anything to survive one more day - Blood Oath by Sabrina Rawson

17+ Collin spent fifteen years leading a team of operatives renowned for their zero failure rate of disrupting the horrors of human trafficking. Struggling with PTSD, he was ready to retire after one last mission. He had to stick to the mission and any distractions could lead to lives lost. His attraction to Madeline was instantaneous, a future filled with warm nights now possible.

Description:

Published: March 6th, 2015

Collin was prepared for anything, until he met her…

Collin spent fifteen years leading a team of operatives renowned for their zero failure rate of disrupting the horrors of human trafficking. Struggling with PTSD, he was ready to retire after one last mission. He had to stick to the mission and any distractions could lead to lives lost. His attraction to Madeline was instantaneous, a future filled with warm nights now possible. Meeting Madeline made him want to let life happen and she was the woman he wanted to share it with.

Madeline couldn’t believe her luck meeting Collin on her first vacation ever. She knew she was a workaholic, but she had to in order to be a successful business owner and overcome the stigma her parents had left behind. The more time spent with Collin, the more she wanted him to keep on looking at her for the rest of her life. Kidnapped, Madeline has trouble believing she can survive the abuse of her captors. Remembering who she used to be, Madeline retains hope the one man she loves will rescue her.

Neither will stop at anything until they can hold each other in their arms again.

Real life situations from human trafficking to PTSD. This story is about not giving up on life. Doing all things impossible to survive one more day.

EXCERPT

TOUR SCHEDULE

The landing didn’t prove to be too difficult and they had a two hour layover before getting on their flight to Mexico. Madeline grabbed something to eat then checked with the gate representative to make sure their luggage would make it to the correct flight on time.

With everything settled they both proceeded to sip their coffee and wait for their boarding call. Several people began to congregate in their boarding area, but both she and Shelly were content with reading from their Kindles to take much notice. There was still a half hour left before they were to board.

Shelly nudged her arm making her lose her place with reading, “What?” she hissed, not wanting to stop what she was reading.

“Check out the men at one o’clock,” Shelly whispered.

She carefully lifted her eyes and gasped audibly. In front of her were seven men. Each man was above six feet in height and extremely muscular. They were dressed in jeans, polo shirts, and casual walking shoes. She was impressed with how they looked. They appeared as if they were body builders all settled on a little vacation time like they were.

Looks like their vacation finally perked up.

Several of the men were sporting full sleeve tattoos and despite misconceptions about men with tattoos she had always found herself partial to both men who had them and those who did not.

“Guy in the dark blue shirt to the left is hot. Like fucking hot,” Shelly hissed, louder than she felt comfortable with.

“Keep it down or else someone will notice our drooling,” she hissed back, more irritated her friend had interrupted her gawking.

“I call dib’s on the man in dark blue. You touch and you break our girl code,” she said matter of fact.

“What are you twelve,” she shouted, sitting up in her seat glaring at her girlfriend. “What girl code and what the hell. It isn’t like anything has even happened yet!”

She knew she was stressed about the vacation despite their mutual pep talk earlier. She more than anything, wanted to have the romance relationship of a lifetime, but more than that just wanted to by loved and to love in return. That wasn’t too much to ask for.

Shelly just stared at her folding her arms across her chest.

“What?” she asked, feeling the headache from earlier reminding her it had not disappeared.

Gesturing with her hand Shelly waved in the direction of the men. Seven pair of eyes stared back at them for a few seconds before turning back to their private conversations.

Shelly poked her in the arm settling back to read her Kindle. Pretend to read it, she guessed.

“You screeched at me like a banshee,” she gritted out.

She picked up her tablet, heat filling her cheeks in embarrassment, “I did no such thing. You interrupted me from what I was doing and it was pretty serious,” she hissed in return. “I didn’t realize I spoke so loud.”

Placing her hand on Shelly’s arm in a gesture of peace she noticed Shelly frowned while looking down at the hand on her arm. She needed to make amends for her actions, “I’m sorry I poked you. That was completely immature of me.”

Rubbing her head with her free hand she gave up reading and closed her Kindle. “I think this headache has me acting out of character. I’m sorry for getting upset with you.”

“Hey, we’re going to have fun, men or no men. Just two women on an adventure, right?” Shelly said, leaning over to dig through her bag.

“Right,” she replied, frustrated she had acted so poorly when what Shelly had said was exactly what she had said to her earlier.

She chanced a glance back to the where the men stood and her heart stopped. The most beautiful man stared back at her. A half a foot or taller than her six foot height, his frame was completely muscular. It appeared he was pushed the limit on the polo shirt he was wearing or his muscles in his arms were going to split the seams if he moved too quickly. His stony expression hadn’t concealed his initial reaction when she first glanced up, nor did it distract her from his beauty.

His hair was sandy blonde almost a warm caramel color. She wanted to walk up to him just so she could get closer and find out if she had imagined the color or not. She could tell from where she was his eyes were bright green. He wasn’t standing more than thirty feet away, but she could tell he was very aware of his surroundings. He seemed like he was taking her in as much as she was of him except he was cataloguing everything around them simultaneously. His visual appraisal made her lick her lips in anticipation. What would he say if he knew how bad she wanted him to keep on looking at only her?

Shaking her head she dispelled their staring contest, burying her wicked thoughts. Oh, she looked at the rest of his face while they had studied each other, but it was his eyes that had held her attention. They were the same color she had imagined all her book boyfriends’ eyes looked like. She called them dream eyes. He was her dream man in the flesh.

She chuckled at her inner thoughts and began to pack up the stuff she had settled around her in preparation for the flight. What had come over her? One minute she was snapping at her best friend and the next she was mesmerized by one of the very men she had snapped at Shelly about. Maybe it was his crooked nose that had caught her attention?

The scar that ran from the side of his nose across his cheek down his throat hadn’t distracted her focus neither did his full lips. Lips she wanted to taste and feel all over her body. A body her hands itched to explore. She hadn’t seen any tattoos on his arms, but did that mean his weren’t hidden.

Flustered at where her thoughts had carried her she fidgeted with the zipper of her carryon too frustrated to pull it smoothly across its seam.

“If you pull that thing any harder the first thing we will purchase when we get there will be a new bag for you. What’s with you?” Shelly quipped, reaching over to take the bag from her before she broke the zipper. “You usually treat your luggage with delicate fingers.”

Wiping her forehead with her hand she felt like she was about to break a sweat. She knew her hot flash was because she couldn’t get rid of the images of what she wanted to happen with the man a few feet away. Naked things. Sexual things. Things she had never felt from her body before. For the first time in her life she felt desired with such intensity the feeling shocked her.

“I’m fine. A little shaken, but fine,” she admitted.

Shelly stopped what she was doing and looked at her. She tilted her head and scrutinized her with an expression she recognized as the analytical Shelly. She knew she was about to get a lecture about living in the moment, but thank God first class seats were called to board.

They rose grabbing their bags and heading embarrassingly past the men to hand the flight attendant their boarding passes. Before they walked into the Jetway, one of the men said, “The red is one classy babe, but the brunette is hot. I don’t know which one is better. They both look hot to me.”

She and Shelly gasped, but neither one of them had enough nerve to turn around. Leaving the waiting area, the last thing she heard before hurrying to their seats was an unmistakable growl followed by the possessive words that sent chills straight to her core.

“The brunette is mine.”

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About the author:

Sabrina is a cancer survivor who recently published works with Survivor’s Review and Titan InKorp Online eMag. She has published two novels within a New Adult Urban Fantasy series called A Novel of four Realms and a new Contemporary Romance Suspense Novel series called An Eagle Operatives Novel. She enjoys life happily married to a supportive husband. You can always find her reading a book or cooking a meal for her multitude of children.

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