Pursuit: Brandon & Carly (Mafia Ties Book 4)

Pursuit

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Fiona Davenport

© 2016 Fiona Davenport

All rights reserved.

Edited by PREMA Editing

Cover design by Elle Christensen

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing. For permission requests, please send your email request to
[email protected]
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used factiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons or living or dead, events or locales are entirely coincidental.

The author acknowledges the trademark status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/ Use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owner.

Title Page

Copyright Page

Pursuit

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Power

Books By This Author

About the Author

B
randon DeLuca’s relentless pursuit of Carly O’Reilly after she flees New York isn’t really due to the orders of his mafia boss cousin. The feisty redhead is his, and he’s done trying to pretend otherwise. Now that he’s admitted the truth to himself, he just needs to convince her to put her life in his hands—and her body in his bed.

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P
lease note: Brandon & Carly’s romance is a three part story, but there are no relationship cliffhangers.

You are the love that came

without warning.

~
Obvious
, Westlife~

I
sat in my car and stared at the quiet, unassuming house across the little residential street. It was dark, the inhabitants out for the night or already in bed. I happened to know it was the latter. After a couple of months of searching, I’d finally caught up to my target and I wasn’t about to let her get away again.

Still, I continued to sit there and watch, taking no action. I told myself I was simply being cautious; I didn’t need any more trouble. But, Nic had asked me to keep her safe. I was obligated. It was my job. It was complete and utter bullshit, that’s what it was.

The phone I was holding up to my ear began ringing, and I waited until the recipient picked up.

“Brandon?” Nic answered, his question implied.

“I found her.”

“Great. I’ll send—”

“No!” I snapped, cutting him off and shocking the fuck out of myself. “She’s mine.”

M
y best friend and cousin Nic, who also happened to be the new head of the Deluca crime family, was silent for a moment. Just the thought that he might disagree with me had possessive fury bubbling to the surface.

“Your call,” he said with an odd inflection in his voice. Relief flowed through me until I realized ... he sounded weird because he was trying not to laugh.

“What the fuck, Nic?” I growled.

The laughter burst free, and I heard a female voice admonishing him.
Thank you, Anna,
I thought, figuring it was his new bride. He said something back, but it was muffled, his hand clearly over the receiver. She yelped and he laughed harder. I mentally banged my head against the steering wheel.
I didn’t want to know.

“Gianna says it’s rude for me to say ‘I told you so,’ so I’ll just say, good luck, man.”

I hung up to the sound of more laughter.
Jackass.
Nic had seen the sparks flying between me and Carly early on. She’d been our inside source in the New York City Irish mob and when things got dicey, Nic asked me to make sure she stayed safe. The moment I saw her tall, lithe body, her long, lush red hair, emerald eyes, and creamy skin, I was doomed to walk around with a constant erection. It was impossible to deny; she was fucking gorgeous. She was also a major pain in the ass. Her stubborn streak was a mile wide, almost rivaling my own. Following orders wasn’t a talent of hers, and I tried to convince myself the package wasn’t worth the trouble. Yeah, I was in complete denial.

The night stretched out before me, dark and silent, but my mind and body were having a shouting match. Then my heart decided to join the game and with two against one, my mind never stood a chance.

Not wanting to alert her, I kept my car parked where it was and climbed out, shutting the door soundlessly behind me. She’d been raised in the mob and had learned a lot of useful skills; some by design through training, and some through necessity. She clearly knew how to run. Even so, the fact that she’d been able to stay one step ahead of me, someone known for their tracking skills, was a hit to my ego. Until I cut off communication with everyone and went dark. No one knew my moves, which meant there was no way for anyone to alert her.

I went through every trick in my arsenal to unbury where she was hiding. Within a week, it paid off and there I was, circling the house where I knew she was holed up, looking for a weak entrance point. It was locked up tight.
Good girl.
Only, there has never been a lock I’ve come across that I couldn’t pick. I chose the back door since it only had one deadbolt and while it was under a motion-activated alarm; the door itself wasn’t connected to the security system.

I’d cased the house. I knew the alarm system and was well aware of its blind spots, allowing me to sidle up to the door and go to work. It only took me fifteen minutes before I was slowly cracking the door open. I only had three to four inches of room to slide my arm in and shut off the alarm panel. Any wider and it would set off the motion sensors. Carefully, I reached in and set a special little gadget on the security panel. Thirty seconds later, it shorted out and the whole system powered down.

I slipped inside and shut the door, making sure to reengage the deadbolt. It was only a one-bedroom house, so I didn’t have to search very hard. Finding the bedroom door open, I stood there, taking in the scene before me. Carly was on her stomach, sprawled out on the bed with the covers kicked away, showing off her spectacular ass in tiny, pink panties. The T-shirt she was wearing had ridden up and revealed the smooth skin and toned muscle of her back.

I’d finally admitted to myself that she was mine, so I took my time, like I had never allowed myself before, and admired her beautiful body. Her long red hair was splayed over the pillow, begging for my hands to run through it. My cock was hard and aching, ready for me to claim my woman. I gave in to what it wanted, since the caveman inside me demanded the same thing.

After removing my shoes, I silently approached the bed, stripping as I went. Since it was Carly, and I knew better, I removed the gun from under her pillow, putting it in my bag. She was bound to be pissed when she realized she’d slept through my breaking and entering, removing her gun, and getting into bed with her.

I debated whether to leave my boxers on but decided against it, knowing there was no way I could get into bed with Carly and not seduce her. Lying down next to her, I winced at a slight twinge of pain in my leg when I lifted it off the floor. It reminded me that she’d earned herself a spanking.

The night she ran, she’d come to warn me about her father’s nefarious plans. I could admit, in my desperate bid to fight my attraction to her, I may have said something that could have been construed as me accusing her of not being loyal to the DeLucas. Seeing her outraged and riled up was hot as fuck, and I wasn’t able to control myself anymore. I’d kissed the ever-loving fuck out of her. It was such a sudden action that she didn’t have time to react and her body melted into mine. Unfortunately, rational thought caught up with her and she shoved out of my arms. I’d let her go, giving her some space to process what had just happened, and preparing myself to apologize. Until I realized she’d taken my gun from the back waistband of my pants. I knew it was stupid to wear it there, but I’d wanted it hidden, yet easily accessible when I answered my door.

A few seconds later, we were startled by a noise heard through the open window by my back door. It was immediately followed by a gunshot and a searing pain in my leg.
The woman had fucking shot me.
Despite the pain and blood, I’d raced to my back door, pointing back at her and growling, “Don’t move.” Grabbing a backup piece from a drawer in the kitchen, I’d taken the safety off and was about to open the door when I heard a voice shout my name. Glancing back, I saw Enzo, one of Nic’s hitters—yet another cousin because we are Italian, after all—rushing in.

“It was that little shit, Darby,” he snarled.

Shit. Carly’s brother was a little weasel and he would surely run right back to Daddy and tell him he’d seen Carly with me. Most likely, he saw me kiss her. Enzo didn’t know about Carly’s actions as our “inside woman,” and I knew I’d have to come up with a damn good explanation. I’d turned to face Carly, only to find she’d cleared out.

“Motherfucker!” I was going to wring her pretty little neck. I would have run after her, but Enzo swore and shouted at the guy with him to come inside.

“You’ve been fucking shot, Bran. Why didn’t you say anything?”

The truth was, in the adrenaline high, I’d forgotten all about it. They took me to a place where our family doctor could patch me up, then I took off after her. The injury had created just enough of a window for Carly to get completely off my radar. I still didn’t know how she’d done it. She was good, but I was better.

I sighed and settled onto the bed. It hardly mattered now. Her face was turned toward me, soft and sweet in sleep. It was an expression I’d never seen there before. When she looked at me, she was usually scowling. Rolling onto my side, I propped up on an elbow and leaned over. I brushed her hair off of her cheek and softly kissed her pale skin. I continued with my kisses all over her face before ending at her lips. I brushed my mouth over hers and paused when she sighed and shifted. I leaned back and waited for her to wake up, but she seemed to fall back into her dreams. This time, when I kissed her lips, she moaned. Moaned my motherfucking name.

If that wasn’t an invitation, I didn’t know what was.

I
might have physically gotten away from Brandon, but I couldn’t seem to get him out of my head. He’d been seared into my brain from the moment his lips crashed down on mine. Or more likely, from when I saw him for the first time. Brandon DeLuca was a man most women would find impossible to forget. At six-foot-three with an athletic, muscular frame, he made me feel downright tiny next to him. His dark, tousled hair made my fingers twitch with the need to touch. The thick, long lashes, surrounding brown eyes so dark they almost looked black, evoked a ridiculous amount of envy.

I’d mentally undressed every inch of his swarthy skin more times than I could count. But, I hadn’t taken it any further. It was the worst possible timing for me to be attracted to anyone, let alone a DeLuca. Even though I’d caught a hint of attraction in his eyes, he hadn’t acted on it either. Not until the night my already precarious position was blown to smithereens, and I’d had to run.

I tried pushing him out of my mind, but he haunted my dreams every single night. There was no escape from him, probably because part of me wanted him near instead of hundreds of miles away. A very particular part of me, if the pulsing sensation in my pussy was any indication.

“Brandon,” I moaned.

My hand slid across the rumpled sheets and slipped into my pink panties to ease the need my dream had caused, yet again. Only this time, I didn’t even make it to my clit before fingers wrapped tightly around my wrist and stopped my progress. The tiny bite of pain made my eyes pop open, and I found myself staring straight into the chocolate brown orbs I’d just been dreaming about.

“Fuck!” I gasped, pushing up with my free hand until I was on my knees.

“Sounds like an excellent suggestion to me,” Brandon drawled.

To me, too, but I wasn’t about to admit to it. “How in the hell did you get in here?” I asked, yanking on my hand in an attempt to get him to release it.

He didn’t let go, his hold tightening until I stopped. My chest heaved, drawing his attention to my tits. My nipples beaded under his gaze, poking against the thin shirt I’d worn to bed. Brandon froze, staring with such intensity. I gripped the sheet in my free hand and pulled it up to my chest.

“Your hands are going to get you into all sorts of trouble tonight, kitten.”

“Kitten?” I sputtered in indignation, even though hearing Brandon call me a cute nickname made my heart melt a little. “Trouble?”