Rock Babineaux's occasional and mysterious disappearances
from Black Knight's Inc. are starting to catch up with him.
He is a former Navy SEAL, and his job is to gather
information for the team, mostly in the form of information
hidden deep in computer databases. The Feds believe he is
responsible for a long string of kidnappings for ransom and
murder; so Rock has had to disappear, and stay under the
radar while looking for the real perpetrator. He is wanted
dead or alive, and they have absolutely no compunction with
it being dead.
Vanessa Cordova, the team's communication specialist, is
still smarting over his rebuffing her after their one and
only kiss some time ago. She still refuses to believe he is
guilty, so she goes after him. It takes her 6 months, but
she finally runs him to ground in Central America. Unknown
to her, the Feds have placed a tracker on her, and she leads
them right to Rock. After slipping away from a gunfight with
only the clothes on their back, they are on the run together
through the dangers of the jungle. They manage to steal some
time to alleviate some of the sexual tension between them,
in some of the more unrealistic moments in the book.
The rest of the BKI team shows up in Costa Rica to find Rock
and Vanessa. There is a little bit of a party hearty
attitude taken by the team while Rock and Vanessa are in
danger, and some pretty over-the-top juvenile humor. Still,
it was fun to have the gang all together, trading jokes and
one-liners. When they are finally able to reunite with Rock
and Vanessa, Boss comes up with a convoluted plan to get
Rock out the CIA's crosshairs until they are able to figure
out what's going on; and get Rock out of the mess he's in.
As the fourth book in the Black Knights Inc. series,
THRILL RIDE is an enjoyable story; and a worthy addition to
the series. I prefer a little more realism, and a little
less fun and games in my Romantic Suspense; but it is still
an enjoyable ride. The action scenes are done very well,
and the gritty and colorful descriptions of the jungle are
vivid and imaginative. Becky and Frank Knight have finally
married in this book; and Becky's brother Wild Bill and Eve
continue to sniff and dance around each other. This is a
good story, and the series continues to satisfy the thrill
seeker in the reader.
A race against time... Richard "Rock" Babineaux, disappears
into the jungles of Costa Rica when he's accused of being a
rogue operator. And although he's been working to clear his
name, Vanessa's sudden arrival brings hell raining down on
him in the form of government agents green-lighted to put a
bullet in his brain. Turns into a fight for survival...
The Black Knights' sexy communications specialist, Vanessa
Cordero, doesn't believe the charges leveled against Rock.
She's determined to bring him back into the fold. But
instead of coming to his aid, she inadvertently leads his
enemies right to his door. And explodes into steamy
passion...
Though Rock has sworn to keep Vanessa and her advances at
bay, the danger hunting them means he's forced to keep her
close. And when you combine adrenaline, flying bullets, and
fraud that goes all the way to the top tier of government,
what you get is a recipe for high-octane passion. Together,
they must prove Rock's innocence or find themselves labeled
America's Most Wanted.
Excerpt
The tears she hadn't realized she'd been holding back
threatened to overflow. Turning her face into his chest,
she fisted the fabric of his wet tank top into balls beside
her cheeks and tried to steady herself. But she couldn't.
Especially not when Rock whispered softly, "It's okay to
let go, chere. There's no one here but you and me."
Uh, huh. And, just like that, she could no longer
pretend she was tougher than she really was. Then Vanessa
did something she never, ever allowed herself to do in
front of anyone...
She cried.
And it wasn't one of those tragic, lip–quivering,
slow–crocodile–tear cries either. The kind most
actresses perfected. Oh, no. This was a full–on,
ball–your–eyes–out,
tears–and–snot–everywhere kind of deal.
It was humiliating and liberating at the same time.
Humiliating because, come on, this was Rock. The one man
on the entire planet she wanted to impress with her grace
and poise and strength. Liberating because finally saying
the words out loud, telling the tale and admitting to the
root of her fear was freeing in a way she could have never
imagined. Letting someone else share in the horror of her
experience, having someone hold a mirror up in front of her
face so she could address the foolishness of her irrational
fear, relieved her of a burden she hadn't known she'd been
carrying around like a two–ton bolder of shame.
Pushing up from his chest, she wiped a shaky hand across
her eyes and beneath her nose. "Thank you," she breathed.
"De rien," he whispered—you're welcome—and,
oh, sweet merciful Lord, his mouth was right there.
She couldn't see it in the dark—she couldn't see
anything, which for the first time in years didn't scare
the living crap out of her—but she could feel his
lips moving, could feel the heat of his breath.
And, suddenly, she didn't care about the impropriety of
the situation. She didn't care that he'd made it quite
clear there could never be anything permanent between them.
She didn't even care that there were men skulking through
the jungle outside, looking for the first opportunity to
blast an extra hole in each of their heads. All she cared
about was this moment, when she had him exactly where she'd
always wanted him.
Without a second thought, she reached up to fist her
hand in his short hair and pressed her lips against the
lush pad of his mouth. His stubble tickled her nose and
chin; she could taste hints of the papaya he'd eaten for
dinner on his breath, and—
Okay, so this was obviously a big mistake.
Because the man did a pretty good impression of a brick
wall. He didn't move. He didn't even appear to breathe. And
his lips were sealed shut like he'd applied the ChapStick
version of Krazy Glue.
Yep, in the Great Handbook of Kisses, this was going to
go down under the title Worst One Ever.
And just as she was about to pull back and apologize for
what was obviously a stupendously dumbass move, his mouth
softened and the tip of his tongue swept over the seam of
her lips. A hot flower of desire bloomed low in her
abdomen, and opening her mouth to him was instinctual. Of
course, the part where she sucked on his tongue was totally
deliberate. And what had started out as tame quickly became
tumultuous.
He growled deep in his chest—the resulting rumble
against her breasts was delicious—and slid his hand
down her waist in order to pull her on top of him. Her
thighs fell to either side of his lean hips, her pelvis
cradling the stark evidence of his desire. And, just like
that, the traffic light blinked from red to green, and they
were a go!
Teeth and tongues and hands everywhere.
Sucking, licking, laving...
He grabbed her ass with both hands and ground her
against his erection. The friction was unbelievable and so
delicious it had her toes curling inside her boots.
Once he realized she was more than happy to oblige him
in the bump–and–grind they had going, he
released her ass to snake a hand between their bodies so he
could undo the buttons on her shirt. She lifted herself
slightly, to give him room to work, and then...
Bliss.
The rough pad of his thumb found the aroused bead of her
nipple even through the ACE bandage she'd wrapped around
her chest in order to flatten her breasts. He pinched it
gently, coaxing it into an even harder point, and a longing
whimper sounded in the back of her throat.
This was what she'd wanted for months. To push past his
barriers. To get him to drop his guard. Because she'd
always known it would be like this between them. Explosive
and succulent and—
A rustling outside alerted them to the fact that they
were no longer alone in this part of the jungle...
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