Somebody Like You: A Small Town Single Mom Romance (The Heartbreak Brothers Book 4) by Carrie Elks (best love story novels in english .txt) 📗

The inside of the house was just as beautiful and sleek as the outside. “This place was only built a year ago,” Tanner told him, as he took him into the kitchen. “You see that view?” he asked, pointing out of the window at the creek. The water glistened in the sun as it bubbled and flowed toward the river. On the other side was a copse of mature trees, their leaves green now, but no doubt they would turn gold and red in a few weeks. “Isn’t it something?”

“Yeah,” Cam agreed. “It’s something.

Cam stared out of the window for a moment, letting the peace soak into his skin. This was what he’d come home for, after all. A chance to relax, to think. To work out what the hell he was going to do with his life. Yet the creek was giving him no answers at all.

“You okay?” Tanner asked him. “All this stuff happening. It must have hit you hard. I know when I moved back here, after selling my business in New York, it took some getting used to.”

“I’d forgotten how quiet it is here.”

“You’ve visited enough. You must remember.”

Cam winced at the mention of his memory. He worried that it was permanently affected. “Yeah, but I’m always surrounded by you guys. And in Boston I’m always at work, with the rest of the team, or watching plays. There’s not a lot of time for silence.”

“If you stay here for a while, you’ll have more than enough of it.” Tanner opened a cupboard door, showing him the inside. “Brian sent all your kitchen equipment down. Well actually, he sent everything he couldn’t rent for you down. It’s all been unpacked by the movers. So you can settle in and relax. And you know where I am if anything goes wrong.”

“Do you give this treatment to all your renters?” Cam asked him, grinning.

“Nope. Just family.” Tanner hit him on the shoulder and winced at the hardness of his muscles. “It’s good to have you home, man.”

“Just for a while,” Cam reminded him.

“Yeah,” Tanner agreed. “Just for a while.”

He was lucky to have such a nice place to stay while he thought about his next move. And it was good to see his youngest brother, too.

But now Tanner was back at work – as were all of Cam’s brothers – and he was bouncing off the walls like a damn pinball. This thinking game was making him crazy.

Grabbing his keys, Cam walked out of the house and looked at his car parked in the driveway.

Of all the things he owned, the Audi coupe was the one thing that made him happy. Like most of his teammates, he’d always been a motorhead. Their cars were the one things they had control over. Their little oasis of calm in the craziness of NFL life. It was where they’d sit and think about plays they should have made, arguments they’d had with girlfriends or wives, or where they’d switch on their top-of-the range stereos and blast out their music to chase the thoughts from their minds.

Cam had bought this car as a gift to himself when he’d signed his latest contract. Sure, he’d been offered a discount, but it had still cost him more than he’d ever spent on a car before. But damn, he loved it.

Running his hands over the metallic blue exterior, Cam opened the driver’s door and climbed in. He’d never get tired of the cream leather upholstery and blue detailing that matched the paint. If you asked, he could tell you that it went from zero to sixty in three point eight seconds, and on a private open road, it could hit speeds of two hundred miles per hour.

And yeah, he’d tested that out.

Placing the Audi into comfort mode, Cam pulled out of his driveway and took a left, heading toward the main road through town. It was four in the evening, and though the sun was moving lower in the sky, a hint of summer still clung in the warmth of the air. Rather than put the air on, he opened the windows, smiling as that old familiar smell of harvests and corn filled his senses.

He hadn’t even made it to the town square when he’d spotted some kids playing in the street, but hadn’t really thought about it. His radio was on, tuned to a local country station, and everything felt right with the world.

Until something came crashing against the side of his car.

His first instinct was to hit the brakes hard. The Audi came to a jolting stop, forcing his head forward and down until his brow almost grazed the wheel. His heart started to thud against his chest as he lifted his gaze and tried to work out what the hell he’d just hit.

“Shit! Let’s get out of here,” a low voice shouted.

“Mikey, wait up. I can’t run that fast.”

The two kids he’d spotted were like a blur as they ran up the road. Cam climbed out of his car and saw exactly what had hit the side of his car. A damn football, of all things.

“Hey, you two!” he shouted at the running kids. “Come here!”

But they kept running. Cam felt a flash of anger rush through him, because he’d been brought up better than to cause damage and run away. Scooping up the ball in his right hand, he took off after the two boys, one almost grown, the other coming up to his chest if he was lucky.

It was the first time he’d run flat out in two weeks, and his lungs were shockingly unprepared. His breath came in short pants as he rounded the corner and saw the two boys running up some steps. The eldest made the mistake of turning, his eyes widening as he spotted Cam barreling toward them.

“Wait up, you little shits!” A fresh rush of fury washed through Cam. Not just because