Free All In (The Blackstone Affair, Part 2) by Raine Miller Page B

everything. My dad wanted to
press charges but realized I was in no shape to withstand a trial
and probably never would be. And the added bonus of my mother
telling him to leave it alone, and allow me to heal in peace,
convinced him to let the idea of a formal prosecution go. But Daddy
still wanted retribution of some form though. Senator Oakley just
wanted all the ugly to go far, far away from his political career,
so he forced his son to enlist in the Army and solved his biggest
problem when Lance was shipped off to Iraq. Then he arranged for my
acceptance at the University of London when the time came that I
was well enough to leave New Mexico and go off to college. We
decided on London mostly because it was so far away from home and
the art was here. I could speak the language and Aunt Marie lived
here already so I wouldn’t be completely on my own in a foreign
country without at least some family.”
    “So the senator has known exactly where you
were all these years?” The situation sucked, was much bigger than I
ever imagined, and the risks to Brynne could be enormous.
    “I never knew that part until last week,”
she whispered, “I thought I got in on my own merits.”
    “I can understand how that might bother you,
but your graduate study was earned on your merits as exemplary in
your field. I’ve seen you at work, and I know you’re brilliant at
what you do,” I teased with my tone and kissed the side of her jaw,
“My adorable anorak, Professor Bennett.”
    “Anorak?” she laughed. “What kind of crazy
Brit slang word is that?”
    “Yeah, I think you Yanks call them nerds or
geeks. That’s you. An artsy anorak that I adore.” I turned her head
to mine and met her lips for another kiss. I knew we were both
remembering our ridiculous chat in the car that morning about the
professor detaining the misbehaving student. Which would be her,
the professor, and me, the misbehaving student.
    “You’re crazy,” she said against my
lips.
    “Crazy for you,” I said, squeezing her a
little. “But really, Senator Oakley owed you a hell of a lot more
than what he gave, although it doesn’t make me happy to know that
he is very aware of exactly where you are in the world and what
you’re doing every day.”
    “I know. And it scares me a little. Daddy
said that Eric Montrose died in a weird bar fight when Lance was
home on leave from the Army. He—he was one of them…on the video,
but I never saw any of them again after that night. Not even Lance
Oakley.”
    The sound of her voice bothered me, and so
did the thought of her remembering what she’d gone through at the
hands of those degenerates. I was really happy one of them was
dead. That part didn’t bother me at all. I just prayed his death
had nothing to do with that video and Senator Oakley’s vetting.
    I set the water to drain and helped her out
of the tub. “I won’t let anything happen to you and you don’t have
to be scared. I got it covered.” I smiled and started drying her
legs with a towel. “I’m going to speak to your dad tomorrow and
find out everything I can on Senator Oakley.” I dried her arms and
back and breasts, thinking I could get really used to doing this.
“You just let me worry about the senator. I’ll send some feelers
out and see what I get back in the way of information. Nobody’s
going to get near my girl unless they come through me first.”
    She smiled and gave me a very nice nibbling
kiss on my bottom lip. I had trouble restraining myself from
spreading her up on the sink counter and having her again.
    Brynne’s skin had a natural golden glow, but
right now was pinked from the hot water, and so beautiful it was
hard to look and stay neutral. Don’t think about it . I
ignored the urge and worked at drying her luscious curves which had
definitely lost some of their curviness but still lovely and all mine . She stood gracefully for me as if not at all affected
by our nakedness in such proximity. I wondered how in