He still didn’t answer, so she looked at Holt, cocked an eyebrow. “Your turn.”
His eyes glittered with amusement. “Simon’s the creator and host ofHavoc Your Way.”
Every cell in her body froze as the words filtered through her brain.
Havoc Your Way. Only herfavoritepodcast hosted by the award-winning investigative journalist with hundreds of thousands of fans waiting with bated breath for his next episode.
ThatSimon Jennings?
“Wha—huh?” she squeaked, her lungs failing to work as she stared at the man and tried to tie him back to her most recent obsession.
“Wow,” Holt said. “When she learned whoIwas, she turned her nose up.” He chuckled. “Looks like you’ve rendered her speechless.”
It wasn’t possible. No way wastheSimon Jennings standing in her store. No freaking way.
“Say something,” she blurted because she needed to hear his voice again to confirm whether Holt was telling the truth. Of course, why would he lie? Then again, maybe he did. People did stupid things for stupid reasons.
Simon’s eyebrows lifted. “Me?”
“Yes.” She rolled her hand, gesturing for him to hurry up with it.
Simon’s smile caused that dimple to reappear and his blue/green/gray eyes to glitter beneath those thick eyelashes. “Is there somethin’ specific you’d like to hear?”
Aww, man. Itwashim. Simon with the smooth, rich drawl and the not-quite-brown hair and the multi-shaded eyes and the sexy dimple, was standing. In. Her. Store.
Once again, she was clutching her chest. “Oh my God.”
And yes, she found herself ogling him, trying to connect the man she was looking at with the voice she’d heard every day since Holt first suggested she listen to one of the top true-crime podcasts in existence. The only pictures of Simon Jennings she’d found online were those of him wearing sunglasses and a hat—sometimes a ballcap, most of the time a cowboy hat, but always a hat. She just figured that was his style.
He didn’t have a hat on now. Or sunglasses.
He looked better without them. In her opinion, anyway.
Not interested.
Exactly.
“Wait.” Violet peered around. “Is Archer here?”
Holt chuckled.
Simon said, “No. He’s takin’ a few days off to visit his grandmother.”
Well, that was too bad. Violet would’ve loved to have met Simon’s partner, the man who did the dirty work when it came to their investigations. At least, that was how Simon described him in his episodes.
Wait. Violet frowned. “The one in Nashville? Or Oklahoma?”
“Nashville.”
“Is she all right?”
Simon’s smile widened. “She is.”
Violet sighed with relief.
Simon continued. “He tries to get up there to visit every coupla months.”
What a nice thing to do.
