Raven Simmons LaCroste is an accountant and a wannabe writer.  At fifty-two, she is still a desirably sexy, strong independent woman, who becomes a dangerous adversary if threatened.  Raven has come a long way.

 

During formative teenage years, a mind-numbing, catholic-morality chastity belt keeps her sensual development in bondage.  At the age of twenty, she escapes those bonds when she meets Marcus LaCroste, a man four years her senior with an awesome sexual repertoire.  It's love at first sight.  They marry, but Raven’s sexual education suffers a setback when she is in a near-fatal accident immediately after the wedding.  Surviving the devastating injuries, Raven endures the painful reconstruction of her lower body, before she is able to experience her first taste of the erotic.  Thirty years later, Raven’s world shatters when her husband dies.  Spiraling into the depths of a mental and sensual stupor, she reverts to the celibacy of her youth, where she remains for two years.  Then she receives notice that her Maui Writers Group is sponsoring a cruise to the Panama Canal.  The idea of a cruise -- a prime playground for the sexually hopeful -- tweaks her sex-drive gene.  Feeling the need to get back onto the playing field, before she forgets how to play, Raven signs up for the cruise.

 

First night out to sea, Raven encounters Jamal Whitaker.  Tall, dark and handsome, Jamal has player written all over him, which makes him the perfect choice for test-driving her reawakened sexuality.  Their night together ends abruptly and Raven refuses to see him again.  An acrimonious confrontation ensues.  No stranger to violence, Raven becomes verbally aggressive, leaving Jamal bitterly hostile.  Subsequently, a first attempt on her life occurs.  One day later, there is a second attempt.  For Raven, the cruise has lost its appeal.  No longer an exercise in sexual exploration, in the isolated environment of the ship, the cruise becomes a workout in survival skills.  Unsure of whom she can trust, Raven remembers the new member of her writers group, Anthony Corbett, is a criminal law attorney with a background in law enforcement.  Raven enlists Anthony’s help, unaware he has his own agenda for coming to her aid.