Hiding From The Sheriff (A Southern Kind of Love Book 1) Read online

  Too bad it didn’t work…again.

  His eyes never strayed from her face. That was a first. But, then again, she’d never been in police custody for driving a stolen car. It was apparently an off day.

  “You have to believe me when I say this entire thing is a terrible mix-up.” Addie stuck her bottom lip out in a playful pout. She didn’t care about her cover or Brian. Every day that summer when she was fifteen, she’d fantasized about Cameron looking at her like a real woman and not a flat-chested teenager.

  That stubborn, sexy glare didn’t waiver. “I believe you, Addie. I wouldn’t have come if I didn’t.”

  She blinked. “Oh, that’s good.” More than the blue uniform had done. “If you believe me, why won’t you let me go?”

  “It’s not my jurisdiction to decide. I’m here as a favor to Trevor.” He walked to the side of the truck. “He didn’t think you wanted to spend two weeks in jail. Or at least until he can get a lawyer to sort this out.”

  So, it wasn’t some random, twisted joke that the universe decided to pull. Her brother had asked him to come. “I didn’t realize the two of you had stayed in touch.”

  Cameron waited as he held open the passenger door. “I didn’t think you’d remember me.”

  Remember him? Now that he stood before her, she remembered everything, down to the tribal-looking tattoo she assumed still crawled up the side of his ribcage. She took a deep breath, pulling her façade around her tight. “I recognized your name.” And eyes. Lips. Shoulders. Butt. She cleared her throat. “I didn’t know if you knew who I was or if it was a coincidence.”

  He pulled the door fully open and impatiently motioned her inside. “Trevor asked me to get you out. Make sure you have somewhere safe to stay until your hearing. Nothing else.”

  Stay with Cameron? No. Way. She needed to focus on her job and how to get back to California as soon as possible. Her agenda didn’t have room for a hunky cop that had played center stage in every innocent teenage fantasy.

  “Thank you for coming.” She climbed into the truck. “I’ll get Trevor to cover the hotel bill if you can drive me to one.” Clarifying herself, she added, “A nice hotel. At least four stars. Near a Starbucks. A Starbucks in the lobby is ideal.” She crossed her legs and peered at him from underneath her lashes. “Scratch that. I’d like a Starbucks first. Hotel second.”

  Cameron rolled his eyes. “The closest Starbucks to Statem is an hour away.” He pointed to the floor. “There’s your purse. I’ll stop at a gas station for some coffee if we pass one.” He slammed the door.

  Her body froze. It wasn’t working. Men didn’t treat her like this anymore. Invisible. Maybe the time she’d spent in the slammer changed her. She flipped down the visor.

  No mirror.

  “How old is this truck?” She asked when he climbed into the driver’s side.

  “As old as you are.”

  “Twenty-seven?” She fished a makeup compact from her purse. “I hope I look a little better for my age.”

  A small snort escaped from her driver. “Nice try. You’re thirty.” He pulled on the highway. “Or we could round-up to thirty-one since your birthday is next month.”

  The compact slipped in her hands, but she caught it. “Let’s not.” Most men would’ve told her that she looked better than the truck. Feed her a line to try to get somewhere. She wouldn’t hold out much hope that Cameron held a playful bone in his body with the cranky attitude that seemed like a permanent addition to his personality.

  Oh well for the Southern gentlemen she’d read about. She wouldn’t be here long. Two weeks? Not a chance. As soon as she got Brian on the phone, she’d have this whole mess cleared up.

  That made keeping up her pretense even more critical. If Cameron didn't feel the need to compliment her looking this way, he wouldn’t be interested in the other Addie. The side of her she kept locked tight in the corner where numbers and computer code assaulted her brain most of the night.

  The other Addie only came out at night. Alone. And mostly wearing sweatpants that her boyfriend hated. Perfectly happy with having lived almost thirty-one years.

  Brian didn’t need to know that, but at this rate, she might never care what Brian thought about her ever again. His subtle ways of putting her down when she looked less than perfect had wormed their way into her subconscious thoughts full time.

  She took a deep, centering breath and studying Cameron’s profile as he drove precisely the speed limit and used his signal for every turn. They couldn’t have been more opposite. Squeaky clean versus skeletons in the closet. Under the bed. Banging down her door and looking for revenge if those skeletons found out where she lived.

  “Did you play football in college?”

  He shifted in his seat, resting one arm on his door. “No. Decided to stay home and go to work. Trevor said you went to college. Full ride.”

  She shrugged, not wanting to get into those details. Her degree didn’t line up with everything else she tried to portray.

  “Tell me why your boyfriend would report his car stolen.”

  Addie gave up, temporarily, on flirting with Deputy Hottie. But that didn’t mean she’d let her guard down.

  “That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it? He loaned it to me to visit a friend in Florida for New Year’s Eve. And here I am.” She exhaled. “With you.”

  “California to Florida and back is a long trip. Ever consider flying?”

  “Only when I’ve completely lost my mind.” She’d breached security systems of dozens of high-profile companies. Not even the airlines were a safe bet anymore. Soft targets.

  He shifted gears, glancing at her before focusing back on the road, hands at ten and two. “Trevor said your boyfriend was”—his lips pressed together for a brief second—“not right for you.”

  “Discussing Brian’s shortcomings is a common theme of conversations with Trevor, lately. Brian is skiing. I’m sure he doesn’t have a signal for his phone.” Or else he better have a good excuse.

  “Brian?” He spat out his name as if it tasted rotten.

  “What?”

  A crooked smile broke through Cameron’s stern expression, shifting his entire face into the drool-worthy man she remembered.

  Addie caught herself before she fell over his direction. He smelled like…pine trees. Not like the tacky green cardboard thing that hung on rearview mirrors, but the real thing. Rugged and manly. A simple smell like that beat out Brian’s five hundred dollar designer cologne by a long shot. Good thing she’d be on her way in a day or two.

  “I’m picturin’ what a man named Brian, who hasn’t even tried to contact his girlfriend after reporting his car stolen, looks like.” He chuckled. “He’s obviously an idiot.”

  The guy actually chuckled. Like an old man.

  “And, in your highly skilled, professional opinion on men, what does he look like?”

  “Medium height.”

  Lucky guess.

  “Works out for a few hours a day but has never used his muscles for anything worthwhile in his life.”

  Possibly.

  “Doesn’t have a real job.”

  Wrong. She smirked. “He was in a toothpaste commercial and an ad campaign for a gym. He’s waiting for his big movie break.”

  Cameron’s voice shifted back into that the serious cop sound again. “And someone not worthy of you or any other woman for risking you spending even one minute in a jail cell because of his own stupidity.” The truck rolled to a stop at a red light. The hum of the old engine the only sound between them. His green eyes locked with hers. God, it was déjà vu.

  Cameron was right about one thing. Those muscles she’d spied under Cameron’s shirt had seen a lot more real action than Brian’s ever would. She’d seen her Deputy in a fight once. Warmth flooded her face. He’d knocked the guy out with a single punch.

  She swallowed, her mouth having run dry from the memory. “I’m sure there’s a logical explanation for his lack of communication
.”

  He grunted and watched the road.

  “He really is skiing right now.”

  Cameron shrugged, the same, dismissive way Trevor did.

  She crossed her arms and sat back in the seat. “I don’t need another big brother.” She snapped out the last word, before catching the annoyance in her voice. After the ordeal of being in jail, all she wanted to do was relax and be herself. But even if she could find a way to trust Cameron with her real job, she’d never get over the comments Brian had made about how she looked without her hair and makeup done. She could never be herself.

  The muscles along Cameron’s strong jaw contracted. His hand squeezed the steering wheel tighter. He was doing her a favor acting that way.

  Addie leaned away from him. Pine trees passed her window in a blur. She should be grateful and not take out her own frustration at her old feelings for Cameron cloud her judgment. She had a few choice words to say to her boyfriend when he called her.

  How had she forgotten about her phone? She jerked forward and dug into her purse, her world becoming instantly brighter as it powered up with twenty-five percent battery left.

  What if Cameron had been serious about staying for two weeks in some small town? Even if she could get Trevor to send her some money to buy a laptop, with the spotty cellular connection she had, a steady internet connection would be unlikely. The prospect of an overnight stay with an inmate named Big Linda hadn’t worried her as much as spending so much time away from her real job. Her boss would be pissed.

  Her legs bounced restlessly. If Cameron wanted a repentant prisoner, he better detour through a drive-thru and let her get some coffee. If not, she might have two strikes of grand theft auto, and a kidnapping charge leveled against her when she commandeered his old truck to escape toward civilization.

  2

  Cameron let out a slow, pent-up breath, waiting for another hit of that sugary, vanilla smell that filled up his truck. She did it on purpose. No doubt men made fools of themselves all the time. The way she talked, walked and dressed. Nothing like the sweet girl he’d remembered with her nose stuck in a book and big, black-rimmed glasses. Her brown hair now replaced with bleach blonde.

  It was annoying as hell.

  He’d rushed to the small, Florida jail, wanting to protect his best friend’s little sister. It’d confused the shit out of him to see her again looking like…that.

  Gorgeous.

  She held up her phone, moving it back and forth. “Don’t you have any cell phone service out here? I got my email to download, but I can’t get a call to get out.”

  “Nope.” He kept his eyes on the road. “Not for a little bit.”

  She ran a hand through her long hair, dropping into that fake, seductive voice. “What is considered a little bit?”

  “At the top of that hill, you’ll get a signal.”

  “I guess I’ll try to call Brian.”

  “Then, it will disappear until Statem.”

  “How far until Statem?”

  “Three more big hills after this one.”

  “Never heard of someone counting hills for distance,” she muttered.

  Cameron met her gaze. “We do in the country.”

  She rolled her eyes, her leg bouncing with impatience.

  Trevor had always bragged about her intelligence. Impossible. She seemed to have the personality of Jessica Rabbit, not a Computer Science degree from the University of Southern California.

  But even with the airhead vibe, the look in her eyes still threatened to draw him in. Just like when he was eighteen. Like she had the world figured out, and he didn’t. It’d made him uncomfortable.

  He squeezed the wheel. Now, that same look made it hard to remember how Trevor’s little sister had a big “hands off” sign flashing over her head.

  “Trevor didn’t mention what you did for a living.” He could handle small talk.

  Her eyes lifted slowly from her lap. “I work the perfume counter at a high-end department store.”

  “Ah. So, the computer thing didn’t work out?”

  Her expression didn’t change, but her lips pursed together a brief second. “No. Although, I can work a register pretty well.”

  She went back to her phone, pushing her hair away from her face again.

  “Finally!” She twisted in her seat, facing the window for privacy, but she never lowered her voice. “Brian. Give me a call. Please. I’m out of jail, but I can’t leave for another two weeks. The quicker you call, the quicker I can go home.”

  She tossed her phone into the floorboard, landing perfectly in her purse.

  What kind of jerk left his girlfriend in jail? A stupid one. Cameron rolled his window down to bring in some fresh air and cool his skin. In his line of work, he’d seen his share of low-life boyfriends and husbands that women stayed with no matter what. Addie didn’t look or act like Brian abused her. Some women hid their scars, though.

  Trevor certainly hated the boyfriend. The next call he expected would be from Trevor, asking for another favor to come and bail him out of jail once he discussed Addie with Brian. Cameron hoped he had the opportunity.

  As they topped the hill, Cameron spotted a black Honda parked on the shoulder of the two-lane highway. A man in his late sixties stared down at the back, rear tire. Shannon Klein. He limped alongside the car, rubbing his thigh. Cameron had heard the story about being shot in Vietnam enough times to recite it for the man. Getting down and changing a tire this close to the main highway didn’t seem possible for him. Although, Shannon wouldn’t ever ask for help.

  “Another flat tire,” Cameron said as he pulled his truck into the emergency lane behind Shannon’s. “I’ve already filed one complaint with the logging company about the number of flat tires on this stretch of the highway. We’re lucky it hasn’t caused a wreck yet.”

  Addie didn’t respond. Her phone was back in her hand with her fingers flying fast. Better she ignored him than do all the flirting she’d done before. That act had shocked the hell out of him. Left him tugging tight on his control before responding like any other red-blooded male.

  “Ugh!” She moaned and leaned her head back. “I lost the signal again.”

  “I’ll just be a moment.” He climbed out of the truck. Cars flew past as he walked down the emergency lane. If he’d been in his patrol car, he could’ve turned on the lights and made them slow down.

  “Cameron.” Shannon scratched his bald head. “Seems I ran over a nail. I won’t hear the end of it since I was supposed to be home a half-hour ago. The wife will insist on buying me a damn phone now. Managed to make it the past sixty-eight years without one.”

  Cameron laughed. “Let me give you a hand. I wouldn’t want Ms. Ellen to worry about you.”

  “Now, I was about to get to work on it myself.”

  “I insist.” Cameron winked at him. “If you want to let my mama know the next time you see her, I’d accept the brownie points.” He pulled the spare tire from the back of the car and the jack.

  “You’re the apple of your mama’s eye, boy. If she’s anything like my Ellen, she probably fusses over you. All that woman does is worry. About my heart. About my weight.” He began to whistle while Cameron worked. The whistling shifted into a typical male cat-call. “Who is that little lady in your truck?”

  “Her name is Addison Johnson. She’s staying with my folks for a bit.”

  “Oh.” He scratched his bald head again as he looked at Addie. “You remind me of myself when I was younger.”

  “How’s that?”

  He grinned. “Ladies’ Man.”

  “I’m definitely not that. This is strictly professional. A favor to her brother.”

  “I wasn’t too upset to hear about you and Jennifer splittin’. Actually, most everyone in town had hoped you would come to your senses.”

  Cameron kept his head down. Everyone in town had some opinion on Jennifer’s decision to leave Statem. And him.

  “I always thought Jennifer was a l
ooker but mean as a hornet. You could see it in her eyes. Would have made you miserable within a year. This one,” he said, waving at the truck. “She looks sweet as candy. I bet your mama loves her.”

  “She probably will. Right now, she’s more concerned about getting a cell phone signal and probably posting something on social media.”

  Shannon crossed his arms and looked down as Cameron cranked the jack lower until the car rested on the spare tire. “Are you sure you know how to win a sweet girl like her?”

  He shook his head. “I’m not trying to win her.”

  “I could give you some pointers.”

  Cameron replaced the tools and bad tire into the trunk. He knew how to charm a woman if he had any interest in doing so. Jennifer had made it easy to swear off another serious relationship. Not that he’d sworn off all women. Only the beautiful, manipulative ones that lie to get their own way.

  “You need to take that one out dancing. A nice meal. Tell her she looks lovely.” Shannon shifted his weight. “Works like a charm.”

  No use arguing with the man. “I’ll remember that.” He closed the trunk and dusted off his hands. “That should hold you until you get back to Statem.”

  He shook Shannon’s hand, but the man didn’t smile. “Don’t suppose you’ve heard there was another break-in?”

  Not again. Cameron immediately pulled his phone out of his pocket. “No. Who?”

  Of course. No signal.

  “Sara Keller. Said someone broke into her pool house. Took the T.V. and stereo system.”

  Another break in. “I gotta run. See you back in Statem, Shannon.” He jogged to the truck.

  “Thanks for the help,” he heard before slamming his truck door. He’d gotten off his shift at seven this morning, but it was his town. He needed to work this case until he solved it.

  “Cameron—”

  Cameron held his finger up. “You’ll have another signal in a second.” He accelerated to the top of the next hill and pulled to the side, dialing Dewey’s number. “Tell me the thief had a guilty conscience and walked into the Sheriff’s office and turned himself in.”