Knight of Paradise Island
J.L. Campbell
Macro Publishing Group
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Knight of Paradise Island by J. L. Campbell of the Writers’ Suite Copyright ©2020
ISBN: [Ebook] 9781952871047
Macro Publishing Group
1507 E. 53rd Street, #858
Chicago, IL 60615
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever or by any means including electronic, mechanical or photocopying, or stored in a retrieval system without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For permission, contact Naleighna Kai at [email protected] or at www.naleighnakai.com
Cover Designed by: J.L Woodson: www.woodsoncreativestudio.com
Interior Designed by: Lissa Woodson: www.naleighnakai.com
Editors: Lissa Woodson [email protected]
Betas: Debra J. Mitchell, Kelsie Maxwell, and April Bubb
License Notes: This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only and may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like the share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy. If you are reading this book and did not purchase same, or it was not purchased for your sole use, please consider buying your own copy.
For those who live with the loss of loved ones, yet find the strength to go on.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
About the Knights of the Castle Series
About the Kings of the Castle
About the Author
Other Books by J.L. Campbell
Acknowledgments
I give thanks always to my Heavenly Father, who provides the creativity that allows me to write these stories. I’m also grateful for my family and the leeway they give me to disappear for hours at a time while I write.
Thanks to Naleighna Kai for conceptualizing and including me in the world of the Kings and Knights of the Castle. Your editing pen keeps me on the straight and narrow.
No book is complete without beta readers and with that said, I’m grateful to Debra Mitchell for her insightful comments and ideas. I’m grateful also to April Bubb and Kelsie Maxwell for their keen eyes and helpful suggestions.
It has been a pleasure working with this group of writers to bring the Knights of the Castle to the world. Karen D. Bradley was gracious enough to let me use her characters and their gizmos.
J. L. Woodson, keep on shining through the excellent work you do with these covers. One day, I will say, “I knew him when …”
The Kings of the Castle Ambassadors, NK Tribe Called Succes, and readers in the Naleighna Kai Literary Café are a constant source of encouragement and support. Special mention goes to Brenda Powell Pious, Joyce M. Hudson, Kelsie Maxwell, and Carol Jones, who allowed me to name characters for them.
Thank you.
Chapter One
Ryan couldn’t shake the feeling of being encased in a transparent coffin. The shark cut through the clear, blue water as though coming for him, but it disappeared above their heads. His intuition didn’t match the current moment, but he couldn’t discount his sense of unease. Every time he ignored his instincts, he landed in trouble.
Aziza threw her head back and grinned over her shoulder, lapping up the experience of tubing through a sealed glass channel inside a giant aquarium filled with some of nature’s fiercest aquatic predators. She grabbed his ankles and pointed when the shark’s serrated snout entered her line of sight. “Ryan, look.”
Her pleasure with everything she experienced delighted him. Ryan loved that about her. Aziza made him view things he took for granted with fresh eyes, which was one of the reasons he was glad he reconnected with her. “I see it, babe.”
He wriggled his feet against her side, and she sank her nails in his skin. “Behave.”
Laughing, he did the same thing as they slid into an open pool, which signaled the end of the ride. When they left the rubber ring behind, Aziza hugged him as the water cascaded around them. “Thanks for hosting me again. I’ve loved every minute.”
Ryan dropped a kiss on her forehead, then said, “Just returning the favor for showing me your city.”
With her hands spread across his back, Aziza scoffed. “You’re acting as if you haven’t been coming to Evanston since you were a little tiddlywink.”
Ryan chuckled. “Whatever that means.”
They walked hand in hand onto the sand, and she looked up at him. “Don’t forget I knew you when your eyes were where your knees are now.”
Ryan threw back his head and laughed. “Says she, who is all of two years younger than I am.”
Tugging his hand, Aziza headed for the beach. “Come on, old man.”
They sank their feet into the powdery sand, moving toward the one-bedroom bungalow that came with his job at the Paradise Island Grande Resort in the Bahamas. For the last week and a half, they spent most of their nights together in Aziza’s room but she had fallen in love with the compact villa that had direct access to the beach via the backyard. Her appreciation for his home confirmed that while she enjoyed the finer things, she also liked the simple life. The house was nice, but not the height of architectural grandeur.
A half-hour after they showered, Aziza sat between his legs. As he combed out her kinky-curly hair and oiled her scalp, Ryan thought how content he was doing that ordinary task. Fact was, he loved touching her. His mother and father hadn’t stayed together, but he remembered scenes like these from his early childhood. At some point, his parents had been in love, but life intervened to separate them. He would not allow that to happen with Aziza.
“You have wonderful hands,” she mumbled from the patterned
