by Ryan, Joya
Sweet Hill Homecoming
By: Joya Ryan
This is an original publication of Bear and Gunner Publishing, LLC
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used factiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. Bear and Gunner Publishing, LLC or the author, does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for third-party websites or their content.
Copyright © 2013 by Joya Ryan
All rights reserved.
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Contact [email protected] for permission.
Printed in the United States of America
www.JoyaRyan.com
To My Boys
Thank you for your smiles, kisses and hugs. You are the bright spot in my every day.
I love you.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to my Bestie;
you helped me make this book happen and kept the “I told you so’s” to a minimum and simply supported me like you always do. Thank you Jill for being amazing and going above and beyond every day. Thank you Stephanie for the final read through. Thank you E-book Fairies for wonderful edits and Viola Estrella for yet another brilliant cover!
Chapter One
Mia Blake didn’t need to check her pockets again to know she wouldn’t find keys. Mostly because when she peered into her locked car, she saw them dangling from the ignition.
It was nine o’clock at night, the winter wind was gusting, and now she had to figure out how to kick herself for not getting a spare made. Add that to the never ending to do list. A list that was growing by the day and she’d only been back in her small home town of Sweet Hill two weeks.
She rested her forehead against the cold windowpane and cursed. It had been a shitty day. She was down to her last spare four dollars until pay day, her brother needed new cleats for football and she found an application to the local grocery store in his room today. The same grocery store she’d applied to and got turned down for this morning.
Standing in her flour stained clothes after a long day waiting tables at Annie’s Café, she stared down her car and seriously contemplated busting the window. But that would be another expense to pay that she couldn’t quite afford. She was lucky enough to get the waitressing gig thanks to her old friend owing the café, but the hours were part time and the tips were minimal, which meant it covered rent and little else. The main reason she was trying to get a second job.
Once upon a time she was considered an asset to her former employer back in Seattle. Sure she was a VIP hostess at a high end exclusive night club, but she got tipped really well to be a glorified gopher. The perk for her was that she also got to plan the club’s events and themed nights. It also came with a false sense of self-esteem.
When she was there, planning and hosting parties for Seattle’s elite, she could pretend people valued her for her ideas instead of her tits.
But things were different now. She had a chance to be seen the way she wanted. As a person. If she could make it in her home town, a place her former reputation and unflattering last name were known, she could certainly prove to everyone and herself that she was more.
First she just had to get into her car.
She banged her head against the window and let out a long, frustrated breath. She just wanted to see the last quarter of Kyle’s football game tonight. If there was one thing she’d do right today, it would be to make it to his game. Which was where everyone else in town seemed to be since Main Street was dead and dark.
No help.
And she was back to busting the window idea because, damn it, Kyle was counting on her. Like he had been since their mom died last year and Mia became Kyle’s guardian. Moving him to the city with her had proven too difficult on him. After spending most of his junior year at a new school, and him getting terrible grades and bouts of depression, she quit her job and moved him back here where he could finish out his senior year with his friends.
She missed her job. She missed the money. But Kyle seemed to be happier here. And that was worth it. In Seattle, it was just the two of them. In Sweet Hill, he had a support system.
Walking around the car for the third time, she finally saw an option.
“Sun roof!”
It was open and if she could just get inside enough to reach in and pop the lock, she’d be in business. Climbing onto the hood, she dropped her purse on the front seat and eyeballed the opening. She could fit…maybe.
“Quick hop and shimmy,” she told herself and tried just that. Only the hop came up short and instead of a shimmy, she closed lined herself on her Honda.
But she was in! Sort of.
Balancing on the ledge and the rim of the window digging into her lower stomach, she leaned in as far as she could go, reaching for the driver side lock.
The sunroof was smaller than it looked. Pulling herself through a bit more, she wiggled and—
“Umph!” Came to a dead halt. The window was like a vice around her hips. She tried to pull herself through again and when that didn’t work, she attempted to backtrack.
Stuck.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she cursed looking over her shoulder at her butt and hating the genes her mother “blessed” her with. Like an above average backside.
She tried to reach for the keys in the ignition and still came up short. Not that it would help much at the moment since she was ass-in-the-air-stuck-as-shit.
She didn’t know how long she hung there, scraping her boots along the outside of the car, likely adding to the hundreds of scuffs that were already there. As if her night couldn’t get any worse, a flash of blue and red came from behind her, followed by a different kind of scraping sound. Like boots walking up on the pavement.
“Good evening ma’am,” a deep voice came from behind—literally behind—her.
“Oh god,” she whispered. Between the darkness, dangling nearly upside down, and the hair in her face, she couldn’t see much of anything. But she could take a guess…
“I’m the Deputy responding to a call about a prowler and possible break in.”
Yep. Deputy. Great.
“I’m not a prowler and I’m not breaking in,” Mia said, going for her best composed voice, which was kind of a joke at the moment. “This is my car.” And who the hell would have called? Every shop on the street was dark and closed.
“Happen to have some ID to prove that?”
“Do I look like I have ID on me at the moment?”
“You look like you confused a car for a hula-hoop,” he responded, not much amusement in his voice but obviously giving her shit.
Even though Mia was beyond annoyed, the charismatic tone he held made a zing of awareness race up her spine.
Weird, since the last time she lived here, she was going on eighteen, and Sheriff Branch with his potbelly, bald head, and genuine smile, ran the Sheriff’s Department.
But that voice didn’t sound potbellied or bald headed. Nope. It sounded hot. And whoever the deputy was, Mia didn’t recognize him, but if he looked anything like he sounded, Mia just might remember how long it had been since she’d had a man.
She looked at her purse, which she was now regretting tossing through the window because it lay out of reach.
“I can’t really get to my ID at the moment,” she said and tried to yank herself backward to at least get out of the sunroof, which scrapped her side thanks to her shirt riding up and she let out a small shriek of p
ain.
“Whoa, hold on there, ma’am,” the Deputy said. “I’m going to take your word for it that this is your car but I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”
He came closer and she felt the car sink a bit with more weight. He’d climbed up on the trunk. Though her upper half was technically in the car and the winter air was chilling her lower half, she could smell his cologne and feel the heat radiate from his body, which was now hovering over hers.
He tugged a bit on the seal, the back of his fingers brushing against her waist. She shivered a little and her blood picked up velocity, shooting awareness and adrenaline and, yep, lust, through her veins.
Was she really that hard up that the barest touch and smell of a man sent her body into overdrive?
Yes…yes she was.
But in her defense he did smell really good.
“Well,” he said with another tug, “Looks like your best bet is to finish what you started and go all the way through. Unless you want me to call my friends at the fire department and have them come cut you out.”
“God, no,” she said quickly. “Can you just help me get in please? Then I’ll show you my ID.”
“Ah…”
She could feel his gaze rake over her.
She rolled her eyes. “Can you just give me a push?”
“I’m going to have to touch you,” he said. Though he sounded professional, there was a hint of unease in his voice. Kind of cute considering she was used to the general male population treating her more like a piece of meat than a human being, which was why dating was difficult.
“Yeah, figured that.” She tried to scoot again and no luck. “I’m not going to sue you or anything so can you just help me out here. Aren’t you supposed to serve or something?”
“Serve and protect. Not grope and extract.”
“Who said anything about groping?”
She heard him let out a breath. “Well ma’am, there’s not a lot of exposed areas that—”
“I’m very aware of what’s exposed here, Deputy. And as fun as this is, I’d like to get in my car now.”
“Alright then.” His hands clamped on either side of her outer thighs. Mia tried not to tremble from the contact, but it was the first time she’d been touched intimately in the past couple years. Not that she could call this “intimate” but it was in the same ballpark. And guys pinching at her as she walked by in a skimpy “uniform” carrying drinks didn’t count. At least at Annie’s Café she got to wear jeans and didn’t have to shake her money maker for tips.
Mia knew first hand that touch was something to cherish. Mostly because being touched by a man genuinely interested in you was different than some random drunk trying to get into your pants for a single night. At least, that’s what she hoped. She didn’t have much to compare since men typically didn’t bother to have a conversation with her.
She hadn’t had a boyfriend, or any kind of relationship, in a lot longer than she’d care to admit. But when Deputy smell-good started gently pushing her, obviously trying not to touch anything too personal, she smiled a little. Most men went straight for the ass.
He was at least trying to be a gentleman. Granted, her head was stuck in the car and the situation wasn’t exactly glamorous.
He pushed a little more and she wiggled. Now able to grab the steering wheel, she pulled.
Almost there…
His thumbs dug into her inner thighs, before she could blush, her hips shoved through the seal. She caught herself just as her knees came through.
“You got it?”
“Yeah,” she said, breathy because she did some crazy fanooling to get in and finally got into the driver seat.
Mia gathered herself, turned on the car, and rolled down her window to talk to the Deputy and looked up to—
Oh. My. God. Deputy indeed.
“Hi,” she said on a strangled breath. The man was tall, built, and simply sinful looking.
Resting his forearm on the door of her car, he leaned down. His smile was earth shattering, a flash of straight white teeth with just a hint of charm. Kind of crooked, kind of cocky, and a lot sexy. In uniform khaki shirt, complete with a Stetson, blue jeans and a badge, the Deputy with dark eyes was packing heat and cuffs which made Mia hot in a totally different kind of way.
“Mia Blake?” he said back.
Her pulse raced. How did he know her name? She’d never seen him before in her life. She’d remember a guy like him.
“Ah, yes? I’m sorry have we met?”
He frowned, and it must have been the shadows across his face but Mia could have sworn for a brief moment he looked almost hurt.
“Yeah, we have.”
“Oh…” Great, now she was really wracking her brain, but she had seen a lot of men in her life. She didn’t have time to play guessing games with Deputy Hottie. She’d deal with it later. “So I guess you don’t still need my ID then?”
He glanced at the sunroof she just climbed through. “I was unaware you were back in town.”
“It’s not exactly news.”
Mia knew that a small town talks, but she also knew how to stay under the radar. But having a Deputy shove her through her car wasn’t exactly discrete. A Deputy she couldn’t place for the life of her.
Thank god it wasn’t the Sheriff out here because that would have been even more embarrassing. She had heard he was set to retire soon, so making a friend with the Deputy wouldn’t be a bad idea. She searched for his name tag, but it was too dark to see and she was running out of time.
“Well, I appreciate your help,” she said, swiping a lock of hair behind her ear.
“It was my pleasure,” he said and for the first time, there was a hint of something else in his voice. Something she didn’t even think he was aware of. But the sexy raspy tone made heat rush to her cheeks and her panties instantly damp.
Standing up straight, he pulled a booklet off his back holster and started scribbling.
God, was he really trying to give her his number? Not that she’d call. She didn’t have time for a man in her life. But he was hot and—
“Well, Mia,” he said, ripping off the piece of paper and handing it to her. “It was nice seeing you again. But you’re parked in a fire zone.”
Her mouth hung open as she looked at the—
“Ticket? Are you fricking kidding me?”
One-hundred-fifty dollars! That was the money she put aside for Kyle’s new cleats.
She opened her car door and got out to face him. After tonight, hell, after the past couple years she’d had, he was giving her a ticket? It wasn’t until she stared him down that she realized how he really rocked a uniform, but that couldn’t detour her.
“Deputy, I’ve had a really long day and so far the evening isn’t shaping up to be any better.”
She stepped a little closer. Prepared to find her polite side and try to just talk to the man. She just couldn’t afford this ticket right now because damn it, the cleats and the game came first.
“Can we just forget this unfortunate incident happened and I’ll pretend you didn’t hand me this?” Pinching the ticket between her thumb and finger, she lifted it, but just then, her left leg that had been tingling from the sunroof-shove incident buckled just enough to sway her balance.
She reached out to steady herself and her palm gently brushed his chest. His hard chest. His, holy crap the man was made of more steel than superman, chest. Hypnotized by his strength, she let her hand linger just for a second.
He looked down at where she touched him and raised a brow. “You assaulting a Deputy ma’am?”
His reaction shocked her.
“No, of course not,” she said quickly, removing her hand. “I just…”
“You just think you can bat your eyes and I’ll fall to my knees?” he shook his head. “We’re not in high school anymore and I’m not one of your admirers.”
Realization hit. High school. She caught a glimpse of his name tag: West. The only West she knew was an up
per classman. Trevor? No, Tatum West.
She looked at the Deputy again.
“No way,” she said. The Tate West she barely remembered was a lot smaller and kind of skinny.
“You figure out who I am yet?” he asked, the snare on his words zinging her a little.
“Is this some kind of joke to you? Or is your ego intent on being an ass and getting me back because I don’t remember you?” She gave him her best glare. “You’ve changed a lot. It’s not my fault I didn’t recognize you.”
“I’m not concerned with you remembering or recognizing me. But I remember you, and I know how you work. Apparently some things don’t change.”
“How I work?” She crossed her arms. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“I know that you try to use your,” he glanced over her once, “assets to get out of tickets. Same way you used to get your trig homework done.”
She closed her eyes briefly. Shit. Tate was the brainy second string kicker whose football games she cheered. The same math genius that she tossed a few smiles so he’d do her homework. And now he was set to make her pay. She was sure of it.
“Look, I’m sorry we got off on the wrong foot. I know I was not the sweetest person in high school but I’m not that girl anymore.” She lifted the ticket. “I just really can’t have this ticket right now. Okay? So is there something you can do? Can we just move on?”
“You can go to court to contest it,” he said and Mia’s whole body was on the verge of a spaz attack.
She was ready to yell, to plead her case and call him several unflattering things. But when he looped his thumbs in the front clasp of his belt, Tatum West looked every bit the strong sexy Deputy and nothing like the skinny teenager from ten years ago. He gave her a smirk, daring her to take this one step further. But it was that smirk that did her in and made her un-bite her tongue.
“Something you care to say, Miss Blake?”
Her night had definitely gone from bad to worse. Between the ticket and her lower back killing her from the bumpy slide through the sunroof, she was officially tapped out. Out of money, patience and the ability to deal with this. And now she had to contend to her stupid neglected body that decided just then to turn on.
