Page 119 of Hometown Hottie

58

CARSON

When I showed up at football practice for the kids at camp, I was on cloud nine. It looked like I was going to get the house, Nova knew I was considering taking a broadcasting job and she was still with me, and the contractors were just about to start work on Red Stone Ranch.

The early morning air was warm as I strolled out onto the field. None of the kids or Vance had arrived just yet. I thought I was alone until I saw a figure striding out of the equipment shed with her arms full of cones, but even though her face was obscured by bright orange, I knew who it was.

No one else moved like Nova and no one else affected me the way she did. My heart rate spiked. My entire being was already reaching for her as I jogged over. I’d slept at Mom’s last night after spending more than a week staying at Nova’s, but I’d missed my girlfriend so much in the twelve hours since I’d last seen her that I wrapped my arms around her from behind and lifted her off her feet, cones be damned.

She squealed with laughter and dropped them to twist and wrap her arms around my neck, not seeming surprised to see me here. “Trouble sleeping?”

I hiked her up against my stomach and slid my hands around the bottom of her ass to hold her there. “Yes, it’s funny, but it seems I’ve already outgrown sleeping alone.”

“That is funny,” she said, amused as she toyed with my hair and dotted little kisses across my forehead. “What’s even funnier is that the same thing has happened to me at exactly the same time. Amazing how that works, huh?”

“Yep. Does it make me a horrible person that I’m happy you feel the same way?”

“I don’t think so,” she murmured against my skin, breathing me in before she pulled back and smiled. “If you are, then I’m a horrible person too, so we can be horrible together.”

I chuckled. “Done. Let’s just be horrible together, then. Can I help you put out the cones for the practice drills?”

“I’ll be okay. You can borrow some of these to set up for your own practice, though. The kids will be getting here soon.”

“Yeah, I know.” I gave her a hopeful smile. “Do you think we’ve got time for a quickie in the locker room?”

She swatted my arm, but she seemed to be considering it until we heard a car pulling up.

I groaned. “Damn it. Later?”

“Later,” she promised coyly, making me wonder what she was planning, but when I set her down on her feet and turned to find the sheriff walking toward us, my mind immediately left the gutter.

Nova tensed at my side, reaching for my hand without even looking at me. He tipped his hat at us, looking up and down the length of the football field with a fond grin.

“When I was a youngster, I was always here early,” he commented lightly. “Kids of today, huh? Always sleeping in.”

Nova gave him a curious smile, but she was still tense, her entire body rigid. “Practice doesn’t start for about twenty minutes, sir. Is there something we can do for you, or have you come to watch the teams?”

“I’d love to stay and see what you’ve taught them all these last few weeks, but I’m here on official business,” he said, looking at her. “Your father told me you’d be here, and I thought I should come tell you in person that we’ve had a break in the case.”

“A break?” Relief surged through me, as she and I shared a hopeful look. “What break?”

“We arrested Frank Louison for arson,” he said, suddenly smiling.

Nova released my hand to clamp both of hers over her mouth.

I gaped at him. “Are you serious? Do you think the charges are going to stick? Did you find some evidence?”

The sheriff nodded, hooking his thumbs into his pockets and looking mighty proud of himself. “The charges will stick. I imagine he’ll be paying for all the damages you suffered, once all is said and done.”

Nova’s eyes went as wide as I’d ever seen them. “Do you really think so? What about a trial? What happens if he’s found not guilty?”

“He confessed, Ms. Murphy. We questioned him and presented him with our evidence, and he caved almost immediately,” the sheriff said. “This won’t make it to trial. He’s sitting with his lawyer and the prosecutor as we speak. He wants to make a deal. We’ll need your input into whatever deal the prosecutor wants to make, if they choose to let him make a deal at all, but he confessed. I thought you’d like to know.”

“Why did he do it?” she asked, her eyes boring into his unrelentingly. “He has to have told you, right?”

The sheriff sighed as he grimaced. “It turns out that he was looking at selling your ranch to cover a ton of debt he’d accumulated over the last year or so. Some or other investment of his went wrong and your ranch was the best opportunity he could see to get himself out of that hole.”

“This wasn’t to hurt Nova?” I asked disbelievingly, gritting my teeth as my fingers rolled into fists at my side.