Conall (3 page)

“You’re not bothering me. But now I have a question for you. Why did you feel you needed to confront me personally? Why come all the way to my office?” Although his tone was casual, he needed to know the answer to his question. Looking at her face, he saw the flush of burgundy blaze across her cheeks.
Oh, now that’s interesting
.

“I told you,” she squeaked. “You were the most accessible one. Although, when your secretary told me that you would see me, I was somewhat surprised. You seem too busy to be bothered with unexpected guests.” Her eyes were bright and he knew that wasn’t the whole story. There was a reason why she was here, in his office.

“Yes, but I have three other brothers, Ms. Barbosa. Granted, you wouldn’t get to Kieran, but if your brother is into something shady, why come to me? I’m a businessman, love, not a thug.”

“Are you? I’ve always believed that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” was her snippy reply.

Score one for the lovely Tatiana. Nodding at her in acquiescence, he acknowledged the barb. Tilting his head as if he were pondering the questions of the universe, he asked the question he knew she had not asked herself before strolling in here pretty as you please. “Then wouldn’t that make it worse for you and your brother for you to come here? To me? The one who can move in polite society, but still have the heart of a criminal beating inside?”

At her widened eyes and deer in the headlights look, he knew she had finally caught on to the danger she had placed herself in. Slowly backing up to the door, he could see her trying to escape him.
Oh no, pretty little butterfly. You came into the spider’s web and now I got you.

Finally, she found her voice, attempting with all her might to backpedal. “You’re right. I should never have come here.” Her legs continued to slowly move her closer to his office door. The quiver in her voice gave her away. Did he make her nervous?

“What’s the matter, Tatiana? Leaving so soon?” Purposely using her first name, he continued sitting as she tried to slowly plan her escape.

“I made a mistake coming here,” she repeated.

“Yes, you did,” he said in agreement. At her gasp, he continued, “Now that I’ve seen you, I’m not sure I’ll ever forget you. You were brave to come into the lion’s den.”

“Sir…I mean, Mr. O’Shea, this was a reckless decision to come here. I never should have come to your office.” Just as she was about to open the door, he jumped up from the loveseat and managed to get his hand on the door to gently close it again.

“I like hearing you call me Sir. Say it again,” he whispered in her ear. Inhaling deeply, he captured her scent and it sent a frisson of awareness through his body. His body responded instantly and his cock hardened within his pants.

Eyeing her face as he stood close to her body, he noticed her eyes close and her lips began to quiver. The tiny moan that came out of her was proof that his attraction to her was not one-sided. Hell, he didn’t even know why he was attracted to her. Sure, Kieran was into chocolate, but his tastes had always been more geared toward vanilla. Well, in skin tone alone. His desires in the bedroom were anything but normal.

“Do I make you nervous, Ms. Barbosa?” He wasn’t touching her, but he was close enough that if she moved even an inch, her entire body would be flush against his. Was he coming on a little too strong? Yes. Did he give a shit? Not one damn bit.

“I think I should leave now,” she managed to say in a low voice.

The only thing that would make it difficult for him would be if he had to kill her brother. If he had never seen what he did and run to his sister, he wouldn’t have this dilemma. Maybe he could ask Fionn to take care of it for him. Keep his hands clean and his path clear to pursue the lovely vision standing in front of him.

One thing he knew, something about this woman drew him to her. When she had first walked in, her attempts at being prim and proper had almost fooled him. Until he had looked into her eyes and watched her pupils dilate as she took in his long, lean form. Denying her own desire for him was not something he could let slide. Not when he felt it too.

“Answer me, Ms. Barbosa. Do I make you nervous?” he asked again, this time in her other ear. Not sure why he’d lost all common sense and control, he grazed his lips across her lobe, skimming his lips across her soft skin. Feeling her shudder made him smile. Not usually one to come on so strong, there was no way he could have held back from touching her.

Swallowing deeply, she seemed to gather her nerves before turning her hazel eyes to him. “Fuck you. I need to leave.”

An unexpected laugh bubbled up to the surface and he couldn’t help but let it out. “Oh, Ms. Barbosa. I think I like you.” No one ever spoke to him that way, and lived to tell the tale. Feisty, he liked that.

Stepping back, he removed his hand from his office door. “I’m not holding you here. But rest assured, I will find you again. No matter the reason you came to see me, now that I know you exist, I will do everything in my power to make sure you never forget me.”

As she stood there gaping at him, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water, he took matters into his own hands and opened the door to his office. In a low voice he said, “Run along, love. I have things to do. But rest assured, I’ll see you soon.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” she responded as she quickly left the office and headed toward the elevator. Her feet moved so fast, it was if she was running. Pressing the button multiple times, she kept looking over her shoulder at him. And every time, he was there. His gaze soaking her in. The smirk on his face giving away his humor at her efforts to deny what they’d both felt in his office. Never taking his eyes off of her, even as she tried her damnedest to run away from him, he stood outside of his door and waited.

Watching until the elevator door closed and she was out of his sight, he turned to see Margorie staring at him with an odd look on her face and a smirk on her lips. “What are you smiling about?” he asked her.

“Nothing, sir. Just wondering if you’ve seen a ghost. You look a little shell-shocked. Do you need some water to cool down?” Her voice held mirth, as if she were on the verge of laughing.

“Funny, Margorie. Mind your own business, old lady,” he said with a smile. Yeah, he may be one-fourth of a quad of men who had no problem with killing, hurting, maiming and wallowing in all kinds of other bad shit, but Margorie…well, she got a pass. At just over fifty years old, she was a grandmother of three and tended to treat him like he was the fourth. Actually, when any of his brothers came around, they got the same treatment. They all grumbled about it and swore her machinations were unwelcome, but secretly, they all enjoyed the way she treated them. He wasn’t sure if she knew the full extent of what they did or who they really were, and he would never willingly put her in a position to find out. Some things were better left in the dark. His dual nature was one of them.

“Mmmm hmmmm. Whatever you say. And don’t forget, your meeting with the Condor Team heading up the issue in Canada is in six minutes. They’ll be waiting for you in the executive boardroom.” Handing him a folder with an updated briefing, she turned back to her computer as he made his way back into his office. As he stepped through the doors, he caught a whiff of Ms. Barbosa’s unique scent. He was bound and determined to see her again. Exiting his office once again, he stopped by Margorie’s desk. “Find out all you can about Ms. Barbosa. I want details by two o’clock this afternoon. Family, friends, secrets. I want everything, and I do mean everything, you can find out about her.”

“Yes, sir,” Margorie answered with a smile as she turned and picked up her desk phone.

Chapter Three

She had been a fool to go to that man’s office. Tatiana sat in her living room at her home in East Boston. What had she been thinking? No, if she were honest with herself, she hadn’t been thinking at all. As soon as Tony had come to her looking all crazy in the eyes, she had taken it upon herself to seek out Conall O’Shea. Just stupid.

There was no denying that she knew exactly who he was. Yeah, he may have pulled himself up by his bootstraps and done something for himself, but his family is littered with ruthless criminals and rumored to be one of the main families connected to the Irish Mob.

Now, after seeing him in person, there was so much more to the man than she’d expected. Too rattled to go back to her office after her encounter with him, she went home, put on her comfy pajamas, and settled in to do some more research. Sitting back on her couch, her laptop thrown to the side, she nibbled on her thumb as thoughts raced in her mind. Not usually so impulsive, when the idea had come up to confront Conall, she had latched onto it and never let it go. It had seemed so logical at the time, but she could now see how foolish that was.

Last night after Tony had left, she did a routine search on him, noting the name of his company, the address, and then had spent more than two hours looking at pictures of him and his many girlfriends. Well, maybe not girlfriends, but conquests. Slight obsession and an intense need to see him in the flesh was all she could think about. So, at ten o’clock, she had marched her butt right over to his office and got the shock of her life.

Not only was he more handsome in person, his voice was deeper than expected, his eyes greener than the finest emeralds, and his body seemed to call out to her. God, what was she doing? The man was probably a criminal. This was ridiculous. Thank goodness she’d not mentioned to Tony what she was planning to do. In all honesty, it was more about her curiosity than anything and you know what they said about curiosity killing the cat. One day she would learn to keep her ass away from danger. And Conall O’Shea was definitely dangerous.

She shouldn’t be thinking about him anyway. His last words to her about seeing her again made her nervous. She wasn’t his type. She knew this. He knew this. So, why even say the words? A strong knock on her door jarred her out of her internal thoughts. Looking over at the clock, she noted that it was just before six o’clock. Distracted and still thinking about her earlier encounter, she called out, “Who is it?”

“It’s me. Conall O’Shea.”

What? No! It couldn’t be. Stopping in her tracks, she became quiet as her heart sped up and began beating hard enough to break through her chest. The knock came again.

“Open up, Ms. Barbosa,” he called out through the door.

Walking over to the one thing standing between them, she looked through the peephole and her breath caught in her throat.
It’s really him
, she thought.
Oh fuck!
her mind screamed.

“You have five seconds to open this door. Do you really want your neighbors to hear what I have to say?” A quick silence, then she heard his voice again. “Three seconds.” His calm voice came through her door. “Two seconds.”

“Okay, wait,” she yelled out as she unlocked her door and opened it to the one man she never expected to be at her doorstep. “Good evening, Mr. O’Shea. How may I help you?”

Laughing out loud at her question, he lifted one eyebrow. “That’s how you greet me? Really, Ms. Barbosa. I think you can do better than that.”

“Fine. What the fuck are you doing at my door?” With an eyebrow quirk of her own, she cocked her head to one side and asked, “Better?”

“Much. Now. Are you going to let me in, or do we need to continue this conversation right here?” he asked in a demanding voice. Gripping the door in her hand, she was tempted to slam it shut. Show him who was in charge. How in the fuck had he found her address, anyway?

Looking behind him, she saw two men in suits. Both looked completely out of place in her neighborhood. Must be his bodyguards. “You just show up at my house and demand that I let you in. Oh, hell no, I don’t think so. I’m not that big of a fool,” she snapped.

“This is about your visit to my office earlier today. Remember that? When you stormed into my office, unannounced if I recall, demanding to know if I knew your criminal brother and had somehow threatened him,” he countered in a no nonsense tone.

Sighing, she mulled over the situation. Yeah, she had been pretty aggressive earlier today. That could have turned out much worse than it did. Not feeling completely comfortable, but also not wanting her nosy neighbors to see what was going on, she made a decision. “Fine, come on in. Just you though,” she said, giving his security detail a hesitant glance.

Looking over his shoulder at the two men standing still as statues, he spoke to them. “I’ll just be inside. Shouldn’t be too long. I’ll let you know when I’m ready to leave.” Turning back to her, he took a step to come inside and she moved back out of the way, allowing him entrance into her home.

His gaze took in her modest home. She was proud to say that it wasn’t considered too frilly, but neither was it bland and boring. Wanting her space to reflect her personality, the color scheme was bold. Standing in the middle of the room, she could admit that her living space was an eclectic mix of her Cape Verdean roots, which was displayed in the authentic traditional African and Portuguese pictures and sculptures that her parents had gifted to her, combined with her Massachusetts and Rhode Island pride. Watching him as he stood in the middle of the room, his presence somehow loomed larger than life as he scanned his surroundings.

Closing the door, she stared at him in shock. “How did you find me?” she asked.

“I have my ways,” he said as he turned in her direction.

Huffing a bit at his dismissive tone, she decided to take another approach. “Then maybe the question is, why did you find me?” Eyeing him somewhat nervously, she crossed her arms over her braless chest. Part of her knew that she should be afraid of him, but she wasn’t. Intrigued was more like it. The question of why he was here, in her apartment, uppermost in her mind. The feeling coursing through her body felt like zips of electricity. The snap and crackle of her nerves caused goose bumps to rise on her skin.

“Are you cold?” Conall asked in that deep timbre. Her gaze going to his face, she could see the smile hovering on his lips. His eyes flickered down to her breasts as he licked his lips.