She’d lost her mother and brother to cancer, so she knew the familiar pain of loss and hope—the exorbitant cost of trying to keep your loved ones alive.
When she’d been approached to make the pickup with her father’s yacht, rather than shying away, she’d seen it as her duty to help those in need. She’d never been needed before, never had a chance to do something good for another person, and she thought this was her one chance to do something great.
Even if it was, technically, illegal according to the United States government.
She just didn’t feel guilty about it like she would have if she was smuggling illegal narcotics into the country. She wasn’t that kind of drug smuggler, for god’s sake.
Nerves cramped Jasmine’s stomach, tying it into knots and making her feel like she could pass out from hyperventilation at any moment.
She’d been waiting off the coast, anchored just outside Cuban waters all day. She’d left while the sun was still down from Miami, hoping she could have this done within a reasonable time period and avoid detection by the coast guard.
She’d begun regretting her decision ever since she’d arrived and no one was there to meet her with the packages.
Her nerves had only grown with every passing hour, and when dusk approached and she’d still gotten no sign, she’d really begun rethinking her motives for coming here. It was all well to think she was going to help save someone’s life. It was a different matter altogether to wonder if she’d been setup.
She’d pretended to fish most of the day. The other half, she’d sunbathed, waiting and waiting and waiting. As the sun dipped in the sky, turning the clouds to pink and amber, then violet, she was pretty sure something had happened on the opposite end of the spectrum to call the whole thing off.
That was when the quiet she’d enjoyed all day suddenly erupted into chaos.
The horn of a boat blared, breaking the silence of the night.
Jasmine rolled off the deck into the belly of the boat, her mind racing with excuses for why she was still there at night. She didn’t have any incriminating evidence on her—not yet.
Kanye rapping from her ipod dock wasn’t enough to cover the sounds of activity and alarm from somewhere in the dark. Jasmine lifted her head over the railing, expecting the coast guard to come barreling down after her. She couldn’t see shit in the dark, however.
She’d forgotten to bring her glasses. She hadn’t really expected to be here this long and hadn’t been as prepared as she would’ve liked. She was blind as a bat in the dark.
“Think, Jas. Think. You were fishing and scuba diving and are just waiting on some friends. Fuck, that doesn’t sound believable since it’s already dark!”
She scanned the horizon again, swallowing hard when she caught a flashing burst of light and the rapid sound of gunfire.
Jasmine just about peed herself when she saw military boats brimming with guns and soldiers bearing down in her direction.
“Oh my god!” she shrieked, scrambling for her shorts lying somewhere in the boat. The key was in the front pocket.
Sheer terror made her sluggish. She needed to get the hell out of there before they saw her small yacht and arrested her for whatever reason they could think of.
Horns blared again, making her jump as she grabbed her shorts. She looked up, thinking they’d spotted her. Instead, she saw men swimming away from the boats.
It had to be refugees.
That was almost enough to calm her down, but just barely.
Finally finding the key, she charged to the pilot deck, scrambling to push the key into the ignition. She slammed her hand down on the anchor retractor button, then started the engine, hoping the sound didn’t draw attention.
She pulled the boat around, panic setting in.
Behind her, she heard the wet smack of a body as it tumbled into the deck.
The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Three men had landed inside the boat. They were mostly naked and slick with water, panting and gasping.
Jasmine muffled her shriek with her hand.
She might as well not have bothered. Three heads swiveled in her direction, their gazes landing on her like a firebrand.
She screamed then, looking frantically around for a weapon. She couldn’t have escapees from some military prison on her boat—especially with no good reason why she was out here in the first place.
She was going to get caught and go to some jail where she’d never see the light of day again. Be tortured and who knew what else.
She made a dash for the cabin, hoping she could lock herself below and maybe the boats chasing them would just gather them back up. But she had to run by the men first.
Jasmine moved, seeing the men seemed frozen momentarily by her presence. Her movement snapped them out of immobility.
Her hope withered and died when some wild-eyed black haired beast grabbed her and snatched her back. He manacled his hands around her arms, pinning her against the deck.
Simultaneously, gunfire erupted around them. Wood splintered from the deck like pop rocks.
The man who’d grabbed her covered her with his body, crushing the breath from her lungs. She grunted.
“Take control of the boat, Lucas!” the man crushing the life out of her yelled. Her eardrums rattled.
The boat took a wide arc in the water, making them roll on the deck as Lucas took control of the boat.
The man holding her captive snatched her to her feet, scanned the deck, then dragged her down to leap through the open hatch she’d initially tried to escape to.
Jasmine grunted, feeling pain seep into her arms from misuse and unfamiliar action.
Dog tags hanging from his neck, the black haired stranger whipped his head around, scanning the cabin.
He released her to drop onto one of the perimeter couches. “You get hit?” he asked.
Jasmine just stared at him, at a loss for words.
His jaw tensed with impatience. “I said are you hurt?”
The initial adrenaline rush had receded, leaving her to feel like every bone and muscle in her body had been dragged through a wringer and bruised.
She gaped at him, trying to summon words, but he seemed to have lost the last shred of patience and simply handled her again, running his hands over her body. It wasn’t hard checking her for wounds. She was in a bikini, after all.
“Stay here unless you fancy becoming swiss cheese.”
She nodded shakily, watching as he bounded back up the ladder to the deck. Bullets ripped through the boat, and she dropped to the floor, covering her head and hoping she didn’t get hit.
Terror erupted along every nerve ending, sapping her of strength and warmth. The string bikini did little to cover and protect her.
Above her, were at least a dozen armed and naked men. She damned sure didn’t want any of them noticing her like this.
Crawling across the floor, she decided to hide under the bunk in one of the long storage spaces. She pushed the bedding to one end and crammed herself inside, covering herself with sheets and hoping they wouldn’t think to look for her in there. If nothing else, at least she wasn’t cold anymore.
Outside, the sound of gunfire began to fade, and she wondered if they’d given up or if her boat had just outrun them. Her daddy had had a love for speed and racing, and bought the boat specifically for that reason. She wanted to smile at the memory of her speed demon daddy, but all she could do was struggle to ignore the battering her body had taken in the short scuffle.
The boat bucked through the water, obviously moving at top speed, leaving her to wonder how many of the men remained above and what her chances were for getting out of this alive and free of jail.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
/> Chapter Ten
Chapter One
Mating Fever Page 14