Page 33 of Vinny

Nodding, Annalissa said, “Yes, and I have to tell you, I was terrified. I’ve never been out in woods before and I kept staring down looking for snakes.”

Jennifer stood, giving her a hug, saying, “Well, I think you’re very brave. Gabe kept me informed as the past three days have dragged on and I know he was worried too.”

“Gabe was worried? But Vinny was fine. It was nothing to him,” Annalissa explained.

Giggling, Jennifer continued. “Oh, he wasn’t worried about Vinny. We all knew he could take care of himself. But it was you we were worried about. We knew this would’ve been hard for you.”

Annalissa looked at the two women, staring at her with…concern?“But why would everyone be concerned about me? I’m just a stranger.”

Sherrie and Jennifer shared a look, smiling. Stepping up to place her hands on Annalissa’s shoulders. “At first you were just the mission, and we would’ve been concerned no matter what. But then you became Vinny’s mission. And that was when we knew you were part of us.”

Blushing, Annalissa pulled in her lips, not knowing what to say.

“Go ahead and finish getting ready,” Jennifer said. “You’ve got to be exhausted and the group will want to talk to you tonight.” Walking over, she gave Annalissa a hug. “Look, if you ever need to talk…about anything…just let me know.”

The women finished and headed back out into the main room. She was wearing flip-flops that Sherrie had provided because Vinny had left specific instructions to not have anything on her feet until they could be looked at again.

She walked into the room, seeing everyone around a large table, now filled with take-out Chinese alongside their computers and equipment. The tantalizing smell of the food drifted toward her, propelling her into the room full of strangers.

Vinny stood, smiling, and stalked directly to her. His hair was damp from his own shower and the scent of his body wash filled her senses. Having no idea of the rules now that she was safely back in Richmond, she stood nervously watching him come closer. He did not stop until he was directly in front of her, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her tightly into his chest. Her face hidden from the others…smiled. She had to admit,this felt right.

Vinny knew exactly what he was doing. This very act of affection, was also a proclamation. She was his. His ownpersonal mission. Kissing the top of her head, he stepped back, taking her hand, leading her over to the table. As he seated her next to him, he glanced down at her red feet. “We need to get your feet checked out.”

Gabe scooted his chair back and went to get the medical kit, walking back with it in his hands. “You want me to look at them, bro?”

Vinny had been the backup medic, but knew that Gabe’s experience was more than his, so he agreed. She looked up at him, questioning in her eyes.

“Let him check ‘em out, babe. I got them cleaned and bandaged, but I’d feel better if someone else took a look.”

She watched him sit next to her, leaning down to place her feet in his lap. Gabe knelt down and applied antiseptic to her broken blisters before wrapping them in soft gauze. "That'll keep ‘em clean while you’re here, but take it off tonight when you go to bed and let them air out.”

“No problem,” Vinny answered, absentmindedly rubbing his hand on her leg as Gabe finished.

Biting her lips, Annalissa felt like she had entered the twilight zone…once again. A gorgeous man had his hands on her feet while Mr. Alpha himself had his arm around her…in front of his friends. Five other handsome men and their women were sitting around all smiling at her.And Vinny called me ‘babe’ in front of them all.

Settling around the table several minutes later, they all began eating and talking. Matt looked over, saying, “Ms. O’Brian, I’m assuming that you want to knowabout your apartment.” Seeing her wide-eyed nod, he began. “When we got the call from Tony about what was happening, we went to your place to see if there was any trouble there. And it had already been broken into.”

Shane added, “We won’t know until you take a look at everything to see what might have been taken, but it was probably someone searching for the drugs. Things were tossed around, but it looked like your more expensive items were left there.”

Staying silent, she just nodded, not knowing what to say.I guess I’ll see it tonight, when I get home.

Tony took over the reporting at this point. “Here’s what we know so far,” he said, looking at both Vinny and Annalissa. “We’re working with Jack Bryant’s group on this. His DEA contact has told us that the bag was filled with cocaine. They’re looking at the security tapes from the airport, but everything we’re hearing indicates that this was not just a couple of low-lifes at the airports trying to send drugs. Once they figured out that you had not landed and they had not missed you at the airport, they put things into motion. It was known that you were traveling by land. And then there were the attacks on you two. This indicates big money, big backing, and high stakes.”

“But if the drugs were in Easnadh’s case, why did they trash my apartment?” she asked.

“Well, Ms. O’Brian?—”

“Please call me Annalissa,” she interrupted shyly.

Tony nodded before continuing. “Annalissa, we are considering that whoever was supposed to get the drugson this end may not have realized right away that your plane was delayed. They may have thought that they missed you and went to see if you were home with your harp.”

“So…someone broke into my house? But what if I had been there? What if we had taken another flight and I’d…I’d been home?” she asked, her voice rising.

Silence met her for a moment, so she jerked her head around. “Vinny?”

With one arm around her shoulder, he moved his other hand to cup her face. “That didn’t happen and baby, it’s not going to happen.”

She looked around the room at the fierce looks from all of the men and the determined expressions on the faces of the women. Licking her lips, she said, “I…I don’t know what to do with all of this.”

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