked pavement. A quick look to the right showed Shamrock had shoved an old man who looked a lot like Lorenzo Milano into one of the waiting vans. That news would reach Patrick in no time.

  Another Connelly victory.

  From the parking lot I remembered hearing more shots ring out inside the club, and I decided to go check it out to make sure none of our men were down. Patrick understood the price of doing business, but he fucking hated it when our guys got hurt. Or killed.

  I turned away from the mostly empty lot, to head back inside the low rent strip club to help my men and that was when shit got fuzzy.

  Even thinking about it now, I didn’t remember seeing any faces or hearing any sounds. There was a hand on my shoulder, big and sweaty, and before I could shrug it off, the hand pulled me back until I was off balance and it had pressed a dirty rag against my face. I didn’t need to know the chemical makeup of whatever was on the rag to get that I was in a world of hurt. That shit went to work pronto.

  I struggled with the faceless asshole for a few minutes, fighting as the chemicals worked their way up my nostrils and into my brain. My muscles and therefore my movements became slower, my accuracy turned to shit, finally giving the asshole a leg up on me. I was shoved into the back of some large, unfinished vehicle, probably a van. By then, their mickey had done a number on my head, and my mind was garbage for the rest of the night.

  But that didn’t stop me from trying. I could see it all in flashes. The knockout drug had subdued me temporarily, but it hadn’t completely knocked me out. Sometime later, I woke up, thrashing and fighting with the asshole trying to keep me down. We fought in the back of the van for I didn’t know how long before the hard, cold feel of metal cracked the back of my head and everything went fucking dark.

  When I came to, the little b
it of light streaming through the high windows came from neon signs and told me it was night. But what night? The same night? A night a week later? Who the fuck knew?

  I needed to get the fuck out of here. Now. I’d worry about who was responsible for putting me here later, for hitting me with a goddamn gun, and for zip tying me to a fucking metal chair. All of that, I’d deal with, but not yet. Whoever it was—and I was sure it was the Milanos— they would pay for it.

  But my first priority was getting the fuck out of here before this turned our little disagreement with the Milanos into an all-out fucking war.

  As much as I wanted to sit back and daydream about all the ways I would tear the remaining Milano family members limb from limb, I couldn’t. The room they put me in was dark, cool and damp.

  I blinked my eyes a few times to adjust to the light—or lack of light. It was either a basement or, more likely a warehouse based from what I could see of the size of the damn place. Big and probably remote, on the outskirts of town.

  Lorenzo and his thugs never had what it took to be an organized crime family. Lorenzo hadn’t raised his boys with any discipline, which meant they hadn’t raised their boys with any either. They were good at cleaning up crime scenes, washing away the DNA or making it look like someone never existed. But that was always after the fact. For them to be in an all-out turf war on a daily basis would ruin them.

  They weren’t that smart.

  Even with a headache and my sight impaired from the darkness, I figured they had me at one of the properties they owned legitimately. I’d bet if I stood up and walked to the rows of shelves, I’d see boxes of cleaning supplies. Heavy duty, industrial grade chemicals and cleaning materials.

  Eamon and Shae would find me in no time, and with Conor’s help, it shouldn’t take more than a day or two.

  No more than three. Hopefully.

  A groan tore through the air when I tried to adjust my body in the small chair. “Fuckers got some good punches in,” I mumbled to myself and stored that fact away for later. When I had time to exact my revenge.

  “Thank God you’re alive.” The voice was soft and feminine with a slightly husky quality.

  “What? Who are you? Where are you?” I hadn’t heard anything to indicate there was another person in the room with me and it pissed me off. How bad was I hurt? Who else was in here?

  “Over here. Below the spot where the windows end.” Her voice trembled but that was the only sign of her distress, but I knew I couldn’t trust or believe her. Not yet.

  “How long have I been here?”

  “I can’t really say for sure.” She was plainspoken and scared, not the sound of a spy sent to gather intel and not the tone of a honey pot. But a guy could never be too damn careful. “I would have tried to help but my chair is stuck to the ground. Like it’s bolted or chained or something.”

  The sound of her attempting to move her chair and the chains rattling behind me and to the left, paid truth to her words. I checked my chair; it was heavy but it moved. Idiots.

  “How long have you been here?” I asked.

  “A day, maybe a bit longer. Any idea who these guys are?”

  Fuck yeah, I had an idea, but the fact that she didn’t meant she must have been an unwitting victim of someone else’s demons. “Possibly, but I didn’t see them when they ambushed me. What’s your name?”

  “Margo.”

  That was a pretty girl’s name and she had a pretty girl’s voice, two things I shouldn’t be thinking about while tied up and left to an uncertain fate, but I was a man after all. “I’m Rourke.”

  “Wish I could say it was good to meet ya, but I don’t want to start our relationship out on a lie.” Her tone was filled with snark that said she could handle herself in an emergency.

  “I appreciate that, Margo. I know how I got here. Why don’t you tell me how a girl with such a beautiful voice ended up in a shithole like this?”

  She laughed. It was a nice sound. A sexy sound. And if her face matched her voice, maybe I wouldn’t kill every person with a drop of Milano blood in them when I got free.

  Because I would get free.

  Soon.

  Yay you! Thank you for reading my books! You can find all of my books here. Come on over to my Facebook group Bitches, Babes and Bad Decisions. We’d love to have you!

  One more thing, if you have a few minutes, can you leave a review? I really appreciate it. Thank you so much!

  Be safe and happy reading!

  KB xoxo

  Thank You So Much!

  Thank you so much for reading my books! It means the world to me and I appreciate all of you!

  I hope you enjoy my books and if you can leave a review, or even tell your friends, I’d be honored.

  Thanks to all of my beta readers, ARC readers and Facebook fans. Y’all are THE BEST!

  And a very special thanks to Helen. You are a Godsend. Thank you for making my books, words and writing make sense.

  A huge shout out to the fam bam who has to put up with me at all hours of the morning.

  Y’all are the true champions.

  * * *

  Hugs!

  KB xoxo

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