Holly took off in the other direction, straight toward the police cars barreling down the dirt road.
~$~
Cops were everywhere.
Uniformed officers spread out, swarming the grounds. Several disappeared inside the farm building, while others examined a damaged white truck. Another group focused on the Kia. Two cops deposited a handcuffed Tim into the back seat of a cruiser. More officers surrounded Nicole. Her plaintive calls for Tim rose above the noise of auto engines, men’s voices, and the whump of helicopter blades.
Holly turned, trying to see everything at once. Where was he? He’d said he was coming.
Strong hands grabbed her by the shoulders and whirled her around. JC stood face to face with her. Relief surged through her entire body. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“About time you got here.” Her voice quavered too much for the words to pack much punch.
He shook her. “I don’t know whether to throttle you or…or…”
“Getting shot at by the crazy lady wasn’t my idea.” She reached out, curling her fingers to clutch his jacket, wanting very badly to reach under it, to feel his flesh, warm and alive and real against her own. But anything more would probably embarrass him and make her feel like a fool and—
His arms closed around her and he pulled her close. “You scared the crap out of me,” he whispered into her hair. “All I wanted was to know you were safe.”
“Safe? Is that all?”
“Jesus, Holly. I don’t want to think about a world without you in it.”
Much better. She slid her arms around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder. He didn’t seem to mind in the least. Instead, his arms tightened and she felt…protected.
And cherished.
A few synapses fired in her brain. Hope poked up its inquisitive head and announced, This is the behavior of a man worried about his woman.
For the first time, his woman had a nice ring to it. She raised her head and studied his expression. It had moved past furious to something that sped up her heart rate.
“When I realized what was going on in that car—ah, hell.” He brought his mouth down on hers in a crushing kiss. Neither cared that a dozen uniformed officers stood and watched them.
A long time later he came up for air. “Don’t you ever, ever, do that to me again.” He punctuated his words with gentle shakes.
“I promise to never again go joyriding with the psycho wife of a sleazeball client.”
His eyebrows clashed. “Holly.”
Arms wrapped around his waist, she smiled at him until at least part of the tension left his body. “We need some new rules in this relationship. But don’t think you can decide all of them.”
A slow smile turned up the corners of his mouth. “How about in our vows we make it fifty-fifty?”
Vows? Her mouth fell open but no words emerged. She swallowed and tried again. “How about we start with dating?”
Both dimples appeared. “As a negotiator, you should know to go for the moon with your first position.” He dropped a kiss on her lips. “You just have to know what you really want. And how to ask for it.”
She smiled back, seeing the moon and the stars in his eyes. Oh, yeah. First position sounded good.
For starters.
Her phone rang.
Her gaze moved from his face to her jacket pocket. “Now it works?”
The Bluetooth device was somewhere in the orchard. She pulled out the phone and clicked it on. “Your maternal instinct’s working sorta slow this morning,” she told her mother.
“What are you talking about? I thought you were meeting me at the office.”
She glanced at JC and smiled wider, thinking of all the negotiating positions she wanted to try out with him. “Yeah, about that. I may be a little late.”
The End
Thank you for reading So About The Money!
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Thanks for reading!
Cathy
Books by Cathy Perkin
Available at all major online retailers
The Professor
Honor Code
Cypher
Coming soon:
The Rockcrawler Book, second in the Holly Price Mystery series
Malbec Mayhem, a novella linked to the Holly Price Mystery series
About the Author
An award-winning author, Cathy Perkins works in the financial industry, where she's observed the hide-in-plain-sight skills employed by her villains. She writes predominantly financial-based mysteries but enjoys exploring the relationship aspect of her characters' lives. A member of Sisters in Crime, Romance Writers of America (Kiss of Death chapter) and International Thriller Writers, she is a contributing editor for The Big Thrill, handles the blog and social media for the ITW Debut Authors, and coordinated the prestigious Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense for several years.
When not writing, she can be found doing battle with the beavers over the pond height or setting off on another travel adventure. Born and raised in South Carolina, the setting for HONOR CODE, THE PROFESSOR and CYPHER, she now lives in Washington with her husband, children, several dogs and the resident deer herd.
You can find her on the web at www.cperkinswrites.com or catch her hanging out at Facebook and Twitter.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
So About the Money Page 33