Jillian looked up when he entered the room and handed him the contract.Still mulling over Lander’s words, he sat and glanced at her provisos.He could work around them, except the last two.He didn’t realize she’d gotten up until she was peering at the contract over his shoulder.Her feminine scent and warmth washed over his senses.
“What’s the problem, Alexander?”
No one but his mother called him Alexander.He turned his head and, at the same time, leaned back so their faces were only a few inches apart.Her eyes widened, but she didn’t move back.
“I have to convince your family that I’m crazy about you?”Lex asked.
She grinned, her eyes twinkling.“Yep.”
“Why?”
“Like your mother, my father has a thing about marriage.You’ll have to ask him for my hand in marriage.”
He’d expected that.He hadn’t met a family he couldn’t charm.
“And I have to make you happy or you’re divorcing me?”
She grinned.“My needs are simple.Just meet them and we’re good.”
Back to needs again.The woman was screwing with his head.“And what are those needs?”
She straightened.“What fun is there in telling you?If I’m going to jump through hoops to convince your family and business partners that you are a happily married man, you’d better make me happy.”
CHAPTER 6
Jillian adjusted her helmet and glanced over her shoulder at her brothers and cousins.She’d spent the past two hours with them, getting ready for their performance, and not once did they bring up their father’s financial problems.She wanted to yell at them, demand answers, but her father had zero tolerance for drama before a performance.Even though he was at home and not the Master of Ceremony tonight, they didn’t deviate from his rules.
It was Friday and the Honda Center in Anaheim was packed, the crowd appreciative.The clowns were done warming up the crowd for them.Jillian’s heart threatened to burst from her chest and her stomach churned, but she wouldn’t trade the moment for anything.
Uncle Rowan stopped by her side and pressed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.“Keep your cool, kiddo,” he said.
She nodded.The MC finished announcing them and Uncle Rowan gave the signal.Jillian started the dirt bike and shot forward, leading the pack.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the Fearless Finnega-aaans,” the MC yelled as they did laps around the arena.
Jillian led the way into the Globe of Death.They’d done the act often and knew exactly what to do, from maintaining a constant speed and the distance from each other to keeping an eye on the bottom center as they did loop-de-loops.
Jillian led as they started going around and around, then adjusted the wheel for elliptical loops and finally up and down.The hydraulics lifted the globe until they were five feet off the ground.
She brought her bike to a stop at the bottom, her cousins following her while her brothers adjusted their trajectory for circular motion at the top half of the globe.Once again, she led the three of them, staying at the bottom half.The hydraulics tip separated the top from the bottom as they continued to make their loops.
The crowd was silent, the only sounds were the high-pitched buzz of the dirt bikes and her pounding heart.Jillian angled her bike so she left her cousins behind and moved closer to the open end on her right.Slowly, the mid-section split from the bottom, leaving her riding alone, above her cousins and below her brothers.One false move and she could go flying through the air and crashing into the audience.
The crowd went wild.She could hear them above the blood roaring past her ears.When she rode out of the Globe, the crowd was screaming.
She stopped, waited for the others, and bowed.While the others rode around and performed minor tricks, she went and traded the dirt bike for her Triumph, the queen of wheelies.If Leeds could come up with a bike similar to the Triumph, they could make a killing.It was a favorite with a three-cylinder, tunable engine and predicable throttle response.
For the next ten minutes, she did twenty different wheelies—sitting, standing, over the handlebars, sidesaddle, one hand, two hands, rodeo-style, and handstands.The crowd loved it.
They were chanting “The Phantom” when Jillian left the arena.Elena was already waiting for their aerial wire act and eyed Jillian with a glint in her eyes.She never liked Jillian, even before Cian married her.Jillian tolerated her ass because she was now family.
“Ready?”
She gave Jillian a stiff smile and nodded.Elena was nervous, and Jillian didn’t blame her.She was about to dangle below the bike on a trapeze and execute aerial acrobatics while Jillian rode up and down the wire.Until the finale, Elena would be the focus of the show.
Jillian traded her bike for Suzuki 250.The crowd went quiet as Uncle Rowan, taking over for the MC, explained the act.Jillian took off, gunning the engine of the bike as they started the climb to fifty feet above the ground.The crowd craned their necks to watch Elena spin and twist, at times hanging by her hands, knees, or feet.The crowd oohed and aahed.But the grand finale brought them to their feet.Jillian toggled side-to-side until she tilted and swung Elena up while she hung upside-down still on the bike.
She removed her helmet, but kept her mask as she took the last lap around the arena with Elena standing behind her.
