The Sirens of SaSS Anthology

by Anthology

  Devon took his seat on the stool, sitting sideways so he could watch her on the monitor and turn to see the audience too. He signaled the guys to start.

  On the first note, Aria walked out, moving right into the routine, the very same one she once performed naked, but he'd never seen her do the dance in her pointe shoes.

  As he sang, he was amazed by her elegance all over again. To accomplish that surrounded by instruments, a more-than-dark setting, and a bunch of rock stars decked out in mostly black, spoke volumes of her beauty.

  The lighting technician caught on and kept a spotlight on her in addition to the one on Devon.

  The stadium remained almost silent until the end.

  Devon stood and walked to the center where she floated over to him and cupped his face, pulling him close to ghost her lips over his. The lights went out. His heart swelled, and in that moment he admitted he was falling for her.

  There was a pregnant pause and then the crowd went nuts as the lights came on to full brightness.

  Devon and Aria blinked at one another, and then he beamed at her. He pressed a quick kiss to her lips before walking to the edge of the deck, hand in the air. “Goodnight everyone, thanks for coming out tonight, and drive home safe!” He didn't acknowledge her in his remarks; he wanted to keep her all to himself.

  The three men up front threw extra guitar picks out to the crowd, and Barry tossed a couple of drumsticks out before the crew started to disassemble their setup.

  The men filed offstage and met up in the hall, giving high fives and hugs as they always did after a large show. Devon spotted Aria nearby. “Come here, babe.”

  She was still in her pointe shoes and walked her way over.

  “That was the shit,” Zachary, the keyboardist said while offering fist bumps to Devon and Aria. The others agreed with nods and positive words.

  “Did you guys plan that?” Troy asked.

  “No. Sorry,” Devon admitted, ducking his head.

  “No worries, it worked out and you guys were awesome together. It's like you've done this before.” Troy patted his back.

  Devon and Aria shot knowing looks at one another with wide grins.

  Everyone dispersed to shower, Aria found the restroom to change into her street clothes, and eventually they all gathered in the meet-and-greet room.

  Cindy entered with Troy, and they headed over to Aria. Troy hugged her, and Cindy smiled, offering her hand. It was the first time they'd met. Devon observed from across the room, he didn't want to be there for that, he'd head over a few minutes later.

  He sidled up next to Aria, and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “You were great tonight.”

  She smiled, and kissed him back. “Next time, a little more warning would be nice.”

  He chuckled softly against her ear. “Sorry, spur-of-the-moment decision.”

  He pulled away from her, and his gaze landed on Cindy's. She said nothing, only smiled sweetly. “What?” he asked her.

  “Nothing, you guys just look good together.”

  He growled and nuzzled Aria's neck, causing her to giggle. “We are good together.”

  “So, when's the wedding?” A new voice joined them.

  Devon turned to see a familiar pretty blonde grinning and looking between him and Aria.

  “Hey, it's fantasy girl.” Devon had told Aria about his blind date and what was said, so she wasn't upset in the least.

  Aria chuckled. “Restaurant girl, will we ever learn your name?”

  The blonde turned her attention to Aria, and held out her hand. They shook. “Aria, nice to meet you, I'm Janel. Cindy dragged me out tonight, but seeing your performance, made it well worth it.”

  Aria laughed out loud at the blunt attempt to leave Devon out of the name introduction, but it was said loud enough he could hear.

  “Can we go back to the wedding part?” Cindy asked, looking at Janel.

  “I told him on our blind date, that he'd marry the redhead one day. I'm still certain of it, even more so after that performance.” Janel turned to Devon. “Her movements were so in tune with your words and the music. It was amazing.”

  Aria blushed at the kind words.

  “So, wedding date?” Janel prompted.

  Aria nudged Devon. “Well, he hasn't asked yet, but you guys will be the first to know when it happens.”

  Devon's heart warmed at how she said, “when” and not “if”.

  He knew then—what Janel had known all along—that he was going to marry this redhead one day.

  One day soon, hopefully.

  ###The End###

  Rockstar On Pointe is a spin-off novella of Silken Secrets, book four of the Silken Edge series. Silken Secrets can also be read as a standalone, as can the other four books in the series.

  Laci Paige’s muse comes to life at night when her family goes to sleep.

  You can find Laci online at:

  https://twitter.com/laci_paige

  https://www.facebook.com/authorlacipaige/

  https://www.authorlacipaige.com

  http://amzn.to/2pKYIuI

  THE SHERIFF AND THE COUGAR

  A novella by Lexi Buchanan

  Chapter One

  Kat

  Winter in Vermont was cold, snowy, and ever so long, but, for me, it was the best time of year. The air was crisp, the nights filled with a thousand cold stars shining on black velvet that mirrored the flickering lights on the house. I always looked forward to decorating the large house for Christmas in time for my two sons to visit. My boys were grown now but they still joined me for a few days over the holidays—another reason for winter being my favorite season.

  And why Christmas dinner was my favorite meal. I’d go all out with the cooking because I loved having Miles and William home. Miles, my eldest, would arrive a few days before Christmas with his beautiful wife, Jane, and their one-year-old daughter, Cecee. William had recently married his long-term girlfriend, Sam, so I would have a full house. They were happy and that was all I ever wanted for them. But, lately, I’d wanted something for myself...that little piece of happiness that came so easily to my children.

  I shook the thought from my head and pulled my jacket around my body, feeling a sudden chill as I walked through the shopping mall with my best friend, Beth. I’d already purchased gifts for my granddaughter, and now we headed toward…my attention caught and held…it only half registered that Beth had carried on without me, but…but…the sleek line of perfection, the work it took to get them soft, round, and hard, the way they fit together was like a love affair…

  “Kat?” Beth nudged my side.

  “The length is long and thick,” I moaned, drooling over a new pair of Jimmy Choo shoes that were currently being placed in the center of the window display of the shoe store.

  “Kat?” Beth cleared her throat. “You’re making the Sheriff, um, uncomfortable.”

  Her comment snapped me out of the Jimmy Choo induced coma. “What?” I turned toward my friend and my heart sank before picking up speed when I saw Beth directed a grin over my shoulder. I felt a blush creep onto my face when I slowly turned and found the deliciously young sheriff. “Jesse,” I whispered.

  His grin split his face at the sound of his name. “It took me a few minutes to decide what you were describing. Because I can think of something that’s long and thick…” he drawled, a sexy smirk on his lips.

  “Oh!” I mumbled.

  What was wrong with me?

  He only had to open his mouth and he had me acting like a horny teenager, instead of the forty-four year old woman I was.

  He chuckled. “I better get back to work…and thank you, for making my day a lot warmer.” He hesitated and, for once, looked unsure of himself before another smile split his face. “I’ll see you around, Kat.” With a wink, he sauntered off and I found my eyes dropping to his mighty fine ass. His pants fit him like a glove so the round firmness was clearly defined.

  “He should be illegal,” Beth commented, her mouth hang
ing open.

  I snapped my eyes to closely watch my friend, whose eyes were fixated on the sheriff’s bottom, but my gaze soon strayed back to the sheriff. Before he disappeared around the corner, he glanced over his shoulder and sent me a smoldering wink.

  “That man wants you,” Beth offered a knowing smirk on her flushed face. “He wants inside those panties, and I bet he gets in them soon.”

  “Oh please,” I rolled my eyes, flustered. “He is far too young for me.” My heart beat with a new life at the thought of the sheriff. No matter how much I protested to my friend, Jesse would only have to kiss me and I’d come. He was the things dreams were made of and his teasing only wound me up all the more.

  Beth laughed. “Oh, I think we’re going to be seeing far more of the sheriff…and someone is going to be seeing so much more.”

  I let Beth’s words go in one ear and out the other. The sheriff might be flirting with me but it was harmless fun. He could have anyone he wanted so there was no way he’d be seriously interested in me. Besides, I wouldn’t know how to handle a man like that…although one way came to mind…

  On a heavy sigh, I linked my arm into Beth’s and tugged her back to the car. I’d finished my shopping, and while I was distracted enough with the sheriff, I wanted a quick exit before my bank balance went down by another thousand dollars on a pair of shoes I had nowhere to wear.

  “That’s what you need,” Beth commented. “A fling with a hot younger guy to get the engine running again.”

  “The sheriff is not someone you have a fling with,” I scoffed, lost in thought. “He’s a genuinely nice guy that someone would be lucky to settle down with. He’s a homebody at heart.”

  I felt Beth’s gaze on me, but chose to ignore my best friend. No way did I want to talk about why I knew so much about the man who’d been in my thoughts a lot more than he should have. In the end, Beth drove me back to my house in silence, which I appreciated. My head was full of Jesse, and the pair of Jimmy Choo’s I couldn’t forget. I closed my eyes remembering the words Jesse had commented on, ‘hard and thick,’ my panties had nearly melted.

  I needed to concentrate on something else before I became frustrated, which was a constant problem since I’d first met the man. My ex-husband, Mike, hadn’t gotten that reaction out of me in years. I’d surprised him, and myself, because I’d been totally okay with his infidelity and had even been relieved. I hadn’t even been bothered when he’d married someone else the day after the divorce was final.

  The divorce had been good for us but not so good for our two sons...despite both of them being adults when we’d told them. Both of them had their own lives in Boston, but they were still furious with their father and frustrated with me. They couldn’t understand why I wasn’t bothered about him moving out or the subsequent divorce.

  They’d visited during the summer and, after three years, the boys had finally started talking to their father again. It made me happy. Regardless of his faults, Mike had always been a good father. Nothing was ever inconvenient for him when they’d needed him.

  But I hadn’t needed Mike and I don’t think I ever had. We’d been friends and we’d gone through marriage like we’d thought we had to. But there’d never been a spark between us...merely a companionship that wasn’t missed much when we were apart. Two people who coexisted with each other. Two people who did great as parents but once that parenting was done...had nothing left in common.

  I hadn’t missed him when he was with me and I hadn’t missed him when he’d walked out the door. I wasn’t surprised that, after three years of being alone, my libido had started to sit up and take notice of Jesse Morales.

  He was everything Mike wasn’t: tall, about six-five or so, broad shouldered, taut body and a twisted smile that caused my dormant libido to come roaring back to life. His hair was dark, and unruly for a sheriff, but it made him sexier. His face was strong, and so very handsome. His whisker covered jaw, and full lips sent my imagination into the gutter.

  On the odd occasion, I’d noticed him limping, but had never acknowledged it whenever our paths had crossed. He’d almost looked embarrassed but it hadn’t stopped him from flirting with me. At first I’d thought I’d imagined it, but the more he did it, the more I realized he was serious. At least, I thought he was but I was so out of practice, it could have been my imagination.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow, unless you plan on spending the night in my car,” Beth’s voice interrupted my thoughts and I realized she was parked outside of my home. “I know where your mind is.” Beth smirked. “If I had a hot young guy lusting after me, I’d be totally distracted too.”

  “He isn’t lusting after me.” I climbed from my friends car. “He loves to tease.” Closing the door, the window went down so I added, “I’ll see you at lunch tomorrow.”

  With a regal wave, I headed into my silent house.

  Chapter Two

  Jesse

  Kicked back in the chair at my desk, I gazed off into space wondering how in hell I was going to get Kathrin Ross to go on a date with me. All the flirting I’d been doing with her was my poor attempt at getting her to look at me. I’d never acted like this before and I needed to grow up and act my age.

  And most of the time I did...except when Kat came into sight. Every time we bumped into each other, I lost my head and could only think about being closer to her. There was a need inside of me to just be with her…to be the one to look after her, unlike the useless waste of space she’d been married to. I’d heard the rumors about him and his affairs when I’d first moved here, and had come to the conclusion he was an asshole. He sure as hell hadn’t deserved Kat so it was with relief when I’d found out they were divorced...but that created a whole new problem—how to make her mine.

  Even though she blushed whenever I was around her, I was pretty sure she thought I was only teasing when I tried to flirt. I was a bit out of practice after all. At first she appeared quiet and shy, but I’d noticed her eyes on me more than once and they were anything but. She had fire in her veins and I wanted that. I wanted it all. Now all I had to do was work out a way to get her…and keep her.

  Clearing his throat, Dale watched me from the doorway, which brought me back to the here and now. I raised a brow. “You’re disturbing my peace because…”

  Dale was a couple of years younger than me, and he had been the first deputy to congratulate me when I became sheriff at twenty-eight…young for a sheriff, but the only one experienced enough for the job, who wanted it. I’d been doing the job for six months prior to it being made official due to the sudden heart attack of Sheriff Johnson, who had since retired.

  As I stared at Dale, he smirked. “I bet I don’t have to guess where your mind had wandered, or to whom.” He grinned and dropped into the visitor’s chair. “Don’t you think you’re a bit too old to be mooning around after a woman?” He raised a brow, a smirk forming across his face.

  I narrowed my gaze and grinned. “I’m not mooning after her as you so eloquently put it.” I stood and paced to the window. “I’m in love with the woman and sometimes I’m not even sure she knows I’m alive.”

  His laugh from over my shoulder startled me into quickly turning. “What?”

  “She knows you’re alive.” He shook his head. “I think you need to just go over to her place and kiss the hell out of her. Won’t be no mistaking your intentions then.”

  Surprised at his suggestion, I stared unblinking until he offered an embarrassed laugh. “I may have won my wife that way,” he muttered, slamming my office door on his way out.

  I watched as he retreated and I wondered whether he was right, and that I needed to be more forceful. Let her know how much I wanted her, and that I wasn’t playing when I teased her. I needed to let her know that I just wanted her.

  My office door slammed open, snapping my gaze to Dale. “Two calls about an alarm going off.”

  His penetrating star told me exactly where the alarm was, but I asked, “Kat?”

&
nbsp; He nodded.

  Without missing a beat, I grabbed my keys and jacket. “Let’s go.”

  Chapter Three

  Kat

  The alarm was infuriating.

  It had a mind of its own and it had a habit of acting up during the winter months. I’m sure my head would still be ringing for hours after I finally managed to stop the thing. I even took the battery out, but apparently I took the decoy out and I had no clue as to where the actual cut off was.

  It would be silent soon though as I smiled up at what I presumed to be the motherboard. The hammer in my hand would damage the thing but I’d had enough of the insistent ringing.

  The ladders I clung to held my weight as I slowly climbed higher so I could reach the flashing panel. My fist gripped the top of the ladders while I steadied myself against the wall.

  I wouldn’t look down.

  I needed to focus on the reason why I was up here and not how high off the floor I was.

  Inhaling, I shakily drew my hand back and before I could think about the wisdom of what I was doing, I slammed the hammer into the panel. The flimsy plastic snapped, flew off…but, there was silence.

  “What the fuck!”

  The unexpected voice made me whip around so quickly that my head spun and my vision blurred as I tried to focus on Jesse, and then I was falling.

  “Kat,” Jesse yelled seconds before I felt his arms wrap around me as we landed on the floor with a thud.

  It took me a minute to realize what had happened and when I opened my eyes, Jesse was lying flat out under me, having cushioned my fall. I pushed up with my hands and felt his whole body shudder beneath me, snapping my gaze up to his narrowed lids.

  “When I said to be more forceful, this wasn’t what I had in mind,” Dale drawled standing over us.

  “Get out of here,” Jesse snapped.

  I heard Dale chuckle as he moved away.

  I quickly tried to scramble from the top of Jesse but he held me still. “Stop wiggling,” he groaned.