Category: May I introduce

#Preorder “Arresting Benjamin” by @AmberDaulton1 #giveaway #Amazongiftcard

 

Arresting Benjamin

 

Series: Arresting Onyx (book 3)
Publisher: Daulton Publishing
Release Date: 11 October 2022
Heat Rating: 5 Flames

 

Blurb

A one-night stand, a surprise baby, and a mysterious stalker.

Mechanic Benjamin Starwell can’t stop thinking about Belle Hamlin, the ballsy musician he slept with and skipped out on months earlier. He never meant to get her pregnant, but he’ll do whatever it takes to win back her trust and be a part of his child’s life. His desire for Belle drives him to be a better man, but he’s worn thin with a garage to run and his estranged sister dumping her troubles on him.

Belle’s juggling impending motherhood, her indie rock career, and a stalker who’s determined to see her fail. Even though she’s desperate to get her priorities straight, she pushes aside her past hurt and welcomes Benji back into her bed. She never expects him to slip into her heart.

When the danger escalates, they face the greatest challenge of all—protecting their unborn child.

 

PG Excerpt

As he drew to a stop beside Lando’s station wagon in the driveway, Belle parked along the curb. The motion detector light flashed on from the old shed, nearly blinding him. He climbed from the truck. Moonlight cast a stark, silvery glow over the yard as Belle hurried toward him.

“Cool. A duplex.” She tightened her scarf around her neck. “When was it built?”

“The 1940s. I live in the right-side unit, and my landlord lives in the other one.” He rubbed his hands together as a breeze rustled through the trees. “Lando’s children moved out east, so he converted the family home into a duplex about two decades ago. The old-timer is spry but pushing eighty. I take care of the house and grounds. In return, he deducts my rent.”

“Lando the landlord?”

“Hilarious, right?” Benji chuckled. “I’ve lived here for about fifteen years. God, I can’t believe it’s been so long.” Crickets chirped from the bushes lining the covered wooden porch as he guided her up the platform. The middle step creaked under his weight. Decorative fixtures lit each doorway, and he hesitated at the entrance of his home.

“Everything all right?”

“I should’ve told you this before now, but my sister has been staying with me. She’s barely crossed my mind, though. All I’ve cared about is making things right with you.”

Belle drew back. “I didn’t think you had any contact with her.”

“She called me from out of the blue. It’s a long story. I’ll tell you about it at dinner.”

“Is Meghan why you have those marks?”

“Unfortunately.” He rubbed his cheek, the bruise barely stinging.

After he ushered Belle inside, he flipped on a light and locked the door behind him. A staircase lined the dividing wall that separated Benji’s home from Lando’s. The hall stretched to the right of the stairs, leading deeper into the house.

“Feel free to look around. The door beneath the stairs opens into the basement and laundry room. The steps are steep, so be careful.”

“You expect me to snoop? What will I find in the basement—chains and whips?”

He groaned from the devilish gleam in her eyes. “If I’m gonna chain you, it’ll be to my bed.” He shifted sideways, trying to hide the sudden bulge in his jeans. “You’re welcome here anytime.”

“Thank you. That means a lot.”

Add it to Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61398149-arresting-benjamin

Check it out on BookBub – https://www.bookbub.com/books/arresting-benjamin-by-amber-daulton

 

PreOrder Today

Only 99 cents until October 18, 2022

Universal link – https://books2read.com/arrestingbenjamin/

Amazon – https://amzn.to/3usC6SN

Barnes and Noble – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w?ean=2940186751144

iTunes – https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id6443054336

Kobo – https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/arresting-benjamin

Google Play – https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=JHJ5EAAAQBAJ

 

Giveaway

Check out the Rafflecopter for your chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card.

Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/0a0982c528/

About the Author

Amber Daulton is the author of the romantic-suspense series Arresting Onyx and several standalone novellas. Her books are published through Daulton Publishing, The Wild Rose Press, and Books to Go Now, and are available in ebook, print on demand, audio, and foreign language formats.

She lives in North Carolina with her husband and demanding cats.

 

 Social Media Link

 Universal link – https://linktr.ee/AmberDaulton

Exclusive Newsletter (free ebook to new subscribers) – https://bit.ly/amberdaultonnewsletter

#BookTour “Off the Record” by Annmarie Boyle ( @InkSlingerPR )

Off the Record by Annmarie Boyle
is out now! Check out the release festivities and be sure to get your copy today!

Title: Off the Record

Author: Annmarie Boyle
Genre: Contemporary Romance

About Off the Record:

Ever since the day her life flipped upside down, Bridget Hayes obeys a carefully crafted plan. And it works. Or it did. Until the night of her brother’s wedding, when she throws out all her rules—in spectacular fashion and finds herself in bed with one of her brother’s bandmates. What had she been thinking? She caved to the one thing she can’t control—her longtime crush on a tall, charismatic, ginger of a man . . . who also happens to BE ONE OF HER BROTHER’S BEST FRIENDS.

Blake Kelly knows two things for sure: happily-ever-after is a myth and Bridget Hayes is risk personified. Doesn’t matter that he’s been attracted to her since her brother uttered the words, “Meet my sister.” Getting close to her could blow up the band. And the band is his family. He can’t risk it . . . no matter how much he wants a repeat performance.

Armed with a pact—tell no one—they return to their regularly scheduled lives. Because in a city of nine million people, what are the chances they’ll bump into each other anytime soon?

Nada. Zip. Zilch.

That is, until a rescue pup named Destiny turns out to be less dog and more cupid in a fur coat.

 

OFF THE RECORD is the third book in the award-winning Storyhill Musicians series.

Mix two secret crushes, a splash of sports romance, and the complications of dating your brother’s best friend and you have this witty steamy contemporary romance about two people figuring out if the risk is worth the reward.

Get Your Copy!
Sign Up for Paperback Updates!

 

Catching Up with the Series:

Love Me Like A Love Song
Don’t Let the Music Die
Fine Tuned
Friday at the Blue Note

 

About the Author:

My love affair with words has spanned a lifetime. I raced to high school English class and left home in pursuit of a degree in Journalism. I have been lucky enough to write copy for Fortune 500 companies and charities like the Ronald McDonald House. For nearly a decade, I owned my own communications company, and now, with the publication of the Storyhill Musicians series, my dreams of being a fiction author have come true. And I hope I can spend the rest of my days dreaming up stories.

 

Connect with the Author:

Website | Facebook | Instagram

 

#BookTour “Jazz House” by @DonnaVStone ~ @SDSXXTours

Jazz House
Impact Series Book 2
by D.V. Stone
Genre: Romantic Suspense

Jordan Vasilakis is on the run, living under an assumed name. After a disastrous marriage to a notorious Greek business tycoon, she flees to the States and starts rebuilding her life. But her ruthless husband is determined to destroy her…once he finds her.

Michael Machau is drawn to the new singer at Jazz House restaurant, but the guarded woman is harboring dangerous secrets. The dedicated police officer may have to risk more than just his heart to forge a connection with the woman he knows as Madeline Cielo, especially when he discovers she’s living a lie.

Worlds collide. Lies entangle. Survival, much less love, is in question. They must quickly distinguish friends from enemies or risk losing everything—including a future together.

Amazon * Apple * B&N * Google * Kobo * Bookbub * Goodreads

 

Rock House Grill
Impact Series Book 1

Aden House, successful but driven chef and TV personality, refuses to slow down. His life implodes one night, damaging him both physically and emotionally. He’s rescued by a woman he thinks of as his angel.

Shay McDowell has rebuilt her life after her divorce. She juggles volunteer EMT duties and her job, while dreaming of becoming a chef. She finds her way to Rock House Grill and back into the life of the man she helped save.

Can love be the ingredient needed to survive the many obstacles they face?

**Only .99 cents!**

Amazon * Apple * B&N * Google * Kobo * Bookbub * Goodreads

D. V. Stone is an award-winning, multi-genre, traditionally and independently published author. She writes books people want to read. Whether romance or fantasy, her stories are about the importance of friends and family. About overcoming obstacles while doing it with humor.
Around the Fire is a popular weekly blog where she introduces both established and new authors giving an insider’s look into their lives and books as well as tidbits about her own life.
After retiring, she is now a full-time author and incorporates her life experiences into her books.
A former Emergency Medical Technician, she volunteered in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania. At the same time, she worked as a professional EMT in a women’s state prison. She was the proprietor of a coffee shop, and a small restaurant/ice cream stand in the years that followed. The years following were as a manager in an animal emergency hospital, while her last position was in a human medical office.
When not behind the wheel of 2Hoots—a 41 foot long 13.2 feet high 5th Wheel camper, she rambles around town in Northern New Jersey in a white Camaro. She also loves travel and history.
D.V. is wife to an amazing husband, mother to one son, and not your average grandma to three beautiful grands. A woman of faith, she believes and trusts in God.
“My greatest pleasures are spending time outside with friends and family, cooking over the open fire, sipping a glass of wine, and reading.”
Hali, her rescue dog, always reminds her to let readers know, “Woof, woof.” Which is loosely translated as support your local animal rescue.
You can find out more about D. V. by following her on Social Media.

 

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads

Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

$10 Amazon

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

#BookTour “I loved you Yesterday” by @JulieNavickas – @SDSXXTours

I Loved You Yesterday
The Trading Heartbeats Trilogy Book 1
by Julie Navickas
Genre: Contemporary Romantic Suspense

Secrets always have a way of coming out.

Mavis Benson made a huge mistake. Scratch that—colossal mistake. Twice. Sleeping with her high school sweetheart’s twin brother definitely wasn’t part of the plan… nor was falling in love with him.

But that wasn’t the only complication Mavis faced. When an unplanned pregnancy upends her life at seventeen, Mavis skips town to spare her boyfriend, Josh Templeton, from the fallout. With only a letter of apology, she disappears, but not before confiding her secret to Josh’s brother, Austin.

When Austin resurfaces in her life years later, he brings the past to Mavis’s doorstep. Josh wants her back, Austin isn’t willing to surrender, and the path to happiness isn’t clear. Caught between both men, Mavis must choose between the brother for whom she broke her own heart, and the brother who picked up the pieces.

I LOVED YOU YESTERDAY is a heart-pounding reveal of best kept secrets. The truth is never easy, and neither is putting down this page turner. Fans of Nora Roberts and K.G. Fletcher will want to get a copy of I LOVED YOU YESTERDAY.

~Winner of the ASSOCIATION FOR WOMEN IN COMMUNICATIONS CLARION AWARD.~

 

Amazon * Apple * B&N * Kobo * Bookbub * Goodreads

 

 

Julie Navickas is an award-winning, nationally recognized contemporary romance novelist, known for her keen ability to tell heart-wrenching, second-chance love stories through relatable characters with humility, humor, and heroism. She is also an award-winning university instructor and serves as the executive director of The Writing Champions Project. Julie earned master’s degrees in both organizational communication and English studies with an emphasis in book history, as well as a bachelor’s degree in public relations, graduating cum laude from Illinois State University.

 

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads

Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

$20 Amazon

a Rafflecopter giveaway

#NewRelease “THE SEASIDE STRATEGY” by Elana Johnson #preorder @InkslingerPR

We’re so excited to be sharing the final book in Elana Johnson’s
HILTON HEAD ISLAND ROMANCE trilogy–The Seaside Strategy is coming August 16th!

Title: The Seaside Strategy
Author: Elana Johnson
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: August 16th

About The Seaside Strategy:

Lauren Keller understands strategies. She adores them and never enters a marketing meeting without Strategy A, B, and C tucked away in the back of her mind. She’s one of the top executives at her firm…until it all comes crashing down with the news that her boss has been stealing money from their clients for almost a decade.

After narrowly escaping indictments herself, Lauren finds herself, at age 43, standing in the parking lot of her office building, a box with a stapler, a sad plant, and a couple of photos as her only companions.

She needs a new strategy, and she decides she can map everything out from the beaches of Hilton Head.

It’s not an exit strategy.

It’s a seaside strategy.

Relax more. Worry less. Find out what she really wants in her life.

While trying to do that, all with the ocean breeze and her friends for support, Lauren meets Blake Williams. The man is movie-star gorgeous, witty, and looking for someone to help him run his successful financial planning business on the island.

But Lauren doesn’t want to work for him, especially not in strategic investments. She’s had enough of the high-profile, corporate life. Can she strategically insert herself into Blake’s life without compromising her seaside strategy and finally get what she really wants…love and a lasting relationship?

Pre-Order Your Copy!

Catching Up with the Series:
The Love List
The Paradise Plan

About the Author:

A USA Today Bestselling and Amazon Kindle All-Star Author, Elana writes clean and wholesome contemporary romance. She is well-known for her young adult dystopian romance series Possession, Surrender, Abandon, and Regret, published by Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster). She writes clean beach romance in the Hawthorne Harbor Second Chance Romance series, the Getaway Bay Romance series, the Getaway Bay Resort Romance series,the Forbidden Lake Romance series, the Stranded in Paradise Romance series, the Hope Eternal Ranch Romance series, the Sweet Water Falls Farm Romance series, and the Carter’s Cove Romance series.

Elana also writes inspirational western romances under the USA Today bestselling pen name of Liz Isaacson. Learn more at Liz’s website.

Elana is the force behind Indie Inspiration, and you can find her books for writers, Writing and Releasing Rapidly and Writing Killer Cover Copy among others, and join her group and page on Facebook.

 

She runs a personal blog on publishing and is a founding author of the QueryTracker blog, a co-founder of The League of Extraordinary Writers, and a co-organizer of WriteOnCon. She is a member of ALLi and NINC and a popular speaker for libraries, teens, and writer’s conferences across the United States. To contact Elana to speak at your event, please see her contact page.

 

Connect with the Author:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads | TikTok | Bookbub | Gmail

 

#BookTour “Fallen Comrade” by @JillianDavid13 – @SDSXXTours

Fallen Comrade
Project Morpheus Book 1
by Jillian David
Genre: Romantic Military Suspense

Ex-Green Beret Jake Zimmerman’s Georgia mountain seclusion is shattered when the one woman he should never have left, pregnant Kiera McNeill, shows up on his doorstep. Her life is in danger, thanks to a botched Morpheus Squad mission. If the nature of her baby is discovered, evil forces will stop at nothing to capture Kiera. When Kiera learns of Jake’s top-secret Morpheus Virus running through his veins, she realizes that her protector is the deadlier threat.

Kiera knows the secrets of Fallen Comrades, a billion-dollar “charity” which siphons donations away from wounded veterans and into the pockets of power-hungry CFO Beau Lequire. Now her sadistic ex-boss, Lequire, wants revenge. Her only chance of escape rests in the lethal hands of the man who once rejected her: Jake. All she needs to do is suppress her feelings for Jake long enough to destroy Fallen Comrades, stay alive, and save her baby.

Jillian David lives near the end of the Earth with her nut of a husband and their bossy cats. To escape the sometimes-stressful world of the rural physician, she writes while on call and in her free time. She enjoys taking realistic settings and adding a twist of “what if.” Running or hiking on local trails often promotes plot development.

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads

 

Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

$20 Amazon

a Rafflecopter giveaway

#NewRelease “The Paradise Plan” by Elana Johnson @InkSlingerPR

The Paradise Plan by Elana Johnson is out now! Check it out and be sure to grab your copy of the sweet beachside romance today!

Title: The Paradise Plan
Author: Elana Johnson
Genre: Contemporary Romance

About The Paradise Plan:

Cassandra Haslam loves plans. Lunch plans, wedding plans, and floor plans—they all bring her joy. In fact, she’s had her entire life planned out—career, marriage, and family—since age ten. She’s smart, hard-working, and a real go-getter, and everything has fallen into place so far.

Until her husband dies suddenly, right when she’s about to enjoy the fruits of all of her hard work and planning, leaving Cass reeling and…well, without a plan.

When her youngest graduates three months later, making her an empty-nester as well as a widow, Cass decides it’s time to make a new plan for herself.

It’s not a back-up plan.

It’s a paradise plan.

With one of her best friends now living in Hilton Head, Cass makes a move and purchases a piece of waterfront property on the island. It’s the perfect place to build her paradisiacal life and her new self as she designs and constructs a beautiful beach house.

But when she injures herself—not in the plan, by the way—she meets general-contractor-turned-doctor Harrison Tate. He helps her out of a jammed thumb, a sprained ankle, and a bruised ego.

When he keeps showing up unannounced at her construction site, sometimes with her favorite pastries, Cass starts to wonder if she should add him to her daily routine… If she does, will her perfectly laid out plans fall short of paradise? Or could she find her new life and a new love, all without any plans at all?

Get Your Copy Today!

Catching Up with the Series:
The Love List – Available Now
The Seaside Strategy – August 16th

About the Author:

A USA Today Bestselling and Amazon Kindle All-Star Author, Elana writes clean and wholesome contemporary romance. She is well-known for her young adult dystopian romance series Possession, Surrender, Abandon, and Regret, published by Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster). She writes clean beach romance in the Hawthorne Harbor Second Chance Romance series, the Getaway Bay Romance series, the Getaway Bay Resort Romance series,the Forbidden Lake Romance series, the Stranded in Paradise Romance series, the Hope Eternal Ranch Romance series, the Sweet Water Falls Farm Romance series, and the Carter’s Cove Romance series.

Elana also writes inspirational western romances under the USA Today bestselling pen name of Liz Isaacson. Learn more at Liz’s website.

Elana is the force behind Indie Inspiration, and you can find her books for writers, Writing and Releasing Rapidly and Writing Killer Cover Copy among others, and join her group and page on Facebook.

She runs a personal blog on publishing and is a founding author of the QueryTracker blog, a co-founder of The League of Extraordinary Writers, and a co-organizer of WriteOnCon. She is a member of ALLi and NINC and a popular speaker for libraries, teens, and writer’s conferences across the United States. To contact Elana to speak at your event, please see her contact page.

Connect with the Author:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads | TikTok | Bookbub | Gmail

 

#NewRelease “HEADS ON FIRE” by Elora Nicole Ramirez – @InkSlingerPR

Head on Fire by Elora Nicole Ramirez
is out now! Check out the gorgeous new release and be sure to grab your copy today!

Title: Heads on Fire

Author: Elora Nicole Ramirez
Genre: Contemporary Romance

About Heads on Fire:

Nova Scofield isn’t looking for anything serious. She’s not looking for anything at all, actually. Still recovering after walking away from her narcissistic fiancé weeks before their wedding, she is happily focused on her floral shop, Wild Flora.

But then Jax Stratford walks into the shop and Nova suddenly remembers what it’s like to feel the gravitational pull of chemistry. For one night, she allows herself the freedom of letting her desire lead her.

The only problem is Jax isn’t a one night stand — he’s a potential business partner. Despite her best judgment, she agrees to a date and finds herself falling head over heels.

But Nova’s ex refuses to let go — he keeps showing up and threatening to take over the flower shop she built with her best friend — making it impossible for Nova to move on from their relationship and the control he had over her.

To make matters worse, history surfaces and her ex shares something with her, making it seem Jax has kept the truth from her this entire time.

Will she give into the heat she feels with Jax?

Or will everything she’s worked for turn to ash?

Get Your Copy Today:

Amazon | Paperback

About the Author:

Elora Ramirez has always been a word girl.

It started when she was four, when she taught herself how to read and write as a way to entertain herself while her grandmother kicked and danced in aerobics class. She cut her teeth on books from Dr. Seuss and writing anywhere she could find the space — including her Fischer Price kitchenette, the pages of picture books, and Highlights Magazines.

She’s matured a bit since then, now choosing to write in the margins of her books and on the mirrors of her bathroom ideas and thoughts surrounding story and what makes us human. By day she leads a team at a tech company, waking up before the sun rises to get in her love for words before stepping into her role of helping others see the plot line of their own story under development.

Intuition and beauty get her through the day, as well as her chef-husband and their little lion son. Curious Obsession is her fourth novel.

Connect with the Author:

Website | Goodreads

 

#NewRelease “In the Shadows of a Lie” by #IrisBlobel ~ #Readerscommunity #bookrecommendations #MFRWAuthor

Let me take you to New Zealand
I’m happy to share with you another story which is set in NZ.
If you love Australian / New Zealand romance, be sure to get your copy today!

About IN THE SHADOWS OF A LIE

The discovery of her mother’s diaries unravels a secret which sends Lani on a journey to New Zealand …

She lost her mother in an accident. Now, Lani Dekker is determined to meet the man who, according to her mother’s diaries, is her father. He’s not what she expected, a bit on the extravagant side, but she soon warms up to him, thanks no less to Dylan, her father’s neighbour. Despite her attraction to Dylan, she can’t figure out whether he’s a friend or foe.

Dylan Harper is merely going through the daily motions after his wife died in a ski crash. That is, until his life is turned upside down by the arrival of his neighbour’s daughter. Their attraction is instant, even more so when they wake up in the same bed after an earthquake. However, it’s her accusation that his interest in her involves her father’s money rather than their mutual magnetism that derails their newfound bond.

Will finding the truth about her parents be a chance for Lani and Dylan to overcome their differences?

Get your copy of IN THE SHADOWS OF A LIE today!
on Amazon

What reviewers say about the story:

5 stars:
A beautiful plot line with very emotional characters.. The path to love is difficult and has lot of intresting turns for the characters.Loved the book and the leads.

5 stars:
Heartwarming story about love, forgiveness and acceptance. Lani’s grieving her Mother’s death and trying to cope, when her grandpa opens up and tells her about an untruth, lie. She finds her lost father, unbeknownst to him he even has a daughter. Toby, Lani’s birth father, never married or loved another woman after her mother. Toby’s neighbor, Dylan, and long time friend had lost his wife after only 2 years of marriage and he is still missing her when Dylan finds Lani in the stairwell of Toby’s home. Lani’s mother’s belief in memories and forgiveness helps Lani move on in forgiveness toward her Grandpa, accepting and loving her Dad, Toby and loving Dylan for who he is.

Add IN THE SHADOWS OF A LIE to your
Goodreads TBR !

Where to find Iris:
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/bQ68rL
Website http://www.irisblobel.com/
Blog http://www.irisblobel.com/blog
Twitter https://twitter.com/_iris_b
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/IrisBlobel
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4067254.Iris_Blobel
Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Iris-Blobel/e/B00FNFP3LI/
Other Online Bookstores https://books2read.com/irisblobel

#FREE — “Their Bond Through Jade” —#KindleBargain #kindledeals #AmazonDeals #MFRWAuthor

My latest release “In the Shadows of a Lie” will see the light of day next week and I’m celebrating this ‘book birth-day’ by giving away copies of my first NZ book “Their Bond through Jade”  ♥

Come on over, do the “one click” and let me take you to the wonderful country of New Zealand ♥♥

~~  Their Bond Through Jade ~~ by Iris Blobel

Click here to get your free copy

♥♦♥  BLURB ♥♦♥

Pikorua, the Maori name for the symbol, is a twist that is said to symbolise the strength of the bond between two people. Mat is certain there is something between Tiffany and him.

When Tiffany Cahill opens the door to the police, memories flood her mind of the previous year and a relationship gone bad. Frightened, she calls her friend, Steve, for help, but instead a stranger answers the phone. Little does Tiffany know how much this New Zealander is going to impact her life, especially after she is assaulted only a few hours later.

Mat Apanui, the owner of a helicopter tour company in New Zealand, can’t ignore the worry in Tiffany’s voice when he answers Steve’s phone. Before he knows it, he is spending most of his business trip to Melbourne with her. Desperate to keep her safe after an attack, he invites her to stay with him in Queenstown, NZ.

With her safety at risk, how will Tiffany overcome her reservations and trust the sexy stranger enough to fly across the Tasman Sea?

 

♥♦♥  EXCERPT ♥♦♥

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is their-bond-thru-jade-sleeve-1-300x214.jpg

When Tiffany Cahill opened the door and laid eyes on the police officers, memories flooded back of the horrid day the year before when she’d been dragged to the police station. Everything inside her tensed as she checked the lever for the screen door to make sure it was locked. She rubbed her damp palms against her pants.
“Miss Cahill?” the male police officer asked, his dark brown eyes focussing on her.
Scared, she wasn’t able to find her voice, she bit her lip and simply nodded.
“Miss Tiffany Cahill?” the female, and younger, officer asked.
Tiffany nodded again. If she focussed on the officer’s flaming red hair beneath her cap, she wouldn’t have to meet her eyes. But she allowed herself a cautious peek at the officers’ faces. Their expressions were unreadable, which was worrying.
“I’m Senior Constable Jones. This is Sergeant Harris.” The officer paused for a moment. “We would like to ask you a couple of questions in regard to Thomas Terrill.”
“Who?” Tiffany asked, hardly above a whisper. Her whole body shook, and she knew she had to sit down soon or she’d faint.
“Thomas Terrill,” Jones repeated. “He was up on charges last year for the possession of drugs. The file states you were involved—”
“There’s no way I’ll come with you.” Her voice was louder than intended, panic rising within her. “You can’t make me—”
“Miss Cahill,” Jones said with a calm voice. “We’re not here to take you with us, but to ask you a few questions,” Sergeant Harris explained, pulling out a little notepad from his shirt pocket, opening it with an expert snap. “Is there anybody with you at home?”
Tiffany frowned as she shook her head. Anxiety raced through the pit of her stomach, and she had to resist the urge to step back to shut the door.
“Anybody you can call?”
His voice was soothing, and when Tiffany met his eyes through the screen door, she noticed something that conveyed trust. And there was a need inside her to trust him, yet every fibre in her told her to not open the door. Never again would she let the police take her to the station and treat her like a criminal. She bit her lip again, desperate to figure out whom to call, when she replied, “My brother.”
Harris nodded. “Thomas Terrill was charged with possession of drugs last year. You are noted as a witness.” He paused, checked his little notepad, and continued, “He’s also known as Hudson Ford.”
Leaning her head against the door, Tiffany took a deep breath to steady herself.
“Are you okay, Miss Cahill?” Harris asked. “Please open the door,” Jones requested.
Holding up her hand, Tiffany replied, “I haven’t seen him since last year. I have nothing to do with whatever trouble he’s in.” Her entire body trembled, anxiety rushing through her like a tidal wave. She took another two deep breaths before standing straight to meet Harris’ gaze. He searched her eyes before he assented with a nod and held out a business card. “We need to talk to you. I can assure you you’re not in trouble, but we need your help.” He squeezed the card into the small gap of the doorframe. “This is my number. Please call in when you have somebody with you, and we can have a talk.”

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