Chapter 20
20
JASMINE
Of all the ways I thought I would die, I never imagined it would be from falling off the edge of a Jamaican mountain.
But yet, here we were: inches away from plummeting what had to be at least a hundred feet. It was hard to tell exactly because the rain was coming down so fast.
When I’d first raised my concerns to Bob, he was his usual no problem, everything is irie self.
Then when he saw how close the minibus was and started swearing, I knew he was worried too.
Watching as the car got closer and closer to the edge was torture. That was why I’d leapt over to Alejandro’s side of the car, grabbed his arm and buried my head in his chest.
If I only had minutes left on this earth, at least I didn’t want to be alone.
As I gripped onto his muscular arm and breathed in his delicious scent, I instantly felt better. Still terrified, but better. This was a more pleasant way to meet my end.
Bob beeped his horn furiously and cursed the man in the minibus who was still moving forward, determined to squeeze past, even if it meant we’d go tumbling off the cliff’s edge.
‘I should call my parents!’ I bolted up. ‘To say goodbye!’ I pulled out my phone. There was zero reception. ‘No!’ I screamed in frustration. I didn’t want to go like this. It was too soon. There was still so much I wanted to do with my life.
There were dozens of countries I wanted to explore. Hundreds more experiences I wanted to have.
And I wasn’t going to lie. I hoped that maybe in a year or so, once I was settled into the new role I was still hoping to secure, that I could start dating again.
I’d hoped that I could find a hot, sexy, kind, funny man to be with.
To kiss.
To fuck.
I couldn’t believe I was going to kick the bucket without having kissed another man since divorcing my husband.
This was so sad.
‘Wah di raas wrang wid yuh?’ Bob shouted at the man as our car skidded.
I gripped Alejandro’s hand and looked up at him.
Fear was etched across his face.
Normally, in a situation like this, he would’ve tried to reassure me or held my hand. But I could tell he knew the situation was dire too.
Alejandro knew this was it. This really was the end.
We probably had seconds left.
If were lucky, a few minutes. Tops.
Shit.
That was when it hit me.
I could either waste my last breath panicking and miserable as I waited for the Grim Reaper to tap me on my shoulder. Or I could let Alejandro take my breath away and leave this earth with a bang.
A minute ago, I’d said that I’d wanted to live so I could find a hot, sexy man to kiss. But I had one right here. One that told me last night that he wanted me.
I’d walked away. Told him it could never happen. And that was true.
But now everything was different. Now we were about to perish, it didn’t matter about the position of power, unprofessionalism stuff.
Life was short and I had minutes left to live it.
Before I had the chance to change my mind, I leant forward and crushed my lips onto Alejandro’s.
His eyes bulged.
Realising what I’d just done, I quickly pulled away.
‘Sorry! I should’ve asked first! It’s just that, we’re about to die and I didn’t want to go without kissing you. Do you mind?’
Alejandro looked at me in a daze like he couldn’t believe what I’d just said.
‘I…’ He paused. ‘I do not mind…’
That was all I needed to hear.
I pushed my mouth on his once again.
God, his lips were so soft. I moved my mouth hungrily, but then realised that Alejandro wasn’t engaging.
I was kissing him, but he wasn’t kissing me back.
Now I didn’t know what was worse. Death from falling off a cliff or dying from the embarrassment of kissing a guy you thought was into you, but realising mid-snog that he wasn’t.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to be!
All the times I’d fantasised about locking lips with Alejandro, it’d been wild and passionate. But this was quite literally mortifying.
‘Sorry.’ I pulled away. ‘I thought you said you liked me, but I understand it must be confusing because I told you last night it was inappropriate and now here I am kissing you. It’s just that… I want to live! I don’t want to die with regrets!’
Alejandro dragged his hand over his face.
‘Fuck,’ he muttered, before swearing to himself repeatedly in Spanish.
I was just about to tell him it was no big deal when he grabbed the back of my head, then pressed his lips onto mine with full force.
Good Lord.
The next thing I knew, my lips had parted and Alejandro’s tongue was flicking hungrily against mine.
A feral groan flew from my mouth.
This was exactly how I’d imagined what kissing Alejandro would be.
Our mouths moved desperately against each other’s. As the kiss became more wild and frantic, I ran my hands through his hair, then down his broad, muscular back.
What felt like a million volts of electricity surged through me. My body temperature rocketed and my blood turned to molten lava.
If kissing was an Olympic sport, this man would be taking home the gold medal.
Alejandro’s hands roamed down my back, then moved across to skim the side of my breasts and as his fingers began to flick my nipple, which was now harder than stone, another feral moan of pleasure escaped my lips.
This kiss was… explosive, passionate and hot .
This kiss was everything .
I’d definitely made the right decision. This was the perfect way to go.
Alejandro’s hand dropped to my legs then slid up my dress.
‘Fuck, yes.’ I moaned into his mouth as he continued devouring me with his lips.
Ordinarily, I’d be bothered about the fact that we weren’t alone in the car. But this felt so good, I didn’t care.
If we kept on going like this, it wouldn’t be long until we were fucking on this backseat. The jerking movements wouldn’t be good considering we were teetering on the cliff’s edge. But our fate was already sealed, so if we were going to go out, we might as well go out on a high.
Everything I’d worried so much about just hours ago, like being professional, presenting the right image and getting my promotion didn’t matter any more.
It was funny how you got a new perspective and realised what was really important when your life flashed in front of you.
Just as Alejandro’s fingers slid underneath my knickers, Bob cried out.
‘Ya mon!’
Alejandro and I both pulled away quickly and when I looked ahead, we were driving down a clear road.
The rain had stopped and the minibus was nowhere in sight.
‘Where did the bus go?’ Alejandro called out, clearly as shocked as I was.
‘Mi did tell ’im tuh dressback!’
‘So he reversed?’ I asked.
‘Ya mon!’
‘So we’re not going to die?’ I added, my throat suddenly feeling dry.
‘Nuh!’ Bob laughed. ‘Everyting irie!’ he repeated.
But as I glanced sheepishly at Alejandro and quickly pulled down my dress which had been hitched up around my waist, I knew that everything was not irie .
Not in the slightest.
Of course, I was glad that we’d survived. That was amazing.
The thing that was far from amazing though was that I’d just kissed the man I worked with.
The guy that was off limits.
The guy who was technically a junior member of staff.
We’d kissed. He’d touched my breasts.
He was seconds away from touching my pussy and doing God knows what else in the backseat of a car being paid for by my employer. And I’d encouraged it, all because I thought it was our last moments on earth.
But now we were very much alive.
As for my career, after that reckless act, it was doomed.
Fuck .
I thought that going off the edge of a cliff was my biggest problem.
Turned out that now we’d survived, I was in even bigger shit than I could’ve ever imagined.