Title: An Indecent Proposal
Author: Katee Robert
Series: The O’Malley Series #3
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: August 30, 2016
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing- Forever
Greed. Ambition. Violence. Those are the "values" Olivia Rashidi learned from her Russian mob family-and the values she must leave behind for the sake of her daughter. When she meets Cillian O'Malley, she recognizes the red flag of his family name . . . yet she still can't stop herself from seeing the smoldering, tortured man. To save her family, Olivia sets out to discover Cillian's own secrets, but the real revelation is how fast-and how hard-she's falling for him.
Plagued by a violent past, Cillian is more vulnerable than anyone realizes. Anyone except Olivia, whose beauty, compassion, and pride have him at "hello," even if she's more inclined to say good-bye to an O'Malley. While his proposal of sex with no strings seems simple, what he feels for her isn't, especially after he learns that she belongs to a rival crime family. Cillian knows that there is no escape from the life, but Olivia may be worth trying and dying for . . .
“Hey, stop!”
She ran after him, thankful she’d put on her badass studded boots instead of the pair of heels she’d been jonesing after. An eight-hour shift on her feet would have her hating herself if she’d gone with the pretty shoes—and they would have made it impossible to catch up with the O’Malley.
She grabbed his arm and froze at the feel of his muscles flexing in her grip. Holy wow.
He finally turned to face her and it struck her that, without the bar between them, he was so much larger than she was. Not large like her ex, Sergei—this man was built lean instead of for brute strength—but he still dwarfed her. And he smelled good, like some kind of spicy men’s cologne that instantly had her thinking thoughts she had no business entertaining.
Like what it would be like to bury her nose in his neck and inhale deeply. The insane desire to do so almost overwhelmed her.
Everything about him was overwhelming, from his beautiful face, to his impeccably styled dark hair, to the tattoos peeking out of his clothes at neck and wrists. The ink creeping up the side of his neck was like a wild thing trying to escape from his insanely expensive suit, a strange combination of brutal strength and poised polish that she should have known better than to be attracted to.
Except, apparently, her body hadn’t gotten the memo.
She realized she was still clutching his arm and made herself let go so she could offer back the cash. Right, because that’s why you chased him down a dark street. “I don’t want your money.”
“It’s called a tip, sweetheart. It’s just good manners.”
“I don’t want it.” Even as she said it, she wondered why she was being so damn stubborn about this.
He hadn’t asked anything of her. All he’d done was throw too much money at a bartender, which was something plenty of drunks did from time to time. Except he wasn’t drunk. She should be elated at having the extra cash—God knew she needed it. Instead, there was a growing recklessness in her chest, one she’d thought she’d outgrown a long time ago. “Just take it, okay?”
“No.” His gaze narrowed on her face, giving her the sudden thought that he saw too much. Before she could decide what to do with that, he moved closer, giving her another whiff of that cologne that made her whole body break out in goose bumps. Or maybe it was the man himself, the streetlights creating a skeleton’s mask of his face, turning his eyes into dark pits of shadows. “Why do you care so much?”
“Oh my God, just take it back.” She should drop the cash and head for home. Or, hell, at least take a few steps away so that she wasn’t in danger of brushing against him if she took a deep breath.
But she couldn’t force her hand to unclench or her feet to create any distance between them. She cleared her throat, trying to get her thoughts back on track. “I didn’t ask for your charity.”
“Yeah, I got it. You win. I’m an asshole.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Not in so many words, no.” His gaze raked her body much the same way it had back at the bar, making every alarm in her head go off. Spending any more time in this man’s presence was dangerous, though she couldn’t say for sure what she was most afraid of. She lifted her chin in challenge, demanding…She wasn’t sure what she was demanding. Her gaze dropped to his mouth, and she licked her lips. What am I doing? Walk away. Walk away right now.
No. Not yet.
He murmured, “If the shoe fits…”
And then he gripped her jaw and kissed her.
Cillian O'Malley is the sibling that took his brother's death the hardest. When he lost Devlin his life went a little out of control and he felt himself spiraling down a dangerous path. Putting a stop to his behavior that could get him in some deep trouble, he's now on the straight and narrow. Well, he was until he met Olivia Rashidi.
Olivia knows all about Mafia life, and she wants no part of it. So when the sexy man who orders apple juice at the bar where she works tells her his last name, she knows to stay far away. But Cillian is insistent in his want for her, and she's starting to forget why she needs to stay away from him.
I've been a fan of this series from the very beginning and I don't think that will ever change. Katee Robert took the Mafia genre and ruled it in an almost contemporary way with this book, and it made me fall madly in love. It was completely unlike the previous books with an added soft side to these characters, and I couldn't get enough of it. I love how, so far, all of the books in this series have had very different tones, while all following the same kind of mafia storyline. While in the last book we were held in suspense, in An Indecent Proposal there was a sweetness that was brought to the story. Unexpected, but not hated.
I had high expectations for Cillian, thinking he would be the tough brother that had a dangerous personality. Well I was completely wrong, he was the exact opposite of everything I thought. And I loved that fact. He had a vulnerable side to him that broke my heart and made me want to give him a hug. Seeing how affected he was by the life he was living was really emotional and made me connect to his character very strongly. He was ten times better than what I had imagined in my mind before starting this book.
Olivia was the perfect heroine for Cillian. She had her moments where she was unsure of herself and questioned what she was getting involved in, but she never backed down. There was a fighter inside of her and that was evident from the moment we met her. She became my favorite heroine from this series because I loved how real she was. We all have those inner battles whenever we're doing something new and we have to wonder if it's the right thing, and that battle was portrayed within this character incredibly well. It made her easy to relate to, and I think that's why I enjoyed her so much.
Bottom line, if you haven't started this series yet, you're missing out on something great. Katee doesn't just write a story for you to read, she creates a whole new world for you to immerse yourself in, and you need to experience that. Clearly a very high recommendation from me.
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