A Soul Redeemed Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  EBook Offer

  A Soul Redeemed

  Texas Oil Book Two

  Dakota Black

  Blushing Books

  All rights reserved.

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  Black, Dakota

  A Soul Redeemed

  EBook ISBN: 978-1-61258-498-0

  Print ISBN: 978-1-61258-522-2

  Cover Design by ABCD Graphics

  This book is intended for adults only. Spanking and other sexual activities represented in this book are fantasies only, intended for adults. Nothing in this book should be interpreted as Blushing Books' or the author's advocating any non-consensual spanking activity or the spanking of minors.

  Contents

  What’s Inside

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  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Dakota Black

  EBook Offer

  Blushing Books Newsletter

  Blushing Books

  What’s Inside

  Veronica remained silent as she walked toward the door, her shoulders slumping.

  “Don’t worry about him,” he whispered, his skin prickling. She was vulnerable yet would push back. Dear God, he craved the woman.

  “Trust,” she whispered. “Trust seems to be an expensive concept. Difficult to achieve.”

  He stood behind her, a myriad of thoughts racing through his mind, but he knew the words had dual meaning. “Do you trust me?”

  She shifted until she faced him. “For some reason, I do.”

  The sexual tension between them became electrified.

  “You hunger for a man to trust, to be able to unlock your needs, desires you’ve been running away from.”

  The words caught her off guard. She brushed her hand down the nape of her neck. “Yes.”

  “You need a man to protect you, control you, use you.”

  Swallowing, her eyelids fluttered, her fingers rubbing across her pursed lips. “Oh, yes.”

  The scent of her perfume was intoxicating, driving him into a heightened state of desire, a series of sensations he wasn’t used to experiencing. He could hear his heart thumping in his chest, noticed the way her breathing remained ragged and reached out, yanking her into his arms. Crushing her mouth with his, he thrust his tongue inside, tasting her sweet essence.

  Moaning into the kiss, she clenched her fists pushing against his shoulders, her body wiggling.

  He gripped the back of her neck with one hand, her ass with the other, and pulled her tight against his body, his groin pressing into her belly. The moment of heated passion continued as he kneaded her buttocks, longing to shove his cock deep inside her pussy.

  She continued struggling yet she ground her hips, whimpering in his hold.

  He shoved her against the wall and cupped her chin and neck, pushing up as he broke the kiss. Dragging his lips and teeth down from her chin to her neck, he grunted as he sucked on her tender tissue. With the other hand, he pulled her arm over her head, gripping her wrist.

  Panting, her entire body trembled as he licked and sucked down her long neck. “Oh!” The single sound was muffled, laced with wild yearning.

  He broke the hold long enough to wrangle her other arm over her head, grasping both wrists together and in one hand. He tried to focus, blinking as she watched his every move. He yanked the shirt from her shorts and slid his hand underneath. The warmth of her skin made his mouth water.

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  Chapter 1

  Boom!

  “Fire!”

  Franklin Parker spit out his coffee, tossing the cup into the sink. The moment he climbed up on deck, he hissed. “Jesus Christ! What the hell is going on and where is Tank?” Flames powered up a solid one hundred feet, fueled by the blowout. There was too much pressure in the well, creating a fountain of oil. He raced around the corner as he heard screams coming from the other side of the platform.

  Whoosh! Boom!

  “Get out of there!”

  Beep! Beep! Beep!

  “All hands on deck.” The announcement repeated several times as the alarm continued to go off, the shrill sound floating toward the waning afternoon sun.

  Suddenly he saw men running, racing toward him at breakneck speed. “Get back to your posts. We have to put the fire out.” Where in the goddamn hell was Tank? This was his job, keeping everything together and the men on point. He was the toolpusher, having literally pushed his way into the position. He was supposed to be supervising the drillers and roughnecks. Fine job the fucker had done.

  Clang! Boom!

  Ducking, Franklin trotted forward, cognizant of the flying debris and floating embers. This was the third situation in only two weeks. The men were either stupid or careless. Either way, a good number of the useless men would be receiving pink slips with their next paycheck.

  “We can’t get the vacuum pumps started. The water won’t flow.” The man huffed as he confronted Franklin. His face covered in oil, soot and sweat, he panted as he pointed toward the raging fire. “If we don’t get the fire stopped in the next few minutes, the entire rig will be consumed.”

  “What do you mean you
can’t get the pump started?” At least Shaun Tynen knew the business cold. Franklin clenched his fists, biting back a string of vile words. He could tell the men were starting to panic. This was no time to lose his cool.

  “You cut corners, you asshole. Remember? You forgot to order new parts like I asked you ten fuckin’ times.”

  Franklin snapped his head in Tank’s direction, fury just under the surface. His skin crawled every time he laid eyes on the six-foot-five-inch former roughneck. “We are sitting on thousands of miles of ocean, pump it out of the damn sea if you have to.”

  “That can’t happen. And you know exactly why,” Shaun spit as he moved closer to Franklin.

  “Are you a goddamn engineer now?” Franklin screeched, leery of what Tank might do. He was dangerous, a menace to the entire rig.

  His expression exasperated, Shaun flung out his arm, pointing to the bank of flames. “We need to get that pump started. Men are trapped. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  “If you’d get your head out of your ass, you’d see what’s right in front of you. You’re to blame for this,” Tank boomed as he took several long strides toward the men.

  Trapped? Swallowing hard, he looked from Tank back to Shaun. “Do whatever you need to do. Just get it started.” Turning on his heel, he headed toward the communication’s room. Damn it. He was going to have to call this in. There were no more excuses he could use. None.

  “Are you out of your fuckin’ mind? We need help.” Tank trailed behind him. “Or don’t you give a shit?” He maneuvered his way in front of the man, towering over him.

  “And I don’t need you telling me what to do. I outrank you. Do you understand?”

  Tank’s neck and face reddened. He wrapped his hand around the man’s throat, lifting him off the metal platform. “If one of these men die, I’ll hunt you down like a dog.” He squeezed as he grinned, his eyes narrowing into a look of utter hatred.

  Unable to breathe, he clawed at Tank’s arm. “Pu… pu…” He blinked as steam and smoke created a fog around the periphery of his vision.

  “I should throw your worthless ass overboard.”

  When Franklin was dropped like a rock, he crumpled forward, coughing. “I’ll… have you…” Another round of coughing interrupted his usual threat. This time, the man was going down.

  Boom!

  The explosion rocked the entire area, swaying the steel towers of the fixed platform.

  Franklin heard another round of cries for help, men calling out, their voices almost drowned out by the fury unfolding.

  “No!”

  “Man overboard!”

  “Tank. Come quickly. We need your help. We have a man down and another overboard,” the young rigger limped toward them. Covered in oil, he was shaking all over. “He’s hurt really bad.”

  “This is on you!” Tank spit down next to Franklin’s shoe and took off running toward the fire.

  When he was finally able to control his breathing, he climbed up on the metal ladder leading to the Com Room, the vantage point allowing him to see the extent of the blaze. “Shit.” The site was terrifying. At least he could tell some progress was being made.

  He shifted inside and received glares from the two men inside. “What the fuck are you looking at? We’re following protocol.”

  The men darted quick glances at each other but remained quiet, yet their smug expressions said exactly what Franklin already knew. No one had confidence in his abilities any longer.

  “You realize we’re down to one nurse on board. Not enough help for this kind of crisis.” His voice was quiet yet pointed, accusatory.

  “We don’t know the extent of any injuries yet!” Franklin snapped. Toby Gunner, the man in charge of communications was level headed and had once been a friend.

  “You heard the same call I did. We have two men down at this point!” Toby snapped then recoiled, his brow wrinkling. “We need some help here.”

  “Are you going to call this in or do we need to, sir?” the second man asked, a nasty sneer on his face.

  “Give me the damn radio.” Snatching the piece from the man’s hand, Franklin waited until he was connected. “I have a mayday on platform 14. I repeat, I have a mayday.”

  “What’s the status?” Camden Dane shifted in his seat and glared out the window. They were flying lower over the water as they neared the oil rig, yet he refused to give in to the nausea. The ride was choppy given the rolling thunderstorms, the turbulence some of the worst he’d experienced.

  The co-pilot looked back at the passengers as he slapped the radio into the slot. “Storm lifted enough that the two who were injured were air lifted out along with the body of the third man. He died instantly. I’m sorry, sir. I know that’s not what you want to hear. At least the fire is out.”

  “Goddamn it,” Mitchell Rush said between clenched teeth. “A man died on our watch. How in the hell did that happen?”

  Camden slunk back into his seat and turned to his partner and best friend, shaking his head. They’d been through a hell of a lot in the past year getting Rush Enterprises out of the public eye. After he’d taken over as CEO, new safety programs had been put into place, fully backed by the Board of Directors, a new group of leaders now including Mitchell. “We have to deal with this issue now. We can’t wait any longer.” He kept his voice as low as possible given the conditions. The last thing Rush needed was a new set of rumors indicating that anything was wrong with their operations.

  “I don’t have any problems with that. The rig hasn’t been producing as well as the others and the excuses aren’t holding any water with the Board. Four men hurt in three different explosions and one dead. The tragedies aren’t about bad odds.”

  Nodding, he studied the ominous looking sky, praying to God this wasn’t an omen. They’d had nothing but trouble with several of the offshore rigs during the last few months, 14 being the worst. The rig was supposed to be their shining star. One of the oldest and largest, the level of production had dropped almost overnight. Franklin Parker was supposed to know what the fuck he was doing. Camden had waited, hoping the superintendent would get his shit together. That just wasn’t going to happen.

  Leaning over, Mitchell lowered his voice. “This means Parker is out. Correct?” When Camden hesitated, he exhaled. “I’m not trying to tell you how to do your job, Camden.”

  “Then don’t!” He groaned and clenched his fists. “I’m sorry. This shit just pisses me off.” The Board of Directors had been promised a solid quarter. That wasn’t going to happen. There were deadlines, imposed by the new Board, and without meeting quota, several people could be out of a job. The stock had dipped lower than when he and Mitchell had merged firms with Mitchell’s father. And all under his watch.

  He grinned and stole a look at the pilots. “Doesn’t get any easier being the big dog, my friend. Not in the least. Glad the heat is on you.”

  Camden gave him the finger just as the helicopter bounced then dropped like a rock. “Shit!”

  “Fasten your seat belts, boys. Going to be a bumpy ride going in.” The co-pilot grinned.

  Camden leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes, taking short breaths as the chopper surged forward. He bit back bile and concentrated on the situation. Rig 14’s reports were abysmal and given some recent emails, the crew was ready to abdicate. One man in particular had risked his job in order to provide information, actions bordering on sabotage. He hadn’t even told Mitchell. If what he’d learned in the last forty-eight hours was true, less oil had been produced while safety measures were cut. Men had been worked to the bone, even reports of some becoming delusional. That was just the wretched beginning. His buddy was right. Parker had to go in order to be able to investigate behind the scenes. But who in the hell were they going to get to clean up the mess?

  More importantly. Who wouldn’t ask too many questions until he managed to grab a handle on the situation? The concept was daunting.

  Tick! Tick!

  The ch
opper shifted to one side, a metal noise permeating the air.

  “Do I want to know?” Camden moaned.

  “Best you don’t look,” Mitchell teased.

  Whoosh!

  “We’re going in.”

  The sound of the pilot’s voice wasn’t comforting. Camden gripped the arms of the seat and peered out the window.

  “Christ. What a freaking mess. You can see the damage from here,” Mitchell stated. “We’re lucky only one man lost their life.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Camden surveyed the wreckage, thankful the area had been contained. At least the rig was in working order. To some degree. “Would you believe Parker laid out a list of men he required to be let go?”

  “What? What a freaking asshole.”

  Boom!

  They jerked forward, and he heard the blades whapping, their sound deafening as they slowed down. The landing was relatively smooth, and Camden breathed a sigh of relief.

  Mitchell laughed and shook his head. “I forgot how much you hate to fly.”

  “More now.” He swallowed hard as he noticed the welcoming party. They were none too happy to see the brass.

  “Not too bad of a landing. We’ll be fueled and ready to go when you are, sir.” The pilot twisted in his seat.

  “This won’t take long,” Camden said without hesitation. Yeah, he knew exactly what he had to do. He was more than committed to doing the right thing. As they climbed off the helicopter, they were greeted by three men. Two of whom were bodies of muscle from years of hard work. Oil riggers were the toughest of men and he’d gained a hell of a lot of respect for them. His work with Mitchell in the early days had been grueling, but this was one of the toughest positions in the field.