“Hmm.” She put all of her skepticism in that one wordless sound as she got to her feet. Her heart was racing, and her feet twitched with the need to rush out of that dingy, depressing office and find her mom. As soon as he’d said flee, the word had clicked in her brain. Of course Jane was going to run. These consequences were bigger than any she’d ever had to face before. If she still had possession of the necklace, that almost guaranteed she’d skip out and relocate somewhere across the country.

“Wait,” he said, reaching across the desk toward her, as if he could hold her in her chair. Pulling back far enough that he couldn’t touch her, Molly eyed his outstretched arm with distaste. Straightening again, he cleared his throat as he withdrew his hand. “We’re not done discussing this yet.”

“Sure we are.” Before he could make another effort to grab her, she took several backward steps toward the door. “Shall I recap? Mom put a home she doesn’t own up as collateral for her bond, and you’re threatening to kick us out, even though she hasn’t forfeited it.”

His lips flapped slightly, as if he were trying to figure out how to spin it.

Instead of waiting for him to say anything else, Molly turned on her heel and headed for the inner office door. She had it open and was stepping through before he spoke again.

“I can be your friend or your enemy,” he called after her. “I promise you won’t like having me for an enemy.”

As Ashton watched her curiously, she strode for the main door. “You need to cut down on all those mobster movies,” she called over her shoulder. “Or at least pick better lines to steal.”

She shoved her way outside, slamming the door closed on Ashton’s laughter…and immediately ran into what felt like a wall.

Chapter 7

Bouncing off the hard chest in front of her, she started tumbling toward the ground, but two huge, mitt-sized hands caught her before she fell. Although she tended to avoid touching him—and had never run headlong into his massive body before—she instantly knew who she’d crashed into. Molly wasn’t at all surprised. The way the last few days had been going, how could it be anyone but John Carmondy who’d witnessed her latest humiliation?

Once she regained her balance, she hesitated, even as the thinking part of her brain screamed at her to pull away. The feel of his fingers pressing into the flesh of her hips made her body temperature shoot up several degrees, but she told herself it was just residual rage from meeting with Barney…and then literally running into her occasionally helpful nemesis.

Gathering what brain cells remained, she finally took a step back. His hands fell from her hips after a short pause, making her wonder if he’d been reluctant to let her go. Immediately, she shook off that whole train of thought. Her brain must’ve been scrambled when her head hit his rock-hard pecs.