Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 482(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 482(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
One last job. Once Captain Olivia Wallace flies her employer to South Africa and back . . . she’s free. Next time she won’t unwittingly agree to work for criminals, but when you’re running from your past, you can’t afford to be picky.
She quickly discovers the savanna is full of predators and the most dangerous of all is her boss’s new bodyguard. This man is intense. Lethal. Gorgeous.
Even when he’s wrapped in lies.
His name is fake, but their attraction is blisteringly real. He may claim he’s not a good man, but when violence erupts, he risks everything to save her—including his cover.
Except putting his desires above the mission sets them on a dangerous collision course with the Italian mafia, and its impact threatens to destroy so much more than just their lives.
TROPES:
- Alpha Hero
- Spy / Hidden Identity
- Mafia
- Guarded Hearts
- Protector
- Military
- Only One Bed
- Strong Heroine
Hold Me Close is a standalone romantic suspense. However, it is book 3 in the Dangerous Obsession series which is best read in order to avoid spoiling previous booksShe’s a flight attendant. He’s the billionaire who sat in 1A…until he bought the airline to keep her close.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
1
OLIVIA
Elephants were on the runway, making landing impossible. This wasn’t a delay I’d encountered before. My co-pilot Rory and I guided the Bombardier down to buzz the landing strip, startling the impressive beasts on their way, before we maneuvered to make our approach.
It wasn’t much of a runway. More a level strip of grassy land that the luxury game lodge groomed for their wealthiest clients, so they had somewhere to set down their private jets. The only alternative was to land at Johannesburg and drive three hours to the middle of nowhere.
There was no way the eldest son of the Abramo family was going to put up with that.
The plane bounced and shuddered down the runway, and I had to fight the yoke in my hands to bring the aircraft to a stop on the dirt-packed, uneven road. Then I powered down the engines and the jet slowed to a crawl with South African soil beneath the wheels.
A few more flights and my trial contract as the Abramos’ pilot would be up. Usually, I flew for the patriarch, an intimidating man whose scrutinizing gaze made me break out into an uneasy sweat. I didn’t let people scare me, but every hair stood on end in his presence.
The Abramos didn’t speak English.
It was like that language was too ugly to come out of their refined mouths. The entire flight crew spoke no Italian, and this was by design. During my interview for the job, the translator explained the language barrier was so the Abramos could discuss sensitive business information in flight, but I wasn’t a fool.
I knew what type of business they were really in.
I unlatched the cockpit door and collided face-first with a man’s hard chest. I shot him a perturbed look, like it was his fault I’d walked into him.
Nathan.
The unfamiliar American was enormous, at least six and a half feet tall, all muscle stretched across his lean frame. Dark, straight hair that was longer on top and swept to one side. His eyes were magnetic. As black as the gun I’d seen holstered under his arm. I didn’t like armed passengers on my bird, but it wasn’t as if I could ask Giovanni’s private security guard to stow his weapon in the hold.
I couldn’t ask him because Nathan scared the hell out of me.
Giovanni’s usual bodyguard and translator for this safari had come down with the stomach flu at the last minute, and Nathan had taken his place. The moment I’d seen him, something tightened in my chest and my breath went shallow.
I’d spent most of the flight down here trying not to think about him, or how embarrassed he’d been when he realized I was the captain and not the flight attendant. After his apology, we’d had a quiet moment together. His job was to ensure nothing dangerous made its way onboard, and I told him I thought the most dangerous thing was probably standing in front of me.
He didn’t deny it.
In fact, there’d been no reaction at all from him.
He appeared to be the same age as I was, but maybe he was older than thirty-five. He looked tired, like he hadn’t slept during either leg of the flight. Even tired, this man still looked dangerous. That gun, those muscles, those furiously intense eyes.
Predatory and beautiful.
He stared down at me now, his face expressionless, but there was something lurking in his gaze. Curiosity? I’d always been good at reading people, which made me great at poker, but didn’t help with much else.
“Sorry if the landing was a little rough,” I said.
He shrugged as if he couldn’t care less, but again, there was an edge to his expression, hinting at something . . . else. “It was fine.”
His voice was deep and sent my stomach uncharacteristically twisting.
“We’ve both had rougher,” announced Rory, who lingered in the cockpit and finished powering down the electronics. He was Scottish with gray hair and a few extra pounds around the midsection, and an easy-going calmness that I admired.
He was right. I’d certainly had rougher landings, but I kept my face blank.
Nathan’s dark eyes narrowed, discerning. Like he saw past it, right to the dark memory of that crash I tucked away. I ripped my gaze from his and turned my attention to the young British cabin attendant who was setting the stairway in place. Stuart was nice. He was bright and happy and so polite that sometimes I felt inferior when he was around. Like there was something wrong with me for not being able to find a smile as quickly as he could.
It was pleasant outside, probably sixty degrees in the shade and warmer under the sun. Spring even though it was late November. Being south of the equator messed with my head.
On the tarmac, a collection of people waited, staff of the private game reserve. Nathan translated our boss’s demands to them, and while some began to unload the luggage, the travel party of two, plus my flight crew, were ushered into a waiting van.