Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
I can hardly breathe, every single touch electric and raw. I arch into him, wanting more, needing more. His breath is ragged against my skin.
Vinnie tugs at my bra until the clasp unhooks, freeing my breasts. He skims over my bare flesh, making me quiver. He lowers his mouth to my left breast and teases the nipple with his tongue. His hot breath makes me squirm beneath him.
“Vinnie!” I gasp out his name like it’s a prayer.
I need him in ways I can’t articulate. The taste of his lips on mine is like my favorite wine, intoxicating and dizzying in equal measures.
He trails down my sides to the waistband of my jeans and unbuttons them.. The world outside fades away as he lays me on the sofa, slides my jeans and underwear down my legs. I kick them off and pull Vinnie back to me. I crave him, his touch, his scent. He’s all that keeps me sane in this moment.
He slides his hands down my body, leaving a trail of fire in their wake as he reaches between my legs. His touch is light, almost reverent, but it’s enough to make me gasp in pleasure.
“Vinnie,” I whisper again, my voice shaky with need.
“Shhh,” he murmurs against my ear. “I’ve got you.”
He slips his fingers between my folds. I buck my hips against his hand as a moan escapes my lips. He groans in return.
I reach for the buckle on his belt. His pants follow, and within another moment he’s inside me, thrusting, thrusting, thrusting…
Our bodies move in perfect rhythm, his thrusts matching my gasps, creating a symphony of unsaid words and pent-up desires.
“Raven…” He breathes my name into the crook of my neck.
I dig into his back and pull him closer. His hips grind into mine again and again. Each stroke of his hard length inside me is a brand, marking me as his.
His lips find mine again—rough, passionate, needy. They taste like desperation and promise.
A moment later, he stiffens and buries himself deeper within me with a low grunt. Heat floods me as he spills into me while I cling onto him tightly, my body convulsing around him.
And for just this moment, I have everything I need.
40
VINNIE
God, I love this woman.
I know in this moment that our lives will be entwined forever. No matter how hard I try to push her away for her own safety, we always return to each other.
And maybe that isn’t such a bad thing.
While I’d like to stay embedded in Raven forever, I force myself to get to my feet, giving her a gentle kiss on the forehead before I do. I dress and tell her she must as well. Then I leave her in the capable hands of Slade and two others and I head to the communications room.
I need answers.
If this doesn’t have anything to do with whoever is threatening Raven, then what is it about? Why would Austin Bellamy try to take his own life?
He’s hardly a saint.
Maybe he has truly bitten off more than he can chew.
Thank God he’ll survive.
And now that Mario has agreed that I’m in charge of the family business, I can take care of this.
Austin Bellamy will live.
Diego Vega will not.
Jacinto Agudelo will not.
Declan McAllister will not.
The plans are already set. I put them into motion when I was driving to the airport in Bogotá.
They go down within forty-eight hours. As soon as Mario and Serena are safely out of Austin with their new identification.
So many unanswered questions regarding Austin Bellamy’s role in this whole thing.
And I still don’t know who the hell is buried underneath his old barn.
Whoever it is, Eagle recognized him as Diego Vega all those years ago.
Hawk and Falcon wouldn’t have known the difference.
The only other people who can answer any questions, besides Bellamy himself, are the two men who were with Vega that night. The two men who escaped, were apprehended at the border, and never heard from again.
I haven’t told Raven about her father’s role. That he was the one who hijacked her Uber app. That he’s the one who’s been sending the warning messages on that burner phone. I’m not sure about the pendant, but he might have had something to do with that as well.
As for the threatening messages, I have my suspicions that they’ve been coming from the McAllisters.
There’s only one way to find out.
Declan McAllister will be dead within forty-eight hours. If the messages stop after that, I’ll know.
Taking down my father’s cartel won’t be simple, but I have enough clean money through the coffee business that I can make sure all of the best men are taken care of. They’ll live out their lives with their loved ones and all their needs will be met.
I’ll take down the men who are controlling the cartel my mafia family is involved with. Jacinto Agudelo and Diego Vega will go down in Colombia. McAllister will go down in Austin. Several others will go down at the same time in various places. It will be bloody, but silent. The plan is already in motion, and it will be carried out while I’m here in Austin with an ironclad alibi.