"Do you normally make-out with the people you're hired to kill? It doesn't strike me as very professional."
"Put the gun down," Gabriel panted, not answering her.
"Why on earth would I do that?"
"Because you're not going to shoot me," Gabriel rep...
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Ash adjusted the neon bikini she had borrowed as she watched Gabriel dive underwater again. They had been swimming for hours, only pausing when Gabriel decided Ash needed to get out and put on sunscreen.
"Because I'll get my ass handed to me if I let Alexander's little gringa burn," he told her mockingly.
She hated how patronizing he was, but she was secretly glad he was keeping track of her sun intake - the last thing she needed right now was a painful sunburn. And his joking demeanor suggested he trusted her more now - she had saved his life and come up with a plausible back story after all. But she could also tell from his sharp eyes that his guard wasn't completely down.
Ash watched the bronzed god emerged from the water again, shaking his hair out. The excess water sparkled in the sun as it fell around him. She couldn't help but stare at his muscular, tan chest, glistening with saltwater. He would be extremely hot if he didn't know exactly how hot he was.
Stop ogling him. You're supposed to be Alexander Duchont's mistress.
They would catch on to her lie eventually...but claiming to be the lover of the king of the criminal underworld would hopefully keep her safe long enough to find a way out. By the time they figured out she wasn't his mistress, she planned to be long gone.
That, or Alexander would want to see her again. She hadn't left him on good terms, per se, but she was fairly certain he wouldn't just have her killed. And she felt a lot better about escaping from him than Gabriel - Alexander was known to be a misogynist, so he would certainly underestimate her.
Gabriel was smarter. Much smarter.
If she could just get away from Gabriel and back to somewhere with internet, she could get tickets to go back to the States. She was already tired of running. She was going to have to accelerate her plans and tackle this problem head on.
But first she had to get off this island. There were enough dried branches and leaves that she could start some fires to send a distress signal. The other islands were too far away to swim to, but they probably had boats that could come pick her up. But she couldn't start fires with Gabriel around.
She needed to knock him out. She couldn't overpower him physically, and if she tried a sneak attack that failed, he would certainly kill her. She didn't know where he had hidden the sedatives; she could try to find them, but she didn't know if she had that much time.
There had to be some other way to knock him out. Something safe, something that he wouldn't find suspicious, and something he wouldn't kill her for if it went wrong.
Suddenly an idea dawned on her. Prolactin. Vasopressin. Oxytocin. Chemicals that are associated with sleep.
Coincidentally, also all chemicals released during orgasm.
The thought of using sex to knock Gabriel out made Ash slightly uncomfortable. She had a reckless period of fooling around with guys as a teenager - she was still technically a virgin, never having gone all the way with any of the guys she had been with, but she had lost track of how many blow jobs and hand jobs she gave out. She thought it would make her feel more desirable, more powerful, and more in control. But it didn't. It made her feel empty and used. She had sworn off sex, vowing that she wouldn't do anything again until she had an emotional connection with someone.
