PRAISE FOR QUINN MARLOWE

  Praise for Her Romeo

  “You’re telling me I have to wait for I don’t know how long for a sequel to this amazing mafia romance??? No way I’ll live through that! Yes, I was expecting spice. And I got it. Yes, I was expecting a possessive mafia romance. And I got it. But the plot surprised me completely!” —@FedyTheReader

  “I was not ready for this book to end. I need the next book like yesterday… I will be like a starving book dragon hunting for book two, that's for certain!” –Melissa, Goodreads reviewer

  “I am obsessed with this book!!!!” –Renee, Goodreads Reviewer

  “… the action, suspense, who to trust and who not to. You are constantly on the edge of your seat. My overall opinion of this book... addictive, entertaining, steamy with a dose of hot chemistry and a solid page turner. I am definitely anticipating book two. I mean, continuing this series to completion, it's a no brainer, it's just simply that good.” –Debbie, Goodreads reviewer

  “If I had enough hours in the day, I absolutely would've never set this one down. If you are looking for something with a mafia vibe, with the suspense that will leave you dying for more. This is it. Forbidden romance. Kidnapping. This is definitely a book for you!” –Rachel, Goodreads reviewer

  “You know those books that you have to put down a few minutes to catch your breath or to make last longer?! Yep, this is definitely one of those books! I loved it from the first word until… THE CLIFFHANGER! I want more… scratch that I need more of Sloane and Joseph! It was fast paced and I couldn’t put it down, except to catch my breath. Definitely recommend!” –Rachel, Goodreads reviewer

  “This book had me hooked and interested from the first page. It got right into the “action” and was a page turner until the very end. I could not get enough of the tension between the characters and the internal struggle both of them are facing is BEAUTIFULLY written.” –Stephanie, Amazon reviewer

  Praise for Her Hero

  “Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut are you guys squealing yet? Because you should! This trilogy is SOOOOOOOO squealworthy! It has everything you need.. spice? Yes! Romance? Hell yes! Guns and violence and everything else you want in a mafia Romance? Hell to the yes!” —Winter Wolf, Amazon Reviewer

  “I loved this book even more than the last two! I loved watching Sloane and Joseph grow even closer in this book, even as adversity increased! Y'all know how much I love a fast-paced, quick read that still has a good plot, and this book is IT.

  Mr. Joseph Rossi has my effing heart. That's all I need to say. I'm amazed and in love.” —Olivia, Amazon reviewer

  “Another book in the mafia romance series involving the story of Sloane and Joseph … WOW JUST WOW!!! I’m obsessed!!!” —@FedyTheReader

  “…Such an enjoyable read! The plot could've gone everywhere, and with all the action it felt like I just kept flipping pages. I just wanted to know how it ended!” —Sanne, Goodreads reviewer

  “Guns blazing, car chases and more has exploded the suspense in this romantic suspense trilogy. It's a quick read, but a fun one.” —Micky, Goodreads reviewer

  “Couldn't put it down. Loved how Sloane and Joseph were together. I do hope there is more to come. Definitely recommend.” —Sue, Goodreads reviewer

  DARE YOU

  NEW YORK ROGUES: BROOKS PETERSON

  BOOK 1

  QUINN MARLOWE

  Copyright © 2023 by Spitfire Press

  All rights reserved.

  Spitfire Press and colophon are property of Glass House Press, LLC, and may not be reproduced.

  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.

  This is a work of fiction. Any names of characters, business, places, events, or incidents are fictitious or have been used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental.

  CONTENTS

  Note from the author

  1. Brooks

  2. Brooks

  3. Brooks

  4. Anthony

  5. Brooks

  6. Brooks

  7. Anthony

  8. Brooks

  9. Anthony

  10. Brooks

  11. Anthony

  12. Brooks

  13. Anthony

  14. Brooks

  Ready for the next chapter???

  About the Author

  Also by Quinn Marlowe

  NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

  Fam.

  I have had a LOT of readers asking for Brooks to have her own series. And honestly, I’ve been wondering what she’d get up to if I just let her loose and stopped allowing Sloane, Penny, Michael, and (mostly) Joseph try to control her.

  Turns out she gets up to just as much mischief as we all thought she would. And also, she’s the most badass character ever. She literally can’t keep her mouth shut, and doesn’t make any apologies to anyone. And I adore her for that.

  She’s the character I’d like to think I’d be, even though I know I’d never be able to pull any of this stuff off.

  Anyhow, for those who are keeping track, this book happens between Her Keeper—the second in the Michael and Penny due—and Her Rebellion—the first in the Dante and Dax duo. You don’t have to read those books to understand what’s going on here… but it would probably help. And seriously, why would you not?

  This book starts the Brooks Peterson series, and I have a tip for you.

  Despite the name, her series isn’t going to take place in New York.

  It’s also going to include characters who are not Rossi, Brennan, or Massimo.

  Because there are new Rogues coming to the catalog next year, and their series is going to happen concurrently with Brooks’.

  Is that a good teaser? I think that’s a good teaser. So I’ll finish this note here and just say… enjoy Brooks in all her glory, because I sure loved going on this adventure with her. I think she might be my favorite character ever, and that’s saying a lot.

  -Q

  1

  BROOKS

  “I might have to kill your husband,” I told my best friend in the whole world. “Don’t take it personally.” I dropped into the seat across the table from Sloane, reached for one of the margaritas she’d mixed, and took an enormous swallow.

  “I’ll try,” she agreed calmly. “But what are we actually going to do about him?”

  God, I fucking loved that girl. I knew a lot of people in this town—a lot of people who depended on me for a lot of shit and were, for the most part, pretty open to whatever I had to say. But I didn’t think any of them would have let me insult their significant other without blinking an eye.

  Of course, I’d known Sloane Brennan-Rossi—and her husband, Joseph—since we were too young to realize the three of us shouldn’t have been friends at all. The princess of the Irish mob, the heir of the biggest Italian family in the city, and the...

  Well, me. The girl who didn’t have anything to do with the mafia. As far as anyone knew. Even though I could have been running the entire fucking city when I was about ten years old and doing a better job of it than some of the biggest guys out there.

  The thought made me grin, and I leaned my elbows on the table and glanced at her, trying to remember what she’d even been like as a kid. What we’d all been like. Sloane was married to Joseph now, and we both had more power than we’d had in the past.

  At least in theory.

  Of course we were still officially just the girls, and that pretty much cancelled out whatever power we might have had, when it came to the menfolk. The thing was, our families—the Rossis and the Brennans—were currently embroiled in an enormous war with enemies we still hadn’t named, and Those In Charge had yet to make any big breakthroughs in terms of what the hell was going on.

  You’d think they would have been glad to accept some help. That, having run out of ideas, they would have turned to other sources and asked for feedback. Instead, they shut Sloane and me down every time we opened our mouths. And don’t even get me started on Penny. She might be Michael Rossi’s new pet, but he and Joseph seemed absolutely committed to thinking she didn’t have anything in her head aside from bubblegum and hearts.

  And I was getting really tired of it. Sloane was one of the top lawyers in the city, Penny could run circles around anyone else when it came to numbers, and I was... well, let’s just call me a ‘fixer,’ and leave it at that. We had good contacts. We had information the menfolk would never have had access to. We had brains that could put them to shame.

  And yet.

  I took another sip of my margarita, slower this time, and called the meeting to order. “What are we going to do about it? I’ve got some ideas. But if Joseph and Michael found out about them...”

  I made a face. I could imagine exactly what Joseph would do if he knew the plans that were running through my head. He’d never been good at letting us girls do anything he thought was ‘risky,’ and his brother was even worse.

  Control freaks, both of them.

  Not that I’d ever cared much.

  “It’s the Massimos,” I told the girls clearly. “It’s got to be. There’s too much proof. Anthony following Penny, not once but twice. The Carusos suddenly having all this money to throw around. And the fact that no one’s seen a fucking Massimo since this whole thing started. They’ve up and disappeared. They might be ghosts, but this is..

.”

  “Weird,” Sloane agreed. Her gray eyes met mine, somber and worried, and I could almost read her mind. Someone was making war on our families. Taking out our soldiers on the streets and getting spies into our warehouses. They’d been following Penny and had probably been behind the bullets that tore into Michael’s body when he was trying to hide her.

  They were dangerous, and the guys were evidently incapable of putting two and two together and getting this war started.

  In short, they were all talk and no action.

  Typical.

  “We know the Massimos are up to something,” I continued. “We know it has something to do with us. And as far as I can see, we need to get in there and figure out what the fuck it is. I’m tired of sitting around waiting.”

  Suddenly Penny, my smaller, blonder, and altogether more innocent friend leaned forward, her face looking surprisingly crafty. “In that case,” she said, sounding more conspiratorial than I’d ever heard her. “I might have exactly what you’re looking for.”

  Sloane and I stared at her for several moments, both of us shocked at this sudden turn of events. Penny was a lot of things, but a schemer wasn’t one of them. The last time she’d tried, muscling her way into Michael Rossi’s office as a spy for a reporter, it ended up with her falling in love with Michael and then nearly getting herself and Michael killed.

  The thing was, she never should have tried it on her own. If she’d told us what she was doing, we would have made sure she was smarter about it.

  So if she had a plan, I guessed, at least she was telling us about it this time.

  “You do?” I asked, unable to come up with anything more than that.

  She shrugged, her curls bouncing a bit with the movement. “Sure. You want the Massimos? Well, I have a way in.”

  “You have a way in?” Sloane asked, looking horrified. “Who are you and what have you done with our friend Penny?”

  Penny’s mouth stretched into a cocky grin. “Oh, it’s still me. I’ve just gotten better at this kind of stuff.”

  “That’s it,” I told her. “I’m not letting Michael have you back. He’s ruining you.”

  Penny’s smile dropped off her face and she cocked one eyebrow. “Are you going to tell him that? Because I think he might have a problem with it. Now, do you want to hear what I know, or do you just want to sit here and talk shit about the guys all night?”

  I snapped my mouth shut. I didn’t know where this version of Penny had come from or what she’d done with the angelic girl we’d known since high school.

  But I kind of liked this turn of events.

  2

  BROOKS

  I parked my motorcycle in the alley, secured it, and walked quickly around the corner, replaying Penny’s story in my head. According to my small blond friend, Anthony Massimo was in some sort of secret band he didn’t tell anyone about. Playing weekends in the bars and trying to pretend he was going to be a rock star when he grew up. Taking advantage of groupies and any girl who wanted to go home with the tall, well-built, dark-haired, and equally dark-souled guitar player.

  Dark soul. I snorted at that.

  I’d seen inside the man, and I knew exactly how dark his soul ran. But I also wasn’t surprised he was hiding in plain sight this way. Anthony was a nephew to the biggest Massimo there was, and had never liked the idea of being part of the family. He’d wanted out of the mob from the time we were old enough to know what the mob was.

  At least that was what he’d always told me.

  That was what he’d whispered when he had me pinned against the wall in the back of a bar, his hands busy with my belt and his mouth hot on my neck. It was what he’d told me again when he got me home to his apartment.

  Though for all I knew, he’d just been saying that to get me into bed. It wouldn’t have been the first time someone had lied with that goal in mind. It wouldn’t have been the last, either.

  I hadn’t seen Anthony in years now, and I was betting a lot of things had changed. When we were younger—young enough to risk sleeping with people we shouldn’t even have been talking to—he’d wanted a life outside of New York. Something that didn’t require shooting other people on the regular.

  But I’d watched the surveillance tapes of the night Michael and Penny were chased out of the city, and I’d recognized the man doing the chasing. I hadn’t told anyone who it was, mostly because I didn’t want them asking me questions about why I knew a Massimo well enough to identify him on a grainy, nearly unwatchable piece of video.

  I’d known exactly who he was, though.

  And I’d thought in that moment that he’d obviously changed his stripes and signed on to Dear Old Uncle’s agenda. Sure, he could have been working for someone else, but the Massimos had more money than God. Not even a forgotten nephew would ever have to work for anyone if he didn’t want to.

  So when I got to the door of the bar and pulled it open, I had only one thought in my brain: Find Anthony. Find out what the hell his family was doing and why they were making war against the Rossis and Brennans. And then get back to Rossi HQ and force Joseph and Michael to listen to me, before anyone else got hurt.

  I slid into the bar with my back to the wall and my eyes darting from left to right, taking in the entire place within seconds and coming to several fairly ungenerous conclusions. This bar was a fucking dive. One of those trashy places you somehow find in the middle of Manhattan, where the owners have either run out of money or decided that their paying customers like to look like they’re slumming it every so often.

  It was nothing like the bars where we usually hung out.

  Not that that was going to stop me.

  The place was crowded and every single person in here seemed to be enraptured with what was happening on the stage. They were all facing in the same direction like zombies, their eyes fixed on the same thing.

  I turned that way to see what the hell they were all staring at... and my mouth dropped open.

  Anthony Massimo was up there on the stage by himself, his fingers tickling their way across the keys of a broken-down piano as he sang, his eyes closed and the single spotlight highlighting those cheekbones—sharp enough to cut—and the scruff covering his jaw. He’d cut his hair shorter and it did him all sorts of favors, making it easier to appreciate how beautiful his face was. Broad shoulders shifted under a torn-up leather jacket and his jeans fit him perfectly in every way.

  I groaned. I couldn’t help it.

  I hadn’t seen the man in years, and though he’d been good-looking when I knew him before, that boyish figure didn’t hold a candle to the man on that stage. He’d gone from charming and sort of cute to...

  Sex on a stick.

  I licked my lips, reminded myself sternly that I wasn’t here to fall into that particular trap, and then turned my back on him and walked to the bar.

  I needed three fingers of the strongest whiskey they sold in this hellhole. And I was going to keep drinking it until I figured out how to handle the new version of Anthony Massimo. Because the man might have become scorching hot. He might be up there playing a sexy, slow song and making out with the microphone as he sang.

  He might have memories of what we’d done the last time I saw him rioting through my brain.

 

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