About The Authors
Vivi Paige
Vivi Paige is the sekrit pen name of a New York Times and USA Today bestselling romance author who decided she wanted to play on the dark side of happily ever after… Join her in a sinister world of murder, mayhem, and marriage.
Find Vivi online (AND get a free book!) at… https://vivipaige.com
Bethany Banks
On the eve of big dirty thirty, I decided that I wouldn't end my last year of my twenties without writing and publishing the instalove bad boy romances that I always wanted to write.
People always say that they read so many genres, they like all kinds of books. There's really only two kinds of books I like. Smutty and silly. There's probably a much more appropriate way to say it, but that's my truth. I started in front of the keyboard, with a vision of two characters who would make each other crazy... but make each other crazy HAPPY. So I decided to go for it.
I have a lot of inspiration for writing because I fell in love with my husband at my day job... he's technically still my boss! Scandalous, I know. But it was worth every minute of the thrilling ride. He's the first person to read my stories after I revise them, and he gives a final edit, too. Sometimes I don't get a chapter written for the day, but because I'm having a wild time with my sexy muse, I call it all inspiration.
Finding time and courage to write can honestly be a struggle but every time I read a review or get a message from a reader, I get so excited to tell stories... and I still have so many to tell!
Find Bethany online at… https://bethanybanksbooks.com/
Fever
Book One of the Jungle Oasis Series
By Autumn Archer
Autumn Archer
FEVER
A cold-hearted billionaire hiding out in the jungle finds a scientist lost in the wild. She’s a threat to his kingdom, and a new obsession.
I took a flight to Rio for an adventure in the rainforest. A lifelong dream for a single twenty-three-year-old ecologist.
A week later, and I’m a prisoner in the jungle. Held hostage by a fever and the most attractive devil I’ve ever seen. In the delirium, he’s my savior. But in the humid shade of swaying palms, he’s a villainous bully.
The rugged man with sun-kissed muscles and wicked green eyes doesn’t flinch when he tells me I belong to him now.
Unfortunately for me, I owe him a debt for saving my life.
Unlucky for him, our live wire connection surpasses his control.
I’ll never give in. Not even when my skin catches fire under his commanding touch, or my heart explodes when I pinpoint his zealous gaze through the glass windows of my cabin.
He is my enemy.
And I am his.
Earning his trust will ensure survival. Getting closer to Dante Valez will teach me who the man was before the world ruined him.
But like any woman held captive, eventually I’ll severe the thin thread that bonds us. Give in to passion or become a traitor?
FEVER © copyright 2021 AUTUMN ARCHER
All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
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1
Iris
“I’ll secure the samples,” Bruce, my eco mentor and guide, yells over his shoulder. Thin framed glasses slide down the bridge of his narrow nose, unprotected by a sopping tarp hat. “They’ll be safe in the trunk.”
A corrugated leaf the size of a hand slaps my face as we battle the undergrowth and ramble over tree roots, trudging through mushy earth. If his coordinates are right, our campsite is close by, nestled in a clearing. I’m spurred on by the promise of dry clothes and a safe bed.
We pitched our tents in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, skirting a riverbank. It’s a temporary base where we monitor endangered flora like the weird looking rafflesia flower. As scientists, it’s our mission to study the Earth's oldest living ecosystem and work toward preserving the natural habitat.
Being used to the colder climate of Scotland, I’ve struggled to acclimate to the sticky air. The first few days were an exciting, sweaty adventure. A week later, my hand-washed undergarments are drenched beneath my clothes and I’m ankle deep in swampy, decomposing microorganisms.
I’m trying my best to keep up with Bruce’s mountain goat agility, but I’ve got shorter legs by a good few inches. The soles of my boots slip and slide, making it harder to match his pace. He bounds ahead, disappearing beyond expansive tree trunks and dense foliage.
A bolt of lightning brightens the dank lower level, where fan shaped palms dominate with deep green leaves. The constant buzz from millions of insects competes against a whooping howler monkey call.
Another bright flash dazzles my vision. A third zap cracks like a whip, followed by a sinister rumble as if heaven is falling down around us. It drowns out every distant holler and hoot. Wood splinters. The scent of charred bark permeates the stifling atmosphere. Rainwater gushes, and the earth below me vibrates like a bomb has exploded.
In one careless step, my boot wedges in twisted tree roots. My surprised squeal echoes like a wild mating call as I hit the forest floor, breaking twigs on my descent. No matter how hard I struggle, it’s a losing battle.
“Bruce!” I scream, jiggling and squirming. “I’m stuck.” Craning my neck, I search for my colleague in the thin beam of light projecting from my headlamp. “Bruce!”
The only way to escape is by untying the lace and wiggling my ankle free. With a grunt and a heave, my foot pops out. The force knocks me sideways. I tumble over the solid roots, catching my cheek on a jagged thorn. A sharp slice travels from my ear to chin, instantly stinging. Blood blends with raindrops. Damp hair clings to the cut. Muddy debris covers my hands, but Bruce is too busy protecting our work to notice. The lightweight shirt secured around my waist doubles as a towel. I wipe off the dirt, sucking in through my teeth as I dab the burning cut on its reverse side.
With one hiking boot on my left foot and a thin sock on the other, I clamber back to camp. Flashes of electricity strobe the polycotton tents—what’s left of them. A grand old tree taller than a skyscraper gave up its post, landing in the middle of our temporary lab. As it toppled, the trunk annihilated smaller trees in its wake, completely wiping out our sleeping quarters.