Free Sweet but Sexy Boxed Set by Jan Scarbrough, Maddie James, Magdalena Scott, Amie Denman, Jennifer Anderson, Constance Phillips, Jennifer Johnson Page A

squirrel over here in not-so-domesticated land, but he was injured when he came in. Poor thing didn’t make it.”
    They all looked down and composed a serious expression out of deference to Jimmy ’s feelings.
    “ Whatever happened to the goat?” Mitchell asked.
    “ You won’t believe it. I found it a home. Goat farmer came in to rent a moped, ended up taking the goat home with him. Hope it liked the long car ride home.”
    “ Where was he from?” Jackie asked.
    “ Ohio.”
    They were all silent for a beat.
    “Hard to imagine a goat riding all the way to Ohio in a car,” Jackie said.
    A long moment passed. Mitchell ’s cell phone chirped in his pocket and a man’s voice on speaker phone interrupted their thoughts of goats and squirrels. Mitchell fumbled to get the phone out of the cargo pocket on his knee-length shorts, but the button slowed him down. They all heard the voice say,
    “ Hey, Mitchell, it’s Hal. Listen, I want to talk to you about the Chicago sale. I’ve been running the numbers…”
    Mitchell finally got the phone out of his pocket and his finger on the speaker button and Hal ’s voice disappeared. Mitchell stalked out the front door with the phone held to his ear.
    Jackie, along with everyone else, had heard the words Chicago sale. She knew what that meant. His only business in Chicago was the talent booking agency she worked for. Rumors had flown for the last month about a possible sale of the whole operation, but upper administration had played the ‘deny and reassure’ game. Teri thought it was a real possibility and was probably the most worried about it since she’d been there longest and had the most to lose. Now, hearing the words out of Hal’s mouth, whoever he was, drove it home for Jackie. The blood draining out of her face left her dizzy and lightheaded.
    She turned away from Jimmy and Marybess and sat down on the floor with the dozens of cats and kittens crawling all over an elaborate maze. Carpeted towers with perches of various heights rose almost to the ceiling and it was alive with curious cats. Jackie picked up a small gray kitten and pulled it into her lap. She couldn ’t look at Jimmy or Marybess right now. She tried to focus on petting the soft warm fur while trying to remember to take deep breaths. A distraction was what she needed. A convenient back door for her to run away was what she needed.
    “ You okay, Jackie?” Marybess asked. “Suddenly you don’t look so good.”
    “ I’m fine,” she said, “just hanging out with the kitties for a minute.”
    “ You might as well while the boss is wheeling and dealing,” Jimmy said. “All that buying and selling keeps him busy.” Jimmy winked, “I think he’s gaining the world and losing his soul.”
    Jackie laughed lightly. “I hope it’s not as bad as that.”
    “ Maybe I don’t know much about it.” Jimmy shrugged. “Guess I never did see where all that exchanging of money gets you.”
    “ It does pay for all this,” Marybess said.
    “ Yeah,” Jimmy said.
    “ He pays for the animal rescue?” Jackie asked.
    “ Basically,” Jimmy said. “Renting mopeds is good business, but keeping hundreds of animals throughout the Keys takes pretty much all the profit and then some.”
    Jackie continued stroking the little gray cat. Maybe it was crashing her moped into a wall, but her head was swimming about a certain millionaire named Mitchell Ames. What kind of a man bought and sold businesses and changed hundreds of lives with one phone call…but then ran a profitless front for an animal shelter?
    The kitten tugged at her finger with its tiny teeth. Maybe she should take the little gray cat home to Chicago where it would fit right in at their office. It was gray and needed some love. And it knew a thing or two about being out on the streets.

 
     
    Chapter Eleven
     
     
    “Car’s here,” Mitchell said. “Ready, Jackie?”
    Jackie still sat on the floor trying to clear her head and focus on the