Pacific Persuasion

By Sofia Aves

Head of security on the South Sea Mermaid, Kai Walker, hates having drugs on his ship. But when travelers begin to overdose and he can’t find the source, Kai suspects everyone, including his absentee dinner partner, Pearl. He can’t work out if she’s a tempting distraction or an intentional diversion. He’s keen to keep his threats close, even if it means a planned seduction to catch her in the act.


US DEA Agent Pearl Hamilton is determined to focus on the assignment she's been set. No sexy-as-sin security officer on a bewitching south sea cruise is going to turn her head, regardless of how good he looks in a uniform. That is, until she discovers how much fun she can have with a pair of handcuffs and a stolen room key...

• Language: Unknown
• Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
• Release date: Aug 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9781509243945

Sofia Aves

Sofia Aves is a USA TODAY Bestselling author who writes fast-paced police romances, suspenseful mysteries, steamy cowboys with a Montana backdrop and the occasional cheeky god. She loves reading Indie authors and hides her collection of college romance books beneath an ever-growing TBR pile. Sofia is a mum of three crazies and an overly large fur baby who thinks she’s a teacup puppy. She loves orchids but can’t always keep them alive. Sofia lives near Brisbane, Australia Join Sofia’s newsletter & get a free Blue Blooded Brothers short story: https://BookHip.com/CNMQFX Follow Sofia on BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/sofia-aves?follw=true

Book preview

Pacific Persuasion

Australian Customs Security Romance Book One

Passport to Pleasure

by

Sofia Aves

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

Pacific Persuasion

COPYRIGHT © 2022 by Sofia Aves

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or The Wild Rose Press, Inc. except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Contact Information: [e-mail]

Cover Art by Diana Carlile

The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

PO Box 708

Adams Basin, NY 14410-0708

Publishing History

First Edition, 2022

Digital ISBN 978-1-5092-4394-5

Published in the United States of America

Dedication

For Faye, who took me on

my first cruise so many years ago.

Chapter One

Pearl

Bubbles fizzed in my glass, their delicate, honeyed aroma brushing my lips. I ignored the ruckus around me. Bright floodlights lit the upper deck behind me where a DJ pounded the clear night with his music. Couples filled the dance floor in a frenzy of wild abandon. I stood to one side of the deck, relieved to be able to use the excuse of traveling alone not to join in.

The wind flicked my lanyard around. I caught it in one hand, running my thumb over the name printed on my pass. Pearl Hamilton. I didn’t need the reminder of who I was, even if my purpose on the ship wasn’t what it read on my registration.

Though dinner had finished less than an hour ago, plenty of the passengers who surrounded me were wobblier on their feet than the calm seas required. I didn’t object to the dancing or the music, but some part of me held myself separate from the growing mob.

I emerged from my cabin after dinner on the first night of the cruise to find every deck filled with noise and partygoers. My stint in Australia posing as a traveler had been fun, and working with their federal police had been a joy, as far as international liaisons went.

US soil would always be my home. I enjoyed the jaunt across oceans, but I was keen to fix this case up and go home, though the hint there might be a permanent position waiting for me in Brisbane if I did well in this job lingered in my mind.

Which meant I needed to do the job I was here for. The purpose of my cruise was to be around people—a very certain sort of people and sectioning myself away from the throngs for the short week wasn’t an option.

I clutched my champagne glass in an antisocial manner at the rail, my back to the crowd, watching nothing and listening to everything.

…glad to be away from the bitch. She’s nothing but a…

I’d like to see him try! But then he—

Can you imagine what it would be like? Four men at a time?

Do you have enough holes to cater for that? This last was accompanied by a chorus of giggles.

Body fluids. Urgh.

They’d wear condoms.

What about that one?

He’s like to bring the entire footy team with him!

I wouldn’t object to it.

I closed my eyes and took a larger sip of my champagne than was wise. I hadn’t gone to dinner, still reading through my notes in my cabin and prepping myself for the night of intelligence gathering. Constant white noise of the wash from the cruise ship was overridden as the DJ burst out a dance party behind me while I stared out at the dark water.

Sighing, I tipped up my glass and flicked my hair around my shoulders, the night breeze lifting it as I swayed with the motion of the ship. I hated wearing it out, but posing as a traveler, I had promised to let it down and to appear relaxed. I had a bit of a problem with the last part, and hence the champagne.

Bubbles popped against my nose as I emptied the glass. A quick glance over my shoulder at the line at the bar, proved getting a refill wasn’t worth the effort. Passengers jostled each other in a frenzy for cocktails served by local islanders and Aussies with plenty of muscle to spare.

Most of the patrons left on the upper deck had paired off into groups for the evening, and the noise level increased by the moment. Maybe I would have better luck on one of the lower decks, the casino, perhaps.

Can I get you another? A smooth voice with an Aussie accent at my side drew my attention.

The cacophony of the crowd faded as a fresh glass of champagne replaced my empty one.

I stared up into clear, blue eyes that reminded me of the color of the sea when I had boarded the ship in Brisbane. A firm jaw with a hint of evening shadow framed a classic, tanned face.

Our gazes connected. A bolt of desire shot through my body fizz to toe, warming me in places that should have been freezing in the night air as we skimmed across the ocean’s surface, despite the thin cocktail dress I’d donned for the occasion.

Blend in but don’t get blended.

Thank you, I whispered, running my gaze over his perfect uniform. An indecent list of things I’d like to do with him formed in my mind. Mister, uh— I squinted at his name tag. The first part was obscured.

Walker, he supplied. Kai Walker.

I laughed, allowing my glass to tip in my hand. Pearl Hamilton. Did you just do the spy thing? And what happened to your uniform? I asked in rapid succession, gesturing to the defaced embroidery on his name tag.

Kai Walker’s perfect, blond eyebrow arched, the corners of his lips quirking in amusement.

One of the new junior officers decided to test me on his first day. He believed I needed assistance remembering my name in my dotage. He’s spending the cruise on spot luggage checks and lots of unnecessary paperwork. There won’t be a promotion in his future anytime soon, which I’m sure he will be horrified at, but he won’t push me again.

That’s— I struggled for a word, impressed with the tall officer’s quick response to what could have devolved into a minor mutiny in closed quarters over the duration of the man’s employment.

Harsh. Kai nodded. The amusement of a moment before remained in his eyes.

Pertinent, I replied. His eyebrows rose again. A speedy response prevents crumbling standards. You’re customs, then? Or security? I drew my gaze over the set of his shoulders. His relaxed exterior screamed confidence, though I read the potential threat beneath.

A bit of both. Ex-Navy, and I’ve already had enough of junior staff thinking this will be an easy summer job.

Cruising in your dotage? I smiled, taking a sip of the champagne he’d passed me. I noted he had his own in one hand, already half empty. A lock of hair tickled my nose, and I pushed it back with no small degree of irritation. I wish I’d put my hair up. Sorry. You’re not on duty?

Don’t be. It’s pretty. The