Rough and Ready, page 1
Rough and Ready
Italian Stallions
Book Three
Mari Carr
Copyright © 2022 by Mari Carr
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
Rough and Ready
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
About the Author
Rough and Ready
Gio is blessed with a big family and lots of friends. Unfortunately, there’s an unspoken code amongst his buddies…one where sisters are off-limits. That wouldn’t be a problem if he and his best friend, Rafe, could stop thinking about Kayden’s vivacious, fun-loving little sister, Keeley. They have always been stand-up guys, but Keeley is so tempting, so sexy, that they’re in danger of breaking all the rules.
* * *
Keeley’s not exactly batting a thousand when it comes to life. She just lost her job and her only true talent seems to be picking the worst guys on the planet from online dating sites. However, her uneventful life takes a turn for the steamy after Rafe hires her to work for him and he and Gio start crashing all her bad dates.
* * *
When one kiss lead to a second and then to something much, much more, the lovers are left to decide if they’re engaging in a fun fling or embarking on forever.
Chapter One
“Damn. I’ll have what she’s having,” Keeley mused as she watched Penny Beaumont slow-dancing with Gage Russo. She leaned back in her chair and sighed heavily.
She was jealous as hell.
When she’d helped plan this birthday party for Penny, she had no idea her quirky, sweet friend would be swept off her feet by her hot-as-sin, billionaire boss. And while Keeley was over the moon for her, she desperately wished she could find someone like Gage.
Not a billionaire. She wasn’t that type of woman.
No. What she wanted was a man so filled with love that he would crash her birthday party and claim her right there and then, in front of God and everybody.
Her mother would have loved it, would have called it wildly romantic. And it was. It really was. If there was one thing she’d gotten from her mother—well, except for her dark brown eyes and less-than-bountiful tits—it was her hopeless romantic side.
“I want it too,” Liza said, agreeing. “Even if he is a Russo. I mean, how hot is that dance?”
Keeley had been friends with Liza long enough to know she wasn’t the only woman at the table with a green-eyed monster sitting on her shoulder.
The last strains of John Legend’s “Conversations in the Dark” played out as Gage kissed Penny with such passion, Keeley swore she felt it all the way across the room.
Their other girlfriend, Gianna, left the dance floor right after the slow song ended. Her boyfriend headed to the bar while she reclaimed her seat next to Keeley. “I swear to God, that is the dreamiest thing I’ve ever seen. Penny with Gage Russo! Who would have guessed it?” she gushed excitedly.
Unlike Keeley and Liza, Gianna didn’t have a speck of jealousy in her tone. Why would she? She’d been dating her super-sweet boyfriend, Sam, since they were both sophomores in high school. She’d had her life mapped out and planned down to the very second ever since she was fifteen years old and fell head over heels in love with Sam Mannarino.
Gianna had never spent a single second out there in the cold, cruel world, traveling from one meat market to the next, trolling online dating sites, and kissing frog after fucking frog, all in the hopes of finding the one.
Mr. Right.
It was a depressing task. Not that Keeley would ever give up or stop looking. Her prince was out there, and she was bound and determined to do whatever it took to find him.
And, of course, because karma liked to kick her in the ass from time to time to keep her humble…a prince she couldn’t have decided to make his appearance at that very moment.
Gio Moretti, like all the Moretti men, was the living embodiment of tall, dark, and tatted-to-perfection handsome, and as such, he’d starred in pretty much every fantasy—romantic, sexy, and kinky—that she’d had since puberty.
Gio approached their table, scowling, and Keeley didn’t even bother to hide her grin. She knew why he was pissed off. And it amused her to no end.
“Down boy,” she said when he was within hearing distance.
“Did you invite Gage Russo?” he asked.
Keeley shook her head. “No, but Penny might have.”
Gio grimaced. “Yeah. She said she did. What’s going on with those two?”
Liza snorted. “Come on, cuz. You can’t be that thick. I think it’s pretty obvious what’s been going on between them.”
“Did you know about this?” he asked the table in general.
Keeley shook her head. “Not really. They danced together once when we were all at Enigma, but Penny never alluded to anything between them. She definitely didn’t tell us she was sleeping with him, but…wowza. I think that’s pretty much a given.”
“Why were you at Enigma?” Gio plopped down in the empty chair next to her.
Keeley gave him a “seriously?” look. “Where else would we be? We’re single ladies on the hunt for a man.”
“Something incredibly difficult these days. There are no men worth dating in Philly. Period. End of story,” Liza chimed in.
While Keeley was still optimistic about her chances of finding the perfect guy, Liza was a lot more jaded. So jaded, in fact, that she joked her skin fairly shimmered with the blue-green hue.
Gio smirked. “You always say that, and yet I have countless friends, brothers, and cousins who are great guys.”
Liza rolled her eyes. “Fat lotta good that does us. None of you guys will ever go out with Keeley because you’ve shoehorned her into the eternal kid-sister role. And I’m related to most of those yahoos you speak of.”
“Just say the word, Gio, and I’d be yours forever,” Keeley teased, running her fingers up and down his tattooed arm. God, she was a sucker for tats. “Don’t mean to brag or anything, but I’m awesome in bed.”
He was completely unaffected by her flirting. “I’ll take your word for that.”
“Smart-ass,” she muttered.
Gio had never crossed the line with her, despite the fact she’d flirted with him for years. It was a harmless game she played with her brother’s friends because they were all stand-up guys. And just as Liza said, they’d never see her as an available woman because she would always be Kayden’s little sister.
Kayden, who was sitting at a table nearby, yelled out, “Behave yourself, Kee. Leave poor Gio alone.”
His words had the same impact as a dare, so she shifted her chair two inches to the right, ensuring that she was sitting even closer to Gio. She gave him a wicked, come-hither smile, purely for her brother’s benefit. “Break the bro-code. I’ll make it worth your while,” she cooed in her best sex-vixen tone.
“Jesus.” Kayden gave up, shaking his head as he turned his attention back to the people at his own table.
Gio smirked, and then, because he was as shameless and accomplished as she was when it came to teasing, he rested his arm around the back of her chair.
“I took no vow, little one,” Gio said, winking at Keeley in that charming way of his.
She wanted to be annoyed when he called her “little one,” but in truth, it got her girl parts purring like a well-loved kitten. Unwilling to let him claim the upper hand in their game, she shrank the distance between them by another inch or two. “Just one kiss?”
Gio snorted. “You can’t handle me, minx.”
Keeley relented, moving back and crossing her arms. “All you’re doing is proving that Liza’s right. She and I are doomed to forever be the sister mascots for your merry band of men.”
Gio didn’t deny her comment. Instead, he offered a one-shoulder shrug that gave her the tiniest bit of hope he was serious about taking no vow.
Yep. Optimist. That was her.
Back when she was younger, she’d suffered serious crushes on both Gio and his best friend, Rafe Baros. The two men had solidified their places in her heart the night her parents died.
However, over the years, she’d learned to accept that she would always be—for all intents and purposes—untouchable. Not that it stopped her from flirting…and hoping. She’d just gotten to the point where she considered all this playful teasing to be practice for guys she actually stood a chance with.
Unfortunately, as far as single men went in Philly, Gio was right. His friends and male relatives were all very good, very decent men, sexy as sin…and the ideal she’d been using as a yardstick when measuring the men she dated.
Sometimes she considered breaking that stick in half—maybe twice—if she hoped to find someone worthy of a second date, but in the end, she refused to lower the bar. She knew what she wanted, and she was determined to find it. She wouldn’t stop trying to find him—the one
Gio glanced back toward the dance floor. The music was faster now. Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling” blasting from the speakers. Penny and Gage were dancing like lunatics, laughing their asses off, and even Gio couldn’t manage to hold on to his scowl, grinning reluctantly at their silliness. “She looks really happy.”
Keeley studied Penny’s face and agreed.
She’d thought the slow dance and kiss had been hot, but there was no denying the friendship and fun Gage and Penny shared looked just as amazing. It seemed Penny had scored the dating trifecta—romance, friendship, and set-the-sheets-on-fire sex.
Meanwhile, Keeley was zero for three in that department.
“Yeah. She does.” Keeley’s jealousy tripled, and she sighed again.
The sound captured Gio’s attention. “You okay, Kiwi?” he asked.
She narrowed her eyes. “Thought we agreed we were going to let that nickname die.”
The Moretti family was huge, several generations deep, with most of them still living in Philadelphia. Billy, one of the youngest generation, had struggled with her name when he was learning to talk, only managing to call her Kiwi, something the Moretti men had found completely hilarious.
For the past five years, she’d stopped being Keeley and had instead been dubbed with the ridiculous fruit moniker. And it wasn’t even a good fruit. Those fuckers were impossible to peel.
Gio gave her a devilish grin. “Again…I never agreed to anything.”
“Dick,” she murmured.
“Bitch,” he retorted playfully.
“Fuckrod.” This exchange of name-calling between them wasn’t new. In fact, it was so standard, it bordered on tired. She couldn’t recall the last time they’d had a conversation that didn’t end this way.
“Here we go,” Gianna said with a laugh. “You two need to find a new schtick.”
“Karen,” he returned, ignoring Gianna’s joke.
She scowled, though she didn’t feel the slightest spark of anger. Just the opposite. Still, she fought to hide her grin. “Too far,” she chastised.
“You started it.” He reached over to ruffle her hair in a brotherly way, and she smacked his hand.
“You’re messing it up and it took me ages to get the curls just right.” Her chestnut hair—streaked with dark auburn highlights—was painfully straight. And as was the custom with women all around the world and throughout history, she hated her hair, always longing for what she didn’t have. In her case, curls. Or hell, she’d settle for a wave or two.
“Seriously though,” he said. “Why the heavy sigh?”
Keeley shrugged. “I think I’m entitled to a little depression here. I mean, I lost my job, the landlord just raised my rent—which doesn’t matter because without a paycheck, I can’t pay him anyway. And I’m this close,” she pinched her thumb and forefinger together, “to having to move back in with my brother, which I think we can all agree would end badly.”
Liza feigned a horrified gasp. “One of you would definitely kill the other. No question about it.”
Keeley loved Kayden more than life itself, but their relationship had gotten a gazillion times better after she’d gone off to college and moved out from beneath the ever-present thumb he’d kept on her while she was growing up. Not that she could blame him for his overprotective nature. After all, Kayden had basically stopped being a big brother when he was twenty-five, forced to take on the role of surrogate mother and father instead, stepping in to raise her after their parents had been killed in a plane crash.
Her father, a former pilot in the Air Force, had continued to fly small charter planes after retiring from military service. When she’d been younger, she would swear she spent more time in the family’s single-engine Cessna 172 than in their Buick. Her dad was airplane crazy, never so happy as when he was in the air, soaring with the birds, as he liked to say.
Sadly, the plane had gone down when an unexpected storm caught up with him and Mom as they were returning from an anniversary trip to Nantucket.
Keeley had been fifteen and, even now, ten years later, she missed them more than words could say. Not a single day passed when she didn’t long for one of her dad’s big bear hugs or wish she could talk to her mom.
“And,” Keeley added, “if the job situation wasn’t bad enough, last night’s date ended with the same whimper as the previous forty-seven. I really, really,” she stressed, “need one to end with a bang.”
“Pun intended?” Liza joked.
“Absolutely,” Keeley replied.
“Hey, Gee,” Sam called from the dance floor. “They’re playing our song.”
Gianna hopped up with a laugh, joining her boyfriend as “I Like Big Butts”—which was definitely not their song—started to play.
However, it did appear to be Keeley and Liza’s song, as they both broke loose, singing all the lyrics at rapid pace, never missing a single word and shouting, “You get sprung!” at the top of their lungs, while Gio merely shook his head in amusement, claiming, “You two have issues.”
“Hey, Keeley,” Rafe called out, interrupting their impromptu concert as he approached the table. He dropped down into the chair Gianna had just vacated.
“Hiya, Rafe. You’re in luck. Gio turned me down for the night. The path is clear for our lust-filled evening of passion. If you’re nice, I’ll even let you pull my hair.”
“Keeley.” He gave her that tone, the one seemingly reserved for her that said “cut the crap.” And he managed it by just saying her name in that patient/exasperated tone.
“Please don’t tell me you’re going to break my heart too.”
Rafe ignored her joke, which was not particularly surprising. While Gio teased back, Rafe simply pretended she wasn’t flirting at all. “Kayden just told me you lost your job.”
“Yeah, I did.” She hadn’t shared that information with Rafe because he’d spent the last month dealing with the aftermath of his grandfather’s death. She didn’t feel right complaining about her problems when he was genuinely grieving.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
She let her sympathetic smile answer for her.
Rafe rubbed his chin. “I’ve been too wrapped up in my own problems.”
Keeley reached out and placed her hand on his. “You lost your grandfather, Rafe. I just lost a stupid job I didn’t even like.” She’d been laid off in “last hired, first fired” style when the office supply company she worked for had been forced to scale back. Online shopping conglomerates were hell on the little mom-and-pop businesses.
“Even so…I’m kind of hoping I can solve both our problems. If not forever, then maybe for a little while.”
She frowned, confused by his comment. “What do you mean?”
“I’m dying on the vine, Kiwi. I need you.” Rafe flipped his hand over, clasping hers.
Her heart skipped a beat or three as she purposely let herself misinterpret his words.
He needed her?
She wished.
“Need me how?” she forced herself to ask, ignoring the sudden heat growing between her legs. She wasn’t kidding about needing to get laid. It had been a while.
Scratch that. A while indicated months.
She’d drifted into forever territory, as she hadn’t gone to bed with a guy in well over a year.
“I want you to come work for me.”
She laughed for just a split second…before she realized he was serious. It was hard for her to get used to the idea of Rafe being his own boss. For the past decade, he’d been working as a finance manager for a large international company whose home base was in Philadelphia, but he’d taken a leave of absence after his grandfather’s terminal cancer diagnosis, wanting to spend as much time as he could with the beloved man before his passing.
He didn’t go back to the job after his grandfather’s death because he’d discovered he was the sole heir to what turned out to be a legit fortune. Like, an overnight-millionaire kind of fortune.
