Chapter One
"Thank you. Yes, sir, I will."
She ended the call, put her phone on the table and looked at Lincoln who sat across from her. "It's done."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously. I'm officially relieved from the assignment at Cotton Creek High School. That's done. At least for me. I made a recommendation to the Senator, and he approved the candidate, and she'll be here at the end of the week, so I only have to be there a few more days."
"So, you know your replacement?"
"I do. We're friends. I worked with her for a little while, and she's good."
"Obviously, Senator Walker thinks highly of your opinion."
"He knows I want the best person possible. He and I are still friends, and I care about his family and their safety."
"So what now?"
"What do you mean?"
"What are you going to do? Nothing's keeping you in Cotton Creek anymore?"
"Like hell. You're here, and so are all the people I've come to care about."
"I was hoping you'd feel that way."
"You know I do. I want to stay. No, make that, I'm going to stay. I've put in an application with the Cotton Creek Sheriff's Department. Charli thinks I have a good chance of being offered a position. They try and assign an officer to the high school and Senator Walker said he can probably pull some strings and make sure I get that assignment, so I can at least be on hand for backup if my replacement has a need."
"Are you sure you want to do that? You know I wouldn't fight it if you wanted to keep the assignment."
"I'm sure. I'm ready for a change. And I can't keep pretending to be Dillon's girlfriend. Too many people know I'm crazy about you and now that we're talking about living together—"
"Which reminds me, I talked with the owner of this place and made an offer on it."
"Get out! Really?"
"Really. I know you love it and I do too, so why shouldn't we live here? If I decide to keep the blacksmith shop, I can drive in when I need to."
"If? So, does that mean you're still undercover and need the Smithy as cover or that you need the money?"
"No, it's not what it means. Thanks to good advice from Wiley, I have enough to live quite comfortably for the rest of my life. And I've never had issues with being undercover."
"Nice evasion. Are you ever going to tell me about your assignment?"
"Probably not, but it's not a matter of trust. Some things just can't be shared, as you well know."
"Indeed, I do."
"So, back to your replacement as Dillon's bodyguard. You think she and he will work well together?"
Lula smiled. "I think he's in for one hell of a surprise."
"Oh, why?"
"Lots of reasons. First, she's hot, and I mean firecracker hot. Second, she's good at what she does. Third, the role she's going to be assigned is going to not just surprise him but raise some eyebrows, baby. And finally, I'm willing to bet she knows as much about football as any high school coach."
"I hope you're not going to try and leave me hanging with that."
"Well, maybe I could tell you, or maybe you'd need to bribe me." She batted her eyes dramatically and preened.
Lincoln was out of his chair and around the table in two seconds. He hoisted her up in his arms and headed out of the room. Lula laughed and hung on until he reached the bedroom where he plunked her onto the bed.
"Bribe, huh?"
"Lots of bribes. I don't come cheap."
It was his turn to laugh, then join her on the bed. "Works for me."