Free Exploding: A Mafia Romance (The O'Keefe Family Collection #1) by Tuesday Embers Page A

embrace. “I’m doing a good job here.”
    “You are. Just let me know when it gets to be too much.”
    “Back off, Kill.” Fallyn resolved no matter how hard the work got, it would never be too much. She would sooner close the doors than have her brothers swoop in and take over, making her obsolete.
    “Fine, jeez.” Killian started washing the sink full of dishes. “I talked to Vince this morning.”
    Flashes of her playful fight with the enemy colored her cheeks, so she turned her back to her brother and went back to finishing the cake batter. “Yeah? I hope you didn’t fight. When he dropped off the peace offering, he sounded sincere that he really wanted to start a new precedent of no more wars.”
    Killian nodded as he rinsed out a large pot that Fallyn could hardly lift without grunting. “I believe him, too. Back in the day when I was a teenager and you were a kid before everything went south, Dad and Papa D used to meet up once a week to discuss business. Vince and I were thinking of setting up a similar deal. He suggested your shop, because it’s on neutral territory. I thought that was cool of him, since he’s ceding home court advantage by meeting in a place we own. Nice gesture. Plus, it’s in public, so people in the know can see the two families sitting together instead of flinging bullets at each other. What do you think?”
    Fallyn tried to rein in her reaction. “Um, I guess that’d be okay. But it’s a business, Kill, so I don’t want a bunch of henchmen scaring my regulars.”
    “Open barely a month, and you already have regulars? Good job.”
    “If you can keep it civil, that’s fine. I don’t want any fighting in my shop. I mean it. Even if he starts it, I’ll kick you both out. You don’t want that. My stilettos are downright painful if they catch you right.” She pointed to her light gray heels that had thin pink vertical stripes down the sides. “Pretty, right?”
    “I never understand why you ask us if we think your shoes or your outfits are pretty. Like we know anything about women’s shoes.” Killian stood straighter to stretch out his back. “And I can control myself around Vince. How do Monday mornings sound?”
    “It’s Monday morning now! Is he on his way here?”
    Killian had the grace to appear sheepish. “He’ll be here in about an hour. That’s cool, right?”
    “So what if I’d said no? What then?”
    “I knew you wouldn’t say no. And no disappearing when he comes around. You always do that. Make sure you at least say hello. I’m really trying to make things good for our families, Fal.”
    “I know. And for the record, I wasn’t always running away. I was sent away. Lots of times by you, if your old man memory’s still hanging in there.”
    “Hey now.” He took the jab with a small smile. “Thanks, though. Really. It was a hard time getting to agree on any neutral place. Yours was the only one he’d budge on.”
    Fallyn hoped her brother couldn’t see the pink in her cheeks when she glanced at the spot Vince had held onto her to keep her from falling onto the heat. “Next time you come offering to do dishes, I’ll be sure to look for the strings you’re attaching to your favors.”
    Killian shot her a wide smile. Since their mother had passed two years ago, neither Killian nor his father had been given to much smiling. It wasn’t since Fallyn had returned home that he remembered to indulge in the light expression at all. “Make me a list of what needs to be done around here, and I’ll get started. You’ve got me for an hour before Vince gets here.”
    Fallyn used the opportunity to finish off the morning baking that was not as daunting a task after Rina had done most of the prep the night before. She smirked to herself as she added a new item to the menu, tending to it in between knocking off the finishing touches on two more custom cakes. When Jen’s pinched voice called to the backroom that Vince was here, Fallyn was just finishing