Hometown Hero by Cate Cameron

Author:Cate Cameron
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2015-11-16T05:00:00+00:00

* * *

EVERYTHING felt out of control, and Zara didn’t like it. Well, she mostly didn’t like it. She’d worked hard to put herself in a place where she could make her own decisions, and she liked to make them based on what was rational, and what was most likely to keep her in that place of independence. Getting involved with Cal Montgomery definitely wasn’t going to help keep her life calm and controlled. But somehow, she couldn’t bring herself to let go of his hand.

Would it be so bad? If she let him in a little, trusted him . . . well, she already did trust him, she supposed. He’d been around forever, in the background. The mess with Zane had been . . . it had been a mess. But probably not Cal’s fault. And he’d been so good with Zane ever since, so kind and generous with his time. And damn, he could kiss.

“Have you had dinner?” he asked as they approached the parking lot.

The lie was on her lips before she’d even thought about it, put there by years of training in self-protection. She should tell him she’d eaten. She should get away from him, stop letting herself be stupid, go home and have a sandwich and a shower, and then go to bed. It was the smart thing to do. But the same rebellious instinct that had controlled her hand and kept it entwined with his now took over her mouth. It caught the lie and told the truth instead. “No, not yet.”

“We’re probably a bit sweaty to go anywhere public. But if you want, I can cook for us. I just live a couple blocks away.”

Her stomach lurched nervously, but the sensation wasn’t completely unpleasant. Going to his apartment. Being alone with him somewhere private. She knew what that meant.

And her protective instinct kicked back into gear and told her she should absolutely go. This relationship should get physical as soon as possible. They needed to quit talking so much and just get themselves into bed; sex would take care of whatever this weird tension was between them, this strange awareness Zara was developing for Cal. She just needed to sleep with him and get him out of her system. “Sure,” she said. “Your place. Sounds good.”

So they walked on, heading back toward the lake, and Zara eventually realized they weren’t going to an apartment building. Which made sense. When she was imagining Cal’s home, she was seeing him in a Manhattan high-rise, sleek and modern with floor-to-ceiling windows and abstract art on the walls. But there was nothing like that in Lake Sullivan. Apartments in small towns tended to be for poor people, and that didn’t fit Cal at all.

Still, she was a little surprised when they turned into the driveway of a little stone cottage. It had one of the town’s bronze heritage plaques on the wall, designating it as The Fisher Home; Cal saw her looking at the sign and shrugged. “I like to think of it as The Montgomery Home, but I guess the town council disagrees.

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