Safe and SEALed with Ecstasy kicks off an all new series, The Heroes of Silver Island. If you read book 3 of The Heroes of Silver Springs, Stormy Nights, you'll recognize this prologue, but from a different point of view.
Safe and SEALed with Ecstasy is available now at
Prologue
Cambodia – Four
years ago
Lara Hampton tried to scream, but the gag
secured in her mouth by duct tape muffled the sound. It was just as well. The
only men around to hear it were the ones who had brought her here. Wherever
here was.
You
know where you are and you know who’s out there.
Yeah, she knew. She was in some sort of empty
hut deep in the Cambodian jungle. As for the men out there? She may not know
their names, but she knew who they worked for. Veng Kim Phay, the notorious
drug lord who had ordered her capture.
Except, maybe they weren’t out there
anymore. She hadn’t heard a sound coming from outside since the ruckus that had
sounded like the whole compound had been moving out. And how long ago had that
been?
Long
enough for your ass to go completely numb, that’s for sure.
She sat on said ass against the far wall
of the tiny, pitch-dark hut, her knees bent and ankles bound together with
tight rope. Her wrists were tied together behind her back. She tried, to no
avail, to free herself so many times the sting in her abraded ankles and wrists
had become a constant burn.
If she could only reach the cell phone
in her pocket. Not that it would do her much good. It had barely half the
battery life left when she’d been kidnapped.
Please,
God, let it have stayed charged long enough for someone to tap into the GPS
tracker once they realized I was missing.
Surely, someone at the missionary camp
had reported her missing by now. She was the daughter of a US senator. As soon
as her father got word of her capture, he’d have the GPS signal traced, and send
someone to rescue her, wouldn’t he?
Tears welled in her eyes and she
ruthlessly blinked them back. She could only hope her father would send
someone. The way he’d been with her lately, she wasn’t so certain. The last
time they’d talked, he’d told her he’d had enough. And, okay, yeah, maybe she
had put him through a lot. This definitely wasn’t the first time she’d found
herself in a real pickle. He’d raised her to stand up for her beliefs and
that’s exactly what she did, even when it landed her on her numb ass at the
mercy of a drug lord and his band of goons.
The orphaned children, many of whom had
been infected with HIV, needed help. They needed expensive treatment and people
to care for them. Cambodia had come a long way in its fight against AIDS since
the early nineties, but it still had a long way to go.
Lara swallowed, her dry throat
protesting the action. She’d been preparing to head back to the states on a
crusade to raise money for those children when she’d been kidnapped.
It
wouldn’t have happened if you’d kept your distance from Phay’s goons.
True, but how could she turn the other
cheek when she’d stumbled across Phay’s compound? How could she keep quiet when
his goons were using some of the very kids she was trying to save to do their
dirty drug work?
She didn’t think Phay intended to have
her killed. Wouldn’t he have done so already if that was his plan? He wanted to
keep her quiet. That much had become obvious.
Until
what? You die of dehydration and starvation alone in the dark?
A soft click outside the door brought
her dismal thoughts to a screeching halt. Her eyes widened and her breath
caught in her throat as the door swung open. She couldn’t hear anything over
the fierce pounding of her pulse, but she could see the silhouette of a man
that stepped out of the scant sliver of moonlight and into the hut.
She screamed, the sound barely audible,
as the narrow beam of a small flashlight swept over her. She wanted to run, to
hide, to cower for safety under something. She could do none of those in an
empty hut save for her, especially when she could no longer feel her legs to
move.
“It’s okay.” The man moved closer, a
huge and imposing presence that only made her heart race faster. “It’s okay,”
he whispered again, kneeling next to her. “We’re US Navy SEALs. We’re here to
get you out of here.”
His softly spoken words, definitely in
an American accent, slowly penetrated the terror coursing through her mind and
body. We? He isn’t alone. US Navy
SEALs? Oh, thank God.
He shifted the beam of the flashlight so
she could see his face. Hazel eyes studied her from a handsome face streaked
with war paint. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear she was suddenly playing
the leading heroine role in a movie cast beside Brad Pitt in his younger years.
Really,
Lara? You’re noticing that now after everything you’ve been through, everything
you’re probably still going to go through because you’re not out
of here yet, girl.
It fascinated her how her body could
have an immediate heated response to a man when she was still bound, gagged,
and helpless in the hut on a drug lord’s compound. But, damn Skippy, this Navy
SEAL with those intense hazel eyes deserved every bit of female attention and
then some.
“Are you hurt anywhere?” He spoke in a
voice just a decibel above a whisper, but he’d leaned closer so she had no
trouble hearing him.
She didn’t have any trouble smelling him
either. She caught the pungent odor of sweat mingling with the unmistakable
scents of the jungle but, beneath that, she could smell something else that was
musky and all man.
She shook her head.
“Good. Good. We need to get that tape
off your mouth. Do you want to do it?”
Lara drew her brows together, wondering
how she could take it off herself when her hands were still bound behind her
back. Figuring if she nodded yes, he’d untie her hands first, she shook her
head no. She wanted the tape gone so she could get the damn gag out of her
mouth.
“No? Okay, I’ll do it for you.” His lips
she immediately deemed as far too kissable slowly spread in a comforting smile
that sent lust raining through her system. “It’s going to hurt a bit.”
Lara nodded her understanding and
started to close her eyes.
“No.” He put a gentle hand on her knee
and her eyes flew open. That simple, sweet touch of his callused palm sent a
rush of heated desire surging from her knee to her pussy. “Don’t close your
eyes. Keep them open. Find something else to focus on. When you close your
eyes, you tend to focus on the pain.”
Somehow she doubted that. Pain was the
last thing stealing her focus right now. Christ, what was happening to her? She’d
never had this kind of intense, immediate, sexual response to a man.
Lara averted her gaze and saw another
beam from a flashlight in the doorway. Her attention locked on the pair of eyes
that peeked inside. Another SEAL, she presumed, and damn if he wasn’t another
good looking one, too. It helped to study him as the sweet SEAL reached for the
tape covering her mouth. She even found the need to swallow a giggle. Even in
the darkness, cut by only the narrow beams of lights from the flashlights, she
could tell the SEAL in the doorway knew he was good looking and fully expecting
to be first in line in the thank you parade once they got her to safety.
Not a chance. If she thanked either of
them in any extra special way it would definitely be the Brad Pitt look-alike.
Although, she could certainly use the SEAL at the door as a distraction
because, holy molly, simply looking at Sweet SEAL made her want to jump his
bones right here in the empty hut.
Lara gasped as Sweet SEAL started
removing the tape. A soft squeak of pain escaped her lips when he tugged the
last bit from her flesh and the gag fell out of her mouth. Her gaze still
locked with the SEAL at the door, she stiffened when Sweet SEAL brought a hand
to her face and brushed the back of his fingers over the tender skin beside her
mouth.
“Stings, huh?”
Lara tore her gaze from the SEAL at the
door and dared to look at Sweet SEAL. Christ on a pogo stick, he was too damn
handsome, too damn nice, and way too damn dangerous for her hormones. The
compassion she saw in his hazel eyes wound around her heart, but the heat she
saw mixing in would be her downfall.
It
won’t if you don’t let it.
Oh, no. The last thing she needed to do
was fall for a hardened warrior, no matter how sweet and handsome he was.
“A little.” Her voice sounded raspy. She
said the words much softer than she’d intended and far breathier. Because she
hadn’t spoken for a long time. Yeah, that was it. It absolutely had nothing to
do with the riot of desire zinging through her body after that gentle touch.
“It will be okay. Thank you. Could you, uh…” She wiggled, turned slightly away
from him, and shot a pointed look over her shoulder and down to her still bound
hands.
He blinked as if coming out of a trance
and gave his head a quick shake. “Oh yeah, of course.” He made quick work of
untying the ropes around her wrists and then shifted, his hands framing the
sides of her legs as he grazed his palms down to the ropes around her ankles.
Lara took a deep breath and let it out
slow. His touch felt way too close to a caress. She doubted he’d meant for it
to. Sweet SEAL was just doing his job, rescuing the damsel in distress with
care and concern. The fact that he obviously found said damsel attractive had
nothing to do with it.
He glanced at her and, yeah, he
definitely found her attractive. Apparently, touching her was making it more
difficult for him to hide his lust. “I’m sorry. I wanted to get that tape off
first. You know, so you could talk to us.”
Lara glanced over Sweet SEAL’s shoulder
and saw the other SEAL shake his head before his lips started to move as he
spoke into the microphone on the headset he wore.
“Can she walk?”
Sweet SEAL shifted again and she got a
better view of the SEAL at the door. She saw him wince as he side-stepped. She
raked her gaze down to the bloodied knee of his cargo pants before dragging her
attention up again. His question had been aimed at Sweet SEAL. Still, she took
the liberty of giving him her own answer.
“I could ask the same about you.” Her
voice sounded stronger and steadier this time. Good. Limping SEAL, she
immediately dubbed the man at the door, was turning out to be a spectacular
distraction for her hormones after all. “But, yeah, I can walk.” At least she
hoped she could. She stretched out her legs, tested them, and refused to close her
eyes as the limbs tingled while they woke from their sleeping state. “I’m a bit
bruised and a little sore, but I think the thing that hurts the most is my
pride.”
She winced at the admission and the
discomfort as she carefully got to her feet and really stretched her legs for
the first time in days. “How about you?” she asked Limping SEAL, but turned her
attention away from him before he could answer.
It surprised her to discover Sweet SEAL
was shorter than her by a full inch or more. Still, whoever had said dynamite
came in small packages must have had this SEAL in mind. Height challenged or
not, the man still topped the charts on the stud-o-meter. Worse, he’d placed a
steadying hand on the small of her back and, jumping jelly beans, her knees
nearly buckled as more heat seared through her system.
“I’m okay,” she lied to Sweet SEAL,
because she was definitely far from okay. Take away Limping SEAL, put a little
more soft light in the hut, add a comfy bed, remove Sweet SEAL’s clothes, and
she’d be okay.
Oh,
no the hell you wouldn’t.
“I’ve got it.” She smiled at Sweet SEAL
and ruthlessly squashed the image of him naked, on top of her, between her
legs, and positioned to slide his cock in her eager pussy. “Thanks.” She turned
her attention back to Limping SEAL. “So what hurts worse, that knee or your
pride?”
He didn’t answer her. Instead, he turned
his attention to Sweet SEAL. “We need to move. We’ll hook up with the rest of
the team at the extraction point.” Lara saw him push a button on his mic and
heard him speak into it. “We’re coming out, Cabelly. Get ready to move.”
Next to her, Sweet SEAL shook his head
as he gently cupped her elbow in his hand. “Where does he come up with this
shit?”
Lara started to ask what he was talking
about, but he fell into a conversation with the other men over his headset. She
figured out he must mean Cabelly. What she couldn’t have figured out from what
she got of the one-sided conversation was just how much one look at Cabelly
would supremely devastate and totally awaken her already raging hormones…especially
when he started to sing.
