Page 1 of Passions in Death
Chapter One
The party was a killer!
Erin Albright paused a moment in the madness to take it all in. The slash and crash of music designed to get your ass moving had those asses crowding the dance floor. Lights shifting from steamy red to electric blue to hot pink made it all so frigging sexy!
The bartender’s generous pours on tonight’s signature drink, Girl Power, didn’t hurt a thing.
They’d chosen a Monday night at the Down and Dirty because they’d wanted the heat, the sexy, and an off night so they’d have plenty of room for the couple dozen friends they’d wanted to join in the celebration.
Plus, Monday nights at the D&D meant holo-bands, so people could jump on the stage and join right in.
And when they did, it added to the fun.
Shauna jumped up onstage—again—and someone made the mistake of giving her a mic. Shauna had a voice like a cat in heat, and she used it to screech out the lyrics to “Bang Me Hard.”
God, could she possibly be more adorable?
And in five days, only five more days, Erin thought, on August 20, 2061, she’ll be my wife, and I’ll be hers.
Together forever.
At five-two, Shauna Hunnicut made Erin think of a sexy fairy, one with a wild tangle of red hair and big, beautiful blue eyes. And that smile? Another killer.
The hair had caught her eye that first time, and the eyes had dazzled. But oh, that smile. It had simply done her in from the get-go.
She’d walked into Fancy Feet for a pair of shoes, and walked out completely infatuated. She, the no-strings, live-life-for-today street artist had fallen, and hard, for the shoe store manager.
Who’d have thought that fifteen months, three weeks, and two days later, they’d promise each other lifetimes?
She couldn’t wait to make that promise, to hear Shauna make it to her.
Shauna’s friend Becca—her friend, too, now—grabbed Erin’s hand.
“Gotta shake it, baby!”
She shook it with Becca on the dance floor, and like everyone else, joined in on the chorus.
“Bang me, bang me harder. Oh! Bang me, bang me harder. Oh. Oh. Oh!”
“This is so much fun!” Becca shouted, and shoved her swing of strawberry blond—now sweaty—hair back from her pretty face. “Why haven’t I ever been here before?”
“Because it’s a sex club and you’re an upstanding young professional and executive at a stuffy Madison Avenue marketing firm?”
“Junior executive at a stuffy Madison Avenue marketing firm.” Becca executed a spin. “Woo! And I might not be so upstanding after tonight! You and Shauna have to get married more often!”
“One and done for me.” She looked back as Shauna wound up for the finish. “God, isn’t she cute? Is anybody more adorable than my soon-to-be wife?”
“Loved her for years—in a straight-girl kind of way. I’m so happy for her. For you, too!” A little bit drunk, and sweaty with it, Becca wrapped her arms around Erin.
Cheers erupted. Erin added her own as Shauna threw her hands in the air.
“I’m going to go get my girl before she decides to do an encore.”
Waving her own hands in the air, Erin wove her way through bodies to the stage. “Come down and dance with me, you sexy thing!”
“Anytime, anywhere.” Face glowing, Shauna dropped down to her butt, then scooted the rest of the way off the stage. “This is so much fun!”
In her tiny blue dress and mile-high heels, she wrapped around Erin.
