Page 21 of Sweet Summertide

“What don’t I understand? I understand perfectly that you want nothing more than to win. I understand that you have no self-control or desire to know when you’ve gone too far, likecausing my ingredients to be delivered late, vandalizing my store windows, or stealing my workers?—”

“I … I don’t want to be that person, but if you only knew?—”

“What I know is despite everything you’ve done, I like you, but I’d rather be nothing than whatever this currently is.”

“I like you too,” she said so softly that if not for the still forest, he might not have heard her.

He did hear her. “I know,” he said back in a hushed tone. “I just needed you to say it.” Theodor wrapped his arms around her waist until no space existed between their bodies. “Can we end this whole enemy’s thing and skip right to the lovers part?”

“I want to, I really do, but I have to win that money.”

Theodor threw his hands in the air. “Even if you beat me, there’s a half-dozen other shops that are vying for the same things. But somehow, I am the only person receiving your efforts. Why me?”

“I don’t know,” she said with a hitch in her voice. “I hadn’t really considered them.”

“Consider this, I haven’t spent a moment since we met thinking of much else than the way you would fit in my arms, like this.” He took her by the waist and lifted her to his chest. Her legs wrapped around him and her arms folded together behind his neck. She fit better than he imagined, which must have surprised her too by the way she stilled and held her breath. “Now kiss me like you mean it, and let’s be done with this game.” Their lips touched like magnets and the whole world illuminated around them.

“Hands up!” a female voice shouted. “Now!”

Theodor released Holly to the ground, and they faced the source of the bright headlights. Two squad cars lit them up from the road and two officers approached. “Everything will be okay,” he whispered to her.

“You’re under arrest.” One of the cops came around him and slapped cuffs on his right wrist. Pulling his arm down, she added the left wrist behind his back and began directing him through the woods. “You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney?—”

“What am I being arrested for? You can’t do this!” Holly argued with the other police officer.

Theodor twisted around to see her struggling with the handcuffs. “Just do what they say. I’ll get us out of this.”

The cop had continued reading him his rights, though it was all a blur while he was focused on Holly. She was placed in the other squad car, and he wondered if she was just as confused and scared as he was. A million past decisions played in his mind during the short trip to the pokey, but he was no closer to figuring out what he had done to deserve to be arrested as he sat squished in the backseat of the vehicle.

CHAPTER 11

When Holly had plannedout her day, going to jail was not on the schedule. How could she be so stupid? Not that she did anything wrong, but that she got caught doing the wrong she didn’t do. One thing was for certain, if she ever found out that Teddy had anything to do with them getting arrested, she would have his head on a candy skewer.

No, that was too extreme, even for her, but she would definitely do something to make him pay!

She had to admit that neither of them would be there if she hadn’t decided to take things too far in the first place. Only two evenings prior, Millie had convinced Holly to cool her hijinks, and Holly had totally intended to at first.

However, yesterday’s voicemail from her mother played over and over again in her mind. Her mother’s sweet tone was the opposite of the devastating blow her message delivered. “Until your decisions are more in line with the expectations of your family name, you will no longer have access to family funds,” Holly said aloud in a voice like her mother’s.

The irony wasn’t lost on her that the one person whom she wished to confide and find comfort in, was the same person she had just gotten arrested with. Even if she somehow managed toexplain her actions, she wasn’t delusional. There was little hope that he would forgive her now. Was it she who needed forgiving? If she hadn’t been delayed by his sexy plea in the woods, she would have been in and out of there in no time.

Teddy had been booked before her, which was the only time she had seen him since they were dragged out from the woods. She wondered where they had taken him afterwards and imagined him sitting in a cold gray room with one of those fancy two-way mirrors and a stale cup of coffee.

Coffee… She could go for a cup right about now. The morning sun spilled inside the police station windows and indicated the time was likely around eight or nine o’clock. Not that it mattered. No one would even miss her for hours, and she hadn’t been given her one phone call yet.

Luckily, the long wait time provided a chance to consider who she would contact. Millie was the obvious choice, except she was out of town for the next couple days sourcing the last furniture and fixtures for America’s house renovation. After her parents cut her off yesterday, there was no way she was going to call them for help either. Teddy was a nice guy and would get her out if he could, but she was pretty certain that someone in jail can’t bail out someone else in jail. So, that option was out. Holly slumped against the wall. “I guess I’m here forever. Just call me Pen from now on, since that’s where you can find me.”

She heard Teddy’s chuckle before he came into view.Why is he in such a good mood?His grin could not have been any wider; a smirk she wanted to wipe off his face at the first opportunity. His sprightly eyes glowed in the sunlight, like he had indeed gotten that coveted cup of coffee. Stale or not, she would take one if offered.

The officer slid open the gate and directed him inside. At the sight of Holly, his smirk soured, causing her to swallow hard. When the gate closed, she instructed Teddy to turn sothat his cuffs could be removed. “Get comfy, Saint Theo. They’re processing your request now.”

Rubbing the reddened depressions around his wrist, Theodor sat on the floor across from Holly.

“Saint?” she asked from a narrow bench built into the concrete wall.

“Apparently, I’m well behaved, they were teasing me about how polite I was,” Teddy said and looked at his feet, not at her. “Trespassing, huh?”

“I can’t believe we’re in here. This is all your fault!”

---