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Chapter Forty-two
After a happy hour picking away at Miguel’s pizza and making jokes with the kid, Jake decided they needed to relax in front of the big screen. After all, it was Miguel’s last night.
He hadn’t taken that into consideration when he’d proposed their fancy date. Now he realized he’d dropped the ball. They needed to spend the time with Miguel because they’d miss the hell outta him after he was off the ship. The problem was not getting too attached, but he had a feeling they were way beyond that line. He knew he was.
Heading upstairs where they had a huge screen mounted up high against the dark sky, they found three lounge chairs together. Every night, the ship’s entertainment crew showed different movies, and tonight was one full of transformers and tough guys, one he didn’t particularly want to see but was happy that Rylee and Miguel thought it cool.
While Miguel had stepped over to the bar area where they served drinks and popcorn, Jake reached for Rylee’s hand and saw her eyes glued to the boy. The woman whose heart was bigger than the big screen and who cared a lot more than she ever revealed to the world, had looked gorgeous earlier, but at this moment she looked heart-stoppingly precious.
He wanted her with a building hunger no one else had ever satisfied. It could only be her.
Her lips… he wanted to taste.
Her body… he had to touch.
Her heart… he craved to be his forever.
Tonight! For sure. No backing away this time. He couldn’t wait.
As if she knew his thoughts, she looked at him and melted before his eyes. The woman radiated love and sex and kindness and… everything he could want in a partner, both in bed and out. The signals soaring his way let him believe she felt everything he was experiencing.
***
From the love shining her way to the warm hand caressing hers, Rylee couldn’t help but see the affection Jake revealed. While they waited for the movie to start, she fought down the impulses to reach over and kiss him here and now. The ache in her needed release and only with this man. If Miguel hadn’t been with them, she had no doubt they’d be in her cabin right now with their clothes off and their bodies meeting for the first time.
Passion had been building all night, and though the fear of a missing Miguel had doused the flames for a short while, it hadn’t been able to smother their need for one another. The desire lay dormant but pulsating, throbbing just under the cover of normal behavior.
It scared her a little; knowing how much this man could make her want him, make her emotions raw with need.
Once the movie ended, Jake and Miguel walked her to her door. They both said goodnight, Miguel with a hug and Jake with a gentle touch to her cheek; his eyes promising he’d be back.
She opened her door, backing in as she waved goodbye. The gun that poked her in the shoulder did so hard enough, that the raw voice behind it didn’t come as a shock.
“Don’t say a word.”
She followed the man’s orders and didn’t speak. Instead, she whipped around, her elbow knocking at the gun while her fist plowed into his neck. She knew she’d done some damage, because the man was incapacitated for long enough that she could shove him aside and crouch for her firearm. At the same time, she used their call code and spoke to Carl. “My room, a little help, please.”
Unfortunately, she hadn’t disabled the attacker completely. He came back at her, his fist like a Mack truck and stopped her from gaining her weapon. Because of her quick thinking, she moved aside and took the blow on her shoulder. But the jarring pain meant a bruise for sure.Christ, Mari was going to bitch about this one.
Anger struck, fucking bastard assaulted her in her own room, what’s the frigging world coming to? She ducked the next blow and kicked out with a side thrust toward his prick, but this guy wasn’t having any of this bullshit.
The space was small, no room to get away. He had her kind of blockaded in the tiny hallway. She could see him planning to overcome her with his body mass. He was a hell of a lot bigger, outweighing her by eighty pounds.
But she had the brains. Next, when he ran for her, his head down as if he’d decided to ram her against the door, she stepped to the side, grabbed the doorknob and swung it open just as he came barrelling forward.
Plowing into the hard wood knocked the son of a bitch backwards and floored him. This time, she swung her gun out and palmed it so when he shook off the confusion from his collision, she was ready.
“Don’t you move, asshole.”
It was her bad luck that he’d landed on the gun he’d brought with him, and she didn’t see it until it was too late.
He lay back with a grin lighting his features, which should have clued her into the fact that the prick was too confident, considering he had a bullet arrowed towards his chest.
“Get. Into the bedroom.” She shut the door. Then waved him away, not wanting to be too close in case he suddenly decided to continue the fight.
She watched him scoot backwards on the floor, and when she signalled with the gun in a pointed manner that basically asked him to stand, she didn’t take her eyes off him.
He slowly got to his feet and using his left hand he rubbed his throat, then croaked his vitriol. “You’re a bad woman. In my country, we would stone you for striking your betters.”
She laughed. “As you can see, in my country, whoever wins is the better. And I’m the one with the gun.”
“Wrong.” He swung the weapon he clutched in his right hand her way and a silencer muffled the shot.
