Sweet Hill Homecoming (Sweet Hill 1)

Branch just shook his head. “His sister was always pulling stunts too. And that mother of theirs...” Branch’s grumbling died off. His grouchy tone was another thing that had made a more frequent appearance.

Tate frowned. In all his years working with Sheriff Branch, he’d never been so annoyed than in that moment. He was judging both Mia and Kyle on zero facts or merit.

He had no doubt that if Branch were to have taken the call last week, Kyle would have likely been suspended because Branch wouldn’t have dug into anything further. Not because he was a bad Sheriff, he just wasn’t the same man he used to be. Every day that passed, he seemed to age a year.

Tate pushed that gnawing pain aside. When the Sheriff retired, his wife was going to take him in for evaluation. Tate’s fear was he had early onset Alzheimer’s or dementia. Tate couldn’t be sure, but if Branch went in now, and the doctor found something, he’d likely have to be removed fr

om his station as Sheriff, and everyone would know why.

No. Tate wouldn’t let the Sheriff’s legacy end with his pride being shattered. Just a few more weeks until the election and he could retire with grace.

He shook his head and thought about the incident last week. To Kyle’s credit, the kid took responsibility though it wasn’t even his fault. And to Mia’s credit…

Tate took a deep breath. Despite his run-ins with the insult-flinging, sultry-blonde, he had to admit, she had passion. Something he was lucky enough to experience. He’d been trying to get her out of his system since the moment he found her stuck. But his thoughts of her were only growing.

This past week he’d thought of how she looked at him at the school. There was a moment where she looked scared. Scared for her brother. But she still fell back on her typical form of communication.

Demands and expectations.

She may be demanding and brash, but if she truly believed in something, she went all out. Another red zone Tate knew better than to go near.

“I think Kyle has a promising future and Mia seems to take good care of him,” Tate said.

The Sheriff waved his hand, as if batting Tate’s words out of the air. How did Tate turn into the one defending the Blake Brood? Maybe Luke’s words got to him. Maybe the few flashes of Mia’s vulnerability were messing with his head. Of course, he could have just imagined those flashes, which was likely. The woman never seemed to falter on a damn thing. All confidence and flare.

“Well, never the less, that boy is one to keep an eye on,” Branch said.

Tate disagreed, but didn’t want to go deeper into a conversation that no longer mattered. The kid had cleaned up the mess, all was good in Sweet Hill, no sense in fighting over it. Especially when the sound of heels clicking on tile drew closer, and all Tate wanted to do was walk from the Sheriff’s office and out to the main area.

There, waltzing across the tile floor and heading straight for the front desk was the woman he’d been thinking about for two damn weeks. The sight of her made all the rage he felt for Branch slow to a simmer. Like her presence calmed him. Made him happy. Which was unexpected.

And she was looking fine.

Fitted black skirt that hugged her hips and stopped just above the knee with an intricate design on her black stockings down to her exceedingly high red heels. Her jacket was gray, wool and fit her perfectly. Her hair tied up tight in a bun and she clutched a clipboard. Tate was in awe of how versatile and beautiful she was.

She didn’t bother talking to Gail at the front desk, instead just lifted her chin at Tate, obviously seeing him stare at her from the back of the room.

“Deputy? A word please,” she called.

The Sheriff mumbled, “If that’s not trouble, I don’t know what is, son.”

Tate wanted to laugh. He had no idea.

“Miss Blake,” Tate said, walking around the partition and out to meet her in the lobby. He didn’t miss how her gaze took in his body in a slow sweep. Did Miss Blake have a thing for uniforms? Maybe just him in uniform? He could hope. Because he was finding out that he was partial to her in a skirt.

Before he could argue with himself, that no, he didn’t hope, that he didn’t want any part of her, his cock twitched in his jeans, calling him a liar.

“You look to be on a mission today.” He smiled, hoping this would soften her obvious intent. It didn’t.

“Aren’t I always on a mission, Deputy?” she said sweetly. A little too sweetly.

“Indeed.” He looked from her sexy shoes up to her matching red lips.

She cleared her throat just a touch, and adjusted her weight, but a blush skated across her cheeks and Tate grinned. He had seen her reaction to men when they looked at her. And yeah, they looked at her alright. Blatantly. Tate tried not to be one of those guys. Because he also noticed that Mia seemed to regard them with either boredom or annoyance. But when Tate looked at her just now? She blushed. And for some reason he felt as though he just won a prize.

“I came to get some information about last year’s Santa’s Sleigh Drive.”

Tate hooked his thumbs at the front of his belt. He was about to ask why, but when he noticed Mia’s gaze snap down to his “belt,” he couldn’t help but grin a bit more. He rolled on his heels just enough to subtly thrust his hips forward. Her eyes snapped back up to his and yep, she was full blown blushing now.