Page 36 of Hostile Extraction

Asia’s eyes widened as she met his penetrating look, the implication hitting her. “Rocco knows. He’ll tell Nico. He tells him everything, I’m sure.”

“Then you’re a liability he can’t afford, Asia. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

She nodded. “He’ll want me out of the way.”

“He’ll want you dead,” he said bluntly. “I’m sorry, but I’m not going to mince words to spare your feelings. You need to understand how much danger you’re still in.”

“We need to get off this island.” Panic seized hold of her.

“We’re working on that. Hopefully, by late tomorrow we’ll have a plan in the works. For now, you’re safe here. He doesn’t know where we are. He’ll never suspect you’d be here at the Wyatt’s estate.”

“Are you sure?”

“I won’t let anything happen to you, Asia. I promised Carter I’d get you home, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

She stood and walked to the balcony doors. “You promised Carter. I see.”

His hands closed over her upper arms, and he turned her to face him. “I’m promising you, too. I’ll get you out of here. Nico will never lay another hand on you. If he comes for you, I’ll kill him.”

CHAPTERFIFTEEN

Asia sat on the side of the bed and unwrapped her ankle. It felt good to get the bandage off. The swelling was down, but the bruising remained. It wasn’t as tender as it had been, though she still had a slight limp. Tossing the bandage aside, she made her way to the closet, where Dusty had told her she’d find some clothing she could borrow. Apparently, one of the guys on the team was the son-in-law of the owner.

Asia browsed through the closet, sliding hanger after hanger of expensive pieces. Whoever this chick was, she obviously shopped at designer stores.

Asia settled on a teal blue tropical floral-print sundress. It had a plunging neckline, a high slit, and some peekaboo sides.

She slipped it on and examined her reflection in the mirror. She’d be lying to herself if she didn’t admit she’d picked this one because she thought it was the most likely to get Dusty’s attention. She bit her lip.

Did she really even want Dusty’s attention?

They’d crashed and burned when they started seeing each other the summer after she graduated, not to mention she’d thought she was engaged to a good man not twenty-four hours ago.

The admission was right there in her head. She had thought of Nico as a good man, a man to solve her problems, but not the perfect man, not the man she pictured when she touched herself at night. No, that man had boarded Nico’s yacht and stolen her in the night.

The entire thing felt like one of the romances she’d started reading once she’d escaped her family’s oppressive control. But this was no happily ever after. Dusty had made his feelings toward her clear before, and she wasn’t about to let him hurt her again.

Hell, she obviously couldn’t trust her judgment when it came to men at all. The first man, who still had some hold on her heart, shattered it with a few razor-sharp words, and the second man was a fraud, with a heart filled with a kind of evil she didn’t know existed in the world.

Yeah—she rolled her eyes to the ceiling—she was a real good judge of character. She should probably just give up on love and become a spinster. At a minimum, she needed to stay the hell away from Dusty Jones.

But it wouldn’t hurt to give him a little payback by letting him see what he’d passed up.

***

Dusty stood at the stove, forking bacon onto a platter. Big Al had made a quick run down to a local store and had grabbed them enough provisions to last a couple of days if need be.

Stan’s whistle made him glance to the guys sitting at the dining table. All eyes turned toward the stairs, and the sound seemed to still.

Dusty craned his neck, knowing it had to be Asia coming who had drawn that response.

His eyes traveled over her body, and his mouth went dry. The attraction he felt for her sparked to life the moment he’d laid eyes on her. He’d spent the entire night trying to beat those feelings down, but one look at her and they bubbled to the surface.

Grady jumped to his feet and pulled out a chair for her.

“Sit here, ma’am. Breakfast is ready. Dusty’s just bringing the bacon over.”

Dusty ground his teeth as Asia took a seat next to his teammate. He dropped the platter on the table with a clatter, turning heads.

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