YazminaLion Are Read Free

later.
    “Ah,” he said. “Apparently, I haven’t lost my touch.” He shot her a good-natured grin and winked.
    A wicked thrill coursed through her. She was starting to like this man—a lot.
    He opened the cage door and pulled up the tarp. A breeze of salty air quickened past them.
    Yazmina took a deep breath. Freedom. She hated being confined in the shipping container. She also hated this cage.
    Arcan took a small, measured step outside and looked around. He then offered her his hand. “It’s safe.”
    The sky was beginning to darken. The sun was setting on the horizon, half-sinking into the rippling, deep-blue water. Arcan motioned her to keep close while he scouted the surroundings. The cage was placed between two stacked containers. Arcan stopped, eyes fixed on the tall bridge. When he was sure no one was watching the deck, he tugged her hand, urging her to follow.
    They looked for a lifeboat. They didn’t find any. Instead, Yazmina found a life raft on the aft of the ship. It was stored in the locked canister. She knew what it was because her father had a big yacht that was equipped with a similar life raft. On a few occasions, her father had taken her sailing across the gulf for a family outing.
    “Here it is,” she whispered, pointing at the canister.
    Arcan’s gaze slid down. Yazmina couldn’t help admiring his gorgeous, luminous eyes. She’d never met someone with such a unique eye color.
    “You sure?” he asked.
    She nodded. “Every ship is required to have one of these. More for bigger vessels. It’s an inflatable raft. It has an air compressor built into it. It should be easy to operate.”
    Arcan toyed with the canister to get it open. She helped him to unlock it and pull out the orange raft. He studied the instructions and it inflated. He pushed the round raft into the water.
    “Our turn.” He looked at her. “Jump.”
    She hesitated.
    He took her hand and squeezed it. “Can you swim?”
    “I can, but…”
    “Don’t worry. We’ll jump together. Keep your body straight when you hit the water. It should minimize the impact. I got you. I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”
    His reassurance appeased her worries. She supposed she didn’t have any other option. She couldn’t stay on this ship. That would be suicide.
    “On my count, one, two, three—”
    She faltered at first, but then Arcan pulled her. She jumped with a squeal. She panicked as her body hit the water and went down like a stone. Her survival instinct kicked in and forced her to seek air to breathe. She pedaled up. Arcan found her and yanked her to the surface.
    “Hold on to me!”
    She clung on to him as he swam to the life raft. It seemed like forever before they reached it and he hoisted her up. Arcan kept swimming, and she asked why.
    “No oars. I’ll push you until we reach land,” he said. His voice was hoarse. He paused to throw his loafers into the raft.
    Yazmina held on tight. She silently prayed they wouldn’t be discovered by the ship’s crew or get sucked into its turbine.
    Arcan steadily pushed forward. He seemed to know the direction they had to go in. She allowed herself a small measure of relief and put her hope in the man she’d just met to take her to safety.
     

Chapter Three
     
     
    Arcan stood in dripping wet clothes in the hotel lobby ignoring the curious stares from the staff and the guests. He asked the girl behind the counter to get him a taxi. After more than three hours swimming, it was pure luck that they were able to reach a beachfront resort. It was dark now, so they didn’t attract attention when he pulled the life raft to the shore.
    Yazmina looked nervous and twitchy. She kept glancing around as if she was afraid that someone would jump on her. Arcan placed his hand on her shoulder to calm her. She shot him a wan smile.
    “Don’t worry, we’ll get out of here soon,” he said.
    The porter told him that the taxi had arrived. Arcan held Yazmina’s hand and ushered her out