Read Exploding: A Mafia Romance (The O'Keefe Family Collection #1) for Free Online Page A

mouth two seconds ago, and you were begging for more.”
    “Begging?” His eyebrows rose, astonished at the ease of her moxie and how endearing he found her playful fights. “I didn’t beg.”
    “You said, and I quote, ‘Fallyn, I thought I knew what life was about until I tasted your éclair. Now I know how foolish I was to call anything before it a life. Please give me more. Please, I beg of you! Beautiful woman, give me more of your baking!’” Fallyn shrugged. “I mean, I thought you were being a little dramatic, but it’s cool.”
    Vince laughed. “I said all that, did I?”
    “I’d be willing to sign an affidavit to that effect.”
    He filled the pot with an inch of water and set the mixing bowl on top, pouring the cream inside and turning on the flame. “Begging’s one thing you’ll never hear me do. See? Now it won’t scald.” He shook his head to scold her, looking down on her demure smile that had never looked more appealing or left him more confused. “Caramel without a double boiler? Irish girls.”
    “Oh, suddenly you’re the king of baking?”
    “I own four restaurant chains!” he reminded her, incredulous she was mocking him with a scandalous smirk on her pink lips. Everyone in his life aside from his girlfriend and his family was too afraid of him to tease him, and his girlfriend and family didn’t have that playful desire in them. “You’re something else, Little Keefer.”
    “A little tip from me to you on women? Once we’ve graduated from pigtails, we don’t like to be called ‘little’ anything. I’m twenty-five.” When Vince went to add the brown sugar, Fallyn stopped him. “Wait, I have to add the cayenne next. I have a system.”
    Vince scoffed. “A broken system. Cayenne doesn’t belong in caramel, Litt—Fallyn.”
    “He can be taught!” she declared, reaching down the shaker of cayenne pepper and unscrewing the lid. She toed her heels back on so she didn’t feel so dwarfed in her own kitchen. “Scoot over.”
    Vince shook his head with wide eyes. “Not a chance. I’m emotionally invested in this caramel now. I may just take the whole pot home with me once I finish fixing what you broke. Don’t even think about doing that to your customers. They’ll revolt.”
    “Whatever, V. It’s my kitchen. This whole enchilada belongs to little old me. If I wanted to put ketchup, mayonnaise and pickles in the caramel, I guess that’d be my prerogative.” She bumped his side with her hip. “Scoot over.”
    “You put pickles in this, and I’m throwing it out.” He bumped her side in return, laughing at the silliness of it all. He hadn’t joked so easily in years, perhaps too many years that had stacked on top of each other like mindless work horses, ready for only the next day, but not for the possibility of anything brighter. He fought with her hip, laughing and dodging her elbow as she giggled her way between him and the stove, edging him out with her backside. He wrestled with her wrist, trying to twist the spice out of her hand before she ruined his dessert. He thrilled at the joy of the moment, wishing everything in life came this easy. He couldn’t remember the last time Maria had made him laugh, or the last time he’d smiled at anything that wasn’t vindictive.
    When Maria demanded he get her another credit card, that had been funny. But it was nothing to Fallyn’s youthful giggles and playful jabs of how she would “make him pay for all eternity” if he tried to change her recipe.
    They were so caught up in the fun of the moment that Fallyn lost her footing and pitched forward, yelping as she nearly burned herself on the hot pan. Vince’s arm shot around her with his lightning reflexes, his palm landing on her breast as he jerked her backward and pinned her spine to his chest. They were both breathing unevenly from the laughter and the jabbing, and they took a few seconds to catch their breath as they remained stuck to each other.
    Vince took in a