The fireworks were spectacular. Everyone cheered as they went off to a soundtrack of Jimmy Buffett. Eve was pretty sure Sonny was in heaven. The docking spaces were full and the crowd was loud and raucous. There was a lot of singing and laughing from everyone involved. Brock had got into the spirit and made margaritas so he and Sonny drank a few of those. Katy had one, but cut herself off and Eve stuck to tea until they got to their spot for the night. She was having a good time and was still able to keep an eyes on things. Brock gave her a quick kiss and headed down below to the head while the fireworks were getting bigger. Eve gasped when after a few minutes the finale came and the explosions and synchronized lights were really spectacular. She cheered with Katy and Sonny, clapping with the crowd until she realized Brock had missed the finale. She looked around and didn’t see him so she headed down below deck.
“Brock, you here. You missed the big stuff. Are those cheeseburgers coming back up?” she asked humorously as she approached the head. The door was cracked open and she saw he wasn’t there. She checked the rest of the cabins and he wasn’t there either. She began to get nervous and went back up checking for him again before climbing up to the bridge.
“What’s up boss,” she heard Katy call.
“I can’t find Brock, he’s not down below,” she told her and began scanning the area around them as Katy began checking overboard with a suddenly serious Sonny. Eve could see several boats had already began making their way out of the area and she focused on the closest one. The lights from all the boats did a good job of keeping visibility high and she realized it was the Black Minnow. She grabbed her binoculars and focused in. She could see people in the water next to the boat and immediately started up the Eve’s Pleasure. She pointed where she was looking before Katy could ask. She had a pair of binoculars around her neck and raised them. With a better look Eve saw one of the men in the water was Brock. She felt a rising rage within her that she had not felt before, and with a snarl started moving her boat towards her friend. Katy and Sonny were shouting as she raised Coast Guard. She realized what was going on and it made her even more furious.
“This is Eve’s Pleasure… it looks like one of my guests has been kidnapped. I can see him being pulled onto another boat about fifty yard’s way. My location is…” she rattled off the GPS coordinates for the dispatcher. She kept one hand on the wheel and lifted her binoculars again. She could see Brock struggling with two men on the Black Minnow and suddenly he was free and diving over board.
“He went over!” Eve heard Katy call out. At that same time, she heard a shot and her hair felt like it was parted followed by the sound of a ricochet. She immediately crouched down with blood dripping down her face.
“Coast guard we are being fired on! Eve’s Pleasure is being fired on. We have a man in the water. Anytime would be good!” As she said the last, four more bullets peppered her bridge shattering the windshield and she cried out in surprise.
“Almost there, Captain Sage. Hold on. We have your passenger manifest, we understand, hold on,” the dispatcher told her. Eve loved the Coast Guard more than ever. Extremely rich people were always worried about kidnapping from various groups, and since they were on the far southern edge of the United States jurisdiction, whoever was on the Black Minnow, was making a grab for Brock. It was not unheard of and some people had actually paid the ransom that was demanded. Unfortunately, it was rare that the kidnapped person was found alive. Eve was not going to let that happen.
She quickly looked up over the dash and saw Katy had a spot light switched on to really light things up. Eve steered straight ahead towards the Black Minnow keeping Brock to the port side. She heard a few more shots but nothing hit the boat again that she could tell. Just as she came abreast of Brock she spun the wheel, turning so that she put Eve’s Pleasure sideways between the bad guys and Brock.
Eve saw a life preserver being thrown out and this time Brock was able to grasp it. Katy and Sonny were immediately reeling him in and as soon as he was on board she started speeding up to get away from the Black Minnow.
“We got him!” came Katy’s shout, and Eve moved the throttle forward further increasing their speed. Soon they were clear of the party boats entirely and she heard the sound of a helicopter. Then there were lights flashing everywhere and a voice on a loudspeaker.
“Shut it down Black Minnow. This s the United States Coast Guard. You are being detained. Shut it down Black Minnow.”
Looking back Eve could see a Coast Guard cutter had gotten close to the Black Minnow and the helicopter was hovering above it. She powered her boat down with a sigh of relief. Once the boat was resting she turned to go down to the others and felt a stabbing pain in her foot. She had forgotten that she had taken off her boat shoes earlier in the evening. She gasped, staggering to the railing. Holding on and standing on one foot, she could see blood running out of the deep gash caused by the shattered glass from the windshield. Shit, she thought to herself, this is all I need, as she watched blood flow pretty freely from her foot. She was also beginning to feel dizzy from her head wound. It only then occurred to her that she had been shot. She shouted for help and Katy was up to help her in an instant.
“Watch your step!” she yelled panicked that Katy could be hurt too.
Katy helped her to a chair yelling down to the guests to stay put and wait for the Coast Guard. Then she grabbed a medical kit.
“Jesus girlfriend, that is deep. I am glad the Coast Guard is almost here. Luckily your head wound is shallow, but head wounds bleed. Glass got you when the windshield shattered?” Katy asked, trying to be conversational. Eve couldn’t lie to her friend. Eve jerked her foot back several times as the pain shot through her foot and up her leg. Then gasping she told her.
“No dear, that was a bullet. The foot was glass.” Katy’s eyes welled up and a spot light flashed over the boat. Katy stood gesturing.
“The Captain is injured, she has been shot and needs a medic fast!” Katy shouted. Then she bent over and hugged Eve before dabbing her head wound and foot. She sniffled and seemed to gather herself. Eve had a feeling she was going into shock as everything took on an ethereal look. She could hear Brock and Sonny shouting for the Coast Guard.
“This is embarrassing. Getting shot and then stepping on glass,” she said. It came out a whisper.
“Positive Eve, stay positive,” Katy said at an attempt at humor. Eve was game.
“Ok, yippee I am still alive!” Laughing hurt her foot she found out.
The next day Eve was sitting on her forward deck with her wrapped foot up, a bandage on her head, and a margarita within reach. Sonny had insisted. Both men had been incredibly helpful and courteous. She was pampered by them and Katy until she felt embarrassed by all the attention. She had orders to stay off of her foot, and they were tied up at a dock that had offered the space for free after their ordeal.
It turned out that while they were all distracted by the fireworks, two men had snuck onboard, bided their time and when Brock was alone grabbed him. They had guns and Brock had done what they said because he had been afraid for his friends. Once on their boat he had fought back and dove overboard to escape. After some interrogation it was discovered it was a group of South American toughs who had thought to make some quick money. Too bad for them.
“I hope this doesn’t put you guys off of Key West?” she asked the guys.
“Not at all. The odds of it happening again are next to impossible. How about you. You are the one who got your boat, and your person, shot up,” Brock asked her gently. Eve shook her head.
“A lot of weird stuff happens in this part of the world. I never expected anything like this to happen to me and mine, but it does happen. Nope, I am sticking to it. Once I am allowed to anyway,” she finished with a comical glare at her First Mate.
“Just following doctor’s orders Captain. Then we can be on our way,” she told her. Then Katy bent over and kissed her check before heading down below.
“Where is she going?” she wonder
ed out aloud. Sonny answered.
“It is barbecue time. You missed it up on the bridge last night. Now you get a front row seat,” Sonny said. He was sitting on one side of her, and Brock was on a stool in front of her. She could not help sighing, but then smiling. Despite what had happened she realized she had two gorgeous men waiting on her with her best friend riding shotgun. She could not be in better hands. She eyed them both with a slight smile and they watched her with concern and care. It felt wonderful.
“Well guys, I don’t know where this thing we have is going to lead, but I am more determined than ever to get there, how about you two? Not scared off from me?” she asked hesitantly. They both leaned in and kissed her, one after the other.
“No chance Captain Sage. You are stuck with us for the next two weeks at sea and much longer in Miami. Think you can handle us?” was Brock’s response. Right then Katy chose to come back singing.
“I like mine with lettuce and tomatoes!”
Eve sighed again.
THE END
Bonus Story 11/40
Mari Me
Marianne Kent opened her eyes to Jake Langdon's intense blue eyed stare. WTF?
"Jake—" she opened her mouth to scream, but his strong, rough hand covered her mouth. His other hand tangled mercilessly in her new curly extensions.
He leaned down so they were nose to nose. "What the fuck are you doing in bed with my brother?"
Her eyes darted to Henry, lying in his rumpled hipster skinny clothes, passed out and snoring on top of the cheap motel comforter beside her. His ginger-red hair was tousled across his pale angelic face, a complete contrast to his brother's slightly tanned chiseled features, dark blond hair, and built soldier's body.
Asshole. This was not her situation to explain. It was Henry's. He'd gotten her into this little cross country adventure, now Jake was back and on her ass like a demon reckoning?
"Fuck," Jake dropped his green duffle bag onto the floor.
"What are you doing here?" Her voice was hopelessly muffled against his calloused palm. Her eyes flicked the dark inked patterns and letters highlighted on his white forearm. She could barely see him, though the neon light outside kind of illuminated the room. Not that she needed a light to know it was Jake. She'd know his masculine scent, and the pissed off set to his once broken nose, and perfectly squared jaw anywhere.
She shifted beneath the scratchy covers, though his six foot four frame loomed large. Her soft body was no match for Jake's hard knee, which he used on top of the covers to trap her in place.
His eyes flicked to Henry then back at her, clearly furious. Understandable. Finally home from wherever his SEAL duty had taken him, most likely he'd expected her to be at the door back in Virginia, wagging her tail like a puppy's welcome home. It was, after all, what she usually did, mind you this time he'd been forewarned. She was done pacing the floor and wringing her hands in agonized worry while he ran off to get himself killed for the red, white and blue. She had a life to live. A good one now that she was about to graduate.
Henry groaned and turned beside her. Figured he'd just keep on snoozing right through this traumatic reunion he'd inadvertently created.
"Eyes. Here." Jake's fingers tightened in her hair.
Dammit. She didn't just spend ten hours on this weave only to have him pull them out!
"I'm the one asking the questions."
She narrowed her eyes and pressed her back teeth together. How was she supposed to answer anything with his mammoth-sized paw clamped down on her mouth? She grunted and struggled to sit up.
Jake tossed back the covers, grasped both her wrists in one hand and forced them over her head while his iron hard body pushed her to the middle of the bed. She uselessly battled against his muscled chest, her nipples tightening with the sparks of friction as his long jean-clad legs tangled with her bare ones.
She flinched, because just like that she was spread out facing him, her dark form flush against his white one, arms overhead, the rest of her body forcibly entangled with his. Excitement and heat thrummed through her system. He had just successfully dominated and titillated her at the same time.
Damn.
"Start. Talking." He lifted his hand slowly, the glint in his eyes harsher than she'd ever seen. And she'd seen Jake pissed. From petty jealousy to unbridled rage, she'd dealt with him through a full range of emotions. "And it better be good, because I'm about ten seconds away from committing murder one."
"Get off me," she silently railed against her exposed vulnerability. Their skirmish had raised the hem of her t-shirt to show her thin panties, an advantage he exploited by pressing the rough cloth of his jeans against her naked thigh. Could she help marveling at their erotic colour contrast? It had been months since they'd last been wrapped together.
She struggled again, and he grasped her round hip and ground his determined pelvis up against her barely veiled pussy. Her tummy fluttered against his now he had her more intimately pinned.
"Now," he jerked his head toward Henry, but his intense blue eyes stayed on her. "What—the fuck—are you doing in my brother's bed?"
"It's…" she squirmed against his hold, but he had lodged his long hard length completely into her softness. "…a long, sordid story."
"Shorten it."
She looked up at her clamped wrists, both still encased and pressed into the cheap pillow by his one hand. "First let me go."
"Not a chance," he murmured coldly. "You're not going anywhere." He settled himself further, the movement of his hard length, encased in his jeans sending sharp frissons of heat right through her feminine nub.
God. Where in Hell was her will power? It wasn't like she'd never rejected a man before. But this was impossible. He was impossible.
Yet damn it if she didn't roll that nub against her panty and his abrasive jeans. It was so easy to respond to him this base way. Elemental. It always had been, ever since she was thirteen, him fifteen and they had lain together in the tall grass during their summer in the Hamptons. It started out innocently enough, lying and giggling together, staring straight up at the clouds on a long summer day. Then they’d started wrestling, then kissing, then making love the way only two horny teenagers could. Wild. Naked. Outdoors. For hours.
"I'm not telling you anything until you get off me." What did he think this was anyway? Some kind of betrayal? She'd told him they were done before he left. Granted, she was here with his little brother, technically in bed, but it wasn't like she was banging the younger man anyway. It was Henry for God's sake. The family screw-up. When something went wrong in the Langdon family, all eyes fell on Henry. She was the victim here and, if anything, in the process of being fleeced by the youngest Langdon—right out of her graduate studies tuition fees for saving his ass.
"I'm not going anywhere until you either talk to me—" Jake leaned into her farther, his hard mouth descending onto hers. "Or fuck me… right here."
Her eyebrows slammed down. "You're crazy," she said against his lips.
"Really? You think this crazy?" He rocked his hard length into her, making her clitoris quiver in response. "I've just come half way around the world to find my girl in bed with my little brother." His fingers tightened on her hip.
She loved the way his white hand looked on her brown skin. It ignited every passion inside her system.
"Three thousand miles after weeks of seeing and doing gutter shit to find my girl gone—taken off and two States over in a shitty motel bed with my brother." He moved his hips in a rhythm against her panties. "Fuckin' crazy."
She frowned and gritted her teeth against the hot ache he was purposefully building in her.
"And all I want to do is fuck her back into being mine."
"Jake—" His words, what he said… the way he growled them… she arched against him feeling like a cat in raptured heat, all hot bursting sensations desperately needing somewhere to go. She was either going to run screaming, or scream at him to make her come. "How did you even find us?"
<
br /> He leaned in closer and pressed his tongue between her lips. "I'll always find my girl. You should know that by now. But especially after she threatened to leave me. Break up with me before I leave for deployment. I made you a promise that day, remember?"
She accepted his tongue with an achy whimper. It was Heaven… pure genius the way that he kissed her, stroked her, stoked her into a fire with his synchronized rhythm of plunder of her mouth and movement of his hips, rubbing his hot length across her aching nub.
She desperately wanted him to make her come. "Jake…" she moaned his name in a needy whisper.
He ran a strong finger along her inner thigh then gripped the bottom of her t-shirt. "You're wearing his shirt." He pulled it up over her head, making her breasts wobble before him, the sudden cool breeze tightening her dark nipples into buds. "You're in bed with another man, wearing his shit." He ground out the words before tangling his fingers in the side of her panties. With a quick tear he yanked them over off her hip, and down her soft thighs, leaving her stripped and naked.
"Stay.” He held her eyes as he released her wrists.
"It's not what it looks like." She suddenly needed to reassure him.
"It fuckin' better not be." He slid his palm over her womanhood, thumbing her clit as he pressed his longest finger into her at the same time. "Because you're my woman."
"God— Jake!"
"You are so fucking wet. Still so fucking tight. You better not have given him anything that's mine." He pressed down and circled her nub, massaged it and pumped his finger deeper inside of her until she closed her eyes and moaned.
"Eyes on me," he demanded rolling her clitoris between two of his fingers. "You remember my promise?" He leaned down and took one of her dark nipples between his eager teeth.
"God, Jake. This is… so wrong," she arched into his mouth and moved her hips against his hand, trying to relieve herself, make herself orgasm. Henry was right there in the bed with them. "Henry's right—"
In the Arms of the Dragon Princes Page 37