Page 9 of Ravaged Hearts

I tuned out their conversation and focused all my awareness on Vaughn. On his full lips, his strong jaw, and the macabre tattoos extending up his corded neck. On the broad, powerful shoulders I clung to and the taut muscles beneath his shirt. On the way each brush of his thumb against my clit made my hips roll, seeking a little more.

I gasped when one of Vaughn’s thick fingers entered me, plunging in well past his knuckle. He added a second and repeated the movement, in and out, curling his fingertips in a way that turned me to jelly. If the others had been in any doubt before, Vaughn’s thrusting motions coupled with my soft whimpering left no question about what was going on under the table.

But in my head, it was just the two of us. There was no one else in the room. And I was so lost to each sweet sensation that I couldn’t have stopped the deep, blissful moan I made when I tipped over the edge of oblivion. My forehead fell into the crook of Vaughn’s neck, and I panted against his warm skin, boneless and weary.

“Impressive,” Miguel said with a note of astonishment. “She responds to you well.”

“Yours doesn’t?” Vaughn asked as if it weren’t a rhetorical question.

El Capitán only grunted in response.

Vaughn clasped my jaw firmly and stared into my eyes. “My greedy little whore. You loved that, didn’t you?”

“Yes, master.”

His heated gaze shifted to my mouth. It was the way he usually looked at me right before pressing his lips to mine, but a gesture as intimate as kissing would give away the true nature of our feelings for one another.

“I’m too good to you.” He removed his hand from betweenmy thighs and traced wet fingertips across my bottom lip. “Open.” When I did, Vaughn sank his middle two fingers inside. “Suck them clean. Don’t leave a drop.”

It was dirty. It was wrong, especially with these strangers watching. But the spark of excitement in Vaughn’s dark eyes forced another needy sound out of me as I followed his orders eagerly.

Vaughn groaned. “That’s a good fucking girl.”

“How much?” asked Miguel, and Vaughn glanced at him with one brow raised. “One night with her. What will it cost me?”

“I don’t rent out my property, and I don’t share.”

“Everything’s for sale for the right price.”

Vaughn removed a silver lighter from his pocket and flicked the lid back and forth as though he were giving serious consideration to Miguel’s offer. “Tell you what. Get me that meeting with Espinoza, and I’ll set you up with my sweet little Gatita here.” Vaughn shifted his thigh, sending me off-balance so I had to cling to him for support.

Miguel leered at me, and when his tongue traced his upper lip, I quickly looked away. Vaughn was bluffing, but it didn’t stop my stomach from churning at all the vile things this cretin might try if I were his for a night.

Miguel chuckled. “You drive a hard bargain, my friend. Once you deliver the cargo, stick around. Maybe I can arrange that introduction with the boss after all.”

5

VAUGHN

As soon as I closed and locked the door to our hotel room, I hauled Hope against me, cupped her beautiful face, and crushed my mouth to hers.

The kiss was full of relief following a successful meeting, and pride in how well my girl had coped.

“What was that for?” Hope asked, sounding breathless.

I traced my thumb over the apple of her cheek, catching the edge of her scars. “Because I’ve been wanting to do that for hours, and because you were fucking amazing tonight. You had el Capitán enthralled with your doe-eyed looks and every startled sound from your lips.”

She pushed away from me, unbuckled the collar around her neck, and tossed it into the duffel bag. “That’s because Iwasstartled, Vaughn. You could’ve warned me about what you had planned.”

I followed her to the center of the room. “I had a strategy to use you as a distraction, but I wasn’t certain how until I sat at the table. I improvised, and it worked. Miguel was so consumed by you squirming on my lap that I don’t think he realized what he gave away.”

Hope folded her arms. “What are you talking about?”

“You didn’t hear him mention Manzanillo?”

She blinked several times. “No.”

I smirked. “I guess Miguel wasn’t the only one preoccupied.” To be fair, I’d been two knuckles deep with my thumb circling Hope’s clit when el Capitán had let that piece of intel slip. “Pretty sure it was an accident when he said he had a contact who could refuel my aircraft at a reduced price before I depart the Manzanillo airport. My bet? The PCC compound is within a one-hundred-kilometer radius of there.”

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