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Knock, knock.
Damnit. Whatever sexual anticipation was in the air between them quickly dissipated.
Pound, pound, pound.
It wasn’t Layne’s heart, it was someone at her front door.
“Shit,” she shoved Joey away from her, hopping off the counter and down onto her feet. Luckily, he had already read the situation and recognized he couldn’t be seen there. Joey didn’t hesitate to give Layne the space she needed. If anyone recognized him, it would be a major shitstorm. Being seen co-horting with his target that he had reported back as having escaped under some extraordinary circumstances would be a massive blow to his business and reputation.
“Stay here, I will go take care of it.” Now she was the one giving orders, and assuming he’d have the sense to listen.
Layne went to her front door where the pounding was increasing in frequency and strength. As she drew in a deep breath to gather her composure, her hand twisted the doorknob and pulled the door open. On the front stoop was her brother, Liam. His cropped auburn hair which mirrored the same shade as their dad’s, was uncharacteristically a tussled mess.
Before she got the opportunity to say anything, he pushed his way inside.
“Where the hell have you been? Are you okay?” The unpredictable level of crazy in his eyes was off the charts, even for him. He looked like he just needed to be told who had to die and he was going to send an army.
Liam stepped up to her and threw his arms around her in a suffocating hug. “Nobody has been able to get a hold of you, and given yesterday I didn’t know if…” His voice trailed off, refusing to even speak the assumption out into the universe.
“I’m ok, relax.” She let him practically cut off her oxygen during that hug, her hand lightly patting his back in reassurance. “I ran into some trouble and my phone got lost in the process. It was a bitch of a day, so I just wanted to pour myself a drink and pass out in bed before processing everything.”
Liam’s relief was quickly replaced by anger. He pulled back and now began inspecting her for any injuries, noticing the bruise on her cheek which prompted his eyes to narrow. “What in the blessed fuck happened? Who did this?”
He didn’t even wait for her account of events, and he pulled out his phone to begin rallying the troops. Layne gently placed her hand on his to stop him and shook her head. “Stop Li. I never saw them before, they were looking for information on something we’re not even involved in, but the important thing is that I got away and I’m fine. You know that I can handle myself.” She could have given him the information that it was Franzetti’s men, but she wasn’t trying to rock that particular boat just yet.
Liam didn’t look convinced. However, after pause and consideration, he conceded for right now. Out came an exasperated huff before he slid his phone back into his pants. “I’m going to have one of the guys keep a closer eye on you for a little bit. Just precautionary and all that. I’m sure dad would agree.”
Her eyes widened slightly. “You’re overreacting.”
“Deal with it.” Right now, he had the clout and standing in the organization to make this decision. While Layne had made progress in securing her standing, she still had to battle a lot of misogynistic attitudes.
A babysitter was the last thing she wanted, but unless she could convince Uncle Mick to side with her, it would always be Liam and her father taking the same side when it came down to it.
Now wasn’t the time she wanted to bother putting up the fight, especially since she just wanted Liam on his way so she could go back and pick up things where she left off with Joey.
Finally, she convinced Liam to leave after reassuring him no less than one thousand times that she would keep every nook and cranny locked up in the house. To avoid situations like a man supercharging her sensual needs after breaking and entering into her home.
After he left, she walked into the back of the house towards the kitchen to give Joey the all-clear.
“Joey? It was just my brother, he’s gone now.” Then, as she found herself in a now empty kitchen, she saw the note left on the counter.
I’m not the knight in shining armor. You got off easy. -J
Layne wasn’t sure why, but she felt a pang of disappointment as it was clear he had left through the back door. Glancing one more time at the handwritten note, she released a soft sigh and dropped it into the trash can. Now, all she was left with was a frown on her face at the lost opportunity and a lost chance at an orgasm or three.
Go figure that he was now the one to take off on her. Maybe it was just better off that way and it wasn’t meant to be. After all, everything about him was bad news as she had accurately predicted in McGregor’s. They would be a hot mess of a match together.
The O’Reilly family highly valued loyalty and allegiances, and with Joey taking jobs from the highest bidder, his ties were only to himself. Not to mention, as he said himself, he wasn’t the polo-wearing country club type her dad was set on her aligning herself with. The best-case scenario is he would never be accepted or tolerated, and the worst-case scenario? He would have a bounty hanging over his head that she couldn’t protect him from.
It begged the question, why couldn’t she stop thinking about him? His cocky entrance into McGregor’s, the way he had ensnared her in the empty building at the docks, and the way his eyes tracked her every move.
Layne shook her head to erase the addictive thoughts of him right out of her mind.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Later in the evening, she found herself sitting at the oversized dining room table inside her father’s house about a ten-minute drive north of where she resided on the Upper East Side. The formal dining room was large enough to handle fourteen guests, maybe sixteen if you squeezed some extra chairs in there. Tonight, there were only three of them occupying seats.
Her father was in the very same seat at the head of the table he was always in since she could remember. Layne was sitting to his left, and across from her was Liam to the right of their dad.
