Cillian O''Malley has been too close to death one too many times--first with his brother killed and then getting shot himself. He wants nothing more than to be done with the family "business," a desire made even stronger when he meets Olivia, the new bartender in his favorite hangout. She''s gorgeous, smart-mouthed, and completely uninvolved in the power struggle among Boston''s reigning families. Or so he thinks...

Olivia just wants to make a living and take care of her young daughter. But she''s not about to escape her brother Dmitri that easily. As soon as he finds out that Olivia knows Cillian, he orders her to get even closer, to ferret out all the O''Malley family secrets--or Olivia''s daughter will be in jeopardy. And the biggest problem: the more Olivia gets to know the dangerously dark and brooding Cillian, the more she never wants to let him go. But how far can she trust him to protect her?