All In (The Blackstone Affair, Part 2)

"The rules of the game are
changing...Hold on for a sexy and thrilling ride through the
streets of London as Raine Miller does it again with
All In
."
~TotallyBooked Blog

“
The Blackstone Affair—Raw. Sensual. Exposed.
Surrender to Raine Miller as she draws you
ALL IN
.”
~Flirty and Dirty Book Blog

“
All
In
is a Must Read! Ethan and Brynne just
got hotter!”
~Sugar and Spice Book
Reviews

“
You may as well read this one commando
because Ethan’s point of view will blow your panties
off!”
~Scandalicious Book
Reviews

“
All
In
is a full-course, emotionally charged,
gripping read that had me hooked.”
~Book
Savvy Babe

“
Miller’s voice is compelling as she tells
the tale of these two unlikely lovers. I am
All In
for this
series.”
~The Indulgent Bloggers

“A deeply
sensual romance with a suspenseful storyline that left me
breathless with nearly each page.
All In
is a fabulous read!”
~
My Secret Romance

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2012 Raine Miller Romance

R
M
R

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal
enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to
other people. If you would like to share this book with another
person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If
you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not
purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com
and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work
of this author.

This book is a work of fiction. Names,
characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual
persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales
is entirely coincidental.

The author acknowledges the copyrighted or
trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks
mentioned in this work of fiction: Power Bar; Land Rover; Range
Rover; London Underground; University of London; London 2012
Olympic Games; Jimi Hendrix; Google; Wikipedia; iPod; Dunhill; Van
Gogh Vodka; Djarum Black; Dos Equis; Crazy Town -
Butterfly
;
Nine Inch Nails -
Closer
; National Portrait Gallery, London;
Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Victoria Embankment Gardens,
London; Los Angeles Times;
Letter’s of John Keats
to Fanny Brawne
; Spotify; Joseph Arthur -
Honey and the
Moon
; Michael Jackson –
Thriller
; Microsoft PowerPoint;
The Lion King; Pinky and the Brain; Punk’d; Paranormal Activity
4

For you, Brynne.
You
made this
possible.

Don’t know why I’m still afraid

If you weren’t real I would make you up,

now

I wish that I could follow through

I know that your love is true and deep

as the sea,

but right now

everything you want is wrong,

and right now

all your dreams are waking up,

and right now

I wish I could follow you,

to the shores

of freedom,

where no one lives

-Honey and the Moon,
Joseph
Arthur

Table of
Contents

Acknowledgements

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

In the words of Simba…

About the Author

This little story called
The Blackstone
Affair
has taken on quite a life of its own over the months.
It’s grown and grown into something I never dreamed it would become
when I sat down one summer evening, right before the Olympics were
starting in London, and began writing about an American nude model
and the Englishman who bought her portrait. That little story has
without a doubt, changed my life, and the course of what I’ll be
doing with my days full-time from here on out. I’m a writer now. I
can say that and know it’s really true.

I know whom I have to thank for it too.

To all of the fans of
The Blackstone
Affair
who’ve bought the book and pimped it like mad on their
blogs and in their book clubs, to their co-workers, friends,
sisters, mothers, grandmothers and even a few husbands, I am
eternally grateful. It’s only because of you guys that this story
took off and flew. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart.

To all the bloggers who took the Advance
Reading Copy and read it early, and gave their feedback, I LOVE
YOU. You are the reason I can stay home and be a full-time
writer.

In writing this second part of the series, I
faced some new challenges.
All In
is Ethan’s
story. It is the narrative of a British man the whole way through
and while I knew it was how I wanted to write the book, I didn’t
completely have a grasp of what it meant to do that until I was
into it. Well guess what? I learned fast! I am, after all, an
American woman. *snicker* So, to Gitte and Jenny at TotallyBooked,
I have one ginormous thank you to you two girls, for your guidance
and knowledge of the Queen’s English, and also for the
not-so-proper British slang that I used much more of in this story.
*wink* I never would have managed it without your help!

So now it’s onward with the series, and
final installment,
Eyes Wide Open
, which I hope
to release around the end of 2012. There’s much more to come for
Ethan and Brynne and you can check in at
Raine
Miller Romance
to get updates on the progression of Part
3 of
The Blackstone Affair
.

You have a nice little treat awaiting you at
the end of this book and I want you to be sure to read it. You
won’t be sorry. It’s a small piece of fan-fiction written by my
dear friend, Franziska Popp. She has this talent of writing animal
voices that entertain the hell out of me and many, many others on
Facebook, namely one very special and adorable ferret character
that enjoys a huge fan following and should have his own TV show.
She does all of this for fun and it’s truly amazing to me because
her first language is not English, but rather, her native German.
So enjoy a very special telling of Ethan and Brynne’s story through
the eyes of Simba the Lionfish. “You’re welcome.” *wink*

You’ll be happy to hear I’m working on
drafting a spinoff series -
The Rothvale Legacy
, as well.
The Rothvale Legacy
will take us forward with the story of
two special characters introduced in
The Blackstone Affair
,
while keeping tabs on our original characters at the same time so
you won’t miss them too much. Who knows where it will eventually
lead into the future. Such is the magic of the written word.

♥ Raine

2012 June

London

I left Ethan
at the
elevators begging me not to go. It was the hardest thing I had to
do in a long time. But leave him I did. I’d opened my heart up to
Ethan and gotten it stomped. I’d heard him when he told me he loved
me and I’d heard him when he’d said he was only trying to protect
me from my past. I’d heard him loud and clear. But it didn’t change
the fact that I needed to get away from him.

All I can envision is the same terrifying
idea over and over again.

Ethan knows.

But things are not always what they seem.
Impressions are made without full disclosure. Ideas are formed
based on emotion and not on factual events. Such was the case with
Ethan and me. I found this out later of course, and in time, when I
could back away from the events that had shaped me, I was able to
see things a bit differently.

With Ethan everything was fast,
intense…combustive. From the beginning, he told me things. He told
me that he wanted me. And yes, he even said he loved me. He had no
problem telling me about what he wanted with me, or how he felt
about me. And I don’t just mean the sex. That was a big part of our
connection, but it wasn’t everything with Ethan. He can share his
feelings easily. It is his way—not necessarily mine.

I felt like Ethan wanted to consume me at
times. He overwhelmed me from the first and was definitely a
demanding lover, but one thing was certain, I wanted everything
he’d ever given me.

I found that out once I left him.

Ethan gave me some peace and security in a
way I’d never really felt as an adult, and certainly never before
in regards to my sexuality. It’s just how he is and I think I
understand him now. He wasn’t demanding and controlling because he
wanted to dominate me, he was that way with me because he knew it
was what
I
needed. Ethan was trying to give me something I
needed in order to make
us
work.

So while those days without him were
agonizing, the solitude was critical for me. Our passionate fire
had burned white-hot, and we’d both been burned by the heat that
sparked and raged so easily when we were together. I know the
healing time was necessary for me, but it didn’t make the painful
ache hurt any less.

I kept coming back to the same idea I had
when I’d first found out what he was doing.

Ethan knows what happened to me and there
is no way he could possibly love me now
.

My hand throbbed
along with my heartbeat. All I could do was breathe at the now
sealed doors of the lift that was taking her away from me.

Think for one moment!

Chasing after her was not an option so I
left the lobby and went into the break room. Elaina was in there
getting coffee. She kept her head down and pretended I wasn’t
there. Smart woman. I hope those idiots on the floor do the same or
they just might need to find new jobs.

I threw some ice into a plastic bag and
shoved my hand inside. Fuck, it stung! There was blood on my
knuckles and I’m certain on the wall next to the lift. I walked
back out to my office with my hand in the ice. I told Frances to
call maintenance to come and fix the bloody ding in the wall.

Frances nodded without missing a beat and
looked at the bag of ice at the end of my arm. “Do you need an
x-ray for that?” she asked, her expression like that of a mum. What
I envisioned a mother would look like at least. I barely remember
mine so I’m probably merely projecting with her.

“No.”
I need my girl back, not some
cocksucking x-ray!

I went through to my office and shut myself
in. I pulled out a bottle of Van Gogh from the bar fridge and
cracked it. Opening my desk drawer, I fumbled for the pack of
Djarum Blacks and the lighter I liked to keep in there. I’d been
plowing through the smokes at a record pace since meeting Brynne.
I’d have to remember to stock up.

Now all I needed was a glass for the vodka,
or maybe not. The bottle would do me just fine. I took a swig with
my busted hand and welcomed the pain.

Fuck my hand; it’s my heart that’s
broken.

I stared at her picture. The one I took of
her at work when she showed me the painting of Lady Percival with
the book. I remembered how I’d used my mobile to take the photo and
was pleasantly surprised to see how nice it came out. So nice in
fact, I downloaded it and ordered a print for my office. Didn’t
matter it was only the camera in a cellular phone—Brynne looked
beautiful through any lens. Especially the lenses of my eyes.
Sometimes it almost hurt to look at her.

I recalled that morning with her. I could
just see her in my mind’s eye—how happy she was when I snapped the
photo of her smiling down at that old painting…