Whiskey Rebellion (Romantic Mystery/Comedy) Book 1 (Addison Holmes Mysteries)

my eyelids and damage my cornea, not to mention that I fried the rest of my poor body to pork rind quality. I couldn’t see anything for almost two days after the incident.
    This of course put a serious kink in the plans of Clin t the quarterback, as his goal had been to bag the overlooked and underappreciated. To get his revenge on me for screwing up his plans of debauchery, he walked me into every doorway and table we came across. I finally realized what he was doing, so I sat down and listened to the music, my eyes so swollen I couldn’t even see light, and called my dad to come pick me up.
    There was a part of me that felt just like that sixteen-year-old kid with fried insides and blinders on every time I looked at Nick Dempsey, but I opened the door for him anyway.
    “Wow.”
    A good vocabulary happened to be one of my strengths, but the minute I opened the door and saw him in a tux I was reduced to wow.
    “Wow, yourself. Nice dress,” he said, walking in and making himself at home while I held on to the doorknob for support with my mouth agape.
    “If you keep looking at me like that, we’re going to end up staying here and doing something that would probably be considered a mistake when we wake up tomorrow morning.”
    “Sorry,” I mumbled.
    Somehow the threat didn’t seem all that scary. The man looked like he’d just come off the cover of GQ. His almost black hair was combed back, but there were still a few unruly strands that fell onto his forehead. The dark growth of beard on his face was freshly shaved, and he looked completely at home in a tuxedo, though I think I preferred him in worn jeans and t-shirts.
    He started for me in a determined stride—I guess I’d been staring too long—and I could see the intent for wickedness clearly in his eyes.
    “Let’s go,” I blurted out before he could get too close. I grabbed my purse and ran to the front door, ignoring his satisfied laugh. It was a damned good thing I’d remembered to put on my Spanx.

    The Officer’s Gala had been a tradition in Savannah for almost a hundred years. It began as a way to show support for our men and women in uniform and to recognize the best of the best. In recent years, it had become more of a political schmooze fest, but I’d always enjoyed going despite that fact. I went to support my friends now that my father was gone, because for some reason I liked hanging out with people who carry guns.
    I sat in the passenger side of Nick’s black truck while he gave his keys to the valet and came around to open my door. I twisted my hands nervously and picked invisible specks of lint off my dress. Tonight had potential for disaster written all over it, and with my luck disaster was bound to fall directly in my lap with minimal effort.
    Nick held his hand out to me and I grasped hold of it tightly and planted my red spiked heel on the ground.
    “You look beautiful,” he said, kissing my hand, his eyes soft and sed uctive as he looked into mine.
    My heart melted a little at the touch of his lips against my skin and my nerves settled.
    “Thank you.”
    I’ve got to say, we looked stunning together, and I stood next to him proudly as more and more glances turned our way. I quashed down any feelings of jealousy at the women who looked at Nick with hungry glances. After all, he was with me for the night.
    I spotted Kate and Mike right off and headed in their direction . Mike was a huge teddy bear of a man with dark red hair, so he was hard to miss in a crowd. His Irish roots made his cheeks red whenever he had anything alcoholic to drink and also made him seem completely out of place in a tuxedo.
    Next to Mike’s large form, Kate looked like a doll. She had managed to leave her ugly suits at home and put on a little black dress. She’d even bothered to put on makeup and jewelry.
    “There you are,” Kate said. “I was wondering if you’d have the guts to show up, since I know you lied to me about having a date.”
    “ I didn’t lie. I came with Nick.” Though I’d saw my tongue off before I told Kate that Nick had practically blackmailed me into going with him.
    “Oh,” Kate said and her smile was genuine. “I thought it would take a little longer fo r the two of you to hit it off. You can both be a little hard to get along with.”
    “You were trying to set us up?” I asked, appalled, and then a beat later, “I’m not hard to get along with.”
    “Well, of course I was trying to set you up. I wanted to