Page 23 of Courting the Consequences

Johnny moved slowly, following. He could only watch as Kara greeted Kevin with a smile before Kevin grabbed her jaw and tilted her head up to meet him in a passionate kiss right in the middle of the bar. Johnny watched her eyes close.

The show of dominance had Johnny stiffening in his jeans immediately. He moved slowly toward the table, watching Kevin with Kara. They were breathtaking together, Kevin’s black hair and tan skin against Kara’s creamy skin with her blond hair. It was a night-and-day contrast until her heavily black-and-red-tatted arm slid against his. Her hand wrapped around his wrist just as his hand that gripped her jaw flexed.

Kara forcefully pulled away from Kevin, tugging his hand from her jaw as Devil and Johnny came up to the table. She was flushed, and Johnny smirked when she looked his way. “Well, well, well. Not so prim and proper after all?” Johnny drawled and slid onto the barstool next to her.

Kevin chuckled and took the stool to her right, across from Johnny at the small square bar-top table.

Kara rolled her eyes at Johnny and took a sip from her beer. A Miller Lite, not some hoity-toity craft beer. Johnny was actually impressed even if he was more a Bud Light guy.

Devil took the seat across from Kara and crossed his forearms on the table. He leaned on the table toward her and smirked. “Hot damn, baby girl,” Devil drawled.

Kara’s flush deepened down her neck and chest. The tank top showed a generous amount of cleavage, and Johnny just wanted to lick and bite her exposed skin.

A waitress walked over with a steaming platter of nacho fries that were loaded with four cheeses and bacon. She set the plate down in the middle along with four smaller plates. The waitress swapped out Kara’s empty beer for a fresh one and turned to the guys. “Hello gentlemen. My name’s Jenny. What can I get for you?”

“Miller Lite,” Kevin answered.

“Bud Light,” Johnny and Derrick replied.

“You want a few minutes to look over the menu?” she asked.

“Yes, please,” Kara nodded and passed out menus.

“Sure thing. I’ll be back with your drinks.” Jenny smiled before she walked away.

Kara started digging into the loaded fries with a fork and scooped a bunch onto her little plate.

“I figured you’d be more of a salad girl.” Johnny smirked.

“That’s because you don’t know a damn thing about me, Johnathan Taylor,” she shot back at him, leveling him with a look.

Alright, touché, he thought.Point taken. “You’re right,” he admitted and nodded once.

She took a sip of her fresh beer and turned to Derrick, who had yet to take his eyes off her. Presently, they were settled somewhere on her cleavage. “My eyes are up here,” she drawled.

Derrick grinned brightly and snapped his gaze up to her eyes. “And they’re beautiful,” Derrick answered immediately, “just as beautiful as the rest of you,” he smoothly added, waggling his eyebrows comically.

Kara flushed again, though she smiled and rolled her eyes. “Let’s order, then we can talk about what’s going on,” she deflected.

Johnny shrugged and picked up his menu.

Kara dug into the cheesy fries with a vengeance, clearly starving and already knowing what she wanted.

Once Jenny had dropped off their beers and they’d ordered, Johnny prompted Kara. “Why the cloak and dagger?” he asked, getting straight to the point.

“This goes deeper than you know.” She leveled a stare at Johnny and continued. “Someone at Carmichael and Associates is using Case Holdings to embezzle money. They have been for a while now.”

Johnny let out a frustrated sigh and ran his hand over his head. “Do you know who?”

Kara shook her head. “I’ve been digging into this for a while now. I haven’t made much headway,” she admitted. “Have you been able to talk to your father? Has his lawyer met with him?”

Johnny shook his head. “I haven’t been able to talk to him. His lawyer met with him yesterday, and Dad didn’t say much. Just the charges and that Case Holdings is the company he opened forty years ago. He was going to start a business, but it never panned out, so he never did anything with it. The tax ID and name have just been sitting out there unused this whole time. He thought the registration would have expired decades ago and that was that.”

Kara nodded slowly, a frown on her face. “It should have, at least the business license would have. The real question here is, why is it associated with Carmichael and Associates?”

Johnny scratched at his jaw, his nails scraping over the thick beard. “I don’t know,” he admitted, shaking his head. “My old man didn’t give Danvers much to go on, just that he let the company go practically right after he started it.”

“Danvers, as in Freddy Danvers?” Kara asked, raising an eyebrow.

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