Page 23 of Vinny

He heard water running and made his call. Once again on speaker, he knew that the men were pulling an all-nighter. Updating them on the events of the evening, he let them know they were in the alternate room.

“How you doing, bro?” Gabe asked, hearing the uncharacteristic tension in his twin’s voice.

“I want this whole mess to be over with,” he answered back. “She’s doing great, but she’s not used to this. Her adrenaline has spiked numerous times over the past two days, she’s running on little sleep and goddamn, if she isn’t holding up great.”

“Sounds like a winner, if you ask me,” Tony added.

The silence across the airwaves spoke volumes. Finally Vinny admitted, “Yeah, she is. But shit, she should be sitting in some room playing her harp and not on the run from whoever the hell is doing this.”

“We’re working on it, Vinny,” BJ promised. “So far, this is what we’ve got. The father is a tough cuss to dealwith and is pissed that she put the harp on a separate plane. We haven’t told him that it will not be going through Dulles. But from everything we’ve seen, he’s clean. So are Todd and Gordon. Both assholes in their own ways, but they don’t seem to have any nefarious connections that we can see right now. They both have questionable deposits and withdrawals in their bank accounts but could be just from the entertainment business. We’re still looking at the others in her inner crew.”

Jobe spoke up, “I’m working on the security cameras that we’ve tapped into from the airports. Jack Bryant’s group is working on this with us.”

“What’s DEA found?” Vinny asked.

“So far, it looks like pure cocaine, the street value of almost half a million. But here’s the part that’s going to upset your girl.”

Vinny’s heart lifted at hearing Annalissa referred to as his girl and then sank at knowing something was going to concern her. Before he could growl, Jobe continued.

“DEA says that it appears that the screws may have been tampered with at an earlier time, so she may have transported drugs when she was traveling before.”

The men continued to plan for a few more minutes until he heard the water stop running. After disconnecting he tossed his phone on the nightstand and pulled the covers down. Turning around as the door opened, his breath caught in his throat.

Long, dark, wet hair hung down her back. Her face, devoid of all makeup was fresh. Beautiful. And she was standing in that fuckin’ Little House on the Prairienightgown with her bare toes peeking out from the bottom.Fuckin’ adorable.

Finding his voice, he motioned toward the bed. “Go on, babe. You need to sleep. I’ll clean up and be along shortly.”

Ten minutes later he emerged, finding her already sound asleep. Standing over the bed, he watched her gentle breathing as her face was finally at peace for the first time all day. He knew he had never watched a woman sleep before. Sex was for the physical pleasure, not wanting to stick around…not for conversation, not for friendship, and sure as hell not for snuggling.

Shaking his head, he quickly packed their belongings into two backpacks that he always had folded into his larger duffle and checked his weapons. Just in case.

Crawling under the covers, staying to his side of the bed, he resolved to keep his distance.Yeah, right.He immediately rolled over to her, wrapping his body around hers and pulling her in tightly. Then he fell asleep. Soundly. The sleep of someone wrapped up with someone they care about.

The vibrations woke Vinny, instantly alerting him to the presence of someone in their other hotel room. The clock showed that it was almost three a.m. He had set sensors at the door, with a wireless alarm that was connected to his cell phone, courtesy of BJ. A warm body moved closer to him, the scent of her flowery shampoo filling his nostrils as her head lay on his chest.All he wanted was to stay right where he was, with this woman all night. Kissing the top of her head he slipped out from underneath her, walking stealthily to the window by the door. Barely pulling the curtain back he saw movement by the room they had originally rented.Fuck.Turning, he hurried to the bed, gently shaking Annalissa.

“Babe, you gotta get up. Throw your clothes on quickly and only grab what you need. We’re going to head to the rental car and leave as quickly as possible as soon as I give the all clear.”

With only a few blinks of her eyes, she jumped from the bed throwing off her nightgown as she hurried toward the bathroom, grabbing clothes as she went.

Vinny stood rooted to the floor, his mouth hanging open as he stared at the almost naked image of her as she ran into the bathroom. He knew that no matter what happened to them when all of this was over, that image would be burned into his mind forever.

The door closed and she quickly tugged on her jeans, bra, and a lightweight sweater. She ran back out of the bathroom, hopping as she slid her feet into her sneakers. Just then a loud crackle and then an explosion rocked the building. He threw her down on the floor, covering her with his much larger body as the building shook.

Hearing a commotion outside, he ran back to the window by the door, peeking out. Their new rental car had exploded.Goddamn, son of a bitch!

“Babe, we gotta get out of this room. We’ll go out the back window just like we came in. Grab this backpack.I’ve filled it with everything of yours that we can take on foot.”

“On foot?” she asked, her eyes darting from the window to him.

He walked over; putting his hands on her face he cupped her cheeks. “Stay with me, babe. Whoever the hell is after you just blew up the new rental car.”

Gasping, her green eyes widened in shock and her mouth opened but no words came out. Blinking again as he called her name, she focused on his face. The face that had become so familiar in the past two days. The face that she trusted with her life. Sucking in a deep breath, she lifted her chin.

Nodding, he grabbed his larger backpack and did a quick inventory of the room, seeing that the few items that they left behind were not necessary. Grabbing her hand he headed to the window, once again sliding it open and climbing through it. Turning, he assisted her before sliding the window shut. Tony had specifically picked a room on the back, facing the woods. Under the cover of darkness with the sound of sirens in the background, they hurried straight into the thick forest.

Vinny knew they needed to get as far away as they could before stopping, but also knew there was no way she could keep up with his normal pace. Special Forces training had him easily moving through the woods in the dark, but with her along he needed to move slower and much more carefully.

Annalissa trotted behind him, fueled by adrenaline and determination. She knew they were not going very fast but was not sure that she could go any quicker.

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