Illicit Desire
by Taylor Muchaels
Release Date: September 16, 2014
Synopsis
Raphael is everything I should run away from…
Cora Milan came to Miami to get a fresh start, away from the
memories and stigma that followed her and her brother at home. When she’s
mugged, Raphael Ortiz rescues her. He’s sexy, successful, and dangerous—Miami’s
most eligible bachelor and it’s most elusive. A cartel lord who lives on the
wrong side of the law, with only a veneer of respectability. He is the exact
opposite of a clean slate, and he makes no apologies for wanting her.
When Raphael forces his way into her life, Cora knows she
should run. But the attraction between them is undeniable, and Raphael is a man
accustomed to getting what he wants. The more she loses herself in him, the
deeper she is drawn into Raphael’s criminal world.
But when her past, and his present collide, both of them
will be left grasping for the only thing that can save them from the darkness
around them—each other.
Excerpt
I jerk around, and freeze, startled to be facing Raphael
again. I mutter something, and shift past him—god, he smells divine—as I
beeline for the door.
How on earth did he find it? And for that matter—how did he
find me? Being hard to find keeps me safe, and the fact that Raphael so easily
tracked me down—I want to bolt. Grab Paul and what we absolutely couldn’t leave
behind, and vanish, into the next big city, or the middle of nowhere.
“Wait,” he calls, and
I should keep moving, I should run—but I stop. I wait. I twist to stare at him
as he approaches, slowly, as if approaching a wild, skittish animal.
“How did you find me?” I demand, my voice harsh. Raphael
shoves his hands in his pockets and shrugs. It disturbs the collar of his
button down shirt, and I see the hint of tattoos under his collar.
“You were still carrying paperwork from here. I assumed you
would come back. That if I were patient, you would come back.”
I stare at him, disbelieving. “You’re a CEO.” I say, flatly.
A tiny smile tugs at his full lips, and he shrugs. “That is
less impressive than you would think.”
I look around again. A temp agency felt like a good idea,
when we first got here. It wasn’t the best I could do, but it was relatively
easy and anonymous. And that mattered. Now, I’m wondering if I wasn’t an idiot.
If my attempts at hiding was just as paltry as I thought they were.
“You look tired,” he says, and I’m startled to realize his
voice is softer, and closer. I look up and Raphael is only a step or two away.
Close enough that I can smell his cologne again, a spicy scent that makes me
want to bury my nose in the crook of his neck.
“I am,” I say, too tired and worried to dissemble. “I need
this job to work out, and it’s not.”
He hesitates, and then, “Would you have coffee with me?”
I laugh, because there’s no way he’s asking me that. I am no
one, less than no one, and Raphael Ortiez—I shake my head.
“Why is that funny?” he asks, curiously.
“Because men like you don’t want girls like me,” I says,
grinning. I start walking again, only a little surprised when he falls in at my
side.
“What do you know about men like me, Cora?” he says, and I
shudder. The way he says my name should be illegal.
“Nothing,” I say, reaching for the door of my truck. “And
nothing is the safest thing for me to know.”
He steps close again, and my heart flips. I know nothing
about him except this: I want to know everything. And that? That is dangerous.
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