Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 96167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
She swallowed thickly. “The amount of fear and doubt and fucking dread I’ve gone through over the past few weeks…”
“Vulnerability has to happen for love to be real.”
Profound and really smart, but also… “This is crazy.” She scrubbed her hands over her hair. “You could’ve just told me your slaves were horrible people, and bam, you would’ve had me just like that.”
“Too easy. You’re not getting it.” He shifted to face her and gripped her chin. “I refuse to settle for anything less than what we had as kids. You loved me when you were sixteen for no other reason than because your gut told you we were meant to be together. But age and experience fucks with our instincts. Our minds get in the way and try to reason and rationalize every goddamn emotion.” He released her chin. “I stripped those rationalizations away and forced you to focus on what you really felt, not what your mind told you to feel. And you believed. You believed in us without seeing…this.” He gestured at the house.
“Faith,” she whispered.
“Faith in us.” He focused on her mouth and leaned in, kissing her in that tender way that always made her melt.
“Seems like you went through a lot of trouble for such a blurry concept,” she said against his lips, her vision smudging with tears. “Who does that?”
“People have been killing each other because of faith for hundreds of years.” He smoothed a hand across her cheek.
“Because of religion, Matias, which is based on control and fear.”
“But it starts with faith. Some believe strongly enough they die for it.” He leaned in and touched his forehead to hers. “You took that step tonight. You believed in us so passionately you walked into that house and risked your life.”
“You’re insane.” She wrapped her arms around his wide shoulders and sighed. “I love it. Everything you said was wild and inconceivable and could be argued until the end of the burning sun, and that’s why it makes sense.” She kissed him, softly, deeply. “Every reason, justification, and argument leads us to the same result. We’re together because that’s where we belong.”
He pulled her into his arms, and they settled into a cradle of silence. Voices and footsteps trickled from the house. The constant noise of whirring life echoed around them, and a thickening mantle of sorrow and relief smothered the air.
“How are you doing with this?” He nodded at the door.
“I experienced that whole thing way, way down deep.” An unreachable shiver jolted inside her. “All those feelings are still there, lodged somewhere between my heart and stomach. When they decide to resurface, it’s really going to hurt like hell.” She rubbed her face. “Those girls, Matias…God, I can’t…I just can’t think about it.”
“Don’t.” He kissed her cheek, brushing his nose against hers affectionately. “It gets easier, I promise. And I’ll be right at your side every step of the way.”
Golden fire, kindled in a Texan citrus grove and forged in a decade of hell, burned in his eyes.
She drew him close and touched her lips to his scruffy jaw. “What happens to them now?”
“The women will take them to a foster home, one of the many I vetted and trust. I fund every step of their recoveries. I also put the fear of God in those foster families to ensure they provide the best environments for the children I send to them.”
“There’s my crime boss.” She stared up at the sky and smiled to herself. “You’re a good man, Matias.”
“Then I haven’t scared you enough.” He lowered his mouth to her shoulder, pressing a kiss there while never taking his eyes off her. “I’ll have another chance to do that before we head home.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Córdoba cartel is waiting at the helicopter to ambush us.”
Her face went cold. “What?”
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN? Why are we just sitting here?”
Matias felt the worked-up rasp of Camila’s voice like a hungry tongue on his cock. “We have time.”
“Time for what?” She sprung nimbly to her feet and stepped off the porch.
Dark jeans stretched over her sexy curves, paired with a plain black t-shirt that molded to her perfect rack. Illuminated by the glow of the porch light, shiny black hair framed her gorgeous face and hung in windblown waves around her shoulders. There wasn’t a square inch of imperfection anywhere on her.
The savage need to claim her in front of God and everyone stirred in his blood. Wrong fucking place and time.
She stood in front of his perch on the steps, putting them at eye level. “This better not be one of those I-ask-you-don’t-say-shit conversations.”
He combated her glare, but goddamn, she made him hard as a rock. “We’re catching a different ride home.” His annoyance with the deal Nico made coiled tension into his shoulders. “I lost my favorite helicopter.”