Mating Fever (18 page)

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.