The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
If I was a tattoo guy, I’d have that somewhere on my body by now.
See, I never meant for any of this to happen.
All I wanted was to keep a few people out of jail, and a bunch of others from getting killed. So I convinced some associates to let me try a new approach to a business problem. Information is a powerful weapon in the right hands, I said. This’ll work, and it’s a hundred percent legit, I said.
I was right about all that.
But I was a hundred and eighty degrees wrong when I said it would be less messy.
I could tell Nichelle was shaken up, finding me on her sofa that first night. I meant for her to be. I have a knack for getting people to do what I want, and keeping them off-kilter makes it a whole lot easier.
But man, she’s got some guts. She got ahold of herself faster than any man I’ve ever dealt with. Hell, she had me a little nervous, wondering if I should’ve taken my story tip to the blonde from the TV station before I made it out the door. Know what else is powerful in the right hands? Intelligence. Guts. Sass.
I spent the rest of the week watching the paper, patting myself on the back. I got my way, nobody got hurt, win-win. Right?
Except I kept thinking about her.
Her long dark hair. Her longer legs in those sexy shoes she likes so much. The effort she put into keeping her voice even as she shot her cute little dog “you traitor” looks for staying in my lap.
I meet a lot of people, but I’ve never met a woman like her. Damned if I could find a way to shake her out of my head.
Then people all around the story I’d sent her off chasing started to disappear. I went back down to Richmond to have a look around. Not to check on her.
Not.
Until I rounded a corner in Shockoe Bottom and there she was, beaten up but still standing, flagging me down like a NASCAR pro.
I am hardly the knight in shining armor type, but when she fell into my passenger seat, pale from the blood gushing out of the gash on her leg and woozy from being clocked over the head—I like to think of myself as above losing my temper, but that night put it to the test. Every bit of self control I could summon nearly failed to keep me from ending the guy chasing her. Barely, I held my cool.
Stupidly, I tried to keep my distance. Until she grabbed my hand when the doc was numbing up her leg to stitch it shut—Jesus. Like someone stabbed a cattle prod into my palm.
I couldn’t stay away. Signore sa, I tried. Nearly drove myself out of my mind last year, avoiding her for five of the longest weeks of my life, hoping she’d get pissed off and find someone else.
Of course, as soon as she stopped calling, I started having frigging nightmares about her and Miller.
Would he be better for her? Absolutely. I knew it then, and turning onto her street tonight I still do.
She makes me see things in ways I never would’ve thought to. Makes me feel like a better man than I actually am. Three months of sharing her bed on a fairly regular basis, and I’m not bored. Nowhere close to it.
Like tonight: I haven’t seen her in almost a week, and…I don’t like being away from her.
No woman has ever been so necessary in my life.
So I’ll go inside, play with the dog, wait for her with roses and wine. Maybe a candle or two.
Romantic.
Sappy.
Normal.
For a few hours, I can pretend I’m not a selfish bastard for putting her in danger just because I can’t seem to stay away from her and keep my sanity at the same time.
See more of Joey and Nichelle in Cover Shot, the fifth book in the “Headlines in High Heels” Mystery Series, available today. Buried Leads, the second book in the series is just 99 cents this week in all e-book formats!
GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment by 12 a.m. eastern on November 17 for your chance to win a signed copy of your choice from LynDee Walker’s Agatha Award-nominated Headlines in High Heels series (Front Page Fatality, Buried Leads, Small Town Spin, Devil In The Deadline, Cover Shot). US entries only, please. Good luck everyone!
About the author
LynDee Walker’s award-winning journalistic work has appeared in newspapers and magazines across the U.S.
Her debut novel, Front Page Fatality, was nominated for the Agatha Award for Best First Novel. Cover Shot is the fifth in LynDee’s national bestselling Headlines in High Heels mystery series. The sixth is due out in Fall 2016.
LynDee adores her family, her readers, and enchiladas. She often works out tricky plot points while walking off the enchiladas. She lives in Richmond, Virginia, where she is either playing with her children, working on her next novel, or admiring beautiful shoes she can’t wear.
Visit LynDee at lyndeewalker.com, on Twitter, on Pinterest and on Facebook
These books are so much fun, can’t wait to read this one, too.
Thank you, Sally! I’m so happy you enjoy them, and I hope COVER SHOT is your favorite one yet!
What a great excerpt, I’m going to check the series out. Thanks for sharing.😁
Thanks, Dawn! I hope you enjoy the books just as much!
This was a great post. It caught my attention and interest immediately. I would love to read this series. Thanks for the chance to win.
Aw, thank you! I had so much fun writing this one! Hope you enjoy the books and good luck in the contest!
I haven’t read a book in this series but sure sounds like fun. Thanks for an opportunity to enter.
Thanks for stopping by, Donna! I hope you enjoy the books, and good luck!
Fun perspective piece! I’m halfway through Front Page Fatality and losing sleep to “one more chapter” syndrome. Can’t wait for the rest!
AW, thank you, Allison! I’m so glad you’re enjoying Front Page! I’d apologize for the lost sleep, but that’s one of the best compliments an author can get! 🙂
I’d love the first one.
Thanks for stopping by today, and good luck!
This is a series I have in my ever-growing pile of “READ ME” books. Now that I have read your excerpt, I am anxious to read all of them! (At first it was the covers that caught my eye…now I HAVE to know what is inside! 🙂 haha) Thanks Dru for featuring LynDee today! And thanks LynDee for the opportunity to win one of the books in the series! What fun. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and for the sweet words, Barbara! I’m so glad you like Joey—I hope you enjoy the books just as much! 🙂
this would be a new series to me. thanks for offering a chance to read one of the books.
Thank you for stopping in today, Mary Lou! Good luck in the contest!
I will take them all, but I want to start with Front Page Fatality.
Thanks for stopping by, Amy! I hope you enjoy the books! 🙂
Great excerpt from Joey! I love this series!
Thank you so much! Nichelle and I love you, too! 🙂
I’ve read a couple of the High Heel books and was impressed. I don’t expect this series to be any less impressive. Thanks for sharing.
I’m so glad you enjoy them! Thank you of coming by and good luck!
Joey’s my favorite, I guess I like the mystery about him! This exerpt was such fun. I already have all of your High Heels books so far! Keep writing them Lynn, I hate when they end, and I’m always waiting for the next one!
I must admit, for a character I intended to only have in one scene, he’s grown on me, too! 🙂 Thank you so much—I’m thrilled that y’all love the books!
I am not familiar with LynDee Walker so I appreciated your introduction. This book sounds intriguing and one I will add to my to be read list. robeader53@yahoo.com
I so enjoyed Front Page and am getting to the kindle site for todays special. Would love to win Cover Shot
Hope you have just as much (more!) fun with the rest of Nichelle’s adventures!
He sounds like a great “sap”.
He’s a pretty cool guy. 😉 Thanks for stopping by!
This is a really fun series. Thanks very much for the chance to win the latest installment.
Thank you so much for reading! I’m so happy you enjoy them! Good luck in the contest!
I haven’t tried this series yet, but it sounds like a winner. I’ll have to add it to my ever growing list as well.
Thanks for stopping in, and I hope you enjoy them! 🙂
This sounds like a great series! I’m off to buy the first book. Thanks for the chance to win one of these books.
Thank you for coming by! I hope you enjoy the books, and good luck in the contest! 🙂
LynDee, Congratulations on your new book release! It sound like great fun.
Nancy
I love this series and can’t wait to read the latest installment!
Always looking for another new-to-me author to try. Thanks for a chance to win a copy.
Happy Book Birthday, LynDee. Cover Shot sounds like a sure winner.
This series sounds delightful and very special. Thanks.
I ♥ Joey! Yeah, that pretty much sums it up 🙂
Happy Book Birthday LynDee! I love this series and would live to win a copy of this book.
Synopsis is most intriguing. New writer to me. I would love to be able to read this book. Thanks for this opportunity
WOOHOO excited can not wait to get from B&N LOVE this series !
Alas the B&N in the Norfolk area never carry your books, so I have to order it and wait. Do you plan to do any as audiobooks?
Looks like a good series!
What a great series.
So excited for this, it just keeps getting better
Sounds like a winner. A good read.
On my WishList……
Thanx for the giveaway…..
Thanks LynDee for commenting and interacting with my readers.
Contest is closed.