Rock Steady (33 page)
Authors: Dawn Ryder
“You’re married,” she reminded him.
“But not dead.” Percy batted his eyelashes at her. “You look like a blood orange. Sweeten up a little and stop letting Todd make you into such a bitch. It’s his loss.”
Kate offered him a genuine smile. She felt a little tug on her heart, because she did love Percy, quivering insides and all. He had an unparalleled eye for color and could draft a pattern like a fairy godmother.
“Todd who?” she purred.
“There’s my girl.” He reached out and patted her hair. Newly washed, it was rising up into a cloud of tiny copper curls. She had it clipped back, but there was no way it was going to lay flat. “I think they’re ready for you.”
Kate looked up to see one of the private security men moving toward her.
“Be careful with the warrior-princess thing. I hear the Marquis likes his women wild,” Percy added with a suggestive grin.
Kate stuck out her tongue at him before striding toward the sleek aircraft. One of the security men opened the sliding door behind the copilot seat and offered her a hand as she stepped up into the cabin. The seats were plush and covered in black leather. The security guy waited while she pulled the seat straps over her shoulders and secured the chest harness. He pointed to a set of earphones hanging from the ceiling. The rotor was beginning to spin, filling the cabin with noise.
She pulled the earphones off the hook and fussed with them until she adjusted them small enough to sit on her head. They were the sort that covered each ear completely, and a microphone stuck out in front of her face.
“Once I take off, I’ll turn on your feed, Ms. Napier. Push the button on the side of your headset before you talk.” The pilot’s voice had an electronic quality to it through the headphones, and there was a click the moment he finished talking. The helicopter shuddered as the rotor reached full speed. They began to lift off the ground, Kate’s belly doing a tiny flop at the sudden weightlessness.
She leaned forward to look out the window. There was something thrilling about being able to lift up and over the afternoon traffic. They flew over the freeway, confirming her suspicion that there was no way she would have made it by car. It was bumper-to-bumper rush hour in the Los Angeles basin. No one was going anywhere fast.
Unless they were in a helicopter. She smiled, enjoying the moment of being someone important. Because it sure wouldn’t last. There was a pile of leather waiting for her back at the shop and a line of impatient bikers to deal with.
In the distance, the towers of downtown Los Angeles rose up. The air was surprisingly clear, and the sun sparkled off the glass-sided skyscrapers. The pilot was talking to some air-control personnel as he made a wide circle around the Staples Center. It sure was a different picture from the air. She’d been to the huge arena plenty of times, but she’d never seen the top of it.
There were three helicopter-landing circles, complete with blinking lights set into the concrete. There was also a ramp that had two black SUVs parked on it, facing away from a glass entry into the arena. A burly bodyguard was standing near the driver’s door, watching the helicopter hover over one of the landing circles.
What a different world.
“They are waiting for you, Ms. Napier. We’ll get your gear unloaded and down to you.”
Someone opened the side door before the pilot stopped talking. The rotor was still winding down, and air rushed inside. The suit jacket on the guy at the door flipped up, giving her a peek at a shoulder holster and the butt of a pistol.
Yeah, different world completely.
She pressed the release buttons on the latch holding her harness and managed her way to the open door. The wind and noise were dying down, allowing her to hear something else: the unmistakable sound of people cheering from the street. It was like a roar coming over the top of the building.
It sent a tingle along her spine.
“Don’t mind them. They just think you’re part of the band arriving.”
The bodyguard offered her a hand, but she grabbed the handle on the ceiling of the aircraft. He cupped her elbow the moment her feet hit the pavement and guided her toward the glass entry port from the roof. Now that she’d landed, she could see painted walkways leading toward two huge double doors.
“You don’t need to hold on to me.” She lifted her arm, earning a stern look from the bodyguard.
“Let’s go over the rules.” He kept hold of her elbow as someone inside opened the door for them. “No touching the performers.”
“That’s going to make fixing a costume issue challenging,” she remarked.
He lifted a finger into the air. “Unless they give you permission.”
Once inside, she had more space and stepped away from the guy. He was burly enough to maintain his hold on her if he wanted to, but he only sent her a annoyed look before holding out his hand.
“I’ll need your cell phone before you go any farther. No backstage pictures,” the bodyguard continued.
“Oh…” That made sense. She started to dig it out of her purse.
“The whole purse,” he insisted.
She froze and studied the look on the guy’s face. He wasn’t kidding. She handed it over. “That’s a one-of-a-kind bag; don’t let it get punctured.”
He gave it to a man standing behind him and gestured her toward a security-screening machine, just like one she’d find in an airport.
Rule number two wasn’t changing.
Order Dawn Ryder’s first book
in the Rock Band series
Rock Me Two Times
On sale now
About the Author
Dawn Ryder is the erotic romance pen name of a bestselling author of historical romances. She has been publishing her stories for over eight years to a growing and appreciative audience. She is commercially published in mass market and trade paper, and digi-first published with trade paper releases. She is hugely committed to her career as an author, as well as to other authors and to her readership. She resides in Southern California.
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