Page 97 of Violent Little Thing

I smiled. “I didn’t have the confidence then.”

“That confidence happen to be six-foot-three and two hundred twenty pounds of solid muscle?”

“Of course.” I snickered. “I’m five foot even, on a good day. I would never make that kind of move without knowing that I had a backup plan in case things went wrong.”

“You were confident that backup plan would step in?” he wondered.

“I love that backup plan,” I said. “He would slay dragons for me if I asked him to. I was fully confident that he would have my back. Plus, I think he would’ve liked to hit his mom. Morally, he never would, but the thought was definitely there.”

A solid arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me into his chest.

“I’m a backup plan?”

“You’re the original plan, too,” I teased. “Herschel, I’d like you to officially meet Court Navarro. Court, this is my former nice boss, Herschel.”

Court offered Herschel his hand, and they shook.

“It’s nice to officially meet you,” Court said. “Charleigh speaks about Great Dane with mostly positive views, and one of those positive views was you. So I appreciate you being that for her.”

Herschel sighed. “I should’ve seen a long time ago what was going on. My only excuse is that my wife died two years ago, and I just feel like I’m walking through life without a limb. My heart isn’t on this earth anymore, and I kind of coast through most matters. But I’m not going to do that anymore. This company was my dream from when I was a little kid with a dog. Chris was my financial backer, and I’ve always hated that I needed his money to get the company off the ground. But my Ingrid helped me write up one hell of a contract. Chris is gone, and his money stays behind.”

“Well, that’s fantastic.” I smiled. “What’s the next step for you?”

“Try to build a company around what’s left.” He shrugged. “I don’t have much time left on this earth, but I have a couple of great-grandchildren that are showing some interest in helping. I’d like to make it great again so they have something worthwhile to remember me by when I’m gone.”

I reached for Herschel’s hand on the table and squeezed. “You’re a good man, Herschel.”

He smiled and squeezed my hand right back. “Thanks, darlin’. I’m sorry I didn’t pay attention to what he was doing to you.”

I let his hand go. “It’s okay. I got out of there before anything too bad could happen.”

The front doors opened and a couple of cops stepped inside.

Gentry, the deputy sheriff, with a new woman trainee that I had a feeling had a thing for Black.

She used to be an FBI agent and was now working in our small town.

I wasn’t sure what I thought about her yet, but the town seemed to really like her a lot.

I also noticed that, over the last couple of days after Seraphina’s funeral and Chris’s fake confession, she’d rallied around Black.

Dempsey Gurrero was pretty awesome, and I saw the interest in her eyes when she looked at Black.

I also saw the way that he looked at Jessamy, which wasn’t anything near the same way that he looked at Dempsey.

The two law enforcement officials walked up to us and said, “I really, really wish that I didn’t have to do this but…”

I held out my hands. “Cuff me, Officer.”

“It’s deputy.” Gentry rolled his eyes.

“Are you going to frisk me?” I teased.

He eyed the pants that were painted on, followed by the skin-tight long-sleeved tee, and said, “I think that you’re pretty good there. Plus, I’d rather not wake up in my bed later with my throat slit.”

I looked up at Court, who looked pissed.

“Oh, come on,” I said to him, elbowing him in the belly lightly. “He has to. I punched two people out. Rich people at that. It was inevitable.”