Sweet Hill Homecoming (Sweet Hill 1)

“Oh!” she gasped when she saw Kyle standing over them.

“Well, good morning,” Kyle said.

Mia sat up and Tate opened his eyes.

“Hey,” Tate said in a sleep roughened voice that, if possible, sounded sexier than his normal authoritative tone. He sat up and checked his watch.

“How are you feeling?” Mia asked Kyle.

“Pretty good,” Kyle said. “Just getting ready for school.”

“Great.” Tate clapped his knees and adjusted his shoulders. “I’ll give you a ride.”

Mia looked at him. “Really?”

“Yeah. I’m going to be headed to the same place anyway.”

“What? You’re going to my high school?” Kyle asked.

“Yeah.” Tate smiled and Mia didn’t miss the twinkle in his eye. “I’m just going to hang out at your school today. You know…chill.”

Kyle’s face went a little hard and Mia smiled.

“In uniform?”

“Yep,” Tate said. “Just want to make sure everyone is safe.”

Kyle mumbled something under his breath and headed toward his room, but Mia could tell there was a little ease in his step.

“Thank you,” Mia said as Tate stood and stretched. Man, even in the morning with rumpled hair and sleepy eyes the Deputy looked amazing.

“You don’t have to thank me, Mia.”

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She grabbed his hand and squeezed a little. “No, I do. Because,” she glanced over her shoulder toward Kyle’s bedroom, “he’s everything to me.”

Tate nodded and something in his eyes shifted. Like he truly believed her. “I know.”

He kissed her forehead and grabbed his keys off the coffee table and yelled for Kyle. She watched them both leave and for the first time in a long time, felt protected.

Chapter Ten

It was a long day. Tate forgot how exhausting high school could be. But so far, Kyle was okay and Tate didn’t see anyone giving him trouble.

He popped into the station to check on the toy drive bin. Usually there were always a few that came unwrapped so Tate would take them home, wrap them up and bring them back.

“Hey, Deputy West, glad I caught you,” Malcom McAdams said from across the parking and hustled up to Tate before he opened the station door.

“Mr. McAdams, how can I help you?”

“Well, I gotta say I’m not too pleased with how things are going.” Tate frowned but Malcom just continued. “My daughter has been talking non-stop about you until recently. I wanted to get behind you, West, most of the station already supports you, but I worry.”

“What is it you worry about?” Tate said, feeling like he was on the brink of getting a speech about morals. Abby likely was not happy about how the other night turned out and it wouldn’t surprise Tate if the grapevine was already talking.

“I worry that if you can’t even keep up with all the moving parts of this event, how can you keep up with a town?”

“Excuse me?”