PURPLE HEART - Soliders Of Fortune [BOOK TWO]

Chapter TWO

Maksimilian Angeloff

Goddamn, this girl is something else..

Gorgeous, softly spoken and innocent, yet stoic and brimming with bravery.. The magnetic beauty who sits across from me is the sort of dame who could spit on a man and he'd thank her for it.. It's no wonder Javier brought her to me as collateral, hell, she's by far the most valuable thing in this casino.. For the life of me I can't understand what would possess a man to give up a prize like her..

What a fucking fool Javier is.. I won't make the same mistakes as Navarro and surely enough the better man will claim the victory that is Sunday's affection..

She doesn't know it yet, but she will be mine..

Sunday's feline eyes, swirling with deep amber tones of warm whisky, are speckled with flecks of bright gold that catch the light to glitter like stolen treasure.. Her long chocolate locks stick to her olive skin, clinging to her tempting decolletage, dripping with the evidence of the storm outside..

She is so fucking sweet, butter wouldn't melt in her mouth and I find my gaze magnetised to her lips.. Her glossy, kissable lips..

Fuck..

Sunday is exactly the type of girl anybody would feel naturally inclined to trust.. After all, who would possibly believe that this angel-faced sweetheart could ever tell a lie..

Certainly not me..

If I were a gambling man, and I'm not, I would put my money on this one being pure as the driven snow..

But looks can be deceiving.. So I have to be sure she's the one..

I watch with eagle eyed curiosity as she obediently curls her trembling fingers around the drink I pour her and lifts the highball to her soft, strawberry lips..

She doesn't refuse my request, or even question my authority.. She simply accepts it, sipping on her vodka with a slight wince of displeasure.. And for the first time in ten long years, I feel pity.. No.. Worse than pity.. I feel sorrow..

Her pain is palpable, she wears it in her wide eyes and upon the ripple of her frightened shivers..

The cold deadness inside me warms, and I am left with an unpleasant squirming in my stomach.. To feel so much, so suddenly, it's almost unthinkable.. Especially for a battle hardened Marine Master Sergeant..

I'd spent the better part of my life enlisted, training to become a calculated killing machine, and in less than a minute, this fragile woman has reduced me to a stuttering softie.

"Are you af-ff-raid of me?" I press the question out with a forceful effort, working overtime to control the frustrating speech impediment that still torments me, despite hundreds of doctors appointments and their resulting brain scans..

Those medical monkeys couldn't fix me for all the money in my vault, and I have recently come to accept it as a permanent fixture of my daily life.. Though, I don't hate it any less..