Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 73042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
God, the feeling… The overwhelming feeling…
He sucks on one nipple, plays with the other. I close my eyes, letting the rapture take me. So good, so good, so good…
He leaves my nipples, and then, the tear of a condom packet and the familiar rustling as he rolls it on. He grips my thighs and pulls me closer to him.
“I want you, Vinnie. Please,” I beg softly.
He groans as he thrusts into me.
Not gently.
And it’s perfect.
I gasp at the sensation, stretch again to accommodate him. He gives me a second to adjust, and then he pulls out and thrusts back in, this time going deeper.
Emotion wells up inside me as he fills me completely. He leans down to capture my lips in a devouring kiss.
All the while he thrusts, thrusts, thrusts…
He breaks the kiss, sucking in a deep breath. “Raven,” he whispers against my lips, his voice hoarse. “You feel so good.”
I can only nod in agreement, incapable of forming a coherent response. I clutch at his back as he quickens the pace, each hard thrust sending waves of pleasure crashing over me.
The familiar coil tightens within me. His pace becomes more frenzied as he shifts and somehow goes even deeper.
I shatter then, releasing around him.
“Vinnie!” I cry out, my voice breaking as I dig my nails into his back.
He is relentless, pushing into me again and again and again and again. Faster, faster, and harder, harder…
Until—
“Raven,” he gasps, his voice full of raw emotion.
He pulses into me, and I clamp my legs around his hips, taking all he has to give. I reach up to pull him down for a kiss, pouring all my feelings for him into it.
Vinnie breaks the kiss and lifts his head. His dark eyes meet mine, and I see a raw intimacy in them that leaves me breathless all over again.
He pulls out slowly, and even in my satiated state, I can’t help but whimper at the loss. He disappears for a moment, discarding the condom before returning to the bed with a damp cloth. His gentle touch as he cleans me is almost reverent, and it brings tears to my eyes.
But his body goes rigid.
Even after release, I can feel the tension rising within him.
Is it the drone? The Uber driver who forced me to call him?
Or is it something else?
32
VINNIE
When I first got to Europe, I was an ignorant young man of eighteen, but I knew one thing. No one could be trusted. Not even family. Especially family. I’d managed to take some money from my giant trust fund to live on, but I knew it wouldn’t last forever, so I wasted no time getting new identification and then I did odd jobs throughout the EU as I traveled.
I wasn’t completely honest with Savannah about why I went to the Buddhist temple.
It wasn’t just to alleviate the guilt of leaving her and Mikey back in the States at the whim of the family. And it wasn’t just to work through what my grandfather had done to me.
It was because I found myself involved in something far more sinister.
One fateful day, I ended up in a secluded alley in Prague, where a crooked wooden door creaked open to reveal an underground gambling den. There I met Misha—a man whose green eyes gleamed with dangerous amusement.
His real name was Mikhail, which threw me—the Slavic version of Michael. I thought of Mikey, who I’d left at home, and guilt overwhelmed me. When Misha offered me an opportunity to make a huge profit, part of me felt like I was talking to my brother, so I jumped in with both feet.
Misha was searching for a hidden treasure buried in the heart of Eastern Europe.
I was intrigued—and also desperate for some easy cash.
But it turned out not to be so easy. I dived into Misha’s world, abandoning my odd jobs and my pursuit of quiet anonymity. He gave me a firearm but told me not to use it unless I had to defend myself.
A year passed. I lived in shadows and chased ghosts. Misha kept me busy while he sometimes disappeared for days at a time. His name notwithstanding, I didn’t fully trust him, but I found myself enjoying the chase. Every time doubt crept in, Misha would return, always with a new clue, a new lead.
I got sucked in, and the whole thing became a game to me. Did I think we’d really find treasure? Maybe at the time I did. It gave me a creative outlet, something to do.
Until I realized it wasn’t all that different from what I’d fled from at home.
I was becoming bound to a different kind of family. Not my mafia family, but an Eastern European underworld. Misha operated under different rules, but the principle was the same—secrets, power, betrayal.
I had to get out.