Page 76 of Sutton's CEO

I had to turn around and swallow a grin. Martha sounded like a participant on one of those trashy daytime talk shows. It was surreal to see her sobbing on Sutton’s shoulder like they were the best of friends.

“Do you—” She gulped, her eyes red and watery. “Do you think that he might come back?”

Sutton glanced around wildly, not looking Martha in the eye. “Anything is possible. Do you want to talk to Father Montgomery?”

I could hear the pleading note in her tone, but Martha was already shaking her head no.

“Like that minister cares about me? If anything, he will be glad that Earl’s gone. All he did was complain about things coming up missing. He just didn’t understand my Earl, that’s all.”

Sutton was sending me pleading glances over the older woman’s head. I shrugged, not having any advice for the sordid situation. From what I had witnessed previously, Martha had never liked Earl. It was a wonder that the man hadn’t left ages ago.

However, I couldn’t ignore such a plaintive cry for help from Sutton. So, I interjected, “Is there anyone who you can call that perhaps could come and stay with you? A sister or a friend?”

Her face crumpled up and fat tears spilled over. “Earl was my family.”

I really didn’t have any other advice, except maybe to Earl. If he were there I would say,Keep running friend, and when you think you’ve gone far enough, go twice the distance.

Sutton’s phone broke the awkward silence. She looked at me with a nod and I grabbed the cell and went into her bedroom. It was the sheriff’s face that had popped up next to her ridiculous name for him.

I wasn’t jealous.

Not even a little bit.

I cleared my throat and answered, “This is Williams.”

Sutton asked me once why guys call each other by their last names. She asked if it was some macho thing left over from high school football or days in the service.

And to be honest, I didn’t know. I just liked that level of distance. There was something special about your first name. And I liked when Sutton called me Mark. In a world where I was ‘the boss’ or ‘Mr. Williams,’ her calling me Mark, especially in the bedroom, warmed me from the inside out.

Every second of every day it seemed that I fell a little deeper for her.

“This is Knox. Sutton sent me a 911 text. Is everything okay?”

I grinned. “You are going to want to sit down for this one.”

And then I thought better of it. “Why don’t you come on over and see firsthand the tragedy that we are dealing with this morning?”

Knox blew out a weary breath. “Nobody is dead, right?”

I laughed. “Not yet.”

He cursed, and I hung up the phone feeling immeasurably better about our morning. Knox could take Martha off our hands and Sutton and I could get back to where we had been. I believe I had been licking her hip bone on my way to paradise.

There was another ring of the phone, and I looked down expecting Knox to be calling again. But this time it was Candice’s face that appeared.

She didn’t wait for me to speak before she launched into a flurry of words. “I know that I should have called and not stayed out all night. And I know that you were probably worried sick. I don’t want to talk about what happened. And don’t mention that man’s name to me.”

She finally took a breath and I edged in, “I promise.”

There was dead silence for a full minute.

Then she squeaked, “Mr. Williams?”

I couldn’t remember a morning when I had been more amused. Perhaps Otterville Falls was growing on me? More likely a certain dark-haired powerhouse was softening up all of those hard edges.

“Candice?” I replied dryly.

“Sir, just forget everything that I just said. I am on my way, sir.”

---