Hot Ticket

Someone broke out more glass from the windshield. Hands struggled to release the seat belt. The heat of the flames brought Jace back to the moment. Dave, not his father, came free from the seat. Jace took a stuttering breath and followed Sed, who was carrying Dave from the burning wreckage. A safe distance away, Sed laid Dave’s limp body on the pavement. There was something unnatural about the angle of Dave’s neck.

Eric listened to his chest. “He’s not breathing.” He started CPR while everyone looked on anxiously.

Jace shook so hard his legs gave out. He dropped to his knees on the asphalt. Aggie appeared before him. His demon in black. No, his angel. His salvation.

Her fingers stroked his hair so tenderly it made his heart swell. He didn’t understand it. What had he ever done to deserve this wonderful woman? He wrapped both arms around her waist, buried his face against her belly, and sobbed.

“I’ve got you, baby,” she whispered.

The pain inside was unbearable—worse than anything in his experience. He couldn’t breathe. “It hurts,” he gasped. “God, it hurts. Mercy,” he begged her, rubbing his face against her belly. “Mercy, Aggie. Mercy.”

“Let it go now.” Aggie’s fingers tightened in his hair. “Just… let go, Jace.”

Let it go?

Yeah. Let go.

Oblivious to anything but the pain searing his soul, Jace cried. He released fifteen years of torment in a flood of tears and snot and sweat and blood at the feet of the woman he knew he could not live without.

Chapter 40

Aggie tried to picture everything Jace was showing her, but it just looked like a huge, empty basement to her.

“You can build at least two soundproof rooms for your dungeon down here,” he said. “And a sewing room. A storage room. Whatever else you want. It’s yours to do with as you please.”

“Are you sure, Jace? It will be incredibly expensive to have everything done.”

“You know it’s really for me, don’t you?” He kissed her lips and tugged her against his chest. “Besides, my lady needs her slaves.”

“I don’t know a man who would pay to have the basement in his brand new house converted into a dungeon for his girlfriend.” She hadn’t expected this when he’d asked her to move to LA and live with him. She figured she was going to have to redefine herself and give up most of the things she loved so she could make a new life with him. She’d been willing to try, but Jace didn’t want her to change. He loved her for who she was and supported her in whatever she wanted to do. He never ceased to surprise her. And she’d never stop loving him for it.

Jace lifted her left hand and slid something onto her ring finger. “But he’d do it for his wife, wouldn’t he?”

Aggie’s eyes widened as she stared at the sparkling marquise-cut diamond on her finger. “Um…”

“Are you actually going to make me ask you?” he murmured into her ear. She could feel the heat of his blush against her cheek.

She forced her eyes to his before they returned to the ring. Whoa. It was gorgeous. And huge. And sparkly. And… and… Jace had given… Did this mean… Was he asking her to… Really? Her thoughts scattered like dandelion seed. “Um…”

“Okay, I’ll ask you properly, but do I have to do it on my knees? You’ve got men begging on their knees all the time. It seems stupid to propose that way.”

“Um…”

When he started to kneel, she caught him around the neck, crushed his face into her chest, and squealed. “Oh my God.” Aggie had always imagined herself being cool, calm, and collected if someone got up the nerve to propose marriage to her. She’d also prepared a speech on how to refuse the little worm audacious enough to ask. As with her every interaction with Jace Seymour, things didn’t go as planned. “Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes!” she cried, tears flying. She kissed every inch of his face as he laughed at her enthusiasm.

He caught her mouth with his and kissed her tenderly until her toes curled, and she clung to him in need.

“Let’s go upstairs,” she said huskily. “Break in that new bed of yours.”

“You mean that new bed of ours.”

“Yeah.” She couldn’t stop smiling. Lord, the man made her happy.

The doorbell rang. Jace’s cat, Brownie, sat at the top of the basement stairs and meowed down at them.

“We have a guest,” Jace said.

“One of the guys?” she asked, eager to see any of them. She missed not being on tour with them, but they’d cut the Canadian leg of the tour short until they could get a new bus. And find a replacement for their live audio engineer.

“Eric’s supposed to stop by so we can visit Dave later. He’s being moved home from the hospital today. Do you want to come with us?”

“Of course.”

Doctors had told Dave that he’d be paralyzed for life, but apparently, the guy didn’t think much of their opinions. Six weeks into his recovery, he wasn’t walking yet, but a man with that much determination would not be kept down for long. “So that must be Eric then.”

The doorbell rang again. “You know Eric never bothers to ring the doorbell,” Jace said. “I think it’s probably someone else.” He released a nervous laugh and ran a hand over his bleached-blond spikes.

Someone else?

Jace led Aggie to the front door, pressing kisses to the knuckles of her left hand. It made her acutely aware of the ring he’d put on her finger. “You are not allowed to hate me for this,” he said.

“I could never hate you.”

He opened the door.

On the front step, beneath the sweeping portico, stood Aggie’s mother.

“You told her where we live?” Aggie screeched. She’d purposely not told her mother her new address, hoping that would deter her from moving in with her. Mom had not been pleased when Aggie had put her house in Vegas on the market.

Mom scowled and reached into her purse for a cigarette.

“No smoking in the house,” Jace said. “Come in.”

Mom took a deep breath and removed her hand from her purse. “I can’t stay long.”

Aggie rolled her eyes. She’d heard that before.

Jace offered Mom a sad little smile. “Could you stay here for a minute?” he asked Mom. “I need to speak to Aggie alone.”

He took Aggie by both arms and led her into the living room off the foyer. Aggie’s eyes landed on the beaten-up piano in the corner. It had belonged to Jace’s mother. Using what little Jace knew about its whereabouts, Aggie had searched for weeks and finally found it stored in the basement of the school Jace’s father had donated it to years ago. Aggie would never forget the look on Jace’s face the first time he’d played it for her. Contentment. Acceptance. Love.