I only pounced on him to give him what he wanted, but once our lips collided, something clicked inside of me. An instinct unlocking.

Without reverence, my lips danced against his, greedy for more. His lips were the sweetest thing I had ever tasted. I craved him. Wanted every inch of him.

I cupped his face, our bodies locking together like two pieces of a puzzle. I could feel the subtle outline of his cock against my thigh. In any other situation, I probably would have pulled away, but the thought of Cruz’s excitement just heightened mine. I thought back to my wet dream, which fueled my passions even further.

Soon, our hands were all over each other. His fingertips played along my spine, sending a shiver through my body. I wanted him to flip me over and dominate me, but he seemed to be treading water, letting me take control and playing his cards right.

His tongue traced my bottom lip, asking for entrance. I parted them for him, feeling his tongue slither into my mouth. Our tongues tangled together in a hot and lust filled kiss. My heart was beating faster than ever.

For a moment, I thought we would take this all a step too far. His hand was already sneaking up my thigh, squeezing the flesh. His fingers danced over the thin material of my panties. Without thinking about it, I opened my legs for him, straddling his body. I pulled at the hem of his shirt, dying to know what he was hiding underneath it.

He pulled away from the kiss and looked into my eyes. He was about to say something when he tensed up beneath me.

Before I knew what was going on, he wrapped his arms around me and flipped us off the hammock. I landed with a thud on top of him, the breath escaping from my lungs.

We rolled one more time, right off the gazebo and onto the soft grass. Cruz pulled me under the wooden structure, his eyes scanning the garden.

“What the hell has gotten into you? Have you lost your mind?” I hissed. Just when things were going good, he’d had to ruin it.

“Shh!” He pressed his hand to my mouth, silencing me.

I prepared myself to bite down on his hand when an ear popping bang rang out through the night. A small hole of light beamed down at us from the gazebo.

Had someone just tried to shoot us?

“We have to go. Now!” Cruz pulled me to my feet and took my hand. He yanked me forward, running full speed toward his bike.

My mind was in such a jumble that I couldn’t quite figure out what was going on. One second we were making out, and the next, we were running for our lives.

“What is going on?” I demanded, digging my feet into the ground and halting our progress.

Cruz took one look at me before he hoisted me onto his shoulder, carrying me like a sack of potatoes. I tried to protest and squirm out of his grasp, but he held me so tightly that I had no choice but to go along for the ride.

Bang!

Another bullet flew in our direction, destroying a bird feeder nearby.

I screamed. Reality hit me like a freight train. Someone really was trying to kill us. My heart froze at the thought.

Cruz cursed under his breath, ducking into some nearby bushes. “We have to crawl to the other side, okay?” he said, already on his belly, inching forward.

“What do you mean?”

“Just trust me, okay?”

With no other choice, I mimicked his movements, crawling underneath the thick brambles. A few thorns snagged at my skin, drawing small droplets of blood, but I didn’t even feel the pain. I was so tense and focused that I couldn’t process anything else.

Once on the other side, Cruz grabbed my hand and hoisted me to my feet. “Get on my back.”

Without question, I did what he said. Deep down, I knew that my only means of surviving was putting every ounce of my trust in this man, whether I wanted to or not.

He broke out into a run, his body crouched, using the flowers as cover.

The night was quiet as we ran. I looked around for our attacker, but all I saw were shadows.

I held on tighter to Cruz.

We reached his bike. He threw me onto the back, tossed on my helmet, and strapped it tight. He kept looking over his shoulder, looking for our assailant, but whoever it was, they were well hidden.

Quickly, he jumped in front of me and flew into the night.

I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking we were safe now, but when I looked behind us, there was a black car following us. “Uh… Cruz…”

“I know. Hold on tight.”

I did as he ordered, my body glued to his.

He pressed the throttle as far as it would go. The exhaust pipes gave a kick of protest, but then we jerked forward, pushing through the gears until we were approaching top speeds.

Up ahead was a red light. A few cars flew by.

Cruz seemed to have no intention of stopping. I tensed up and closed my eyes, fearing the worst.

Suddenly, we were airborne. My eyes widened as I saw the road about ten feet below us. My stomach lurched at the sight. The world seemed to be moving in slow motion.

Just as quickly, it sped back up again and we crashed into the ground on the other side of the intersection. The black car was forced to wait for an opening. Cruz turned left, trying to disappear before the car could catch up to us.

This was crazy. Cruz was going to get me killed. This shouldn’t be happening.

What the hell had I gotten myself into?