Page 35 of Hers to Love
She glanced over her shoulder. Jarod was now red-faced and looking highly annoyed. Kori sighed. “Well, he can’t blame you for the plane crashing.”
“But he will tell the board about the kiss.”
Kori shrugged. “Let him tell them. This isn’t Brigham all over again. You’re a different man. One I trust.” She took his hands in hers and brought them to her lap. She squeezed them. “It’s been an incredible adventure. The best week I’ve had in a long time.”
Marshall sighed and leaned back against the seat. “It’s not over yet.”
The attendants asked if everyone was okay. The only person to complain was Jarod, who went on and on about how he was going to sue the maker of the airplane, the pilots, everyone. Marshall had to order him to keep his mouth shut. They were still on the water and had to be rescued.
Marshall and the others obeyed the attendants as they enacted protocol, inflating boats outside of the aircraft and guiding everyone into the boats. Kori remained composed, and Marshall took the opportunity to hold her close, not knowing how long it would last. Jarod kept quiet, but his angry gaze remained on both Kori and Marshall. Marshall wanted to know what was in it for the young man to keep his attention on the two of them. A pay raise? A promotion? What had been promised?
“My cell!” Marshall said after they had been seated in the boats and had rowed a short distance away from the plane. In the aftermath of the plane going down and kissing Kori, he’d completely forgotten about his phone. He wanted to call Perry and Sabrina.
“I have it,” Kori said. She reached inside her messenger bag and pulled out his jacket.
“How in the world did you manage to snag your bag? And my jacket?” Marshall took the phone from her and breathed a sigh of relief. He had reception; one bar, but it would be enough to get a call or message through.
“Yeah, your jacket hit me in the face at one point.”
Marshall sputtered a laugh. At her look of annoyance, he muttered, “Sorry.”
“Your cell hit the side of my head.” She rubbed her left temple, and Marshall’s hand came up from her shoulder to assist. “I was able to grab the strap of my bag before it flew off the table next to me.”
“I’m going to try to get a message to Perry.”
“The tower knows we’ve gone down. They should be sending rescue boats for us,” the female attendant said.
“I wonder who shot at us,” Marshall said.
“There it is!” Kori pointed to a boat coming rapidly toward them. “That was fast. Do they have boats patrolling the water?”
The male attendant shook his head. “I don’t think so.” He squinted at the boat in the distance slicing through the water at rocket speed.
“The country has a limited coast guard,” Marshall offered. “Very few capabilities.”
“That doesn’t look like a rescue boat,” Jarod said, peering at the craft. “I think that’s just somebody’s speedboat.”
In a couple of minutes, the boat pulled up alongside their own. Marshall read the wordsKnight’s Shieldon the side. Wasn’t that a security company?
“You guys look like you need a little help.” A young blond male stood on the deck with his hands on his hips.
Marshall stood. “We do. Who are you?”
“Daemon Knight. We’ll get you pulled right up.”
Kori looked at Marshall. “Why does that name sound familiar?”
“His father is Arthur Knight,” Jarod said. “A billionaire. They’ve got holdings in a ton of companies. Daemon runs a protection service company. Elite clients only. He’s the heir-apparent.”
“Wonder what he’s doing all the way over here,” Kori muttered.
“I don’t care,” Marshall said. “As long as we can get back to the mainland and get another plane out of here.”
“We were in the right place at the right time,” Daemon said, taking Kori’s hand and helping her on board. Marshall watched from the boat, waiting until everyone was successfully off the rafts before he boarded.
“We saw the smoke plume from your plane’s engine. Thought you were in trouble,” Daemon continued, “and we figured we better stay close by. You were already losing altitude.”
“Thank you,” Kori said as she settled onto a bench on the side of the boat. “I don’t even know how we lost the engine.”
