Page 37 of Beat of Love
Tall, with curves luscious enough to make a grown man cry, she was dressed in a short, figure-hugging bronze dress, her very shapely and lighter-bronze-but-not-by-much legs ended in wedged nude open-toe pumps. A waterfall of brown tresses cascading over her shoulders. She threw her head back and laughed, her plump, dark-berry lips wide and inviting. Hishand itched to grope that mane of hair and hold her captive while she sucked him off. Carnal lust surged through him and for the first time in many, many months, his cock swelled.
He stared at her. Long and hard.
Long and hard enough for her to have felt it because she turned her head and looked straight at him.
And smiled.
Too far to make out the color of her eyes, he decided to get closer, keeping his gaze fixed on her, lest she disappear. On the way through the crowd, a man stepped up beside her and her smile fell away.
And Rafferty stopped in his tracks.
He knew that man. Or rather, he knew of that man.
He was on the most wanted list of the DEA.
Second on the list to be exact.
Luis Barbosa, presumed right-hand man to none other than Francisco Carvalho, number one on said list, and reclusive leader of the largest cartel running drugs and weapons out of Latin America.
A cartel he had intimate knowledge of — the Fantasma Cartel.
Barbosa clasped his hand around the woman’s arm and tugged. She tried to pull it away, but even from Rafferty’s vantage a few meters away, he could see Barbosa’s knuckles turn white.
Rafferty was not a fan of abuse against woman and children, and he needed no further prompting and surged forward.“Ei!”he called out, drawing the man’s attention to him. It was the opening he was looking for, and a solid swipe delivered right to the thug’s Adam’s apple took the brute to the ground.
He turned to the now-gaping Brazilian beauty. “Are you okay?” he asked in Portuguese.
Her eyes were brown. A warm golden-brown.
He blamed his seven — eight? — shots ofcachaçaand complete fascination with the woman on not noticing the approaching danger.
And when he heard the slide of metal on metal, it was too late. Four weapons were aimed on him, two of them good ole AK-47 assault rifles.
A deathly silence descended over the rooftop bar.
Rafferty put his hands up, bracing for the slugs to cut him in half.
“Não!”Her command cut into the night. “Lower your weapons,” she ordered in Portuguese.
“Chefe?”one of the men queried.
Chefe?Rafferty blinked. Boss?
“Agora!”she spat. Now!
Shewas the boss?
He willed away the alcohol fog, shifting through information he’d picked up during his time in the region. He had heard the rumblings that Francisco Carvalho had died but assumed it to be rumors. He’d also heard rumors that Carvalho’s only child, a daughter, had assumed leadership. He’d dismissed them out of hand as the Fantasma cartel was a misogynistic group, and Francisco had a nephew.
But if this woman was Francisco’s daughter …
His brain kicked into overdrive, and the beginnings of a plan took shape.
A whinny wrenched him back into the present. He blinked rapidly, dispelling the memories of the time he met Kamila Carvalho.
Their … association had lasted a few months.
Until she’d discovered his identity.
