Page 68 of An Espresso Machine’s Guide to Love & Mischief

“Umm… maybe focus on piloting,” he says. “And, no, but I did name my cock—”

“Don’t make me think about your cock, or McKay will fuck us up.”

“Your asshole will fuck us up if I talk about my cock?” Asgard shakes his head and glances over his shoulder. “Speaking of being fucked up… You’ve never been in a chase, have you?”

“Actually…”

“Don’t answer that! Drive! They’re gaining on us.”

I realize he’s right, and my heart starts to race.

I focus my gaze on the Toronto skyline on the far side of the harbor and push the yacht’s throttle to its fullest.

My stomach clenches like I’m about to puke—maybe I do need to go to the bathroom?

No, you’re just scared, McKay says, helpfully.

With good reason. It’s against all the safety laws and regulations to go this fast at night in a harbor. There could be other yachts to crash into… and I’ve already drowned once.

I slow the motor. If we crash, we’ll sink just like… just like…

My chest feels tight as though it’s filling with water. My breath turns short and gasping.

“What’s wrong?” Asgard places a solid hand on my shoulder.

I can’t get enough air to tell him, so I don’t try to explain.

“We have to speed up, they’re gaining on us!” he shouts.

I can’t do it. I can’t go faster when there’s a risk we’ll crash, sink, and die. I know how to swim—hell, I learned from three former Olympians—but that didn’t save me or my sister, who had the same lessons and died on the same cruise as me.

Asgard puts his hand over mine and pushes hard on the throttle, and my stomach lurches as the yacht speeds up.

“No,” I gasp and yank the throttle back.

“We have to—”

His voice is cut off by something slamming into the back of the yacht. I stumble forward over the controls, and the wheel digs into my chest. Ow, boob pain! I never thought I’d miss that.

I whirl and squint through the glare of the kidnappers’ yacht to find it directly behind us with its bow nearly against our stern. It must have rammed us.

People rush to board our yacht just like those pirates did off the coast of Greece.

Fuck! What if our yacht’s damaged? What if it sinks? What if they come over here and drown us or…

“I’ll take care of them,” Asgard says. He turns to me and meets my gaze, his face lit up by the kidnappers’ bow lights. “Whatever happens, promise me you’ll keep moving. Get out of here and go somewhere safe.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Whatever it takes.” He grins. “I trained all my life for this moment. To protect you. I just didn’t know it until now.”

Tears spring to my eyes.

“Promise me you’ll get out of here.”

“But—”

“Promise me!”