High Impact (36 page)

“We’re nearly there,” Emery said as they passed over yellow-cobblestone streets, the tires of the taxi making a soft thump-thump-thump that sounded like Emery’s racing heart.

Pasha put her arm around Emery’s shoulder, closed her eyes, and pushed her power into her lover.

It had become more focused, more intense, as if Emery’s energy fed it. Pasha had begun to learn how to use it to see things more clearly, to sense when they might be in danger, and to direct its healing warmth into Emery when she needed it.

“Thanks, love,” Emery whispered.

The taxi stopped in front of an upscale hotel, the Arena di Serdica, as snow began to fall.

Emery pulled out some levs and paid the driver. “Wait, please. We won’t be long.”

He nodded in understanding.

Emery got out curbside and extended her hand. Pasha slid over the seat and took it.

They stood in front for a full minute, holding hands, with Emery staring up at the top floor.

The anxiety emanating from Emery had abated significantly from her focused power infusion, and it calmed further while they stood there, until it became a fragment of its former self.

“Let’s go.” Emery tightened her grip on Pasha’s hand and led her purposefully into the building, through the lobby past a confused-looking concierge, and straight to the elevator, where she punched the Up button.

The door opened immediately. The car was empty.

Emery hesitated, then looked at Pasha. “No bad vibes?”

“All good, babe. I’m right here.”

They got in, and Emery pushed the button for the eighth floor, the highest one.

Classical music wafted around them as they rode silently to the top.

The door opened.

Emery pushed the Lobby button.

The door closed and they descended, got off, and returned to the cab.

Halfway back to the airport, Emery smiled and turned to her. “Ready to go see some lions?”

The End

Award-winning author Kim Baldwin has been a writer for three decades, following up twenty years as an executive in network news with a second vocation penning lesbian fiction. She has published six other solo novels with Bold Strokes Books, in addition to
High Impact
: the intrigue/romances
Flight Risk
and
Hunter’s Pursuit
and the romances
Force of Nature
,
Whitewater Rendezvous, Breaking the Ice,
and
Focus of Desire.
She has also published four books in the Elite Operatives Series in collaboration with Xenia Alexiou:
Lethal Affairs,
Thief of Always
,
Missing Lynx
, and
Dying to Live
. The fifth book in the seven-book series,
Demons are Forever
, is forthcoming March 2012.

Kim has also narrated an audiobook version of
Breaking the Ice
, and her works have been translated into Russian, Dutch, and Spanish.

In addition to her full-length work, Kim has contributed short stories to six BSB anthologies:
Stolen Moments: Erotic Interludes 2, Lessons in Love: Erotic Interludes 3, Extreme Passions: Erotic Interludes 4
,
Road Games: Erotic Interludes 5
,
Romantic Interludes 1: Discovery
, and
Romantic Interludes 2: Secrets.
She lives in the north woods of Michigan, but takes to the road with her laptop and camera whenever possible. Her Web site is www.kimbaldwin.com and she can be reached at [email protected].

High Impact
by Kim Baldwin. Thrill seeker Emery Lawson and Adventure Outfitter Pasha Dunn learn you can never truly appreciate what’s important and what you’re capable of until faced with a sudden and stark reminder of your own mortality. (978-1-60282-580-2)

Snowbound
by Cari Hunter. “The policewoman got shot and she’s bleeding everywhere. Get someone here in one hour or I’m going to put her out of her misery.” It’s an ultimatum that will forever change the lives of police officer Sam Lucas and Dr. Kate Myles. (978-1-60282-581-9)

Rescue Me
by Julie Cannon. Tyler Logan reluctantly agrees to pose as the girlfriend of her in-the-closet gay BFF at his company’s annual retreat, but she didn’t count on falling for Kristin, the boss’s wife. (978-1-60282-582-6)

Murder in the Irish Channel
by Greg Herren. Chanse MacLeod investigates the disappearance of a female activist fighting the Archdiocese of New Orleans and a powerful real estate syndicate. (978-1-60282-584-0)

Franky Gets Real
by Mel Bossa. A four day getaway. Five childhood friends. Five shattering confessions…and a forgotten love unearthed. (978-1-60282-585-7)

Riding the Rails: Locomotive Lust and Carnal Cabooses
edited by Jerry Wheeler. Some of the hottest writers of gay erotica spin tales of Riding the Rails. (978-1-60282-586-4)

Sheltering Dunes
by Radclyffe. The seventh in the award-winning Provincetown Tales. The pasts, presents, and futures of three women collide in a single moment that will alter all their lives forever. (978-1-60282-573-4)

Holy Rollers
by Rob Byrnes. Partners in life and crime, Grant Lambert and Chase LaMarca assemble a team of gay and lesbian criminals to steal millions from a right-wing mega-church, but the gang’s plans are complicated by an “ex-gay” conference, the FBI, and a corrupt reverend with his own plans for the cash. (978-1-60282-578-9)

History’s Passion: Stories of Sex Before Stonewall
, edited by Richard Labonté. Four acclaimed erotic authors re-imagine the past…Welcome to the hidden queer history of men loving men not so very long—and centuries—ago. (978-1-60282-576-5)

Lucky Loser
by Yolanda Wallace. Top tennis pros Sinjin Smythe and Laure Fortescue reach Wimbledon desperate to claim tennis’s crown jewel, but will their feelings for each other get in the way? (978-1-60282-575-8)

Mystery of The Tempest: A Fisher Key Adventure
by Sam Cameron. Twin brothers Denny and Steven Anderson love helping people and fighting crime alongside their sheriff dad on sun-drenched Fisher Key, Florida, but Denny doesn’t dare tell anyone he’s gay, and Steven has secrets of his own to keep. (978-1-60282-579-6)

Better Off Red: Vampire Sorority Sisters Book 1
by Rebekah Weatherspoon. Every sorority has its secrets, and college freshman Ginger Carmichael soon discovers that her pledge is more than a bond of sisterhood—it’s a lifelong pact to serve six bloodthirsty demons with a lot more than nutritional needs. (978-1-60282-574-1)

Detours
by Jeffrey Ricker. Joel Patterson is heading to Maine for his mother’s funeral, and his high school friend Lincoln has invited himself along on the ride—and into Joel’s bed—but when the ghost of Joel’s mother joins the trip, the route is likely to be anything but straight. (978-1-60282-577-2)

Three Days
by L.T. Marie. In a town like Vegas where anything can happen, Shawn and Dakota find that the stakes are love at all costs, and it’s a gamble neither can afford to lose. (978-1-60282-569-7)

Swimming to Chicago
by David-Matthew Barnes. As the lives of the adults around them unravel, high school students Alex and Robby form an unbreakable bond, vowing to do anything to stay together—even if it means leaving everything behind. (978-1-60282-572-7)

Hostage Moon
by AJ Quinn. Hunter Roswell thought she had left her past behind, until a serial killer begins stalking her. Can FBI profiler Sara Wilder help her find her connection to the killer before he strikes on blood moon? (978-1-60282-568-0)

Erotica Exotica: Tales of Sex, Magic, and the Supernatural
, edited by Richard Labonté. Today’s top gay erotica authors offer sexual thrills and perverse arousal, spooky chills, and magical orgasms in these stories exploring arcane mystery, supernatural seduction, and sex that haunts in a manner both weird and wondrous. (978-1-60282-570-3)

Blue
by Russ Gregory. Matt and Thatcher find themselves in the crosshairs of a psychotic killer stalking gay men in the streets of Austin, and only a 103-year-old nursing home resident holds the key to solving the murders—but can she give up her secrets in time to save them? (978-1-60282-571-0)

Balance of Forces: Toujours Ici
by Ali Vali. Immortal Kendal Richoux’s life began during the reign of Egypt’s only female pharaoh, and history has taught her the dangers of getting too close to anyone who hasn’t harnessed the power of time, but as she prepares for the most important battle of her long life, can she resist her attraction to Piper Marmande? (978-1-60282-567-3)

Wings: Subversive Gay Angel Erotica
, edited by Todd Gregory. A collection of powerfully written tales of passion and desire centered on the aching beauty of angels. (978-1-60282-565-9)

Contemporary Gay Romances
by Felice Picano. These works of short fiction from legendary novelist and memoirist Felice Picano are as different from any standard “romances” as you can get, but they will linger in the mind and memory. (978-1-60282-639-7)

Pirate’s Fortune: Supreme Constellations Book Four
by Gun Brooke. Set against the backdrop of war, captured mercenary Weiss Kyakh is persuaded to work undercover with bio-android Madisyn Pimm, which foils her plans to escape, but kindles unexpected love. (978-1-60282-563-5)

Sex and Skateboards
by Ashley Bartlett. Sex and skateboards and surfing on the California coast. What more could anyone want? Alden McKenna thinks that’s all she needs, until she meets Weston Duvall. (978-1-60282-562-8)

Waiting in the Wings
by Melissa Brayden. Jenna has spent her whole life training for the stage, but the one thing she didn’t prepare for was Adrienne. Is she ready to sacrifice what she’s worked so hard for in exchange for a shot at something much deeper? (978-1-60282-561-1)

Suite Nineteen
by Mel Bossa. Psychic Ben Lebeau moves into Shilts Manor, where he meets seductive Lennox Van Kemp and his clan of Métis—guardians of a spiritual conspiracy dating back to Christ. But are Ben’s psychic abilities strong enough to save him? (978-1-60282-564-2)

Speaking Out: LGBTQ Youth Stand Up
, edited by Steve Berman. Inspiring stories written for and about LGBTQ teens of overcoming adversity (against intolerance and homophobia) and experiencing life after “coming out.” (978-1-60282-566-6)

Forbidden Passions
by MJ Williamz. Passion burns hotter when it’s forbidden, and the fire between Katie Prentiss and Corrine Staples in antebellum Louisiana is raging out of control. (978-1-60282-641-0)

Harmony
by Karis Walsh. When Brook Stanton meets a beautiful musician who threatens the security of her conventional, prede-termined future, will she take a chance on finding the harmony only love creates? (978-1-60282-237-5)