Excerpt #1:
Copyright 2013, Jennifer Lowery
All rights reserved, Crimson Romance.
She looked at Brody, saw something haunted in his eyes and the reality of what happened sank in fully. His chest rose and fell heavily, his fists clenched at his sides.
In effort to reassure him, she reached out a hand. But he didn’t take it. He was frozen in place. In the past.
“Brody,” she said softly. “I’m fine. See?” She held out her shaking hands to show him. “You saved me.”
Her breath hitched when he suddenly pulled her into his arms. The belay system prevented full body contact. Heat from his body radiated into hers as he lowered his head and claimed her lips. Consumed, possessed. All of what he couldn’t say was in that kiss and she understood fully how much she scared him.
His hands moved frantically down her spine to cup her hips and pull her against him.
When the equipment got in the way, he tore his mouth from hers and growled. His eyes blazed down into hers. Still stunned from his kiss, she stared back, unable to speak.
“Tell me to stop,” he demanded, chest heaving beneath his soaked T-shirt as rain sluiced over rock hard muscle.
Excerpt #2
Copyright 2013, Jennifer Lowery
All rights reserved, Crimson Romance.
The door to the hangar flew open. Brody popped his head out. “Miss Sawyer, we have to go. Right now. Move it.”
Not the words she wanted to hear, but his tone and the red welt on his cheek got her moving. Clutching her bags like a shield, she hurried toward the hangar, tripping only once in her rush to see what happened.
She stumbled through the door. “What happened?” she asked, staring at the crumpled body of Mr. Newton and another man she didn’t recognize on the floor.
Brody, who was throwing side panels on the plane, barked, “Get in the plane.”
“That plane?” Getting in the red and white piece of tin didn’t sound like a good idea. The plane looked even less reliable than his Land Rover. And wasn’t that an engine part lying on the floor beside his toolbox?
“She’ll run fine.” Brody ran around to the other side of the plane, obviously to finish his hasty repair and put his plane back together. “Now, get the hell in.”
Mr. Newton groaned.
“I’m not sure about this,” she said. “What did you do to them?”
“Nothing they didn’t invite.”
In other words, he wasn’t going to tell her.
“If you don’t get in this plane right now, then our friends there are going to wake up and they aren’t going to be happy. They want the map, Miss Sawyer, and I have no intention of giving it to them. Do you?”
Amelia shook her head, looking at the two men who were beginning to stir. “Okay, okay.” She hurried toward the plane. “You’re giving me answers to your change of heart just as soon as we get out of here, Brody Kern.”
He opened the door for her, took her bags and tossed them in the back, then lifted her in the front seat before he slammed the door closed. Once he was in the seat next to her, he brought the plane to life. It choked and sputtered before gaining power.
Reaching over her shoulder, she put on a seatbelt as Brody maneuvered the plane out of the hangar and onto the runway, which was nothing more than a cleared path through the jungle. The plane bounced and shook as they gained speed. It was nothing like the jet she flew in on. Nothing at all.
She had loved the plane ride over. Loved flying the second she set foot on the jet. Maybe because it was the official start of her adventure, but either way, it was more fun than this. Safer, for sure. Brody’s plane sounded like a tank rattling down the road and it rode like one too. And she thought his Land Rover was bad. It felt like riding in a tin can with seats. Very close quarters. Every time they hit a bump, her shoulder hit Brody’s.
“Are we going fast enough?” Amelia asked, worried they would hit the end of the runway before they gained enough speed. “Do you know how to fly this thing?”
Brody didn’t answer, just concentrated on his task. He seemed confident enough with his hands on the oddly shaped steering wheel and his eyes watching the many dials. She had one of the funny shaped wheels on her side too, but she didn’t touch it. It moved with Brody’s so she let him have it.
Nerves pounding, heart pumping, Amelia held on for dear life as they barreled down the runway. Frightened and excited, she watched the runway get shorter. Her life was in Brody’s hands and somehow that exhilarated her. Trees rushed past, her heart raced.
They were almost at the end of the path. Trees loomed ahead, tall and unyielding, creating a barrier. Amelia gripped the seat in anticipation.
They weren’t going to make it.
