by Joanna Blake
"Isn't the old expression 'coffee, tea or me'?"
She gasped and looked away. Maybe he'd read her wrong. But he had no choice. There was no turning back now. He had to forge ahead, or risk losing her forever.
"I didn't sleep with those girls you know. The triplets. Or anyone else. I was just trying to make you jealous."
She lifted her eyes to his and smiled wryly.
"It worked."
He was on his feet in an instant.
"I'm sorry I got you fired. Jerry is going to offer you your job back. I told him he had to or I would leave the label."
She shook her head.
"It doesn't matter. I don't want to go back."
He reached out for her, running his hands up and down her arms.
"What do you want Sabrina?"
She took a shaky breath and looked at him.
"I don't know."
"I have a job for you if you'll have it."
"You do?"
He nodded solemnly.
"I need a new manager for starters. Marley is marrying one of my maids and moving to Argentina."
"That's a long flight."
He laughed, keeping his hands moving. Soothing her.
"That's right, it is."
"I've never managed anyone Nick. I'd probably mess it up."
"Wait now, you haven't heard my full offer."
"Okay."
"I've been thinking about starting my own label as well. I need someone to run it. And me."
She gave him a glance.
"What are you asking Nick?"
"I'm bloody well asking you to marry me aren't I?"
She stared at him as he pulled out a Cartier box. He'd had the damn thing with him since Paris.
"Nick…"
"Hush and let me do this thing properly."
She waited while he lowered himself to his knee. He pulled the ring out of the box. It was a dark blue sapphire that matched her eyes perfectly. It was surrounded by diamonds. He glanced up at her, hoping she'd like it.
"Miss Sabrina Newton, will you be my manager?"
She laughed and covered her face.
"No, sorry, that's not right. Let's try this again. Miss Sabrina Newton, will you run my record company for me? We can base it right here if you want. I don't care where we live. Anywhere you want. Mars. As long as we’re together."
She was crying a little bit while he blundered through the longest proposal in the history of the world.
"Oh bloody hell. No more joking. Will you marry me love? Please? I'll do anything."
For a long moment he thought she was going to say no. Then she nodded and he scooped her up into his arms and spun her in a circle.
Finally he set her down when he started to get dizzy. He slid the ring onto her finger and kissed her.
"I thought you were going to say no."
"I thought you were trapped under a pile of groupies."
He threw his head back and laughed.
"No love, those days were over the moment I met you."
"Really?"
"Yes really. I've had no interest in other women since you handed me that bloody schedule."
She smiled.
"You know, running a record label requires a lot of public appearances…"
"Oh no you don't. No more appearances until the wedding. That's public enough. Can we do it in London love? It would mean so much to me mum. Don't worry, we can take the boat over."
She nodded shyly. His girl. She was finally going to be his girl.
Once and for all.
And he wasn't ever going to let her go.
Joanna Blake loves good old fashioned romance, men who open doors and work with their hands. She's thrilled to be collaborating with Pincushion Press! Come along for the ride!
XoX,
Joanna
Other titles By Joanna Davis:
Wanted By The Devil on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes
Still Waters on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and iTunes
Safe In His Arms on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and iTunes.
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Check out the excerpt of Still Waters on the next page!
Still Waters
By
Joanna Blake
Copyright © 2014 by Joanna Blake
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof
may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the publisher
except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing, 2014
Pincushion Press
http://pincushionpress.tumblr.com/
Chapters
1. Punishment
2. Moment
3. Derailment
4. Involvement
5. Excitement
6. Disillusionment
7. Confinement
8. Abandonment
9. Testament
10. Ravishment
11. Amusement
1
Janet stared at her shoes while her father droned on and on about responsibility. She did her best to tune him out completely. Until her mother took over the lecture, making sure Janet knew how humiliated she was to have a daughter like her. Then Janet tuned her out too. It was better this way. Just let them have their say and she could get on with her life.
Whatever that was going to turn out to be.
She bit her tongue to keep from talking back. They just didn't get her. They never had, and she doubted they ever would. Her parents were extremely well off and belonged to every club in town. They had the nicest house, the nicest cars, and until recently, the nicest little goody two shoes for a daughter.
She almost laughed but she didn't want to get them going again. She had been a goody two shoes. Until about a year ago. Then BAM. Not so much.
Janet had never been the sort of person who did well with a bunch of rules. She didn't care about what other people thought, not like her parents did. But she didn't want to argue. Not tonight. Tonight she was meeting her best friend Kaylie for the first time in six months. Since she'd left for college.
That had gone really well.
College had not been for her, to put it mildly. She hadn't enjoyed her classes, or the dorms or anything really. Well, except for one thing…
She rolled her eyes and forced herself to keep still. She was ready to bounce out of her chair with excitement. Not just because she was going to see Kaylie, but because of where they were meeting. They were going there. The SOS clubhouse.
Janet had never been inside the Spawn's headquarters. Few outsiders had. And tonight was her chance. Her best friend was dating the President of one of the most notorious MC clubs in all of California! She was bursting with anticipation. She wondered if there would be anyone there she might want to date too. Kaylie had warned her that most of the guys were pretty cavalier about women, but you never know. Besides, Janet could be cavalier too.
She'd been feeling particularly reckless since getting kicked out of college for poor grades. She'd spent a semester and a half on academic probation, struggling since almost the first week of school. She didn't really blame her parents for being mad.
But how could they understand what it was like? There was no way to explain it to them. College had changed everything for her. She had finally blossomed into a woman. She'd always been distracted by boys. But finally after all this time, she distracted them too.
How was she supposed to concentrate on school with so many other things to do? She just wanted to dance and have fun. She'd gotten into the habit of hitting the night clubs almost every damn night. Of course she was flunking out!
/>
She peeked up at her parents sour expression. It was painfully obvious that they were still disappointed that her ballet career had been cut short. It didn't seem fair. She was the one who'd worked so hard for all those years. And besides, it's not like they had been expecting her to go to med school. But she had been hoping in a vague way to become a physical therapist someday. She'd fallen in love with the profession after the injury that forced her to hang up her toe shoes for good. Her therapist Becky had been amazing and so smart. It was around that point that she'd started to fill in and finally develop- dun dun dun- boobs!
God, she loved her boobs. She loved the way they looked, the way they felt, and especially the way they seemed to open doors… get her out of speeding tickets… even get her free drinks. Lots and lots of free drinks.
She tugged her skirt down over the tiny heart tattoo on her outer thigh. It was a good thing they hadn't seen that yet. No reason to send them into the stratosphere. Especially since that wasn't the last tattoo she planned on getting…
After another twenty minutes of lecturing they finally seemed to lose steam. Janet had heard enough about responsibility and becoming a productive member of society for a lifetime. She wasn't sure how she was going to fit into this world just yet, but she was sure it wasn't going to be the way her parents were talking about.
Not even close.
**********
Jack stood with Donnie, who was leaning against the bar, telling the guys a hilarious story about Dev and Kaylie. Making fun of the club President's sudden and utter devotion to a mere slip of a girl was everyone's favorite pastime. The Spawn's all adored Kaylie too so it was never mean spirited.
It was just too funny to see Devlin mooning over a woman when he'd had the chance to bed nearly every woman in two counties. Jack knew better though. As his second in command he knew that Dev had been needing something more than that. He had for a long time.
After Dev lost his family, the club was all he had. At 28, Jack was a couple of years older and had taken him under his wing. He'd never told the boy what to do, but he'd shown him by example. The kid had good instincts from the start. He was strong and smart and fearless, sure. But it was his backbone and sense of fair play that Jack had known would make him into an incredible leader one day. And he'd been right.
Donnie was mimicking Kaylie accepting a larger than life bouquet of pink roses, pretending to struggle under the weight as he simpered in a high pitched voice which sounded nothing like Kaylie to Jack. He rolled his eyes.
"And then she squeals 'Oh Dev! For me?'"
Everyone laughed except Jack. He'd been there. The bouquet had been at least twice that size.
"Speak of the Devil!"
Devlin eyed them as he came into the bar. He was wearing a clean and pressed shirt. That meant only one thing. Kaylie was coming to the clubhouse tonight. Jack sipped his ginger ale and scoped the bar out for trouble makers. There were always short fuses around to defuse in the SOS bar room. It was only an urgent matter when Dev's old lady was in the clubhouse though. Usually the Spawn let their guys work things out the old fashioned way.
But not when Kaylie was there. Dev was really strict about what was said and done around her. Some saw it as a sign of weakness, but not Jack.
He knew Dev was a lucky son of a bitch to have found somebody who deserved that level of care and protection. Someone who loved him back. If anything, Jack was jealous. Not that he'd ever expected or even wished for anything like that for himself.
Dogs like him didn't deserve love. He deserved dignity and brotherhood from the other Spawn's only through the dint of his unwavering loyalty. Other than that, he considered himself to be worthless. Well, except in a fight.
Jack stood well over six feet tall and was built light a freight train. With broad shoulders and a massive heavily muscled chest over narrow waist and hips, he was in peak physical condition. He'd lost the last of his padding in the last few years when he'd finally stopped drinking himself into oblivion every night. With his tattoos, muscular physique and streaming long dark hair, he'd earned himself a slew of embarrassing nicknames over the years. Unfortunately there was one that stuck.
The Viking.
He never responded to the joking around with more than a level stare. The joking usually stopped immediately. He didn't like to be teased, or taken less than seriously. But he put up with it, because he liked being in the thick of it with his fellow Spawn. His life had been so desolate before he'd been initiated. He'd ridden alone for years, hitting the road when he was just 15 on the back on a stolen bike. He was still isolated in a lot of ways, but at least he wasn't alone.
For the first time in his life, he knew there'd be someone to cry at his funeral.
2
Janet forced herself to relax as she followed Kaylie into the clubhouse. Years of dance training had given her a rail straight spine. Sometimes people thought she was stuck up because of it. She wasn't a snot, though she certainly wasn't a shrinking violet. She relaxed her body, letting it sway naturally, sinking into her hips when she walked.
Do not walk like a dancer!
She stared around the clubhouse as Kaylie led her to the bar room. The place was bigger than she'd thought. It was literally as if the most bad ass, honky tonk bar had been plopped down in the middle of the huge building, far from prying eyes. There was a long dark wood bar with a brass railing, fully stocked, two stripper poles on either end of the room, and chairs and tables everywhere.
And men. Lots and lots of men. They all turned to look at them when they walked in. Janet looked around and saw a few severely underdressed women here and there. She smiled to herself. Her mini skirt and tank top were practically modest. Not as modest as Kaylie's outfit, but close.
Devlin made a beeline for them, kissing Kaylie quickly before holding out his hand in greeting. God, he was cute. Janet couldn't help but be a little envious of the adoring way he was staring at her friend. There was no doubt in her mind that he loved Kaylie.
Some girls have all the luck.
He led them over to the bar and asked a few guys to vacate stools for them. She and Kaylie hopped onto the stools as a handsome guy with spiky black hair and bright blue eyes came over to take their orders.
"You must be Janet. I've heard a lot about you. I'm Donahue."
Janet blushed a little bit. What had Kaylie said about her to these guys? And why would a tough as nails biker give a shit?
It's because they cared about her, Janet realized. Kaylie was one of them now. Janet had never belonged to any group. Even as a dancer it had been a mostly solitary occupation. Her abilities had set her so far above the rest of the local talent that no one had really talked to her. Except her teacher Mrs. Lewis, who adored her. Until the accident. Now she was just plain old Janet Mahoney.
"Thanks. It's… nice to meet you too."
"What can I get you lovely ladies this evening?"
She glanced at Kaylie who smiled conspiratorially and leaned forward.
"Two sea breezes please."
Donnie rolled his eyes at the girly order, making them giggle. There were two other guys behind the bar running around and doing the grunt work but Donnie made their drinks, even adding fresh fruit. They turned around on their bar stools to include Devlin. He waved to a man across the room and he started over.
Janet's heart did a little flip flop at the sight of him. Now there was a biker. Tall and lean and mean looking. He had long dark hair and was dressed in leather pants and a club jacket, with a torn black t-shirt underneath. He didn't look to the left or the right as he walked toward them.
"This is Jack, my second in command. Jack, this is Janet."
Her mouth felt dry as the giant turned his attention toward her. His eyes flicked over her as if she were inconsequential. But then- there was a glimmer of something- warm in his gaze. He nodded at her, and then at Kaylie. And then he turned around and stalked back to the spot he'd been occupying across the room.
Janet's m
outh must have been open as she stared at him. He was - Jesus - he was a little bit scary! Kaylie giggled and sipped the drink that Donnie had just placed in front of her.
"Don't mind Jack. He's not as mean as he looks."
"He isn't?"
Devlin grinned and grabbed the beer Donnie served him without asking.
"Jack's one of the best people I know. He just doesn't like to brag about it."
Janet glanced over her shoulder. She could have sworn Jack was scowling at her. But he turned his gaze so sharply that she couldn't be sure.
**********
"What's he doing over there?"
Three drinks later, and Janet could not get the guy out of her mind. He'd been standing alone all night, surveying the room.
"He's protecting us."
"What?"
Kaylie leaned in.
"It can get kind of crazy in here. Jack's making sure nothing gets started while we are here."
"Oh."
A funny feeling was settling in the pit of her stomach. He was protecting them. She felt safe suddenly. Safer than she had in a long time.
Maybe ever.
Kaylie was giggling. She didn't drink too often. Janet was feeling a bit giddy herself.
"They call him the Viking. But don't do it! He hates it."
"Does he ever talk?"
"No. To Devlin sometimes. But I've barely heard more than three words out of him at a time."
"Is something- wrong with him?"
"No. And don't let anyone hear you say that. Devlin told me he owes Jack his life. He's done more for Devlin than anyone. Me too. He's a good guy. You don't have to be scared of him, I promise."
She was feeling something. But it wasn't fear.
The hairs rose on the back of her neck. She turned and caught him staring at her. No, not staring. His eyes were boring into her. She could feel his eyes as if he were touching her.
Intimately.
The Viking. It suited him.
