Steamy Contemporary Romance Book Series With Strong Female Lead
A Migrant's Romance Series by Ana Dantra
Series Excerpt
Seated on the floury sand, Yani played with the grey angelfish that had fearlessly approached her hand. Behind some rocks, a sea turtle observed her with sleepy, ancient wisdom. The reef was a bit further, but she didn’t go. Swimming alone was a really bad idea, so she decided to keep the boat in sight the whole time.
She needed the peace that reigned under the surface to think. His questions the day before had been genuine and didn’t have an answer. She hadn’t had many chances to actually decide how far she would go with a man or how to pace it. It had been Marcos and this, with a long intermediate period of heartache, working her life away like an addiction, and guys asking her out and not showing up to the first date.
One thing was clear: she wanted this man. She wanted him more than she’d ever wanted her teenage sweetheart.
With Marcos, it had been more a story of him pushing for intimacy and her surrendering so he wouldn’t be mad at her. But she’d never had a real visceral need for him, like she had now.
This was completely different.
He was romancing both her mind and her body at the same time. She really liked being with him, his sense of humor, his wit, how fast he understood situations, how he could control himself and, of course, he was a treat to look at. But it was also primal. When he touched her, she wanted it all. She’d even fantasized about him taking her by force so she could have him and keep her denial. And of course she knew he would never do it. If he were willing to do it, she would hate him. Hypocrite. Right there she understood that if he was still willing, she would do it. She deserved better than hoping to be a victim. Yanina decided to honor her body, and if her body wanted this man as much as her heart already did… so be it.
When Yani surfaced from her snorkeling session and climbed the boat to take her favorite place facing the shore, she saw the neighbor swimming toward her. He is coming for me?
Forearms on the rail of the boat, she looked at him, mesmerized. There was a rhythm, an almost hypnotic lullaby, in the way he propelled his powerful body through the waters. This, more than anything else, told Yani that something was wrong. He suddenly stopped in mid stroke and went under. He emerged again, but the movements were desperate, erratic. He’s drowning! Yani didn’t even think. She grabbed the life jacket and jumped onto the jet ski. In under a minute, she was with the man that haunted her thoughts, who now was contorting in pain.
“What happened?” she asked when he grabbed the jet ski for support.
“A cramp,” he spat between tight teeth.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got you,” Yani said, with more heart than method, jumping into the water with him and securing the life jacket. How do you make over two hundred pounds of shaking muscle climb onto the jet ski? Well, at least he was not going to drown.
His big paw clamped on her arm and she panicked, kicking the jet ski, which started to float away. He moved fast, grabbing the seat with one hand and bringing her to his chest. She didn’t have a life jacket, and they were far from shore and the boat.
“Thank you.” His eyes were warm, warm and sincere. He also seemed relieved.
“Don’t thank me yet. We still need to take you to shore in one piece… how’s the cramp?”
“Manageable. C’mon,” he said, and Yani flew in the air and found herself on the jet ski again. He climbed up behind her.
Still spooked by the whole situation, she turned on the engine with shaky hands.
He was right behind her, hugging her waist.
“Let’s take you to shore.”
“A storm is coming.”
She looked at the wall of clouds for the first time and swallowed hard.
“O my gosh. I need to call Marita.”
“I’ll go with you.”
When they arrived at the boat, Enrique’s phone had five missed calls and ten messages. All related to an incoming storm. She called him.
“Por fin! Is the neighbor there?”
“Yes.”
“Put the speaker on, please. I need to talk to him.”
Yani was surprised but followed the instructions.
“Speaking,” HH said.
“Hey, man. You heard about the storm?”
“Yes.”
“We’re stuck here. Have you ever sailed? Can you help us out?”
“Yes. What do you need?”
“The boat has a second anchor. It needs to be down. There is a rubber cover, and wood planks to fix it in place. Ask Yani for it and the screwdriver.”
“Alright.”
“One more thing…”
“Yes?”
“You’ll have to take my sister in. You hurt her and I’ll personally break your neck, no matter how many goons you have or how big you are. Get it?”
“Understood. Anything else?”
Yani’s jaw went slack. What had Enrique just said?
“No. We’ll be there tomorrow as soon as it clears up.”
“Alright. Bye.”
“Bye,” Enrique answered, and cut the phone.
Yani was still gaping. The man just grinned and winked.
He turned and made some hand signals toward his cabin. Right away, two men pulled a rubber boat toward the ocean.
“So your name is Janice…”
Janice? Of course, that’s how Yani might have sounded in his ears.
“What’s yours?” she countered, neither accepting nor denying.
He seemed to think for a second too long. “William.”
Yani didn’t buy it but didn’t feel like arguing after her own half-lie. Ok, William, you’ll stay Hot Hunk in my mind. HH for short.
“Let’s get this done. There’s not much time,” he added after having another look at the clouds. The serene waters of the cove were starting to shake, and the sky frowned menacingly at them. While HH climbed toward the flying bridge, Yani went into the cabin.
She picked up some clothes, hygiene basics and towels. Put them into two bags and took them to the cockpit. She also bagged the glass bottles to throw them overboard and locked everything else to reduce mayhem.
“Found the cover?” He asked while the engines roared and the boat started to move.
“What are you doing?”
“This area will get hit with too much debris. Further south will give it a better chance.”
She climbed down into the cabin again, opened the side closets and located the rubber cover, screwdriver, screws, bolts and boards.
The wind was seriously picking up now, and the sea was shaking the boat. She could hear thunderstorms in the distance, and panic was starting to crawl along her spine.
The noise of steps was followed by legs, which were followed by two tall men slouching under the low ceiling of the cabin.
She signaled the closets, and they didn’t need any more directions.
“Please go outside, ma’am.”
She nodded and ran outside, where the winds could be heard howling in the distance and thick drops of rain were starting to fall.
“It’s coming. Let’s go.” He picked her up unceremoniously and jumped into the rubber boat. Her stuff was already there, and she could see the men covering the flybridge and moving their way toward deck and cockpit at the same time.
“Your men?” she asked when he turned on the engine.
“They’ll take the jet ski. You’re probably going to lose it.”
“I know,” she murmured, her eyes locked on the humongous wall of clouds heading their way.
The boat crossed the angry waters at dazzling pace, and Yani had to lie flat under the benches to prevent herself from being launched.
As soon as they touched the sand, two men attached the launching wheels and hauled the boat at full speed toward the cabin, while she and HH ran by their side. He had picked up her bags and they had locked arms to anchor her at the same time. The wind was strong enough to make her loose her footing. The thought of being lifted by the swirling air and smashed someplace else caused panic to flood her system. They were running for their lives, literally.
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