Spotlight, page 1
CONTENTS
Copyright
Acknowledgments
Back Blurb
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Epilogue
Quieting the Biker’s Rage
Booklist
Connecting Books
About Piper
2019-2023 Piper Davenport
Copyright © 2019-2023 by Trixie Publishing, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States
Spotlight is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Liz Kelly:
Thanks again. Your insight is always so spot on!
Jack:
Thanks for all laughs and inspiration for the sexy bits!
Brandy, Gail & Kathren:
Ladies, I couldn’t do this without you! Thanks for all your read throughs!
Harmony Morgan is the sister of the biggest star on the planet. She’s also caught between said sister and a crazed stalker trying to get close.
Jaxon Quinn has been tasked with finding and neutralizing the threat surrounding the Morgan sisters, but no one warned him about the risk to his heart.
As danger closes in on them, will Jaxon be able to keep Harmony safe?
Will he recognize that by saving her, he may be saving himself as well?
Harmony
“DiDi, this isn’t a good idea,” I warned. My sister, Melody, was currently sitting in a makeup chair, her ever-faithful makeup slave, Billy, practicing his prosthetics to make her look like a completely different person.
“It’s all good, NiNi,” she argued while trying not to move her mouth.
“Someone is stalking you!” I snapped. “You need to stay here...where it’s safe.”
“Girl, she won’t look anything like Melody Morgan, international pop and movie star,” Billy crooned, his swishiness on overdrive. “She’s gonna look like my high school girlfriend.”
“You had a high school girlfriend?” I challenged.
“Yep. And a boyfriend.” He thrust out his hip and waved his hand. “Decided I liked the boy better.”
“That’s right, baby,” Graham, his boyfriend, retorted from his seat in the corner.
“Dork.” I giggled. I loved Billy in all his dramatic glory. He’d been “with” us for ten years and he was one of my favorite people on the planet.
My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out to see: Lyric Calling. “Hey LiLi.”
“Hi, honey, did you talk some sense into DiDi?”
Lyric was our eldest sister, and most days I felt like it was her and me against the world...or at the very least, her and me trying to keep Melody from making more stupid decisions.
“No.” I sighed. “Billy’s making her look different, but I don’t know if that will help.”
“Put her on speaker,” Melody demanded, and I did. “LiLi, we are in a new city, I want to explore.”
“Might I point out, you’ve been here before. For three months of shooting and I recall you exploring then, too.”
“But that was, like, two years ago. I want to see what’s new.”
“I get that, honey,” Lyric said in her ‘patient’ voice, “but you’re going out with a man you’ve only met twice.”
“He’s in the movie with me, sissy,” she countered. “I’m going to see him every day for the next four months.”
Melody was in the blockbuster sequel to the blockbuster film adapted from a local author’s romance novels, so we were in Portland to film. She also had two singles she’d wrote for each of the movies, which had gone platinum three times over, so she was famous on every level.
Lyric had a real job as an attorney, so she stayed behind in Savannah, however, I was Melody’s assistant, so I was with her...as always.
“Sweetness, he is a new character and has not been vetted,” Lyric ground out.
Melody and I rolled our eyes, almost in sync. Whenever Lyric called one of us “sweetness,” we knew she was beyond irritated.
Lyric was two years older than me and six years older than Melody. She’d been a second mother to us, especially considering our own mother had a tendency to sleep all day and drink all night. Our father died almost thirteen years ago, right around the time Melody “hit” big as a kid star. Mom’s cirrhosis of the liver caught up to her two years ago and we’d buried another parent. Our lives were irrevocably rocked, in both good and bad ways.
Tonight fell into the bad category.
“I’ve made a few calls,” Lyric continued. “So, would you please stay in? Just for tonight. I’ve got a new security person coming tomorrow.”
Melody let out a loud, dramatic sigh. “Fine, I’ll stay in,” she said, as she shook her head.
“Thanks, DiDi. I’ll talk to y’all tomorrow.” Lyric hung up and I slid my phone back in my pocket.
“If you’re insisting on being an idiot, I’m coming with you,” I threatened.
“No, you’re not.”
“Mel―”
“No. It’s all good. I’m taking Butchy, he’ll watch out for me.”
“Butchy’s almost as famous as you are,” I snapped. “If you take him, they’ll know it’s you.”
“Hmm, you have a point.” She waved Billy away and swiveled her chair to face me. “I’ll take Arnold.”
Julian ‘Butch’ Maren was head of our security team, but unfortunately he was gorgeous, and highly photogenic, so he tended to get as much coverage as Melody. At least he was really good at his job and could take down several men at one time, but it had become harder and harder for him to protect her, so he’d put a team together to take over.
“Ohmigod, Melody, don’t do this.”
A knock at the door interrupted my argument, and I let out a frustrated squeak.
“Get that, will you NiNi?” Melody directed. “I’m almost ready.”
* * *
Jaxon
My phone buzzed just as I stepped out of the shower and I almost ignored it, but I was waiting for my partner to call me about a case we’d been looking into, so I swiped it off the counter and answered it. “Jaxon Quinn.”
“Jax, hey, it’s Mack.”
Mack Reed was part of the Dogs of Fire Motorcycle Club—the same club two of my brothers belonged to—and he and I had formed a pretty strong brotherhood of our own. His wife, Darien, was a bestselling romance author who’d had her first two books turned into movies and had just started shooting the second.
“Hey, man. What’s up?”
“Dare and I have a favor.”
I frowned. If Mack was asking for a favor, this wasn’t good. “What’s going on?”
“Melody Morgan’s bein’ stalked.”
Melody was the kid star, pop princess, generally entitled hot mess, starring in Darien’s movies, and having met the woman, I wasn’t a fan.
“And this is your problem because...?”
Mack let out a sigh. “Dare’s worried.”
I rubbed my forehead. “Enough to ask you to call me to see if I can use my FBI resources to figure it out,” I deduced.
“Yeah.”
“She didn’t want to call me directly?”
“You know Darien enough to know she thinks I’ll get more results.”
I smiled. “Tell her next time she needs a favor to ask me directly. I like her better than you.”
Mack chuckled. “I’ll do that.”
“Let me call Matt and see what we can do.”
“Appreciate it, brother.”
I hung up and called my older brother (I was third in the line of six brothers). Matt was my boss at the FBI and although he was a by-the-book man, he often gave me and my partners, Brock and Dallas, a lot of leeway when it came to bringing cases in.
“Hey, Jax, give me a second,” Matt said. I heard rustling and then total silence. “Hey, brother, how are you?”
“I’m good. Got a call from Mack.”
“Yeah?”
“Got a situation.”
“Of course you do,” he deadpanned.
I filled him in on what I knew and Matt sighed. “You’ve got forty-eight hours to figure out if this is a real threat or if the local cops can deal with it.”
“That works,” I said. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Bye,” he said, and hung up.
I finished getting dressed, then called Mack again.
“Hey, man,” he said.
“Put Darien on,” I said.
I heard rustling, then Darien said, “Hi, Jax.”
“Hey, babe.
What do you know about this Melody thing?”
“Not much, honestly,” she said. “All I know for sure is that Harmony’s totally freaked.”
“Who’s Harmony?”
“Her sister...and assistant.”
“There’s another one?” I ground out.
Darien chuckled. “No, there isn’t another Melody. There’s a Harmony and she’s amazing, Jax, seriously. Super cool, very sweet, and really scared for her sister.”
I sighed. “Okay. You want to reach out and see if she can meet me today?”
“Yes,” she said, sounding relieved. “Thanks, Jaxon. I really appreciate it.”
“No problem, Dare. Just let me know where to meet her.”
“I will. Talk to you soon.”
She hung up and I headed to my kitchen to grab something to eat, quickly realizing I hadn’t had time to stop at the store once I got back from Alabama. As I grabbed my car keys to head out, my phone buzzed.
Darien: Harmony will meet you at the Sentinel in an hour if that works.
I texted back, Works for me. What room?
Darien: Ask for Flossie Williams at the Concierge.
I rolled my eyes. Fuck me, these starlets were nuts. I texted Darien back and told her I’d be there, then decided to grab dinner on the way.
* * *
Harmony
Melody had left an hour ago and I’d spent that time pacing my hotel room, wringing my hands. Darien’s phone call had kept me from grabbing a cab and hunting down my little sister...then handcuffing her to her bed until she was called to the set.
That last part might have been a little aggressive, but by the time I got to that line of thought, I was beyond worried and a little pissed off.
My room phone rang and I rushed to answer it. “Hello?”
“Miss Flossie?”
“Hmm-mm.”
“This is the concierge. There’s a Jaxon Quinn here to see you, ma’am.”
“Is he the FBI agent?” I whispered, then cleared my throat. I didn’t know why I was whispering. I was alone in my room.
“Yes ma’am.”
“Did you check his credentials?”
“Yes ma’am, and I photocopied them.”
I relaxed. “Thank you so much. Do you have one of the conference rooms open?”
“Yes. I’ll meet you in the lobby and show you both.”
“Excellent. Thank you.”
“My pleasure.”
We hung up and I grabbed my phone, folder full of evidence, and room key and headed downstairs. As my elevator car took me to the person I hoped would protect my sister, I tapped my foot with nervous energy. The bell dinged, the doors opened...and my heart stopped.
Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod!
The evening concierge, Adam was his name (I think), stood with the best looking man I’d ever seen in my life. Ever. Like as in everdom. Dark hair, a little shaggy on top, piercing blue eyes and a jaw that could rival Superman’s, he was tall and built, and looked like he commanded the world. He wore jeans, a black long-sleeved Henley, with a black leather jacket and black motorcycle boots. When the man caught my eye, I swallowed and told myself to breathe. Then I forced myself to smile.
* * *
Jaxon
The elevator doors opened and I was a little taken aback by the beautiful woman who looked like she’d just seen something rather weird. I hoped it wasn’t me, because, damn, she was gorgeous. Long blonde hair, light blue eyes and a curvy-as-sin body. She wore dark jeans and tight T-shirt, and she carried a manila envelope and a phone.
“Miss Morgan,” Adam said.
“Adam,” she said, and stepped out of the elevator.
“This is Agent Quinn.”
I reached out to shake her hand and her cheeks pinkened as she slid her hand into mine. “It’s nice to meet you,” I said.
She licked her lips. “You too. Thank you so much for seeing me.”
“If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you where you can speak privately,” Adam said.
I stepped aside so Harmony could precede me and we followed Adam down a hallway and into a large conference room.
“Thanks, Adam,” Harmony said.
Having her walk in front of me may have been a bad idea...her back end could only be described as perfection and I couldn’t stop looking at her. Her ass had a heart shape to it which made me want to see it out of her jeans.
I was relieved that, although she looked like she was related to Melody, she didn’t look too much like her. When I got Harmony under me, I didn’t want to be thinking about her batshit crazy sibling.
We walked into the large conference room and the concierge left us alone, so I waved to one of the chairs at the table and we sat down.
“I’m sure you have a lot on your plate, Agent Quinn,” Harmony said. “But I really appreciate you taking time to have a look at this.”
I nodded. “Start from the beginning.”
“It started when we were here for the first movie shoot...,” she scrolled through her phone and then slid it toward me. “This was the first ‘gift.’ We honestly didn’t think much of it back then. Melody thought black roses were cool and told our security, but insisted we didn’t take it further.”
I forced myself to stay professional and not roll my eyes.
“I didn’t think they were cool,” Harmony finished.
This was obviously the smart sister. “I know this is a lot to ask, but what I’d like to have is dates, times, photos—”
“All in here,” she interrupted, and slid the envelope toward me. “Copies of all of my notes, corresponding photos, and who was around those days.”
I couldn’t help but be impressed. “You had someone take notes?”
“I took notes,” she corrected, then sighed. “My sister may not be taking this seriously, but I have been her protector since we were really little and I knew something was off. DiDi isn’t the best judge of character. She tends to trust people she shouldn’t.”
I didn’t respond as I opened the envelope and pulled the paperwork out. I was once again impressed. “This is excellent, Miss Morgan.”
“Harmony, please,” she said. “Miss Morgan sounds so...I don’t know...school girlish.”
I chuckled to cover the fact I was suddenly thinking of her in a short uniform skirt and knee-high socks, sans panties. “Harmony. This is better than many of my agents could come up with. It’s impressive.”
“Well, I do have a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice,” she said, almost like she was embarrassed by it. “Not that I’m using it, currently.”
There it was. A life interrupted that seemed like a waste to me.
“Did you take this to the local police?” I asked, veering the conversation back to the subject at hand.
She nodded. “I did at home.”
“Home?”
“Savannah,” she said. “But the cop was so enamored by my sister, he was of no use. He also wasn’t overly concerned.”
She had no worries I’d become enamored with her sister, but I kept that opinion to myself. “Has anyone new been hangin’ around? Or, has anyone on your team been actin’ strange?”
Harmony shook her head. “No. Everything’s been business as usual.” She rubbed her forehead and sighed. “Honestly, it’s my sister who’s the biggest problem. I love her, but man, she makes my life difficult.”
I smiled. “Yeah?”
She nodded. “She’s never been told no.”
“And you?”
“Oh, I’m told no all the time.”
I chuckled. “That sounds like a crime.”
Her face blushed the cutest shade of red and she glanced away.
“Let me do some digging,” I continued. “We’ll figure out who’s doin’ this.”
She let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you so much.”
“Give me your phone.”
She unlocked it and handed it to me without question, and I liked that she trusted me. I added my contact information, then texted myself before handing it back. “You see or hear anything concerning, you call me.”
“Is...this your office number?” she asked, looking at her phone.
“No. It’s my cell. Day or night, you feel squirrely, you call me, okay?”
She let out a quiet snort. “I’m not going to call you at night.”
“Why not?”
“Um. Because it would be wrong?”
I smiled. “You need me, you call me.”
“Will you come and kill a spider?” she asked. “Sorry, that was dumb. I shouldn’t have said that. Of course, you won’t come and kill a spider. I’m on my own for spider murder. Not even Billy will help me with arachnicide. Butchy might, but I honestly haven’t asked him.”
