by Jo Raven
“Is this a bad thing?”
She finally looked at him, but he didn’t seem judgmental at all. She asked, “Is it?”
“No,” he breathed. “No, it’s not bad. Or, it wouldn’t be. You don’t know yet?”
“No. I followed the directions, but I’m afraid to look. I don’t know what I would do about college,” she admitted.
“Xan can’t keep up this breakneck pace much longer, and then we’ll have a sane touring schedule, like a month on the road and a month off, plus extra time between legs or projects, like a year or more. You’ll go to college, then. We’ll handle it. We’ll take a nanny on the road. Your time horizon for college was a couple years anyway, right?”
“Yeah, I guess it was.”
“Come on.” He held her hand. “Let’s go look together. You’re not alone. You’re my wife, and I’m your husband.”
She slid her arms around him, clinging to him, because she had been scared deep inside.
He kissed her. “Let’s go look.”
They stood in front of the sink, and Elfie lifted the washrag.
Two blue lines showed up on the little plastic thing.
She said, “That means—”
But Tryp had already picked her up and was kissing her, and he carried her back to the bed.
He said, “It means that I’m the luckiest man in the world. I love you, Elfie.” His big hand splayed over her stomach. “And you, too, whoever you are.”
Elfie looked up at Tryp, and his eyes seemed darker because his thick, black lashes were moist, and he cradled her to himself, rocking her, murmuring how much he loved her.
The tension in his voice seemed gone, and his brawny body curved around her. After a while, after he had said every right thing, he dropped off to sleep for just a few minutes, just dozing with her in the bed.
The clock flickered through numbers, and Tryp slept, his body quiet under the sheets.
While he slept, he didn’t twitch, he didn’t jump, and he didn’t have nightmares, even though he wasn’t drunk. His soft breath fluttered in his chest. His lips barely curved in a smile.
He was happy, Elfie realized. This was what Tryp Areleous looked like when he was happy.
A warm glow spread in her, and she wrapped her arms around him, burying her face against his chest. His scent, warm man and the last remnants of citrus aftershave, brushed her nose. She was lying in his arms, and everything would work out because they were together, and safe, and alive, and she was happy, too.
***
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Rhiannon, the new back-up singer for Killer Valentine, the hottest breakout rock band on the planet, can’t resist Jonas, the band manager, despite her contract’s no-fraternization clause. When the band’s problems threaten to derail the tour and Jonas slips and reveals their relationship, the lead singer demands that Rhiannon choose between music and love.
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(Rock Stars in Disguise: Rhiannon)
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About Blair Babylon
USA Today bestselling author Blair Babylon is the nom de plume of an award-winning author who used to publish literary fiction. Because professional reviews of her other fiction usually included the caveat that there was too much deviant sex, she decided to abandon all literary pretensions, let her freak flag fly, and write hot, sexy, erotic romance and wild, suspenseful thrillers.
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Table of Contents
Red Hot Alphas
MICAH (DAMAGE CONTROL 1)
by Jo Raven
SOMEBODY TO LOVE
(ROCK STARS IN DISGUISE: TRYP)
by Blair Babylon
HOT PURSUIT
by Olivia Rigal
MEETING MR. STEELE
By Melanie Marchande
MIXED UP
by Sky Corgan
MIDNIGHT MOONLIGHT
by V. J. Chambers
SORORITY SAINT
by Daizie Draper
CROSSED
by Lacey Silks
GET TO ME
by Holly Hood
ELECTRIC BLUE BUTTERFLIES
by Irma Geddon
SWEETEST TEMPTATIONS
by J.C. Valentine
Disclaimers and Copyright Notices
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HOT PURSUIT
by Olivia Rigal
HOT PURSUIT
by Olivia Rigal
HOT PURSUIT © Olivia Rigal 2014
The only thing Sally will miss when she leaves is Slider. She’s had a crush on the Motorcycle Club V.P. ever since she started working in the strip club. Yet, now that she’s finished college, it’s time to move on. She wants to be more than an educated exotic dancer.
With her clever wits and her luscious curves, Sally is the perfect woman for Slider but she’s an unwanted complication in the life of the undercover police officer.
Slider needs to decide what to do with his life. He’s embraced the spirit of the Motorcycle Club but now that his mission is almost accomplished and he doesn’t think he can go back to wearing his badge … until someone threatens Sally.
CHAPTER ONE
Slider
This wedding ceremony is a fucking nightmare. How did I get suckered into coming to the church? What am I doing here? The little church is packed, and I’m about as comfortable as I’d be if I were smoking my last cigarette while sitting on a keg of gunpowder.
It’s an accident waiting to happen. If we manage to survive the blessing, the picture taking on the steps of the church will be a real piece of work. Mimi and David must have a death wish. Why else would they invite members of two rival motorcycle clubs, plus a handful of cops, to their wedding?
I look at the cops who are part of the task force unit David and I belong to and realize I feel closer to Dmitry Knyaz, aka Prince, the Sergeant-at-Arms of the Category Five Knights MC I have infiltrated, than to the police captain I report to. I’ve been a Knight for years. Shit, I’m not sure what I’ll do when they decide to pull me out. It could be soon or in another six months. I’d better get my act together.
I can’t go back to being a regular cop. I’ve been my own boss far too long to step back in the ranks. But I can’t quit. If I do, some asshat in Internal Affairs could find a way to let someone in my MC know that I was undercover. Then who knows what their reaction would be. I could be as good as dead, or they could refuse to believe it. What a clusterfuck!
“David, you may now kiss Jeanne-Michelle,” says the priest in heavily Créole-accented English.
Right, as if David hasn’t been banging her all along. Well, maybe not all along. The poor guy had to play possum in Canada, freezing his ass off all winter after our operation almost went in the shit-tank. But now that he’s back, I’m sure he’s been catching up. No doubt about this, she’s got that well-taken-care-of glow that girls have when they’re happy in the sack. No matter what color they are, they all glow the same.
David’s mother is bawling her eyes out. Can’t really blame the woman. For eleven months, she’d thought her son was dead, and now she gets a ready-made family: her son, his girl, and a grandson, Toussaint, Mimi’s eleven-year-old adopted or soon to be adopted nephew.
David kisses his bride, and at last, we get to walk out of here. It’s about time—I was feeling claustrophobic.
David and Mimi go first. Next come Lisa and Ice.
Why Mimi picked David’s sister as a bridesmai
d, I’ll never figure out. It’s not as if they have anything in common. Mimi is a simple girl while Lisa, with her Ivy League law school diploma, is anything but.
Ah Lisa, crazy chick! She claims she wants to become an Assistant District Attorney, but she’s doing Brian Hatcher, aka Ice, the vice president of the Iron Tornadoes MC. That choice makes it hard to take her career plans seriously.
Now Ice, that’s a guy I can relate to. He quit the police academy when he realized what a hornet’s nest the force is. I wish I could share a beer and chew the fat one night with him, but that’s not in the cards. Having the V.P. of the Iron Tornadoes and the V.P. of the Knights in the same room is weird enough. If we started talking, someone would think we were planning a merger. Stallion, my prez would have my balls nailed over the club house’s door as a trophy faster than I can say Harley Davidson!
Next in line are Sally and me. She’s the closest thing to a sister Mimi has now that her twin’s gone. Attending the same college and stripping in the same club has gotta count for something.
Sally catches my arm and smiles at me. I’ve got to hand it to the girl—no matter how many times I push her away, she never holds a grudge. “Persistence” has to be her middle name. Today she’s looking especially hot. Marriage ceremonies will do that to chicks. But then, I thought she was hot even when she looked like a wet, bloody mess the day she found Mimi’s sister unconscious behind the club in the pouring rain.
Fuck, this mission sucks!
I look over my shoulder and watch Prince take Juliya’s arm to fall in behind us. If looks could kill, the man would be burned to a cinder. Lucky for him they don’t. He ignores the bitch’s glare and holds her elbow firmly with an amused twitch on his lips.
Prince isn’t one to back away from a challenge. On the contrary, finding a woman who doesn’t fall for his Slavic charm is likely to turn him on big time. If she keeps this up, she’ll be in big trouble. He’s crazy enough to forget she’s the daughter of the president of the Iron Tornadoes. No doubt he’ll want to show her what being a Dom is all about. But all of Juliya’s male relatives are Doms, so I’m pretty sure she already has a handle on the concept. I doubt she has much experience though. Her father and her two brothers—who have a stellar reputation in the kink community, whatever that means—are overprotective of her.
Prince winks at me. If I were a gambling man, I would bet that Juliya’s status as Iron Tornadoes royalty turns him on big time. The way he looks at her makes me think the man is in dire need of something to spice up his life. Maybe that’s the problem. The MCs haven’t seen a lot of action lately. With the disappearance of the Unrepentant Southern White Wizards, the white supremacist group my task force just brought down, the police activity has been intense these past weeks. As a consequence, all MC members have been on their best behavior and sticking to strictly legit business.
Sally tugs on my arm, and it’s her turn to glare. She’s cute when she acts all jealous and possessive. Juliya’s got a nice rack, but if I were going to plunge into one, it would be Sally’s. She’s got all the right curves in all the right places. I’ve watched her strip often enough to know. If I close my eyes, I can see her without a stitch on, humping the pole, and that’s all I need to get a hard-on.
Yeah, that’s just what I needed to think about right now!
Of course Sally notices, and she frowns. If I know my Sally, she’s wondering if looking at Juliya’s plunging neckline got me there.
No, sweetie, it’s you and only you, but I’ll rot in hell before I’ll let you know. My pretty Sally deserves someone nice, someone who will never know that she stripped her way through college and will think of her as the nice girl she would have been if life had dealt her a different hand.
So sure, right now my life sucks, but it’s all on me. After all, no one put a gun to my head and forced me to join the force.
CHAPTER TWO
Sally
Of course I had to be the one to catch the stupid bouquet. Standing at the bottom of the church’s steps with the flowers in my hand, I plaster on my best smile for Mimi’s sake. She winks at me, and her brown eyes move to Slider’s face to study his reaction. The way he stiffened when I took his arm to walk out of the church made me so mad, I don’t even want to look at him right now. Who knows what’s going on inside that man’s head?
Most of the time when he looks at me, I know for certain he wants me, but as soon as he realizes I’m watching him, something clicks and he shuts down. Everything I think I see in his eyes vanishes, and I’m left to wonder if it was just wishful thinking on my part. Mimi says she can see it too, and David’s said as much—well, in guy-speak. But that was last year, when I had a shit fit because Slider’s ex was trying to come back. David reassured me that as far as he could tell, the man was nuts about me.
My fake smile turns real when I remember David saying, “Every time you go on stage, he grinds his teeth so hard, I’m afraid he’s gonna break his jaw!”
Well, his jaw’s gonna be safe soon, because I’ve graduated and found a real job. Actually, Juliya found me a real job. Friendly Persuasion, the private investigation agency she works for needs an administrative assistant. The real boss if the place is Juliya’s brother but I interviewed with her boss, Patricia, who’s a no-nonsense woman and very direct about what she wants. I like that. She must have liked me too since I got the job. Patricia said they needed me right away, but she respected that I need to give Slider one week’s notice. I have an unconventional job, but I still need to be professional about it. I’ll tell him on Monday. I wonder how he’s going to take it. Who knows?
So at the end of the week, that’s it—no more stripping for me. No more clammy hands gripping my butt while tucking bills in my G-string. No doubt I’ll take a real cut in income, but I don’t care. I’m starting out my life debt free, which is better than a lot of my college friends.
Mimi waves in my direction. She wants her bridesmaids to come take more pictures with her.
“Come on, girls, let’s go,” Lisa says to Juliya and me.
I march toward Mimi without a single glance in Slider’s direction, but then I realize Juliya’s not following. She’s in the middle of a staring contest with Dmitry. Now that’s an arresting pair: the Iron Tornadoes princess and the Prince of the Knights. They make a dashing couple, and the sparks flying between them are more impressive than any Fourth of July fireworks show I’ve ever seen.
I go back and lay my hand on Dmitry’s arm. I’m not afraid of the Russian giant. I know he’ll never raise his hand to a woman. Actually, that’s not exactly true. I know he’ll never strike a woman in anger, but according to the girls he’s been with, he’s into spanking and all that shit.
Dmitry’s somber eyes dart from Juliya’s face to mine. “What do you want, Sally?” The tone is neutral but then I don’t think I’ve ever seen him lose his cool.
“The bride is calling us.” I tilt my head toward the church door where Mimi and Lisa are waiting.
“And one should never make a bride wait,” he says, smiling at me and then turning to Juliya he adds, “Go, little one. I will catch up with you later.”
Juliya snickers, but somehow, I think she enjoys being called “little one.” She and I are not little by any stretch of the imagination. Neither are Mimi and Lisa. I take Juliya’s arm, and we climb the four steps to stand next to the bride. The photographer snaps a few shots, makes us change position a couple of times, and when he’s satisfied, he lets us go.
David is standing by the limo he rented for the day. He opens the door for us.
Mimi lets us board first, and she says, “Go ride with Ice. I know how much you hate being in a box.”
“You’re sure?” There’s a boyish quality to David that’s endearing.
“Go, before I change my mind.” Mimi pushes him affectionately then lands on the backseat next to me. She kicks off her shoes, wiggles her toes, and sighs with contentment. Her expression is one of peaceful bliss.
“That man is so sweet,” I say.
“He is, isn’t he?” she answers with a dreamy smile.
“Oh please, stop it. You make me want to puke.” Juliya rolls her eyes, trying to look really disgusted with all that sweetness. She comes from a family of macho men. Sweet is not their forte. Her brothers, Ice and Everest, are Dungeon Masters in the local sex club their father created.
Funny how Juliya and I became instant friends. I come from such a different background. I don’t think anyone in my family even knew sex-clubs existed. I’ve never been in one and I’m not even remotely tempted. Even though I’ve been showing off my tits and ass for a living, I’m really not one to do stuff in public, thank you very much.
I look at Lisa, who shrugs and says, “To each his own. My brother is a very sweet man, and I’m sure he’ll make Mimi very happy.”
“But you’re like Juliya? You favor the caveman over the gentleman?” I ask her.
“Lucky for me, I don’t need to choose. Brian behaves like a gentleman most of the time.” Lisa prefers using Ice’s real name. She sighs and adds, “But I do enjoy when he lets out his inner caveman.”
“Enough already with the mushy stuff,” Juliya protests and we all laugh.
I haven’t known Juliya for long, but I understand that dating hasn’t been easy for her. I’ve never seen her father, but he’s got a reputation for being a tough son of a bitch. Juliya told me she couldn’t get a date before she moved away to college. One look from her father, and the bravest teenagers went running for the hills… and we all know how flat Florida is. She jokes that she got big because instead of going dancing with the guys, she stayed home and ate junk food in front of the television.