Hometown Hottie, page 2
So who exactly is he meeting with tonight, and why is this the first I’m hearing about any of ‘em moving back here?
2
CARSON
“Man, it’s weird being back,” Vance muttered as we walked into Moe’s, the best—and one of the only—bars in town. My friend screwed up his face as he looked around. “How does it look exactly the same as it did before we left? And how does it smell the same?”
“People around here don’t like change.” I clapped him on the shoulder and walked directly to the pitted wooden bar where I’d had my first ever legal beer. The same faded, US flag hung overhead, and the same glitchy TV was mounted on the wall over the bottles.
Unlike Vance though, I found it comforting that nothing had changed. It was familiar. Felt like home, which was exactly what we’d both come back here for—home. “Besides, you knew it hadn’t changed much. We were here for that weekend just last year.”
“To visit our parents, not to live with them,” he said as he drummed his fingers on the counter, looking around with a thoughtful expression on his face until he suddenly grinned. “You know what, though? It’s kind of nice knowing we’re not leaving again in a couple days. I think it’s just going to take a while to really accept that we’re back for good this time.”
“Agreed.” I ordered a pitcher of beer from the kid behind the bar. He did a double-take when he recognized us, but before I could ask if he wanted a selfie or something, he squeaked and rushed away.
Hopefully to get our beer.
Vance laughed. “I guess that’s one thing that’s changed. We’re real hometown heroes now. I don’t think we left the adoring crowds behind back in civilization.”
I rolled my eyes at him, in agreement with his assessment but not really wanting to talk about it. Vance and I were the only two players from our state who’d gone on to play in the NFL. We’d been teammates in high school but had gone to different colleges and had been drafted to different teams.
Over the years, we’d kept in touch and remained friends. Now we were both back home at the same time with the same mission. Retired and ready to slow down, we wanted to use our money to help the small town we loved, and we wanted to live out the rest of our days in the place we’d come from.
Escaping my hometown after high school had been great, but only for a while. These last few years had been exhausting and everything about life in the spotlight had gotten really, really old. For the past couple of years, Vance and I had both toyed with the idea of leaving the game with our dignity intact before we’d finally made the leap.
Now here we were, back home and with absolutely no concrete plans to fill our days. We’d figure it out, though. For now, I was just happy breathing in the stale beer scent of our beloved Moe’s and I was looking forward to calmer, quieter days with people who wanted me around for more than just my money.
“Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in.” Ryan’s familiar voice rang out from behind us. His arms were spread as wide as his grin when I turned to look at him. Well over six feet, he was as tall as Vance and me, and also like us, there wasn’t an ounce of fat on him. His skin was deeply tanned from spending his days outside on the ranch and his dark brown hair was messy instead of styled. He took a few more steps forward, whistling as his gaze moved from one of us to the other. “Carson Drake and Vance Abrams. The NFL’s very own heartbreakin’ superstars are really back in the town, huh?”
Vance pumped his eyebrows at him. “Ready to break some hearts and take some—”
“Don’t say it.” I smiled at my old buddy and accepted his hug, smacking him on the back a few times before I let go. “How’re you doing, man? It’s been a long time. They don’t have working phones around here anymore?”
Ryan chuckled. “The phones work, but so do we. Some of us weren’t just chasing balls and chasing tail and getting paid for it.”
Vance pretended to be shocked, pressing his hand to his chest and batting his eyelashes. “Well, I never. What are we doing here then, Drake? I thought we were coming for le good life. This doesn’t sound like that.”
Ryan laughed at our friend, giving him a back-thumping hug too. The squeaking kid brought over our pitcher of beer and two mugs. He looked between Vance and me with huge eyes, and I could practically see the stars in them until he glanced at Ryan.
The kid smiled. “What can I get you, Ry? Are you really with them?”
“Unfortunately,” he replied with that grin still on his face. “Thanks, Kevin. It looks like Carson’s already got us ready. Just grab me a mug.”
I cradled the pitcher close to my chest. “I don’t know what you guys are drinking, but this is for me.”
Vance patted his rock-hard stomach. “I’d watch the beer gut if I was you. If that’s what you’re after though, go for it.”
I sighed. “Fine, I’ll share.”
Kevin, the bartender kid, handed Ryan a frosty mug. Ryan thanked him and waved us to a booth near the pool tables that were in serious need of refelting. As we sat down, he frowned at us, the massive grin finally fading. “You two really back for good? I mean, I’m here, so I got your texts, but seriously? You’re home?”
Vance filled the glasses.
“Yep, we’re home for good,” I said. “It was time for us to bow out gracefully while we still could.”
“Gracefully, huh?” He lifted both his eyebrows at me. “When have you ever been graceful?”
I laughed and settled back into the booth with the plastic bench covers creaking under my ass when I moved. Damn, it’s good to be home.
The humor faded from Ryan’s eyes again as he looked back and forth between us. I spun my beer on the table in front of me, turning it slowly between my fingers before I leaned forward. “Out with it, Ryan. It’s been a while, but you know us so just speak freely.”
“I’m just struggling to get my head wrapped around this.” He squinted at us. “You worked your butts off for years to get scholarships, to go to college, get drafted, rise up in the league, and now you’re just home?”
“You worked your ass off too.” Vance shrugged. “Yet, you turned it down before we even got to college.”
“Sure, but that’s just it. I never got the taste of the bright lights and big cities. Don’t get me wrong. I’m damn glad you guys are back. I guess I just don’t really understand it.”
“There ain’t no place like home, Ry,” I said honestly. “You just have to be gone long enough for that truth to really sink in.”
“It hits you in the nuts like a sack of bricks.” Vance brought his glass to his lips and took a long sip of his beer. “How have things been around here?”
Ryan chuckled, shrugging as he took a look around. “Much the same as always, boys. There have been a few new developments, but nothing major. Where are you staying now that you’re home?”
“I’m with my Mom,” I said. “I want to build my own place eventually, and in the meantime, I wanted to rent a townhouse while I searched for a property, but Momma wasn’t having it.”
Ryan grinned. “Good old Momma Drake. Let me guess, she told you that over her dead body were you paying to stay someplace else when she has a perfectly good house—”
“Just standing there, mostly empty,” I finished for him, chortling. “Exactly, yeah. Vance is at his parents’ too.”
“Yeah, but the difference is that I’ve already gone to look at a few places to live. The other benefit about moving back here is that we’ll get way more bang for our buck. The old Granger place is on the market to buy for less than I paid for rent in a year back in New York. That big house on two acres of land with everything on it, and it costs a fraction of a fucking penthouse. It’s ridiculous.”
Ryan rocked his head from side to side, a flicker of something darker in his eyes as he nodded. “That’s great, man. The old Granger place is awesome.”
“It’s probably going to get condemned,” Vance joked. “If I buy it, I might as well build my own house because I’m going to have to do a lot of work, but I don’t know. I guess we’ll see how it goes.”
“How about you?” I asked Ryan. “How’s your family?”
While I didn’t specifically mention Nova, I was hoping he would bring her up. Sitting across from him now, looking into the big blue eyes he shared with his sister, I couldn’t not think about her. A pang of something shot through me, but it was gone too soon to identify what it had been.
“Same old, same old,” Ryan said unhelpfully. “My parents are still on the ranch. Dad still thinks that time stopped moving forward somewhere in the nineties and Mom still makes that mean chicken casserole if you guys are interested in coming for dinner sometime.”
“You still staying there?” Vance asked while I kept waiting for Ryan to mention the only member of his family he hadn’t brought up so far.
My friend nodded. “We converted the old barn into a shop and apartment for me.”
Since he was still silent on the subject, I reluctantly put it out there. “How’s Nova?”
God, I had such a thing for that girl back in the day. Ryan had shut it down pretty quickly, though. He even pursed his lips at me now. “She’s fine.”
Leaving it at that, he questioned Vance about what kind of work the Granger place would need and offered to help him patch it up if he decided to buy it. I took the time to wonder about what had happened to Nova Murphy.
She’d had the potential to be the great love of that part of my life, and I still wasn’t happy about the way things had ended with her. Not that I’d spent the last decade longing for her and obsessing over what might have been.
In fact, I’d gone the opposite way for a long time, but shit. Here I was, with her brother right across the table from me, talking about their ranch and their family. It was only natural to be thinking about her.
Wasn’t it?
I hadn’t seen her since before I’d even been drafted. While I had been home as often as I could make it to visit my mom, I’d never been in town for any extended periods of time and I’d never gone out enough to accidentally bump into the one who got away.
I was sure she’d long since moved on. She was probably married with a few kids by now, and the beer went sour in my mouth at the thought, so I banished it. Enough. We’re catching up with Ryan, not reliving the past right now.
Still, it looked like Nova Murphy wasn’t done haunting me just yet.
When I walked into my mother’s house later that afternoon, she was unpacking a beautiful box of pastries, humming under her breath when I joined her in the kitchen.
“How did it go with Ryan?” she asked, picking up the box and presenting me with a multitude of mouthwatering treats.
I swiped one as I nodded at her. The delicious flavor exploded in my mouth. I groaned and reached for another. “It was good, yeah. Where’d you get these from? They’re amazing.”
“Aren’t they?” She smiled. “Nova Murphy opened a bakery a few years ago and it’s the best in town. Ryan didn’t tell you?”
I shook my head. “Must’ve slipped his mind.”
“Well, it’s been years. I’m sure you boys had a lot to catch up on.” She gave me an indulgent smile when I reached for yet another pastry, leaving the box in front of me when I sat down at the breakfast bar.
“So, Nova has a bakery now, huh? That’s cool. Where’s it at?”
“Red Stone Ranch.” Mom gave me a weird look. “Did Ryan really not tell you about any of this?”
“Nope,” I said around a mouthful of fluffy, buttery pastry. “What is there to tell?”
“Not much, really. I just thought he’d have wanted to brag a little bit about his baby sister. She’s been working so hard, trying to help out her parents. She’s really stretched herself thin since she moved back after college, but she still volunteers at the library a few times a week to read to the kids. A real angel, that girl. I’d have thought her brother would be more proud of her.”
“I’m sure he is.”
I changed the subject after that, but Nova lingered on my mind long after I went to bed, tossing and turning as I thought about those big blue eyes and her long, dark blonde hair.
Once upon a time, I’d felt things for her that I hadn’t felt before or since, and while I hadn’t come back here for her, I wondered if I should pop in at this bakery tomorrow. See what all the fuss was about and maybe, just maybe, get to catch a glimpse of what my life might’ve been like if things had gone differently.
3
NOVA
Sundays and Mondays were my days off. From the bakery, anyway. They were the only two days of the week we were closed, so naturally, that meant I spent them getting caught up on chores around the ranch.
Knee deep in hay in one of the barns, I could’ve sworn I heard a truck pull up at the main house. Since I wasn’t expecting anyone or anything, I didn’t go to see who it was. They weren’t here for me, and if I didn’t finish the mucking today, I’d just have to do it tomorrow—and there were more than enough things on my to-do list for tomorrow as it was.
Getting back to work, I lost myself in the routine, allowing it to clear my thoughts of worry and enjoying the burn it created in my muscles. Twisting my ponytail around itself, I snapped another band around my hair, effectively creating a messy bun to keep it off my neck.
I kept going until I was dripping with sweat, feeling it slide down my spine and my throat. So that’s where all the moisture in my body has gone.
My mouth was bone dry and I wiped my brow with the back of my forearm, resting the shovel against the wall before I pulled off the heavy work gloves. Gah, I need a drink before I pass out.
Glowing with heat, dirty, and covered in sweat, I headed around the back of the main house and stumbled into the kitchen—only to stop in my tracks once he came into view. Tall, handsome, broad-shouldered, and much too familiar even with his back to me, I recognized him instantly.
Carson freaking Drake! What on God’s green earth is he doing here?
As soon as I saw him, my heartbeat turned into a hummingbird trying to take off in my chest and my mouth was still dry but in a whole different way now. Carson had always been built like a superhero. With what he’d wanted to do for a living, being ripped was part of the package, but these days?
Holy hunkness.
He didn’t look like just any superhero anymore. He strongly resembled Thor, except that Carson’s hair was dark as night and his eyes were an electric, almost otherworldly green. Outside of that though, he was definitely godly material.
Meanwhile, I looked like I’d jumped into a muddy puddle and then ran seven hours home. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.
I’d always known there was a chance I would see him again. With his mother still living in town and his friendship with Ryan distant but intact, it had never been beyond the realm of possibility that he’d appear out of the blue one day.
I just had not realized today would be that day, and to say that I was not prepared for it was the understatement of the century. To my mind, there was only one thing to do. Run!
My mother was standing in the middle of the kitchen, talking to Carson like he was her long-lost son. I soundlessly slid my feet backward to make a quick escape, but the movement must’ve caught my mother’s eye because she suddenly looked right at me.
“Nova, honey! Look who’s here. You remember Carson Drake, right? Come on in. Join us for some lemonade.”
My heart pounded against my ribs as he slowly started turning to face me. For the first time in ten fucking years, and I looked like a rat who’d been drowned in dirt. Shit.
Like a buck in the headlights, I froze when he finally looked at me, my heart the only part of my body that was working. Those gorgeous, impossibly intense eyes burned into mine. A smile spread on his full lips as he looked at me with something like wonder softening his chiseled features.
Oh, fuck no.
Finally managing to awaken my limbs, I turned and bolted, not bothering to look back or to explain to my mother that I would not, in fact, be staying for the reunion she was trying to orchestrate.
Past the hammering of my heart in my ears, I heard her hollering after me. “Nova! Are you okay?”
I didn’t stop. Didn’t even consider it. I just fled right back to the barn and decided to pretend I’d never left it.
Carson hadn’t become one of the best quarterbacks in the entire NFL by letting things go, though. A couple minutes later, he appeared in the wide open doorway, hands in his pockets as he strode in and smiled at me again.
“I’m sorry if I scared you back there.”
Aww, crap. That voice.
The sound of it still made my knees weak. It was a little rougher and a little deeper now than it had been when I’d last heard it, but it was still so much the same that I would have recognized it even in the middle of the loudest rock concert the world had ever seen.
“You didn’t scare me.” I averted my gaze from his to focus on putting my work gloves back on. “I just, uh, I remembered that I hadn’t finished the corner yet.”
I tilted my head toward a corner of the barn—any corner—only to find that it was clean when I followed up the head tilt with a glance. Oh, for crap’s sake.
Another smile played on Carson’s lips. “You wanna try again?”
“Yes, please,” I said. “Okay, fine. So that was an excuse. Obviously, I’ve already done that corner, but as you can see, there’s plenty of work still to be done.”
He made his way deeper inside the barn. Those broad shoulders stretched against the confines of his navy blue T-shirt as he moved. The fabric tugged around his biceps, chest, and abs, forming little lines that drew my gaze to them.
Chuckling when he caught me staring, he pulled his hands out of his pockets and motioned at his abs. “How about this? To apologize for scaring the living daylights out of you, I’ll let you cop a feel.”
