Sweet Hill Homecoming

by Ryan, Joya

  ~

  When the call came in that Mrs. Moberly saw a prowler stalking around the street, Tate figured it was just another shadow she was spooked about. The sixty-five-year-old busy body called every week about something. Tonight it was from her jam shop across the street. But Tate never thought he’d pull up on the back end of Mia Blake. And if he were honest, the most perfect ass he’d ever seen, hanging from a window.

  One of his better calls for sure.

  “Oh, I have plenty to say,” she said and raised her chin. Tate couldn’t help but be a little amused.

  The woman was maybe five-four, nearly a foot shorter than him and she squared her shoulders as if ready to take him on. Even in an apron and what looked to be a pound of flour covering her, she was breathtaking. Not to mention the curviest body that defied the laws of physics he’d ever seen. Full breasts and a small waist that flared to wide hips and shapely backside and thighs. She was sinful, stacked, and a spit fire.

  She was also just a person.

  And despite the war he had going with his eyes, demanding to take a long leisurely look at her, he kept his stare on her face and his tone even. He was on duty and she was, as of right now, a disgruntled ticket holder.

  She squinted and pushed her chest out a little, as if reading his mind that he was battling not to check her out. Challenge accepted. He was, if nothing else, professional.

  His eyes stayed locked on hers and he raised a brow, waiting.

  “Who do you think you are?” she said.

  “Deputy,” he said and tapped the badge on his chest. “West.”

  She clearly didn’t appreciate the mockery but she looked kind of cute when she was pissed.

  “Obviously, but I don’t see why you’re intent on treating me this way.”

  “And what way is that?”

  She huffed and Tate could guess what “way” she was referring to. He wasn’t at her feet panting and drooling. Even in high school she was beyond gorgeous, and Tate may have taken a number for her attention back then, but he wasn’t a scrawny kid anymore and she wasn’t the wild cheerleader. Well, she wasn’t a cheerleader. Tate had no idea about the wild part but judging by the looks of her, Mia Blake still had a flare of a temper.

  Last he’d heard, she’d moved to Seattle before he got back from the Academy. Whatever the reason she was back, she didn’t seem to be too pleased about it.

  “I thought we were friends,” she said with just a hint of a pout. But when she cupped her lower back, effectively sticking her chest out again, he knew the game she was playing.

  Tate laughed at that. “The ticket stands, Miss Blake.”

  She tucked a lock of blonde hair behind her ear and when the lights hit her, he saw the slightest blush tint her creamy skin. Something he’d never accomplished before. Though he couldn’t tell at the moment, memory said that her eyes were a dark turquois. A color like that was unforgettable.

  “I didn’t see the paint,” she pointed to the curb. “It’s all chipped and faded. It was dark when I showed up this morning.”

  He frowned. This morning? Annie’s Café opened early and if she was here, that meant she easily pulled over a twelve hour shift. Which was unlikely.

  Annie was engaged to Tate’s best friend Luke. Since Annie sent her grandmother on a cruise in Florida, she was looking for someone to take her shift. Tate knew Annie well and she wasn’t the kind to run her employees ragged. This was just another way to try to get out of a parking violation. He’d heard several women attempt to get out of tickets before and this sounded like just another line.

  One he was familiar with.

  “Sorry. Rules are rules,” he said.

  She gripped the piece of paper in her small fist. The sound of it crinkling in her hand echoing across the otherwise deserted Main Street. It wasn’t his goal to overly upset her. And it wasn’t some vendetta because she didn’t remember him. Hell, she had many guys fawning over her, it honestly wasn’t a surprise. It was a simple matter of the law. She broke it. He didn’t dish out favors. End of story.

  She clearly didn’t seem to be happy with this so he tried a different approach. At the very least to defuse her anger and attempt to part ways amicably.

  “You sure you didn’t injure yourself?” he asked, definitely not squinting to get a better view of her, flashes of blue and red illuminating her face every couple seconds.

  She looked down the front of herself. “I’m fine. Other than this ticket. You wouldn’t have even been here to give me this if—”

  “If you hadn’t locked yourself out of your car and then got stuck?” Tate shook his head. “Still can’t park in a red zone.”

  “What about a warning? Like I said, I was running late this morning and it was so dark I didn’t even notice it was a red zone.”

  She looked like she was telling the truth but, “Rules are rules.”

  “This one time you can’t just give a girl a break?” She rubbed her lower back again. Was this her go to move? Stick her chest out and demand special treatment?

  Something dark heated Tate’s blood. “If I cut every pretty face a break, it’d never stop.”

  She scoffed, then looked at the sky, then something like a half growl, half sob came from her.

  “Of course not. Why cut anyone a break in this backwoods, hick town where all you care about is barging in and fucking with my life.”

  Tate frowned because one, she insulted his town, not that he was surprised since she was never the kind that seemed to like Sweet Hill, but it was his town and he liked it. And two, she was standing there, wanting a “break.” He’d give her credit, Mia had a lot of nerve.

  “If you have such a problem being here, why don’t you leave?”

  She shook her head, “You know what, I would if I could…” she trailed off and whatever she was about to say she let go.

  He examined her face and had never seen a woman look more stressed and exasperated at the same time. A flicker of light caught his eye. She wore a small silver locket around her neck that picked up the light and—

  She scoffed. “Hey, my eyes are up here.”

  Tate’s gaze snapped up to hers. Ah shit. She thought he was staring her down. He opened his mouth to defend himself but before he could, the fire was back.

  “You give me a ticket and then eye-fuck me?” she said with the lowest, meanest voice he ever heard. She stepped closer to him and kept his stare.

  “That wasn’t what I was doing,” he said. “Your necklace caught my eye.”

  “Oh, it did huh? My necklace?”

  Shit, that sounded stupid even to Tate, but it was the truth.

  “Well, I still think you’re an asshole,” she said.

  He could understand her ire but he wasn’t that guy. And the fact of the matter was, she was treading in shallow water. “You realize you’re insulting a Deputy of the law right now.”

  “So what? You going to arrest me?”

  “I could haul you in, but I’d rather we just—”

  “Don’t bother, I’m done with you,” she snapped.

  Tate scoffed. She was done with him? Yeah, some things never changed. And Miss Mia with her superior attitude was one of those things.

  She got back in her car and slammed her door shut.

  At that point, Tate didn’t have anything else to say. With her wide eyes and lush lips, she was the kind that blew a kiss in any direction and had men lining up. Use to getting her way. Else she wouldn’t have asked him for special treatment and wouldn’t be this pissed that she didn’t get the upper hand.

  She shot one more look in his direction and all he saw were those enchanting eyes go a little puppy dog-ish.

  “That ploy doesn’t work on me, Miss Blake. Point that sad face somewhere else.” Problem was, he was suddenly compelled to rethink the ticket.

  She gave a humorless laugh. “Well, pat yourself on the back, Deputy. You really know how to protect, serve, and screw over.”

  “All part of a day�
�s work,” he said, feeling pissy now himself.

  This was his job. She violated the law. But damn it, the black and white rules he liked so much didn’t seem to apply here, which was crazy because they always apply. Always. Same for everyone. Which was something Tate learned from the Sheriff. Recently though, Sheriff Branch was getting more lax in ways and his judgment.

  Yet when Tate looked at Mia, he wanted to make an exception. Maybe it was the way her eyes were slightly void, slightly sad that made his chest a little tight. Like this ticket somehow ruined her whole night.

  “If this made me miss the game…” she said, starting the ignition.

  Tate let out a long breath. He was mad. Mad that she made him second guess his position. Mad that she made him feel like he’d done something wrong. Mad that he considered going back on everything he held true to “dish a favor.”

  And now she was blaming him for being late?

  “You were the one arguing, and it’s a high school football game and less than a two-hundred dollar parking fine. Nothing you can’t handle I’m sure.”

  Even in the dark he could see her grit her teeth.

  “I just want one thing to go right,” she mumbled to herself.

  “You mean you want things to go your way,” he said.

  “Yes,” she shot back quickly. “That too!”

  And so confirmed what he thought before. A woman too good for the situation she was in and taking no responsibility. She was striking, yes. The exact kind of woman that was too big for this town. The kind of woman he stayed away from.

  Not that it mattered. One look at her and Tate knew she wasn’t his type. Hadn’t been in high school, and wasn’t now.

  “Great seeing you again, Deputy,” she said sarcastically.

  Fine. If she wanted to be dramatic and whine because she didn’t get her way, fine.

  “Ma’am.” He tipped the edge of his hat. He always loved a good challenge, but this woman was not only a diva, but a pain in the ass. Literally. And apparently back in town which meant she was a potential voter.

  He watched her speed away and the cold air didn’t do a damn thing to quench the heat she just sent rushing through him.

  Yeah. Some things didn’t change.

  Chapter Two

  “Heard you had a run in with the fuzz last night,” Jen Randall, Mia’s friend and former cheerleading buddy said sitting down at the counter of Annie’s Café.

  Mia scoffed, wiped her hands down her apron, and poured her a cup of coffee.

  “Yeah, Deputy Stuck-Up graced me with his presence, pushed me into my own car, then gave me a ticket.”

  “Whoa, what? Is this like one of those slang ‘he gave you a ticket for being foxy’ then put the cuffs on you for fun?” Jen wiggled her eyebrows and flicked her strawberry-blonde hair.

  She was the local banker, she also hung out at the café her best friend and owner Annie Thompson opened a few months back.

  “No. It was more like a real ticket after pushing me through my sunroof.”

  Jen shrugged. “Well pushing you into your car through the roof? Some would say that makes him a gentleman.”

  Mia rolled her eyes. Sure, he didn’t play grab ass when he easily could have, and for nearly the entire conversation he did look her in the eye. But he eventually broke and stared at her rack. And even after that she still couldn’t figure out why her body was humming for him. Especially since she didn’t like him.

  “I wouldn’t have parked there if I’d known it was a violation,” Mia said. She shook her head. At the end of the day, it was still her fault. She’d parked in a fire zone, but she honestly didn’t see the red. Something Deputy West didn’t seem to care about.

  “He walks around like he owns the damn town and that ticket was Kyle’s cleats money and because of our argument, I got to the game last night to see the final twenty-seven seconds.”

  “Ah, I’m sorry. I can lend you the money if you need.”

  Mia sighed. “No, I appreciate it, but the point of all this is to support Kyle. I’m his guardian and I want to do this. I will talk to Annie about seeing if I can pick up another shift.”

  Even though Mia knew it was a long shot. She was already working as much as Annie could give her and it still was barely enough to get by. She’d been on the hunt for a second job and so far, it wasn’t looking good.

  “I may know of a job opening,” Jen said and Mia couldn’t help but snap her head up. “The city council woman came into the bank the other day talking about how she wished she had someone to head up this year’s Santa Sleigh Drive.”

  “Really?” Mia said and didn’t care that there was desperation in her voice. Getting to help plan a city event would be huge. Because so far, Sweet Hill didn’t really have a use for her particular skill set. Which wasn’t much to speak of.

  Mia’s mother taught her two things when she was young: One, Mia was the single reason her mother hated her life. And two, people, especially men, would only value Mia for one thing—her body.

  The only thing she knew about her father was that he was an older man who spent a weekend in town, knocked up her mom, and took off. Mia was the reminder of that night and everything her mother lost, including her own future. And she blamed Mia until the day she died.

  Mia touched the locket around her neck. The only thing good she had of her mother. She never gave it to Mia specifically, but it was the single piece of jewelry she owned and for whatever reason, Mia deluded herself into thinking maybe her mother would have wanted her to have it.

  She shook her head, snapping herself out of the pity party. She couldn’t change the past. She couldn’t change who her mother was or how she treated her. But she could try to change how people saw her. Because Mia was tired of relying on her body for tips. She was more than that, and was desperate to prove it.

  Sweet Hill wasn’t Seattle and maybe that was a good thing. Building a life, the kind she could be proud of and support Kyle was her priority. This job may integrate her with the community and be just what she needed for her new start.

  “Yeah, Santa’s Sleigh Drive has outgrown the grassroots effort. Last year it was so big, the city didn’t have enough vehicles to distribute everything donated and some of the food went bad.”

  “That’s too bad,” Mia said. And it was. Santa’s Sleigh Drive was an annual fundraiser put on by the town that helped families in need during the holiday season. They collected coats, toys, and food from the community so that come Christmas morning a truck could deliver a Happy Holiday in a box to families who needed something to be merry about. Most importantly, it gave kids, like Mia had once been, something special under the tree and on the table.

  “I guess it hasn’t been super organized in the past,” Jen went on. “I don’t know the details of the position or what it would pay, but it’s worth a shot.”

  Mia nodded, making a mental note to call the council woman and set up a time to meet with her. Hopefully it came with a bit of money. Anything at this point would help. But the prospect of getting to be a part of the community? To show that she wasn’t the rebel teen she once was and that she was interested and excited about making Sweet Hill her home.

  “Thank you so much, Jen.”

  For the first time since she got here, Mia had a bit of a bright spot in her day. It was a long shot, but it was something. And with her record of striking out lately, she’d take the small dose of hope she could get.

  “Now that you’re in better spirits, back to Deputy Stuck-Up.” Jen smiled. “If I were you, I’d try to stay on his good side.”

  Mia shook her head. The one drawback to a small town was that everyone knew everyone. It could be a good thing in certain instances, but if the Deputy already had her number, Mia was at a deficit in her hopes to gain the town’s approval.

  Yes, she wanted to fit in and be seen as a valued member of society, but she wasn’t going to get walked on.

  “Why should I be nice to him?”

  “Because he�
��s running for Sheriff, and from what I hear, he’s unopposed.”

  Of course he was going to be Sheriff, and Mia’s reputation with the current Sheriff wasn’t perfect. Branch had hauled her in over curfew and suspicion of Minor In Possession back in the day. But he was always kind, honorable and gave Mia a fair shot.

  “Now the Deputy is following in Branch’s footsteps,” Mia said. Only Deputy West seemed uptight and didn’t seem to care what Mia had to say.

  “Tate’s a good guy. Similar to Branch, only younger and hotter.” Jen winked.

  “I think Tate’s ego is bigger than his—”

  “Night stick?” Jen filled in with a smile. “Not from the rumors I’ve heard. I don’t think Deputy West is lacking in any area.”

  Mia tried to roll her eyes again but a small grin slipped out instead. She couldn’t help but remember just how non-lacking Tatum was. He had an effortless presence that engulfed her, despite her being raging pissed. Like his demeanor was one that solicited instant respect and authority. Kind of hot if she were being totally honest.

  “He looks nothing like he did in high school.”

  Jen frowned. “Well, that’s obvious.”

  “Yeah…I didn’t even recognize him.”

  Jen’s eyes went wide. “Oh man. Seriously? Even I remember him. Pretty sure he even did your homework.”

  “Yeah, I know that now,” Mia said and the moment the words left her mouth, she heard how bad they sounded.

  She wasn’t mean in high school, but she wasn’t exactly friendly. Guys liked her and she took advantage of what she could get. But that was a long time ago and she wasn’t that insecure, lost girl anymore. She was here to work hard and start fresh with Kyle, get him through senior year successfully and happy and send him off to college.

  The bell on the door of the café dinged and Kyle walked in.

  “Hey, buddy,” Mia said. “I was just thinking about you. What are you doing here this early?”

  “I came to give you this.” He handed her a key. “I heard about what happened last night. Figured it would be good to have a spare since we share the car.”