Steal Me
Series: New York’s Finest #2
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: Lauren Layne
Release Date: November 24, 2015
Forever
IN HOT PURSUIT
Being a cop might be in Anthony Moretti’s blood, but protecting and serving the city of New York has always been more than just the family business. If that means his love life stays locked up, well then that’s just another sacrifice made in the line of duty. That is, until he sets eyes on the gorgeous new waitress at The Darby Diner and suddenly Anthony’s morning coffee is leaving him a whole lot more hot and bothered than usual.
Though waitressing at The Darby isn’t exactly Maggie Walker’s dream job, it pays the bills and gives her time to work on her novel. Now if only she could stop fantasizing about gorgeous Anthony Moretti every time he sits down at her table, she’d really be in great shape. But when he needs her help identifying a criminal threatening The Darby—and Maggie recognizes her ex-husband—she fears her fresh start might be a pipe dream. Faster than a New York minute, Maggie and Anthony find themselves in one perilous pursuit that only gets hotter with each and every rule-breaking kiss.
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“So what did you mean, you don’t want to talk about it?,” Tony Moretti repeated, glancing down at Anthony’s plate, and scowling to see the bacon supply completely depleted.Anthony scooped a mouthful of Swiss cheese omelet into his mouth before sitting back and reaching for his coffee. “It means that Ma doesn’t like cop-talk at the table.”
“Riiiiight,” Elena Moretti said from Anthony’s left side. “Because you guys always respect Mom’s no-cop-talk rule.”
Anth took another sip of coffee and exchanged a look and a shrug with Luc across the table.
Their sister made a good point.
In a family where four out of five siblings were living in New York, and three out of those four were with the NYPD, cop-talk was likely.
And when the family patriarch was the recently retired Ppolice Ccommissioner?
Cop- talk wasn’t just probable, it was inevitable.
Still, it was worth a shot to throw up his mother’s token rule of “no cop- talk.” Especially when he didn’t want to talk.
About any of it.
It had been a long time since he’d been the one in the hot seat, and he wasn’t at all sure that he cared for it.
Scratch that. He was sure.
He hated it.
But his father could be like a dog with a bone when it came to his sons’ careers. And today, like it or not, it was Anthony under the microscope.
He surrendered to the inevitable.
“Dad. I told you. It’ll get handled.” He went for another cup of coffee, only to find it was empty. Diner fail.
He scanned the dining room for the waitress, partially because he wanted more coffee, partially because he wanted a distraction. Partially because—
“You’ve been saying it’lls getbe handled for weeks,” Tony said, refusing to let the matter drop.
“Yeah, Captain. You’ve been saying that for weeks.” This from Anthony’s other brother Vincent. Two years younger than Anth, Vin was a homicide detective and the most irritable and irreverent member of the family. And the one least likely to kiss Anth’s ass.
If Anthony was totally honest, he was pretty sure that most of his younger siblings respected him, not only because he was the highest- ranking active family member, but simply because he was the oldest. He was the one they’d come to when they needed to hide that broken vase from Mom, or when they were scared to death to tell Dad about that D in Cchemistry, or in the case of his brothers, when it was time to learn their way around the female anatomy.
But Vincent had authority issues and was always the first to jump at the chance to gently mock Anthony’s status as Captain.
A title that had been hard -earned, and still felt new. As though it could be ripped away at any time.
Which was exactly the reason his father was on his ass right now. Anthony had passed his Ccaptain’s test three months ago, and his father had every intention of him climbing the ladder all the way to the top. The very top.
It was a path Anth had never questioned. A path that, up until recently, had been remarkably smooth.
And then…
And then Smiley had happened.
His eyes were wild as they looked down on her, and the last thought Maggie had before his mouth slammed against hers was that Anthony Moretti completely out of control was the sexiest thing she’d ever seen.
I have a rule when it comes to Lauren Layne books: she writes them, I read them. Period. It doesn’t matter what she writes, because each and every time I know I’ll be in for a treat. Her New York’s Finest series has quickly made its way onto my favorites list as well. I loved Frisk Me, and after the little peek that we got at the end of it into Anthony Moretti, I couldn’t wait to see what the police Captain will bring.
The character that immediately caught my attention was the middle Moretti, Vincent. What can I say? I love the broody grumpy assholes, and Vincent sure fits the bill. What I didn’t expect was for Anthony to give him a run for his money. The newly promoted Captain has no interest in relationships ever since a tragedy changed his outlook on mixing his career aspirations with a woman. He knows the two will never mix and he doesn’t even want to try. So what if the beautiful waitress at the diner his family frequents instantly catches his eyes. It helps that she can’t seem to help but dump food on him each time she sees him, bringing out his temper and loosing his filter so he can’t help but be a grade a asshole.
Maggie Walker has dreams, and a waitress at a diner isn’t it. But it pays the bills while she tries to make her dream of becoming an author come true. Having left everything behind to move to NY, she’s starting over fresh. In her tiny apartment, with her adorable dog, she doesn’t mind that it may not be the lap of luxury, because for once in her life it’s all hers. But she can barely seem to do her job when the intimidating Captain Moretti seems to bring out her inner klutz. But when she just may be the witness to help him with a career making case, Anthony has no choice but to get to know the little waitress better. And that’s when things get interesting…
I loved Maggie’s sweet but sassy personality. At first I thought she’d be another introverted little mouse, but she really grew into her own as the book progressed. Anthony was the epitome of an a-hole for much of the book, which is actually, what ultimately brought my rating down slightly. It took him a bit too long for my taste to finally remove his head from his ass. And let me tell you, when it came to relationships, it was very firmly planted up there. You have to know it’s bad when Vincent was giving him relationship advice.
The chemistry between Maggie and Anth was scorching. What I love about Lauren Layne, is nothing is instant. No insta-love or insta-lust to be found here. She really makes it stretch and burn, and it makes it that much more delicious when the sparks finally ignite. So as frustrating as Anthony was for me at times, it took barely anything away from the book. I enjoyed it thoroughly and can’t wait until the next one….ESPECIALLY after that sneak peek at the end.
Lauren Layne is the USA Today Bestselling author of contemporary romance.
Prior to becoming an author, Lauren worked in e-commerce and web-marketing. In 2011, she and her husband moved from Seattle to New York City, where Lauren decided to pursue a full-time writing career. It took six months to get her first book deal (despite ardent assurances to her husband that it would only take three). Since then, Lauren’s gone on to publish ten books, including the bestselling Stiletto series, with several more on the way in 2015.
Lauren currently lives in Chicago with her husband and spoiled Pomeranian. When not writing, you’ll find her at happy hour, running at a doggedly slow pace, or trying to straighten her naturally curly hair.
Author Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads
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