The Complete Tempest World Box Set

by Mankin, Michelle

  “The pixie.” King rolled his eyes.

  “Melinda?” Dizzy frowned. “You going out with her again? After the thing with April, I thought that was all over.”

  “Oh, no.” Bryan groaned. “Don’t tell me that it was Bluebelle that you were talking to last night.” Our lead guitarist tucked his pick in his pocket and waved his hands in front of himself as if to ward off bad mojo. “Shit, man. I need a mind wipe fast. It sounded like porn in there with all of that moaning and shit going on.”

  I couldn’t suppress the goofy grin that spread across my face as I recalled everything. Melinda agreeing to move beyond friendship status. Me delivering her the three orgasms I promised. Then her sharing some video that had blown my ever loving mind. It had been a great night and hadn’t ended until near three in the morning.

  “Don’t give me any more details. Your idiotic smile says it all,” Dizzy cautioned. “It’s too weird, like knowing your little sister’s having sex.” He inclined his head toward Bryan. “Let’s just leave it at that, alright?”

  “A sister who’s hot as hell.” War whistled low. “Did you see those naked pics in Maxim?”

  My muscles locked tight. I didn’t realize my hands were in fists until I felt the edges of my pick digging into the flesh of my palm.

  “The cute little blue haired pixie?” Bryan looked perplexed. “Nude in a men’s magazine? I don’t believe it.”

  “Not blue anymore. I’ll show you. I’ve got the issue in my room. I only read the articles.” War winked and headed to his room before I could protest. I didn’t like the thought of everyone ogling her. I felt the burn of jealousy but also the excitement of anticipation. I might not like them seeing her, but I certainly wanted to. “Here.” War returned, flipping rapidly through the well-worn magazine pages. Everyone gathered around him. I leaned forward, eyes bugging out of my head. Fuck, she looked gorgeous. Lips bright red, shiny with gloss I imagined licking off. Eyes heavy lidded, her expression reminded me of the way she had looked in Seattle before she had come. It was a tease, the entire picture, her hair loose in waves around her shoulders, the outline of her lush breasts and hips visible around the edges of her skis. It revved me up to look at her like that. It would drive any man crazy.

  “You hadn’t seen it, huh?” King guessed.

  “Uh-uh. She told me about it, but…” I lifted the strap from my bass away from my skin. The back of my neck felt too hot all of a sudden. “Give me that magazine, War,” I demanded casting a warning glance around. “No one else looks at her anymore. Got it?”

  “Ok, man.” He closed the magazine and passed it to me. “No problem. I totally understand. I have to deal with that kind of shit with Shaina all the time. But dude, you do realize that about a million guys have used this picture as inspirational material.” I felt a surge of irrational anger. I wanted to plow my fist through his face and every other guy who had looked at her.

  “Don’t provoke him.” Dizzy shook his head. “Can’t you see how it is? He’s about to boil over.”

  “No way.” Bryan looked incredulous as he squinted at me. “Not Sager. I’ve never once seen him lose control.”

  “I have.” Dizzy rubbed his jaw remembering the time I’d clocked him in the parking garage after Melinda had seen him and April in bed together.

  “I’ll be damned.” Bryan snapped his fingers together. “You’re fucking serious about her.”

  “Completely.” I nodded to affirm.

  “Well, good luck with that.” Bryan crossed to me, looked me straight in the eyes and clasped my shoulder firmly. “You’re gonna need it. Melinda’s a live wire for sure. Pretty, too. I get it. Sure. But she seems the opposite of you, personality wise.” He studied my face a moment longer. “But maybe that’s a good thing for you. Shakes things up. You could use a little crazy in your groove.”

  “I’m digging the crazy in the tune we’re working on right now,” War stated, getting me off the hook by getting the band back on track. “But the piano isn’t working. Can you give me a little more crunch on bass, Sage?”

  I nodded, stomping the effect pedal as War moved to the center mic. “No drums in that first,” he told King. “Start with Dizzy on rhythm. Bryan,” he tossed a side glance at his best friend, “give me some more volume on that whining riff. We also need to pick up the tempo. I think this one needs some serious lyrics.” He pivoted to look at our drummer. “King, let’s have a look at that poem, the one about the old guy with the beard who’s always hanging out by the liquor store on Main.”

  • • •

  Melinda

  Once Mary Timmons made up her mind to do something, she didn’t do it half-assed. I shouldn’t have been surprised. By the time I came down from my morning workout on the mountain the next day, I had a brand new pair of top of the line Swiss made STÖCKLI SX skis, the green ones. The ones I couldn’t afford but had been lusting over for the past six months. Leaning against my locker, a note accompanied them: ‘Compliments of Black Cat Records for Melinda T. Belle.’

  I hugged them to my chest with tears flooding my eyes. I might be able to cut a couple of seconds off of my time with equipment of this caliber. I withdrew my cell from my pocket planning to type Mary a quick but heartfelt thank you but I got sidetracked by the number of texts I had missed.

  Sager: Didn’t sleep at all. Thinking about you. In the studio all day. Talk later. Kickass on the slopes but be careful

  I smiled.

  Beth Tate: Got your signed contract. By now you should have your new skis. I’ll meet you at Summit Sport before you go to the gym. We need your measurements and preferences for the rest of your gear.

  I typed the thank you to Mary, and was practically skipping when I left the round house and entered the village store. I scanned the gear stuffed surrounds for the familiar face of Black Cat Records’ Public Relations VP.

  “Melinda.” Her short dark hair peeking out from under a cute red and white tuque, Beth eagerly grabbed my gloved hands with her ungloved ones and squeezed them warmly before tugging me to the back.

  “I already had one of the girls pull some things off the rack for you to try on.” Her grey-green eyes danced. “After that we’ll get your measurements for all of the custom made logo stuff.” I blinked at her in quiet shock. It took a moment for my brain to process her rapid fire words. She shooed me toward the dressing room. “Hurry. I know you only have an hour break for lunch.”

  “Alright.” I nodded and started to step around her when she grabbed my arm. “Oops, I almost forgot. Here.” She thrust a Kashi protein bar into my hand. “You need to replace all those calories you burned off this morning. I talked with Kathrine Arbold on the phone. She emailed me a list of nutritional recommendations. Low carbs. High protein. Unlimited veggies. She’s flying into Vancouver today. She should arrive sometime this evening. She’ll start your first session bright and early tomorrow morning.”

  “You got Kathrine Arbold to agree to be my personal trainer?” Disbelief made my voice squeak. She coached Nadja Vogel, one of Switzerland’s premier ski cross athletes.

  “I surely did.” Looking pleased with herself, Beth nodded.

  “How did you manage that?”

  “I’m a pro.” She grinned. “Mary suggested her. We’re all very excited about this new venture. After your gym time today, I want to sit down with you and look over the tentative schedule I’ve lined up.”

  My eyes grew wide.

  “Don’t worry. I won’t interfere with your training. That takes top priority of course. I just want you to do a couple of phone interviews with some ski magazines. Then a photo shoot for Atomic. The vocals and a video for a Black Cat Records television commercial. Not too much. Right?”

  Head spinning, I shook my head clutching the protein bar to my chest. Beth gently steered me toward the dressing room. In my daze, I nearly knocked over the salesgirl whose eyes were lit up with the potential size of her commission.

  I set the protein bar on the bench and for
got about it as I tried on one thing after another. Loose pants, jackets, ski boots, bindings and goggles. I was shaky by the time I finished. Even the sales girl’s enthusiasm had started to flag. Lifting her long blonde French braid from her neck to fan it with her hand, she perked up when Beth handed her a black American Express business card and informed her that we were taking everything.

  “I know you need to go.” Beth turned to me as the bill was being totaled. “I’ll take care of this. I know where you’re staying. I’ll have everything sent over and stock up your fridge. But that reminds me. Your condo is quite a distance from the slopes. I can move you closer. The Fairmont if you like. But not if you’re comfortable where you are, with your teammate.”

  “I’m good but thanks.” I thought most of the current tension with my roomie centered around the finances. That wasn’t going to be an issue with Black Cat paying all my bills now. Plus, if I moved into a place which most of my teammates couldn’t afford, it might just create a bigger rift between me and them than already existed. I didn’t need that. To get them to accept me as the newbie was hard enough without any added friction.

  I sprinted from the store to the gym, stowing my stuff in the locker quickly, then tried to slink in unnoticed, but the head coach spotted me. Displeased, his brows drew together. He pointed to his watch.

  “Belle. In my office. Now.”

  Shit. I scurried after him. His wide shoulders condemned me as he strode swiftly toward it several angry paces ahead of me. Everyone knew he had a thing about tardiness.

  “You’ve done it now, roomie.” Sweat that smeared her mascara dripping into her eyes, my roommate elbowed another teammate as I passed them.

  “Good luck, rookie.” The taller girl with her shook her head.

  “Don’t make excuses,” Parker whispered to me as he exited the office ahead of me. “Own up to it, or it’ll be worse.”

  I nodded once. Coach already stewed behind his desk as I entered. “Close the door and have a seat, Belle.” He gestured toward a plastic chair. I sat and scooted to the front, hands on my lap.

  “I’m sorry I was late, sir. I won’t try to make excuses. I take full responsibility for my tardiness.”

  He squinted at me for a long moment, his eyes narrowing beneath the brim of his red and white team alpine ball cap. I tried not to squirm. “By cutting your lunch break in half you can make up the missed time by the end of next week.” He dipped his chin. “But that’s not the main reason I called you in here. I wanted to talk to you about your sponsorship deal and my expectations going forward with you bringing in your own personal coach. I’ve got no quibble with team members taking on sponsors. It’s a necessary evil. You can focus more on the sport if you don’t have to worry about money. However, I want to make sure you understand that I am in charge. I make the final decisions. Every appearance. Every modification to the routine. Everything you do that involves you wearing the team alpine colors comes under my jurisdiction and it reflects on me, the other coaches and your teammates. This isn’t a game, it’s a job. So let’s keep things professional. Am I making myself clear?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Very well. You may return to practice.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Sager

  Melinda picked up.

  Finally.

  I tried not to sound worried, but I had been getting only her voicemail for the past hour. I had brought my bass into my room to try to keep my mind off of imagining all kinds of terrible scenarios that each ended with her crumpled and carted off by ambulance from the top of the mountain.

  “You ok?”

  “Yeah.” She sighed heavily.

  “You don’t sound ok. What’s going on? Practice ended an hour ago. Right?”

  “It did for everyone else. I made it back from lunch late. So I had to stay later to make up for it.”

  “Oh, I didn’t know. You sound worn out.”

  “Probably because I am.”

  “I’m sorry. I feel responsible. I shouldn’t have kept you up so late last night.”

  “No. That’s ok. If I had wanted to get off the phone, I would have. But I didn’t. I love talking to you. Loved the other stuff, too,” she whispered low in a way that had my cock paying attention.

  “Me, too, babe. Only I had too much free time this afternoon so I thought I would educate myself more about ski cross. I stumbled across the video montage of the wipe outs. Have you seen it?”

  “No.”

  “I shouldn’t have watched it. It freaked me the hell out. I know you’re good, so I never thought about what could go wrong. Now I do. If one of those other girls falls with all of you bunched so tightly together everyone goes down. You need to be alert out there. So as much as I love talking to you and everything else, I’m going to have to insist that you get your rest tonight.”

  “That’s sweet.” Was she smiling? It sounded like she was. “I like that you worry about me. And that you support me. It’s nice.”

  “I’m not nice, Blue. Get that idea right out of your head. I’m a dirty minded guy who’s been staring at your photos in Maxim all day in between the YouTube stuff. I’ve imagined doing all kinds of wicked things to you. With you.”

  “What kind of wicked things?” She suddenly didn’t sound tired.

  “Where are you?” I asked her.

  “In my room with the door locked.”

  “You take a shower yet?”

  “No.” Her breath hitched.

  “Well, I definitely imagined taking one with you. Sliding my wet soapy hands all over you. Pressing you up against the wall and driving my cock into you.”

  “What else?”

  “Catching each drip that trickles down your spine with my tongue, cupping your tits from behind, getting you on your hands and knees on the bed after I dry you off, taking you that way, taking you lots of different ways again and again until we’re both so exhausted we can’t even keep our eyes open.”

  “Oh.” Her breath was coming in and out in short bursts over the connection.

  “I love that breathy little whimper thing you do when you’re excited almost as much as the sweet sounds you make when you come. Why don’t you take a shower?”

  I heard the rasp of a zipper.

  “Hold on, Melinda. Let’s take it slow. I wanna see you taking off your clothes. Turn on the video.”

  “But I wanna see you, too.” She pouted.

  “Next time. Right now we’re focusing on you. I wanna see that all of you is in one piece. Yeah?”

  “Ok.” She propped up her cell on the bathroom counter. I nearly came when I saw her pretty face. Her flushed cheeks. Her pink tongue moistening her lips.

  “You’re beautiful, babe.”

  “Glad you think so, Sager.” A shadow crossed her features. “I wish I had met you first before all the stuff with Dizzy. That I hadn’t…”

  “Don’t,” I cut her off. “No regrets. No past. Just you and me and the present from now on. Ok?”

  She nodded.

  “Good. Peel off your jacket. Nice and slow.”

  Her lids lowering over her eyes, she complied.

  “Arch your back. I wanna look at your tee stretching tight across your gorgeous breasts. I wanna admire those lush tits of yours. You have the sexiest rack of any chick I’ve ever seen.”

  Her lips curved up. She did as I asked. I admired her.

  “How was the course today?”

  “Good. It was good.”

  “I’m glad. Take your shirt off.” She drew it over head. “What did you do for lunch?”

  “I didn’t have any.” She smoothed her hair. “I met Beth. Got a bunch of new ski stuff. That’s why I was late to the gym.” She looked directly into the camera. “What did you do today?” She arched one dark brow. So sexy.

  “Worked on some more songs. Timmon’s butler brought us some sandwiches and shit. Take off your bra. I wanna see your creamy skin and those perfectly shaped rose colored nipples of yours. The pict
ure of you in Maxim is such a tease.”

  Her eyes turning as dark as midnight under the vanity lights, she reached backward and unclasped her bra but kept her hands over the silky cups. She winked at me.

  “Vixen. If I were with you I would spank your sexy rear, then lean in close and press up against you so you could feel how much you turned me on with that tease. Then I would nip your neck with the edge of my teeth and suck on your skin hard enough to leave a mark. Let me see your tits, babe. Now,” I insisted. She dropped the bra, and I sucked in a breath. The nipples were drawn tight. “I’m putting you on speaker.” I unbuckled my jeans, dropped them to the floor, climbed into bed and whipped out my cock. I was hard as fucking steel. “So the sponsor thing is going well.” I went for casual but it was bullshit. My voice had a husky out of breath edge.

  “Yeah.” Her voice was raspy, too. Need was taking both of us toward the breaking point quickly. “Beth has a commercial for me to do this weekend. I’m recording vocals for it. Taking some photos, too. And Mary’s signed a famous Swiss coach who is on her way to Whistler to start training me personally tomorrow.”

  “That’s freaking awesome. I’m so excited for you.” I smiled. “Take down your hair.”

  Her long locks fell like black silk around her slim shoulders, the ends sliding softly along the edge of her nipples. I stroked my cock harder imagining sucking her tits into my mouth. I told her exactly how hard I would do it and what I would do with my tongue.

  “Sager.” I loved it when she breathed my name like that.

  I praised her. “Melinda. You’re totally smokin’ hot. Pinch your nipples.”

  She did and her lips parted.

  “Good. Do it again. Then roll them between your fingers and thumbs.”

  She did and moaned.

  “Very pretty. But do it harder like I would if I was there.”

  She did and moaned louder.

  I pumped my cock harder, spreading the precum around the head using the lubrication on my shaft, too and imagining it was her tongue. I groaned. “Shimmy out of those sexy ski pants. Are your boots already off?”