Page 6 of Hometown Hottie

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?”