Welcome to Adams Grove…where the barbecue isn’t the only thing that sizzles.
Savannah Dey politely agreed to attend her ex-husband’s wedding, but she’d be grateful for any reason to get out of it…which is why the speeding ticket from the handsome sheriff of Adams Grove is both a surprise and a reprieve. With one quick call to her editor, the aspiring columnist finds herself with a new assignment and the perfect excuse to get closer to the man who pulled her over. Now, all she needs is a way to deal with all the bad memories the small town dredges up…
Sheriff Scott Calvin can’t forget the woman who set off his radar, but he’s determined to send Savannah on her way. He’s done making bad choices, and this beautiful city gal is sure to leave Adams Grove once she finishes her story. By the time she’s stirred up a hornet’s nest, he’s already falling for her. Will trouble bind them together, or will her secrets tear them apart?
Excerpt from Barbecue and Bad News
“What now?” Savannah pulled her gaze from the flashing blue lights in her rearview mirror back to the speedometer. “Seven over. Seriously?”
Traffic heading south out of DC had been a nightmare. Not that it was ever good, but today had been worse than normal. Or maybe it just seemed that way because she was headed where she didn’t want to go. She hadn’t been back to her hometown in . . . well, a long time . . . and that had been just fine by her. There wasn’t anything she needed back there. She’d been perfectly happy leaving all those memories back in Belles Corner. But when Aunt Cathy called out of the blue, hearing her voice—sounding like the old Aunt Cathy who used to be like a second mom to Savannah before everything went haywire in Belles Corner—had made it hard to say no to her request that she come back for the wedding.
If she was going to have to be there, she had every intention of making a good impression. There was no changing the past—or who her ex-husband was marrying—but the future was all hers. At least that was what Evelyn Biggens, her best friend and her boss at GetItNowNews.com, was always telling her.
Savannah had padded her travel time by two hours to compensate for the summer traffic. Once the interstate exits started getting farther and farther apart, the traffic had thinned out too, and she’d thought it was going to be smooth sailing all the way to Belles Corner, North Carolina.
Fat chance.
The hustle of the city might be miles behind her, but getting stopped for a ticket would eat up her head start, and that cop car behind her didn’t look like it was going to zip around her to nab one of the other cars that she’d been keeping pace with.
“Please keep going,” she said as she eased off to the shoulder.
No such luck.
What had seemed like a pretty sure plan this morning was suddenly at risk.
Traffic zipped past her southbound on I-95, all except that car with the bright blue blinking lights. He pulled to a stop right behind her.
“My lucky day,” she said with a groan. Savannah pressed the button to lower the window. She pasted her best wide-eyed I’m-not-pissed-off look on her face. Momma had said you catch more flies with honey, and that was a lesson she’d never forgotten. Lord knows, she got enough practice using this sweet expression at the office these days as she hid her real activity from everyone at GetItNowNews.
Only Evelyn and two others at the online paper knew she was the talent behind the witty, snarky, and at times downright shocking Advice from Van column on GetItNowNews. Speculation was that the person behind the column was a man. That had amused Savannah in the beginning, but she sure was tired of that gig now, even if it had garnered her an office, one of the few in cubicle world. It was small, but it came with one heck of a view, since it was just outside Evelyn’s office. It was no fun to get zero credit for the top-rated column, though. Since Van’s identity was kept on the down-low even from her coworkers, everyone assumed that Savannah was Evelyn’s assistant. At this rate, it might always look that way.
Who else would have such bad luck that an April Fool’s prank would end up with them in a two-year commitment? She should’ve known better than to go toe-to-toe with Evelyn. That woman was as savvy as they came, and Savannah knew she was lucky to be under her mentorship.
She still hadn’t figured out what exactly she would tell all those people back home in Belles Corner. Even if the gig wasn’t top secret and she could tell them about it, the people from her hometown wouldn’t be too impressed with her for writing that column.
Every kook and crazy across the nation had come out of the woodwork asking for advice on topics better left unmentioned. It was like their goal in life was to shock her, and since she’d started out as unshakable, she was getting a run for her money.
That’s what had her running late today. Her nine-to-five was always creeping into her private time and even weekends, and she was getting darned sick of it.
But as cranky as she was feeling, she had to admit that her mood just brightened a smidgen as she watched the officer approach her car. Probably about her age or not much older. Good-looking. Really good-looking. In fact, strangely familiar. She leaned out the window, then tugged her glasses off at just the moment he glanced down at her.
Sound innocent, get a warning, and get back on the road. “Good morning. Something wrong, officer?” Her lead foot had given her plenty of practice in this, and usually it worked.
“License and registration, please.”
So you’re going to be like that? Fine. “Yes, sir.” She smiled. He didn’t. She tugged the paperwork from the console and handed it his way.
“License?”
“Right.” She leaned toward the passenger seat and rummaged through her purse, coming up with everything but her driver’s license. She slipped a piece of gum from a pack and popped it into her mouth. “Gum?”
He didn’t look amused. “Do you have a license, ma’am?”
About the Author:
USA Today bestselling author Nancy Naigle whips up small-town love stories with a dash of suspense and a whole lot of heart. She began her contemporary romance series, Adams Grove, while juggling a successful career in finance and life on a seventy-six-acre goat farm. Now happily retired, she devotes her time to writing, antiquing, cooking, and the occasional spa day with friends. A native of Virginia Beach, she now calls North Carolina home. Barbecue and Bad News is the sixth book in her popular Adams Grove series.
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Love stories from the crossroad of small town and suspense.
