Mafia Stepbrother Boxed Set by Jessi Talbot Read Free Book Online Page B

“What’s it like to work for the mafia?” I asked.
    Cole looked at me for a few seconds and I could almost see his brain working behind his calculating eyes, trying to decide what to tell me, and what not to tell me. “It’s just a business,” he finally said. “Selling alcohol to dry counties, providing intimate partners for people looking for a little companionship, letting people decide for themselves if they want to blow their paycheck on the ponies or the blackjack table instead of having the government decide for them.”
    “Drugs?”
    Cole shook his head. “Used to, but I convinced Sonny it was a bad business arrangement, and he was able to convince the others. It’s one of the reasons I was given this promotion.”
    “What exactly do you do?”
    Cole glanced out the window. “You don’t want to know. Boring stuff.”
    I put my hand to my cheek, gasping loudly. “Oh no! Not boring work stuff. It’s so… boring, and just so… manly. No, I prefer womanly things, like cooking and cleaning.”
    Laughing, Cole looked at me and shook his head. “You look like a million dollars but you’re still a rugrat.” I acted like I was going to slap him and he held up his hands in defense. “Okay,” he said, still laughing. “You win, but it really is boring stuff.”
    “I’m supposedly your assistant these days so I need to know something – anything – about what you do. Right now, it just seems like you throw parties and have meetings.”
    He nodded. “That’s basically it. When the family is around, everyone likes to say the mob brought crime with them, but the joke is the crime is already here. The gambling, the escorts, the bootlegging; it’s all here. We just put all of it under the same corporate umbrella.”
    I chuckled. “Corporate umbrella? You sound like a CEO of some big company.”
    Cole grinned. “That’s basically what I am. I meet with people involved in these other businesses and show them why it makes sense to join us. It’s called organized crime for a reason.”
    “No horse heads in beds?”
    Cole laughed. “I have personally never put a horse’s head in anyone’s bed.”
    “If it’s so boring, why carry a gun?”
    Cole shrugged. “Because boring is good. If anyone decides to get stupid – and some occasionally do – being prepared is the best way to make sure things get back on track as quick as possible. Sonny likes to call it getting-home-alive insurance.”
    “So what’s my job?”
    Cole put his hand on my thigh, sending a pleasurable wave of warmth through me. “To make me look good.”
    I raised an eyebrow. “I beg your pardon?”
    Cole laughed. “That expression is priceless… but it’s true, sort of. I’m new to this CEO-style stuff. Spreadsheets and monthly totals and growth projections are not my thing.”
    “Cole,” I said, suddenly worried that I might not actually be able to do this job, “They’re not my thing, either.”
    Cole squeezed my leg. “You were kicking my ass with the tech stuff way back when we were kids, and you took some business classes in college.”
    “How do you know that?”
    His cheeks flushed red as he looked out the window again. “I… uhhh… kept tabs on you.”
    “What? No letters or emails or phone calls… but you spied on me?”
    He looked back at me. “I wanted to make sure you were okay so I kept an eye on you, but what was I supposed to say? Hey, Dani, haven’t seen you in ages but I love you?” He glanced at his watch as the limo pulled in front of the house. “I hate to run but I’ve got another meeting to go to.”
    “What?” He had switched gears too fast. I looked at him as if he were suddenly speaking a different language, feeling like I was in some weird mental fog, my mind still stuck on the ‘L’ word.
    “Meeting,” he repeated. “I need to go.”
    “Oh. Okay.” It wasn’t really. I wanted to find out more about this latest piece of information, but I didn’t think dropping the L-bomb