She’s a very beautiful woman,” Gary said.
“That she is.” Sed watched his wife, entranced by the copper glow of the sunset’s final rays in her strawberry-blond hair.
“A handful?”
“More than one handful.” Sed chuckled. “I wouldn’t have her any other way.”
“Are we going to hit that tree?” Jessica asked, pointing to a giant evergreen in their path. “We’re drifting awfully low.”
Gary pulled a cord to send a blast of fire shooting into the balloon. But only a small flame flickered in the fading light, before the fire sputtered out completely.
Chapter Nine
Jessica ducked low into the basket and covered her head with both arms as the balloon careened into the upper boughs of the tree. It just grazed the branches, but it was enough to rock the basket and make Jessica’s stomach threaten an upheaval.
Sed was suddenly huddled over her protectively. “Are we going to crash?” he bellowed at Gary.
“We’re in for a rough landing. Remember how we told you to handle a rough landing?”
Yeah, Jessica remembered. She also remembered being told that the chances of said rough landing were miniscule.
“You can’t cover her like that,” Gary shouted.
“I have to protect her!”
“Beside her, not above her. Remember? We practiced this.”
Sed pulled away from Jessica’s body and knelt beside her on the floor of the basket.
“It’ll be okay,” he said, the fear in his eyes so acute, she could almost reach out and grab it. “I will never allow you to be hurt, Jess. Understand?”
The reasonable person in Jessica knew there were some instances when Sed wouldn’t be able to protect her, but the scared-shitless individual quaking uncontrollably on the floor of the basket clung to his words like they were a lifeline.
She’d be okay. The baby would be okay. The fates wouldn’t dare defy Sed.
This wouldn’t be like a plane crash, right? They weren’t all that high and weren’t moving at a high velocity. It was just a gentle hot air balloon. How bad could this be? Still… She covered her lower belly protectively and prayed for the safety of their child, remembering the warning they’d chosen to ignore prior to liftoff. If they got through this unscathed, she silently vowed not to do anything reckless for the rest of her pregnancy.
Sed’s gaze was glued to her abdomen.
“I’m not in my third trimester,” she reminded him. Reminded herself. A premature baby in the third trimester had a fighting chance, but if she went into labor now… She squeezed her eyes closed. She didn’t want to consider that possibility. “The baby will be fine. The baby will be fine!”
Oh God, please let the baby be fine. She sucked her quivering lips between her teeth and braced for impact.
The basket hit the ground with a hard thud, bounced, hit the ground again with a teeth-jarring crash, and then tipped over on its side. Jessica clung to her belly, not caring if she face-planted into the rattan as long as she could cushion the baby’s landing. Her face didn’t land on rattan. Somehow Sed managed a tuck and roll maneuver that caught her on top of him as his body took the brunt of the impact.
“Everyone okay?” Gary shouted.
“Yeah,” Jessica replied, struggling to crawl off Sed and out of the overturned basket. She didn’t notice that Sed hadn’t moved until she was standing beside the basket next to the deflated blue balloon with her knees shaking, but the rest of her surprisingly sound. “Sed?”
He answered with a groan of misery.
“Sed!” She dashed back to the basket and dropped to her knees beside him, running her hands over his body, looking for broken bones. She was pretty sure if she found one, she’d be sick all over him, but she had to find out if he was okay. “Where are you hurt?”
“I hope you want only one child,” he said breathlessly and then curled into fetal position with a whine.
She slapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t scare me like that! I thought you were hurt.”
“You obviously don’t have balls of your own,” he said, rolling onto his hands and knees, crawling forward, and collapsing in the grass outside the basket.
Gravel crunched and sprayed as the chase car skidded to a halt on a nearby country road. A car door slammed, followed by the sound of running footsteps.
Gary’s wife collided with her husband’s body, then she kissed every inch of his face.
“I’m so sorry. I took a wrong turn and ended up on a dead-end gravel road and had to retrace my path. By the time I spotted you again, the balloon was already down. Is everyone okay?”
Jessica nodded. Sed staggered to his feet, still slightly hunched over as he tried to regain his bearings and protect his balls from additional threats.
“Our sex life is going to end up killing us,” Sed murmured.
“I’d say it was worth it, but the baby…” She rubbed her belly, still not able to say what might have happened. It was hard enough just thinking about it. “We have to be more responsible. If something happened to our child, I—” Her voice cracked as the implications of what could have happened slammed down on her. Her knees buckled, and she grabbed Sed’s arm to keep herself from crumpling to the ground.
“You’re right,” he said, looking more dejected than Jessica had ever seen him. “I put you and the baby at risk. I was thinking with my dick. As usual.”
“You just wanted our wedding night to be memorable,” Jessica said, patting his arm. “You can’t take all the blame. I went against the advisement too.”
She studied him and then slowly smiled with relief as the enormity of what could have happened was replaced with the realization that it hadn’t. The baby was okay. She was okay. Sed was only slightly damaged below the belt.
“I was thinking with my pussy. As usual.”
He chuckled and attempted to stand up straight, but winced and leaned forward again. “We’ll just have to make love with our feet safely on the ground. And my balls safely away from your knee.”
Jessica sighed. “I already had to give up hot-tub sex for this kid, now I have to give up ankles-behind-my-ears sex too? Just how much do I have to sacrifice to be a mother?” She was joking, of course. She’d willingly give up any of her own comforts and pleasures to protect her baby. But she needed the relief of a good laugh.
“We do have that new tantric chair arriving any day. Supposedly it makes all one hundred positions easier on the body.”
“Are you sure there are only a hundred positions?” She gasped as if scandalized. “We’ll be bored with it in a month, Sed.”
“I could never get bored with you.” He wrapped her in both arms and drew her against his warmth, surrounding her in a cocoon of leather-scented protectiveness. “You’re my heart.”
“And you’re mine,” she whispered.
They stood like that for a very long while, afraid to separate.
Having already packed the balloon on the trailer behind the SUV, Gary approached them. “Are you ready to head back to your car?” he asked. “I think we’re all a bit rattled after that wild ride.”
“I’m ready,” Sed said. “Though I think our wild ride is just beginning.”
Jessica hugged Sed tighter, needing his strength and stability now and for the long road ahead of them.
Sed tried to take a step, but Jessica held him fast.
“Jess? Don’t you want to head for home?”
“Patience,” she said. “I haven’t quite found my strength yet. I need to borrow a bit more of yours.” She never thought she’d willingly admit something like that, but it was true. Sometimes she would have to depend on him. And there was nothing wrong with that.
“Anytime, sweetheart,” he whispered against her hair and drew her closer still. “Anything you need from me is yours.”
“Right now I just need a strong pair of arms around me and a hard chest to lean against.”
He chuckled. “Then I’ve got you covered, baby.”
And she trusted he always would.
November Rain
Epilogue to Hot Ticket
A Sinners on Tour Encore
by Olivia Cunning
Chapter One
Jace yawned as he inserted his key and unlocked the front door of his house. It was good to be home, no matter how temporarily. Sinners would only be off tour for two weeks as their stage equipment made its way by cargo ship across the Atlantic to Europe and Sed got married. And then he would be back on the road again for several months. At least Aggie would accompany him overseas. She’d become such an important part of his life, he couldn’t imagine three months without his badass girlfriend by his side.
The instant he opened the door, he was yanked inside and smothered in the kisses of said badass girlfriend. She crushed him to the inner surface of the door, her hands sliding up his T-shirt to caress the bare skin of his belly. Her mouth sucked at his lips, and she straddled his thigh to move closer. Through the fabric of his jeans, he could feel the heat coming off her pussy. Jace groaned. The duffle bag in his hand dropped to the floor as his arms went around her to draw her closer. The woman always excited easily, but she’d obviously been worked up before he’d even entered the house. He wondered what she’d been up to. One of her hands slid down to rub his cock through his pants and as lust stole his more coherent thoughts, he decided whatever had gotten her all hot and bothered was a good thing.
“God, I missed you,” she said between kisses.
It had been only five days since they’d last seen each other. While the band finished up several shows in New England, Aggie and the other Lady Sinners had gone home to take care of business before they all headed to Europe together. He and his four band members had flown home on a red-eye flight after last night’s show in New York. Jace had slept a bit on the plane, but had been craving his mattress for some sleep. Now he was craving his mattress for a whole different reason.
“I missed you too,” Jace said against Aggie’s seeking lips.
One of his arms tightened around her as he pulled her closer and kissed her with the same enthusiasm she’d shown him. Cupping her full breast through her tight T-shirt, he found her nipple already hard and straining against his thumb for more vigorous stimulation.
“I could just fuck you right here,” she said in that low, sexy growl of a voice his cock recognized as no-holds-barred sex coming its way.
“What’s stopping you?” he murmured. “Are you working with a client in the dungeon? Is that why you’re so turned on?”
When they’d spoken on the phone that morning, she hadn’t mentioned doing any sessions as a professional dominatrix that day, but occasionally one of her clients talked her into an impromptu session. It wasn’t a big deal. He just wondered what she’d been doing to the lucky son of a bitch that had her so on fire.
She chuckled. “No, no client today. There isn’t a client on the planet who could make me want you this bad. But I do have a friend here.”
A spike of jealousy speared Jace’s heart. He knew Aggie would never fool around with a client, but she’d never gotten sexually excited just because a friend had visited. He couldn’t help but wonder exactly what kind of fun she’d been having with her friend. And who the friend was. A past boyfriend maybe? She’d assured him none of the guys in her past had meant anything to her. So what had her attacking him at the door?
“Who?” he asked.
“Are you going to introduce us?” a soft feminine voice said from behind Aggie.
Jace stood away from the door so quickly that Aggie had to grab on to him to keep from tumbling to the floor. Behind Aggie stood one of the most stunning redheads Jace had ever laid eyes on. Tall and lithe, she exuded self-confidence and sexuality. Her brilliant red hair cascaded over her shoulders and had just enough waviness to make it full. The woman looked from Aggie to Jace and back to Aggie with grass-green eyes surrounded by thick lashes. The plunging neckline of her green silk dress drew his attention to a pair of large, round breasts. And he couldn’t help but notice that she wasn’t wearing a bra. Her huge tits seemed to defy gravity. Damn. If Jace had friends who looked like her, he might get sexually excited by their visits too.
“This is Jace,” Aggie said, still breathless with arousal.
“I kind of figured that out, Ice,” the woman said, a beguiling smile curving her soft pink lips. “What with you melting all over him and everything.”
Ice?
“Jace, this is a friend of mine from Vegas,” Aggie said. “We go way back. She’s in town for the weekend, shooting a film.”
So the redhead was an actress. Lots of actresses could be found in and around Hollywood, so that didn’t surprise him. What surprised him was that she wasn’t on the A-list and starring in lead roles that he’d recognize. He had no idea who she was. But she looked Aggie’s age. For a budding actress, twenty-nine was fairly ancient.
“What kind of film?” he asked. He wasn’t much of a conversationalist—especially not with people he just met—but he was genuinely interested. And not because she was hot. Because she was a friend of Aggie’s.
“You weren’t lying when you said you never told him about me,” the woman said, crossing her arms and leveling Aggie with a harsh stare. “I thought we were friends.”
“I wasn’t trying to hide you from him or anything. You just never came up,” Aggie said, releasing Jace and turning to stand beside him. She squeezed his hand.
“It’s a pornographic film,” Aggie’s friend said to Jace, watching for his reaction. When he didn’t gasp or give her a strange look, she added. “Typical gang-bang stuff—six guys, two at a time.”
She definitely had the body for porn.
“This is Starr Lancaster,” Aggie said. “Surely you’ve heard of her. She’s one of the best-known porn actresses in the world.”
Jace nodded slightly in Starr’s direction. He had heard the name Starr Lancaster in certain circles—all-male circles. He was pretty sure half of the Sinners’ porn collection featured her in the starring role, but he’d never been interested in watching porn, so even if it was on the big screen on the tour bus, he didn’t really pay attention to the faces. Sometimes he took mental notes so he could employ new techniques, but it wasn’t really his thing. Now that he knew who she was, however, his mind flipped through several mental images of her getting off. He remembered she was known for squirting when she came. He could feel the heat of embarrassment start to climb his cheeks.
“Did I actually make him blush?” Starr asked Aggie.
“It isn’t hard to do,” Aggie said, touching his cheek with her cool fingertips.
“My friend Eric would probably like your autograph,” Jace said.
Starr laughed. “If he’s as cute as you are, I’ll sign his dick with my tongue.”
Aggie winced. “God, Starr, do you have to be so crass?”
“Crass?” Starr lifted an eyebrow at Aggie. “When the fuck did you turn into Pollyanna, Ice?”
Ice? Why did she keep calling Aggie Ice?
“I didn’t,” Aggie said. “It’s just Eric is married to a really sweet woman, and I know what a home wrecker you are.”
“You can’t wreck a home that isn’t already wrecked,” Starr said, lifting a hand and flicking her wrist. “So are we going to do this, or what?”
“Yeah, go get ready. I’ll be right down.”
“Be prepared to beg for mercy, babydoll,” Starr said to Jace and turned on her heel to leave them alone in the foyer.
“What’s she talking about?” Jace asked Aggie, trying not to stare at the green silk clinging to Starr’s ass as she stalked away in her stilettoes.
“A little surprise for you. We used to work as a domme duo when we were first starting out and learning the trade. We were both trained under Mistress Z. When we worked a client together, Starr was called Fire and I was Ice.”
“I wondered why she kept calling you that.”
“We were highly sought afte
r in Vegas back in the day, until…” Aggie’s face took on a distant look before she shrugged and met his eyes. “It’s been a while, but she stopped by out of the blue and