TWENTY-FOUR.
Luke.
I was slumped over her body where she lay on the counter. My jeans were wrapped around my ankles and I was fully sated and exhausted. But I lifted myself off her limp body; she was as worn out as I.
"I guess you weren"t the only one who learned a thing or two in college," I whispered against her ear as I got up.
She giggled as she rubbed her cheek against the marble countertop.
"Bathroom?"
She pointed in the general direction of the hallway adjacent to the living room and I took off.
When I returned, she was sitting up on the counter, her skirt properly adjusted and her hands folded demurely in her lap, as if I hadn"t just rocked her world. I walked right up to her and kissed her pretty mouth. She sighed and moved to put her arms around me again. But I knew where that would lead.
"Let"s talk," I suggested and helped her off the counter.
We sat on the couch and she tucked her body into mine. We were comfortable as we sat and the silence wasn"t as bad as it had been before.
When she hadn"t answered my declarations of love, I immediately a.s.sumed the worst. But that kiss had broken the tension and it seemed to free her mind. Her love was all I needed in this life.
"So, can we kick your roommates out or should we just find our own place?" I asked her.
She turned to look at me, fear in her eyes. "You want to live here?" She sounded incredulous.
Wasn"t that what I"d said just a few minutes ago?
"Of course. I mean, it doesn"t have to be this apartment, although, let"s be honest-this place is spectacular! I could see us living here for a while. Until we decide to buy a condo or something," I explained.
She just stared at me.
"You want to live here?" she whispered again.
I nodded. She shook her head.
"Mallory, it took you leaving me twice to realize I didn"t want to spend the rest of my life without you. My truck is parked downstairs and it"s loaded with all my stuff. I hope some of this furniture is yours because I left everything to Wolfe, who is taking over my apartment lease," I told her.
"But...," she trailed off, her eyes closing as she searched for the words. "I just got back from the leasing agent for this place. I took my name off the lease and I have twenty-four hours to get out." She laughed.
"So, we"re homeless." I laughed along with her.
"Not exactly," she said slowly. She looked deep into my eyes. "I haven"t sold the house yet."
"Your dad"s house? I thought you wanted to live in Boston."
I didn"t want her to put her dreams on hold for me.
"Yeah, well, it turns out I just wanted to figure out if I really belonged here. After the situation today, plus so much more, I think it"s safe to say this isn"t the place for me. But I had to make sure. Even when I got back here, I felt out of place. Casper is home."
I was happy to hear her say it, but I still worried about the small town life not being enough for her. I opened my mouth to voice my fears but she stopped me.
"It will all work out," she promised.
A few days later, we were back in Casper, living in her childhood home. We"d spent that entire night in Boston talking about our future, and we were both scared to death. But we were in it together. From there, we agreed to trust each other with our true thoughts, no matter what.
We met our group at The Landing for drinks to celebrate Mallory getting a job at the local bank. She didn"t want all the fuss, but our friends were dying to know everything that went on while we were in Boston. Well, the ladies were. The guys just pounded me on the back and Baker whispered in my ear.
He smiled. "It all comes back to s.e.x."
I laughed aloud as we grabbed our usual table and everyone ordered a drink. I stuck to water and announced I would be the designated driver. Rainey still wouldn"t drink alcohol, but she lifted her gla.s.s of cola to toast Mallory"s success.
"To Mal"s new job as junior bank manager!"
We all clinked gla.s.ses and I met Mallory"s eyes over our gla.s.ses.
She winked at me.
About the Author.
Dawn Pendleton lives in Maine with her husband and their dog. She spends most of her time writing about strong heroines and s.e.xy heroes. When she isn"t writing, it"s not uncommon to find her with her nose in a book or her eye behind the lens of a camera.
You can catch up with Dawn on her website: now a sneak peek at.
Giving Up the Ghost.
the first in the 13 Shades of Red series by prolific Author S.A. Price.
Saffron Richards looked at the email in front of her again and blinked. A hardcore band? Thirteen Shades of Red to boot? This was pretty f.u.c.king major, and pretty much a promotion, if she could pull it off.
Saffron had been in the game a few years, working herself up from meager flyer runner for an upstate small time promoter to a promoter herself. Then club talent director at a mediocre club in the city, and later starting working as a Merch girl for several bands she was friends with, eventually becoming a band manager for several of them.. Tour managing was something she had dabbled in the last six months, running three bands on a 8 state, 14 city, 21 date tour, and that"s how she got to this email. Still it was a bit farfetched.
In the past, she had worked for a lot of Emo and indie bands, dealing well with their fan base, and the venues. No one was as notorious as Shades, and none of them had the insane fans that Shades had. She knew all about them, their charismatic and dead s.e.xy lead singer with a horrible drinking problem, the bands meteoric rise to fame, the fact that they had never had a lineup change, and still had a woman as part of it all. By and large, they were the golden goose she was looking for to get her name out there, to make her a fixture in the business she loved so well... and that"s why this had to be a joke.
The email was a job offer, detailing her duties, concessions, and payment for the contract, which was extremely generous given the situation, and a phone number, direct line to their record company"s owner, Xxieda Rolla.
Surely this was a joke. How the h.e.l.l did the woman track her down of all people, and why? She wasn"t qualified to run a national tour housed in arenas and 25k capacity venues, let alone what could be MTV"s new darlings. h.e.l.l they were already all over Fuse and Much Music.
Still, she was in no position to pa.s.s up this kinda opportunity. She picked up her cell phone and dialed the number, hoping it wasn"t a joke.
"What?" A gruff but s.e.xy voice said on the other end. Saffron"s heart fell. G.o.ds it was a joke.
"Hi, Um... This is Saffron Richards, I"m calling Xxieda Rolla, did I get the number wrong?" She cringed hearing how defeated and small her voice sounded.
"Oh..." The male voice on the other end sighed and she heard the phone being covered up and then uncovered. "Yeah, one second."
She frowned. Whoever the guy was, he was unimpressed by her call. Seconds later she heard a feminine voice get on the phone and brightened.
"Saffy, Sorry about that, Dante doesn"t like getting woken up for no reason."
Saffron looked at the clock. "Oh, Sorry I didn"t know it was too early to call you."
"Its not, my boyfriend was out late last night and is one h.e.l.l of a grumpy pain in the a.s.s when he"s not got his full eight hours."
Saffron couldn"t relate. She didn"t think she had slept a full night in the past five years. "Maybe his a.s.s shouldn"t be out all hours of the night then?"
As the words left her mouth she almost groaned. Way to get on your possibly employers bad side, pa.s.sing judgment on her guy friend.
Xxieda was quiet a second and then laughed her head off. "Ooh I knew I was right about you. This is going to work out well. Listen, I"m at my place here in the city, why don"t you come down so we can talk face to face?"
Saffron looked at the clock. She had a little over four hours before her shift at the coffee shop, a job she had taken in between actual work gigs, to keep her brain occupied and the money rolling in. She could make it there and back with time to spare. "I could. Where are you located?"
She wrote down the address, a midtown property close to the west side highway. "Great, I have to shower. I wouldn"t wanna subject you to me before my hair is done. Rats nest doesn"t even cover it."
Xxieda laughed. "NO problem. I"m here all day so take your time. See you soon."
Saffron was astonished when they hung up. She had heard tales in the New York scene that Xxieda was down to earth and cool, but she was bad news if you f.u.c.ked with her. Surely insulting her boy toy should fall in the latter category, but it seemed that reports of her b.i.t.c.hery were greatly exaggerated.
Hopeful, Saffron got up from her desk chair and proceeded to get her a.s.s in gear. Meetings like this weren"t dropped in one"s lap every day, don"t ya know.
Standing outside the address she was given, Saffron checked herself once more to make sure she was rock and roll presentable. It wasn"t like a normal job interview where she had to rock business casual.
Knee high boots, baby blue tights, black miniskirt with belts crisscrossing it, combined with a well-worn baby blue t-shirt with her favorite band"s logo on it. Her hair, shoulder length with blue and blonde running through the midnight depths, was unbound but for a barrette holding her longer than needed bangs from her face.
For this, it was better to show up as herself not the person her employer wanted her to be. She just hoped that at the end of this, they would be one and the same. She rang the bell above the listing for the record company, rather surprised that Xxieda lived where she worked.
"Yeah!" She heard from the intercom and then a buzz as the door unlocked. She went through the portal and to the small elevator and made her way to the third floor. As she exited the lift, she noticed the door was open ahead of her and music was coming from therein. It died seconds later. She followed it and almost choked with what she saw.
Xxieda Rolla, in all her diminutive stature was looking up at one s.e.xy beast of a man, frowning. She wasn"t sure if it was because he was standing there in a towel or from the scorch marks on the iPod dock.
"Did ya really have to do that?" The smaller woman shouted at the man who smirked and ran a finger down her cheek.
"I told you I can"t stand that b.i.t.c.hes" caterwauling. I warned you X..."
His voice was the same but the accent was thicker, huskier, could melt the panties off a girl. And standing there naked but for a towel wasn"t doing anything but adding to that fantasy. Xxieda has d.a.m.n good taste in men, though how the h.e.l.l the dock got scorch marks was beyond her.
He leaned down and went to kiss her and Saffron cleared her throat. It wasn"t that she wasn"t interested in what was about to happen, s.h.i.t she was sure any woman would be willing to witness it, jealously be d.a.m.ned, but it wasn"t the way to start a business relationship. "Sorry the door was open." She said and gave them both a small smile. "I"m Saffron."
Xxieda looked at her and grinned. "Sorry about this..." she said and came around the man who now turned towards her. Holy h.e.l.l was that a body. Saffron choked again and the apparent Dante arched a brow and quirked his mouth.
Xxieda shook her head. "Yeah," she said as she looked back at him. "He gets that response. Will you go and put some d.a.m.n clothes on fool?" she said with love in her eyes. "Poor girl doesn"t need the full Monty, at least not at this point in the day." She turned back to Saffron and winked.
Dante smirked at the two of them, saluted Xxieda and nodded to Saffron and winked himself. "Pleasure Saffron," he said as he walked out of the room, his strides long. Saffron"s eyes didn"t leave his retreating form till he was out of view.
"Normally I get a little miffed when women openly ogle my boyfriend but after that display you got my permission to look all you want. Isn"t he scrumptious?"
Saffron gave a slight woof. "And then some."
Xxieda looked at her and let her eyes go wide and then laughed. Saffron, realizing her guffaw once again went red and Xxieda just wrapped her arm around her shoulders and pulled her towards the loft proper.
"Indeed. The man is hot." She laughed at her own words and led Saffron into her kitchen and stopped in front of a butcher block countertop. "Tea?"
Tea? Well she could rock tea. "Sure."
Xxieda busied herself with turning the kettle on and grabbing cups and spoons. "So, now that visions of an almost naked Dante aren"t swimming in your head, or at the very least have retreated back into your w.a.n.k file, you"re probably wondering how the h.e.l.l I contacted you and why. Right?"
The woman before her was either completely insane, or prescribed to the same way of thinking of relationships as most women in the business. She was willing to believe that it was the latter. Women in the business were secure in their places and s.e.xuality, and the men they were with were with them for a reason. Jealousy had no business in the lives of a musician or support staff, the life didn"t lend itself to that predisposition.
"It"s not like I"m a major player or anything..." she started with and Xxieda cut her off.
"Which is why I contacted you. You"re not in any way jaded or a liability."
Saffron frowned. "What does that mean?"
Xxieda turned to look at her and leaned back against the counter, and crossed her arms over her chest. "I mean you"re not insane, have issues, and by all accounts don"t have a drug problem."
"All true. I don"t touch the sauce, though I do enjoy a nice gla.s.s of wine in the tub. I"m not attached to anyone because I know better, and insane, well, that"s debatable. I mean you have to be a little nuts to get into this business."
"And a level head on your shoulders. You see this business for what it is, not what you want it to be."
Saffron understood immediately. "Your right, I did my groupie partying years ago and grew out of it. Nothing permanent coming out of that kinda s.h.i.t but possibly an STD. No thank you."
Xxieda nodded. "And word has it you handled that little venue snafu in Chicago in mere minutes, saving the bands and their companies a ton of grief."