Twisted Cravings (The Camorra Chronicles, #6)(91)

“My father might consider it disrespectful that you can’t restrain yourself even for one night,” I panted.

Adamo chuckled. “I won’t tell him. Will you?” He pushed two fingers into me.

“No,” I gasped.

That night I lie awake in Adamo’s arms for a long time, not haunted by worries or fears. I imagined our future together and I was excited about it.

Nothing was really holding us back now.





When Dinara and I returned to camp the next day, it really felt like a final homecoming. Crank gave me a wave and a thumbs up when he spotted Dinara. I had already called Remo last night to make sure he didn’t attack Chicago when he didn’t hear from me for too long. I really didn’t want my tentative understanding with Grigory to be undermined. I hadn’t given him details about my agreement with Grigory but knowing Remo, he probably suspected something. My brothers knew I preferred camp life to staying in Las Vegas anyway.

Dinara shone with happiness when we set up our tent between our cars.

It wasn’t a splendid home, but it was all we needed at the moment. Once the season was over in two weeks, we’d have time to buy a motorhome for us.

I didn’t miss the many curious or even apprehensive looks from fellow drivers or pit girls.

“Do you think they know why we were gone so often these last few months?” Dinara asked.

“They know something. I should have known that rumors would spread eventually.”

“I think some of them will think twice now before cutting you off during a race. Nobody wants to get tortured and killed,” Dinara said wryly.

“It’s not like I’m a different person.”



“You are to them. Because of your easygoing personality it was easy for people to forget that you’re a Falcone. Now they realize that one of the monsters from Vegas actually walks among them and it makes them nervous.”

I could tell that this amused Dinara a great deal. “I hate that name.”

“But it serves its purpose. It’s better to be feared than to be liked in the mob business.”

I laughed darkly. “Indeed. That’s Remo’s credo. I guess it was inevitable that I’d fulfill my family’s fate at some point.”

“People in camp will get a grip eventually once they see that nothing has changed. Until then you’ll have an easier time to make up points.”

“There’s no way I can make up the points I lost in the last few races, nor can you. We’ll have to go through qualification races next season.”

Excitement flashed in Dinara’s eyes. “I love a challenge.”

“I think people see you in a new light as well. The apprehensive looks aren’t only for me.”

Dinara glanced around and people quickly looked away. “I doubt they fear me for myself. Women are always underestimated.” “Anyone who underestimates you is a fool.”



“I really missed this,” Dinara said when we sat on a log around the fire with the rest of the camp, drinking beer and eating chicken wings that burned my taste buds. Country music blared from the speakers set up around the perimeter.

“Yeah, it’s a strange little world of our own where we can bend the rules.”

Dinara moved her legs in rhythm to the country beat. I grinned challengingly. “I never took you for a country girl.”

She took a sip from her beer, a slow smile spreading on her gorgeous face.

“I’m a multilayered personality.”

I chuckled. “No kidding.” I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and she leaned her head against my shoulder. “It’s strange to think that this will be our home from now on.”

Dinara shrugged. “We’ll be free. I don’t think there’s anything better in the world.”

“Yeah,” I murmured. The first people started dancing around the fire as their alcohol levels rose. “Did you talk to Dima?”

Dinara sighed. “I didn’t see him before we left. I suppose he avoided me.

Maybe he feels that I betrayed what we had.”

“But you weren’t a couple anymore. He was your bodyguard.”

“He’s always been more than that. But Dima is loyal to my father and he can’t follow me on this new path. He’ll always serve my father until he dies or gets killed doing his duty. Maybe he thinks it’s my duty to stay in Chicago and be the Bratva princess my father always wanted me to be.”

“But it’s not who you want to be. If Dima ever really loved you, he must realize it.”

Dinara raised her head. “What Dima and I had wasn’t really love, I realize that now that I’m with you.”

“Because you love me.”

Dinara gave me a strange smile. “You really want me to say it more often, don’t you?”

I kissed her. “Oh definitely.”

The dancing around us got wilder, stirring up dust. Many people began singing along to the songs, most of them without having a clue about the actual lyrics.

“Let’s join them,” Dinara said, setting her beer bottle down on the ground.

“I thought you’d never ask.” I shoved to my feet and pulled her along with me. When we joined the dancers, a few of them hesitated, obviously still unsure about us after the killer couple rumors Crank had told me about, but soon the music and alcohol carried away their tension and we became part of the camp again.