Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75599 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75599 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Shamelessly, eagerly, I drop my hands to his body, and I gasp at the feel of his hot, muscled body under my touch. My fingers tease over his forearms before they slip to his waist, and I gasp again at the feel of his abs clenching beneath my hands. I run them over his abs and his chest as Jack growls into my mouth and yanks my blouse open, making me moan.
His hands move down to my skirt as he groans into my mouth, and I shiver as I feel him start to yank it up higher and higher, tugging the fabric up my legs towards my waist. And just as he’s about to pull it all the way up and over my panties, suddenly, reason slaps me hard across the face. With a gasp, I yank myself away from him, panting heavily as I step away. My eyes burn into his, and his into mine as I raise a hand to lightly brush my fingers over my lips.
“Stop it,” I hiss quietly.
Jack growls. “Says you or says that stuck up part of you that just can’t let go of control?”
My lips purse. “Both,” I mutter. “We can’t do this.”
“Can’t or don’t want to?”
“Want has nothing to do with it!” I snap shrilly. “It’s against every single moral and code of conduct—”
“So you do want it,” he purrs.
I swallow thickly, my face burning in the dim light of the room.
“No, I mean—”
“You mean you can’t.”
I swallow again. “Yes,” I breath, my body aching for his touch again, my lips dying to taste him once more.
“Why?” he growls.
“Because you’re a criminal,” I snap.
Jack chuckles. “Says?”
“Says the obvious!”
“Built from my circumstances, doc,” he says with a cheeky grin.
I roll my eyes. “Well, good for you.”
He grins, but then his look hardens, and I gasp as he pulls close to me again. This time, his hands slide over the bare skin of my waist under my untucked and mostly unbuttoned blouse, but I don’t stop him. My body arches into him, eager for his touch even if my mind is screaming at me for how insane this is.
“I’m running, Aria” he growls quietly. “Away of this city, away from all of this.”
I chew on my lip, my eyes burning into his with a mix of fear and desire.
“Away from the mob?” I throw out harshly.
“Yes.”
He answers without even hesitating, and I shiver as I swallow thickly.
“Where?” I breathe.
“Vietnam.”
His hands tighten on me, and my pulse quickens. Heats pools between my thighs, and the ache for this completely wrong, probably dangerous man claws its way deeper into my skin.
“What? Why?”
“Beaches, warm sun, cold beer…” he grins. “No extradition.”
I stare at him. “You’re serious.”
“It’s how I got shot,” he grunts plainly, his eyes never leaving mine. “I told them I was done. I’m not killing anymore,” he growls with this intensity that takes my breath away.
I’m not killing anymore.
His words have my heart racing and my mind whirling as I realize truly the sort of man who’s got his hands on me, alone in this room. The man I want more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life.
“How many—” I frown and quickly shake my head. “Never mind, that’s—”
“How many?” he grunts.
“I don’t want to know,” I whisper.
“I don’t either,” Jack growls quietly. “But I know I want to do good now. There’s a group over there in Vietnam that runs hospitals for kids and refugees. I’m joining up with them when I get there.” He looks away. “I’ve brought enough death down on the world, it’s time to try and wash the blood off my hands,” he says tightly, his jaw clenched.
I frown. “Wait are you talking about the organization Just Cause? Is that who you’re planning on linking up with?”
He arches a brow. “You know them?”
“Yeah! I… yeah,” I smile. “I’ve thought about working for them before too, it’s just… well, here…”
“What about here?”
I shrug. “I guess I like it here. I mean, I don’t love it, but it’s home. It’s where I grew up. But…”
I trial off, but he frowns, pulling me closer to him and staring deeply into my eyes.
“But?”
I haven’t talked about this with anyone. I don’t actually have any really close friends, and so I’ve just kept my thoughts on my stagnated life inside. And yet for whatever reason, I want to tell him, even if I don’t even know him.
“But I don’t have any family left, and I’ve gone as high in my career as I’m going to here. It’s still a boys club at this hospital, and I’m pretty much where I’m ever going to be, career wise.”
“And you want something new.”
I nod. “I guess? Maybe? Who knows?”
“So come with me.”
I blink, my heart actually skipping a beat as my eyes dart up to his.
“Excuse me?”
“I said come with me,” he growls.