Excerpt from “Rescued” – Coming May 18, 2018
Ivy’s story in The Lottery Winners Series
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(There are a few things that happen before this scene – but I loved this one so I’m offering it to you as a sample of what’s to come in Ivy’s story.)
Ivy wiped the sweat from her forehead, looking at the compound. This wasn’t good, she thought.
After losing the bandits in the jungle, she’d eventually circled back, finally finding the area where the truck had been parked. Because of the wet ground, it was an easy task to follow the tire tracks back to the compound.
In an ideal world, she would have found civilization, reported the bandits to the authorities, and gone home. Unfortunately, this wasn’t an ideal world. Not by a long shot. After running for about five miles, she’d turned and circled back. Thankfully, the truck hadn’t gone far, maybe only another three miles. So in total, she’d barely traveled a total of more than thirteen miles today. On a slow morning, she ran that before breakfast.
But this wasn’t Kentucky and her jungle boots weren’t the best for long distance running, although they’d done an excellent job of protecting her feet. If she could have walked out of the jungle, she would have done so. No pathway to civilization appeared, so Plan C…or was she on Plan D now? She wasn’t sure …but her current plan was to steal one of the small trucks and drive out of the jungle.
That had been her plan, at least. But as soon as she’d arrived, she’d seen others prisoners. In good conscience, she couldn’t leave them. Not when it appeared that these people had been held here for a while. Their clothes were tattered, filthy and, even from a distance, she could tell that the people hadn’t been treated well.
She needed to go back, find help. But she had no idea where she was. Her camera bag contained her compass, emergency satellite phone, and the smaller emergency supplies she always carried on her when she traveled.
On the upside, she’d gotten away from her would-be captors. On the downside, there were others in the compound and she was determined to help them while she figured out how to get everyone out of this area.
Leave, she thought. Go find help. She wasn’t trained to save these people. Unlike…
No! Gunner was thousands of miles away and he made her crazy anyway! Besides, she’d never had to rely on another person for help in her life. Emotional support? Yeah, absolutely! Ivy considered Marilee, Daisy, and Tony her family and loved them as much.
But she wasn’t the type to wait around and wait for someone else to fix a situation.
If she could sneak her bag away, she might be able to call Gunner’s commanding officer, or someone else, to let them know that there were Americans being held captive here, but she wasn’t sure they would come. Ivy wasn’t even sure if the Indonesian authorities would step in to help. She suspected it was a way of life here. In some parts of the world, ransoming off tourists was a steady income. There were some areas of Indonesia one didn’t go into for that reason. It was a bit like New York City or Chicago. Or any big city. There were some places one didn’t go because they were too dangerous.
Ivy fully acknowledged that she shouldn’t be here either. But the flower!
No, Ivy knew that not even pictures of that stupid flower were worth what she was dealing with now.
Biting her lip, she looked around, wondering if she could hot wire one of the vehicles, use it to get out of here to find help. Hot wiring was one thing she hadn’t needed Gunner to teach her. She’d learned that skill from one of her teenage boyfriends and was an expert on how to hotwire cars. Of course, he was in prison now due to his youthful enthusiasm for his trade. In fact, that little journey into the criminal world had convinced her to take the waitressing job at Janice’s years ago. It had been a horrible job because Janice, the owner, was one of the most unethical people she’d ever met. But working as a waitress had kept her out of prison. And it wasn’t as if she’d had a whole lot of options back then. Now, she had millions of dollars in a bank, earning interest. Now, she had options.
Well, her present predicament sort of negated that statement, she thought as she munched on a protein bar and watched from her hiding place. Janice had stolen their tips, docked their pay for bogus reasons, and denied them overtime pay.
But the diner had also been the place where she’d met her best friends Tony, Daisy, and Marilee. If she hadn’t worked there, they wouldn’t have bought that lottery ticket on Tony’s twenty-first birthday, they wouldn’t have won that enormous jackpot and she wouldn’t have more than two hundred million in the bank and investments. And she wouldn’t have been able to afford traveling to different countries, photographing the most amazing places.
Also, she wouldn’t be in this position, sweating in a stinking jungle after having escaped these idiot rebels.
Okay, so maybe she needed a break from the traveling. This was really getting old, she thought. Ivy frowned, realizing that she’d been having that thought a lot over the past several months. But after years of traveling, she was growing weary of anonymous hotel rooms and dining alone. She’d visited the most amazing places but…Ivy wanted a home. She wanted something more than her one bedroom loft over her gallery in LowPoint, Kentucky. She wanted a real home with kids and a husband. A husband that was NOT Gunner Marks! She munched on her plastic flavored protein bar and contemplated her future husband. He would be kind, sweet, and non-muscular. Probably a runner like her, but that wasn’t a requirement. Sure, it would be nice to have someone who could keep up with her, but…well yeah, Gunner could keep up, but he didn’t count. Not even a little!
Focusing on the task at hand, she considered her options. Her number one priority was to get her bag back. If she could do that, she could figure out where she was, and call for help. Barring that, she wanted to free those hostages. They were held in a hut and guarded by only one guy so far. The guard wasn’t overly attentive; he seemed to be snoozing at the moment.
Getting the hostages out would be a whole lot easier by truck than by foot. Ultimate priority, Ivy had to get out of here, even if she went on her own and sent help back for the hostages.
Maybe she could sneak up to the camp and get that one jeep by the edge of the compound, push it down the dirt road a ways so that the engine wouldn’t alert anyone. Or if they did hear it when she started it up, she’d be too far away for them to catch her.
Yeah, she liked that plan!
Looking up, she estimated that it was only a couple more hours until the sun set. Ivy figured she’d wait until the inevitable drinking and partying began, then sneak in when they passed out. The compound had guards, but she’d watch and learn, figure out which of the guards were lazy. She suspected that most of them would fall asleep at their posts.
Looking around, she carefully searched the area for bugs, reptiles, or other hidden icky things, and found a good spot to observe. Taking out another protein bar, she nibbled on the end, but put it away without finishing it. Since she had no idea where she was, she had no idea how long it would take her to get back to civilization. Ivy knew to eat sparingly; her stomach had given up groaning from hunger yesterday.
Oh, what she would do for a cold shower right about now. Settling in, she thought about what she would do as soon as she reached her hotel. She was staying in the penthouse suite, which had a huge bathtub. She’d shower away the jungle stench that was now clinging to every pore of her body and shampoo her hair three times then slide into the tub and stay there for hours! A bottle of wine, a huge meal, and afterward, Ivy would crawl between the clean, crisp, white sheets and sleep for days. Weeks!
After she sent a message to Daisy, Marilee, and Tony. Most likely, they would be worried sick by now. She was always careful about sending them daily messages, letting them know she was okay. It was one of the many security features of her daily life, thanks to the big lug whose name will not be spoken of at the moment.
And….that was the end of her Gunner-free moment. Ivy was tired, hungry and itchy, which meant that her self-control was…well, non-existent. So just the thought of the big guy and all of those amazing muscles popped into her mind and they weren’t leaving.
Not that she was trying very hard.
Settling back against the tree, she waited, allowing her mind to drift, entering a fantasy of Gunner walking towards her in…nothing at all. Yeah, if she had her way, the jerk would be naked and…oh, she would love it if he also had tape over his mouth so he couldn’t make fun of her.
As Ivy watched, she thought about all the things she’d love to do to Gunner’s body. And if he was tied down so he couldn’t take over, all the better.
Then again…
The hand covering her mouth startled her out of that particularly nice fantasy. Darn it! How many times had Gunner warned her not to lose her concentration?
Now she was going to learn the hard way what happened when she let her guard down.
The strong arm started to pull her back, but she struggled, digging her nails into the hand covering her mouth. No! She wasn’t going down! Not in this disgusting jungle while watching disgusting men! No way! Thinking back to all the techniques Gunner had taught her, she went slack. It was the hardest thing to do when someone was dragging her. Terror caused adrenaline to flow, increasing the fight response.
But it worked. The arms holding her loosened when she released all the tension in her body and she heard a deep, guttural growl that sounded vaguely familiar, but she didn’t take the time to dissect her reaction. Instead, she jerked upright and…
The strong arms caught her again, the hand tightening over her mouth. A scruffy cheek rested against hers and…the man’s smell wasn’t horrible. Yes, she smelled sweat and man but…it wasn’t reeking body odor.
“Calm down, Tiger,” Gunner’s voice whispered in her ear.
She stilled. Was her mind playing tricks on her?
“I’m here,” his voice was soothing, barely a whisper in her ear. “I’m going to release you, but I need you to be quiet, okay?”
Ivy nodded, her heart pounding so hard, she was pretty sure he could feel it. Especially since his muscular arm was pressed against her breasts.
Slowly, he released the tension over her mouth and she relaxed, but the moment her mouth was free, she twisted around, looking at him over her shoulder. When his arms loosened as well, she turned around and threw herself into his arms, just as she’d seen Daisy do so many times before, but now it was her arms around him! It was her chest against his hard, masculine one and she grabbed his head, kissing him like she’d done so many times in her dreams and fantasies.
When his lips covered hers, she knew that she’d died and gone to heaven. He tasted even better than she’d imagined! His hands were strong, demanding, and she loved every moment. No, she was no longer in a jungle. She was in Gunner’s arms and he was kissing her!
A bird chirping off in the distance broke through the haze of lust and Gunner pulled back. Both of them were breathing heavily as he looked down into Ivy’s beautiful green eyes. How many times had he seen those eyes? Angry, frustrated, determined…every emotion he could think of, but never had he seen the desire like this. It was like green fire that singed him from the inside out.
The chirping sounded again and he pulled back again. She started to open her mouth but he shook his head, silently telling her to remain silent.
Taking her hand, he led her away from the compound. Thankfully, Ivy understood the need for silence. The jungle noises were loud, but anything that wasn’t normal would be heard over the gentle sounds of birds chirping and wind blowing. So, she carefully stepped over the jungle leaves that littered the ground, stepping only where Gunner stepped and watching the surrounding areas for problems.
When they were sufficiently far enough away, he turned. Pinning her against the nearest tree, he bent to kiss her again; softer this time, but no less demanding. This time, he was in charge and he didn’t relent until she was just as fully engaged as he was.
When he lifted his head this time, her lips were soft and full, almost bruised from the kiss. “What the hell are you doing here, honey?” he demanded quietly, running rough fingers through her hair. She looked hot, exhausted and just as painfully beautiful as always. But now she also looked kissed. By him! Hell, his body was on high alert, ready to take her right here in the rotting vegetation.
Thankfully, his team was around, although he wasn’t sure exactly where. They knew how to remain hidden when they needed to, which was good. He needed some sort of hold on his lust right now. When he made love to Ivy, he wanted absolute privacy. And a bed. Hell yeah!
Another chirping sound, indicating that one of his team members was close enough that he could see what was going on.
With a groan, he lifted her chin with a finger so that he could see into her pretty eyes.
To Order Ivy and Gunner’s story, click