The Consequence (12 page)
“Hang on, baby!” Simon called.
Katy’s adrenaline spiked.
Evan looked at the door, then to her, from behind bloody eyes.
Katy moved toward the door. “The cavalry is coming, Evan,” she breathlessly said, “and you’re going down.”
He lunged at her just as the door burst open and Simon, followed by his entire team, poured into the restroom. Simon punched Evan so hard in the face, he flew back against the sink, hitting his head with a sickening thud before falling to the floor as Jack and the rest of the boys swooped down on him like locusts on free corn.
Simon dropped to his knees scooping her up into his arms.
“Kat,” he said, his voice shaking with emotion. “Baby,” he choked as his eyes ran up and down her body, checking for damage.
She choked back a sob as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He pulled her to him holding her so tightly against him, she could scarcely breathe.
With her safely in his arms, he carried her out of the bathroom to the vestibule down the hall. “Are you ok?” Simon asked, his voice still quaking.
“I’m fine.” And she was. “We did it, Simon! We did it!” Euphoric relief flooded her system. They did it! Her name would be cleared and Evan was going to jail for a very long time!
But as happy and excited as she was, despite her near death experience, Simon was not nearly as celebratory.
“Son of a bitch,” he said shaking his head. “It was killing me not running in there until we had his confession. Christ, Kat, I saw it in his eyes, the split second he made the decision—I knew he wasn’t going to let you out of there alive.” His voice shook, full of rage, fear and relief. “Jesus Christ, I thought I was going to lose you.” He hugged her close. “I’ve never been so afraid in my life.” He sat down on a divan, holding her tightly, his body still shaking. “I’m too old for this shit.”
She tapped him on the shoulder and said against his chest, “Simon, I can’t breathe.”
He loosened his hold, and looked down at her, his eyes misty with emotion. “You were great in there, Cinderella. Amazing, but damn it, never again! Never fucking ever again!”
She hugged him tight and wondered how he did what he did every day. “Don’t worry, Simon, I don’t want to ever do that kind of thing again.”
Gently, he touched her tender neck. “I’m going to kill him for that.”
Katy reached up and touched his face as gently as he had hers. “No you’re not. You’ll go to jail and I don’t do convicts.”
Despite her try at lightening the seriousness of what just happened, Simon’s brows drew down into a frown. “Kat, this is my life. I live this on a regular basis.”
“I can handle it. I can even handle Amanda.” And she could she decided.
Simon’s frown deepened at the mention of her name. “I took care of that. She understands you’re off limits and she is to stay completely out of my business.”
Katy smiled. “You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that.”
He notched her chin up with his hand. His deep emerald eyes held hers, never more serious than they were at that moment. “The divorce rate is sky high in my line of work, Kat. Can you handle it?”
Her heart stuttered a beat. “To get a divorce one has to be married first.”
He grinned. “Yeah, about that…”
Her heart slammed against her chest. “What about that?”
“I know this chapel in North Shore…”
“Do they have beaches in Tahoe?”
He grinned. “No but they have fireplaces and bearskin rugs…”
Katy smiled and wrapped her arms around Simon’s neck, “Are you asking me to go to Nevada and marry you, Simon West?”
He shook his head, lowering his lips to hers. “No, I’m telling you.”
“You’re not the boss of me.”
“Yeah, I am.”
Their lips met and she sighed against his. “Yeah, I guess you are.” Because whatever Simon said, was always in her best interest to do.
THE END!
Let’s not say good-bye so quickly to Simon and Kat, let’s just wave and say, “See you later in the pages.” Because as Simon and Kat fulfill their happily ever after, they also say hello to more adventures with the
Bad Boys of The Bay
. Yep, you guessed it, my new hot cop series is coming soon and will kick off with one very bad boy of the bay, Special Agent Jack Thornton.
Jack teams up with high octane, ex-lover, Detective Stevie Cavanaugh. Theirs is an emotionally explosive (she’s pissed, he’s just hot) reunion story that will singe your eyebrows off!
Some of you may remember Jack and Stevie from the previously published, Stakeout, the lead novella in the THE HARD STUFF anthology that released many moons ago and is now out of print. I regained the rights to my very first published work and have not only reset and rewritten their love story but I’ve added layers of depth to these two crazy kids. Jack is a man on a mission, and Stevie is the one and only that he’s set his sights on.
Bad Boys of The Bay
is coming soon (as in a couple of months soon!) Check me out on fb for release information and just to hang out!
ational bestselling, award-winning author Karin Tabke isn’t just another author with steamy stories to tell, but a cop’s wife who has “seen it all and heard it all.” Some of the hottest stories come from behind the blue wall of law enforcement rather than from in front. Married to a street cop, now retired, Karin is intimate with both and proves it with her sizzling tales of hot cops. Not only are her cops hot, but so are her sexy knights and bad boy werewolves. Karin’s
Blood Sword Legacy
series is a must read for anyone who loves tales of yore when men were men and women were women, and love
did
conqueror all. Her dark, erotic
Blood Moon Rising
paranormal trilogy is best described as “
Sons of Anarchy
meets
Rise of Lycans
”. Her
L.O.S.T.
series (w/a Karin Harlow) is paranormal romantic suspense at its “chilling and sizzling”* best. You don’t want to miss any of Karin’s deliciously edgy tales of danger and passion!
Also by Karin Tabke:
BLOOD MOON TRILOGY
Blood Law
Bloodright
Blood Vow
BLOOD SWORD LEGACY TRILOGY
Master of Surrender
Master of Torment
Master of Craving
A Knight to Remember
*Master of Deception
HOT COPS SERIES
Bad to the Bone
Good Girl Gone Bad
Skin
Jaded
Have Yourself a Naughty Little Santa
Wanted
ANTHOLOGIES
You’ve Got Murder, co-written with Edie Ramer
Men Out Of Uniform
CONTEMPORARY
Rebel Rose, Book One in the Rebel Yell series
The Dare, Book One in The Chronicles of Katrina
Double Dare, Book Two in The Chronicles of Katrina
The Truth, Book Three in The Chronicles of Katrina
The Consequence, The Final Book in The Chronicles of Katrina
PARANORMAL ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
w/a Karin Harlow
L.O.S.T. series
Enemy Lover
Enemy Mine
*Enemy Sworn
*Coming Soon
THE CONSEQUENCE
Copyright © 2014 Karin Tabke LLC.
All rights reserved.
Editor: Christina Trevaskis
Copy Editor: Janell Parque
Cover Design & eBook Production: VMC Art & Design, LLC
This book is an original publication of Karin Tabke LLC
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without prior written permission from the copyright owner.
ISBN 978-0-9881879-4-8