"See, if you hit lower like you were supposed to, you could have moved me." Cade wasn't given the chance to continue with his lecture. He saw Bonner's hand close in a fist and stood still, waiting for the punch to come so he could deflect it.

"What do you think you are doing?" Cade took his eyes off of Bonner as a red headed woman jumped in between them. Bonner didn't react fast enough and let go with the punch intended for Cade. Cade lunged forward, but the woman had already handled it. She easily blocked the punch with her forearm and grabbed Bonner by the front of his football jersey.

"You want to try that again, kid?" Annie asked him as she got up in his face.

Here Annie was just coming out to get a group of kids for their orientation and she walks in on a fight. Clearly this coach couldn't take care of the matter, so it had been up to her. She looked into the boy's eyes and wasn't surprised to see them dilated and crazed. He was much taller than she was, so it was easy to look at his pulse in his carotid artery. It was pumping feverishly and slightly erratically. His face was beet red and his body clearly agitated. She had just found her first lead. This kid was definitely on S2. Bonner slapped her hands away and took a step back, staring down his coach.

"Yo, this b.i.t.c.h just saved you. Next time you try to chew me out she won't be around to save you."

He turned and headed into the locker room, leaving the field momentarily stunned. Cade was a bada.s.s and everyone on the field knew that, except Bonner and this woman apparently. Cade couldn't believe this curvy spitfire thought he couldn't handle a teenager. She had put herself right in the middle of a highly volatile situation with someone two times her size.

"The better question is what do you think you are doing? Do you know how idiotic it was to get in between us?" Cade's hands went to his hips as he stared down into the dark green eyes of the woman in front of him.

"Well, excuse me for saving you from an embarra.s.sing a.s.s beating from a teenager." She mimicked his stance.

Who was this woman? Whoever she was, she was very amusing. Cade smiled as he rocked back on his heels. Confusion clouded those beautiful eyes, and that gave him a bit of pleasure he realized.

"Do you really think he'd beat me up?" Cade asked as his smile grew.

"Yes, " she answered without hesitation.

Cade's smile slipped and he felt his ego deflate under her withering stare. She should be an interrogator. He bet she could make any man feel so low that he'd say anything to get back into her good graces. She was beautiful, but in that una.s.suming way that just made her even more desirable. She was normal height, fit, but not like the actresses Hollywood pushed out. She was strong, curvy, and quite voluptuous. He never understood that old description, but now he did.

"He's a rabid dog. You better take care of him or he'll take your whole team out." Annie quickly lowered her eyes to check him out. He was tall, probably six one. Dark blonde hair slightly longer than a buzz cut. His hazel eyes conveyed that he was not just some dumb jock. And a body, well, he had a body that reminded her it had been almost two years since she had been... oh never mind. She raised her eyes in a span of a blink, but he had noticed. Most men were so caught up in her chest they never noticed when she was surveying the area or even them. But he did, and by the c.o.c.ky smile on his face, she guessed he knew she liked what she saw. Just as fast as the smile came, it went.

"I just drug tested him this morning, and after what I just saw, I'm pretty sure we both know how that test is going to come out." Cade knew he was about to lose his star defensive player, but why? He had a spectacular season last year, and there was no way he was on drugs then. Why now?

"Test the levels of magnesium. If it's very high, then you know you are probably dealing with S2. It's a new drug on the market for athletes. Have you heard of it?" Annie watched his eyes to see his reaction, but there was none but curiosity.

"No, I haven't. But, Keeneston isn't really known to be on the cutting edge of anything, especially a new drug I haven't heard of before. It's most likely plain old steroids."

"But see, the high levels of magnesium, which is used for the prevention of muscle cramping, is a sign it's not plain steroids. If it shows up high, you'll need to send it out for a chromatography/ma.s.s spectrometry reading. It's the only way to test for S2. It will come up looking like steroids, but is masked by heavy doses of probenecid, which prevents excretion of the steroid into the urine."

"I have two questions." Cade watched her become slightly hesitant before she nodded her head for him to continue. "First, who are you? Second, how do you know this?"

"Oh, sorry! I'm Annie Hill, the new guidance counselor. I just came out here to gather some of the freshmen for their orientation."

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Hill. I'm Cade Davies, head coach and also the biology teacher." Cade stuck out his hand and she shook it. "Now, how did you know all of this?"

"I saw it at my old school. One of our kids died from a heart attack after using it. He was sixteen. The school had run a regular urine test and didn't detect it. If they had run the chromatography/ma.s.s spectrometry, they would have. It's an expensive test, but if you have a hunch that a player may be taking it, it's the only way to prove it."

"I'll order it for the whole team then." Cade ran his hand through is hair in frustration. These were good boys. What were they doing hooked on drugs? He then turned his attention to her.

"Thanks, but I need to get back to practice. Hurry up with the orientation. We're behind schedule." Cade turned back to the field to see his receiver miss another catch.

"Hey, Coach." Cade turned back to Annie when he heard her call out to him. "Tell your QB he's focusing on his target receiver too soon."

d.a.m.n if she wasn't right. But she turned around on her heel, and he watched what could only be described as her mesmerizing backside as she walked away from him. Who was this woman?

Cade tossed a bottle of beer to his older brother Marshall and took a seat on the new couch in his living room. Actually, most everything in the house was new. He had been living with Marshall while his house was being renovated and updated. His brother lived two pastures over, about a mile or so to the south. His parents were another mile to the southwest, and his oldest brother Miles lived about two miles to the west.

His family was very large, six children, and very tight knit. He, Marshall and Miles had gone off after 9/11 and joined the Army Rangers. Two years later they signed up for a cla.s.sified elite Delta Force. All three of them had made it in after a rigorous test and training period. He had helped in rescue missions of dignitaries that no one had ever known about, or would ever know about. He had rescued, killed, and garnered intelligence for his country for four years before coming home, completing his education and becoming a teacher.

His other brothers were surprised when he chose to teach instead of going into business with one of them. While they were overseas in the Army, Miles had started buying up small tracts of property surrounding his parents' farm. He and Marshall liked the idea, and so they too started buying small tracts whenever they came up for sale. As a result, the Davies family now had a huge spread in Keeneston, where his parents raised vegetables and he and his brothers had a cattle ranch. But, like his brothers, it was just a hobby. Miles was a corporate tyc.o.o.n who helped small family farmers fight against the big corporations, and Marshall owned his own security firm in Lexington. His younger brother Cy was the black sheep. No one knew what he did, and Cy hadn't felt like telling them yet. He technically had cattle on the farm but was hardly ever around to take care of them. As a result, he shared the profits with his brothers who took care of them for him. His youngest brother Pierce was a graduate student in agriculture at the University of Kentucky. He liked to plant things and watch them grow. Finally, there was his sister Paige who was going to be the first one of the Davies' kids to get married. Her fiance Cole Parker was a good guy FBI, but more importantly cared for and loved his sister.

Now Cade's mother had gotten it in her head that all her kids should marry and settle down. She'd even made a wager with the Rose sisters at the Blossom Cafe about when Paige and Cole would have a baby. Every Sunday night the whole family gathered for dinner, and her mother always had a new "friend" she wanted one of the boys to meet.

"Mom said she has a new friend she wants me to meet," Marshall complained. Marshall slumped on the couch and sighed. He was an inch taller than Cade, and instead of having his dark blonde color, he had the same brown that ran in the family. All the brothers looked similar, the differences being their facial features. They all had hazel eyes, but Cade had sharp angles to his face, giving him an old-fas.h.i.+oned, aristocratic look compared to Marshall's more square face complete with a sharp nose that was slightly crooked.

"Where did this friend come from?"

"A dental hygienist from when she got her teeth cleaned yesterday. Apparently she has a sister..." Cade groaned, so that was why his mother had called him earlier today.

"I think I already got a call about that. Speaking of women, I met the most confusing, frustrating, s.e.xy woman today." Cade took a drink from his beer and slouched back on the couch with his brother.

"Really? Don't tell Mom or she'll reserve the church. So, who is she?" If Cade didn't know his brother so well, he would think by his posture he didn't care, but his eyes were the giveaway. Marshall was dying to know.

"Annie Hill, the new guidance counselor."

"What did she do?

"She walked right into the middle of a Corey Bonner steroid-induced meltdown. Sent him packing when he threw a punch and then, well, then she told me she was protecting me!"

Marshall choked on his beer, "She said she was protecting you? From a kid?"

"Yup, she said she didn't think I was able to protect myself. I couldn't believe it." Cade shot him a glare as he started laughing. "Stop laughing, Marsh. It, um, gets worse." Cade ran a hand over his face, embarra.s.sed to tell him the rest.

"How could it get worse?" Marshall said between chuckles.

"She identified the problem with my quarterback on the pa.s.s plays in under a minute." Cade hung his head as Marshall's chuckles turned into laughter.

Cade took another drink of beer, but he had a feeling that it did not matter how much he drank, Annie Hill had taken up permanent residence in his mind.

Annie tossed her car keys onto the small, worn kitchen table and carried the bag of frozen dinners to the freezer. She needed to hurry and check in with her boss. She should have done it yesterday, but she kept putting it off.

She jammed the meals into the small freezer and dug out her cell phone from the back pocket of her jeans. She scrolled through her emails until she found Special Agent Romero's phone number.

"Romero," her boss barked into the phone.

"Hi, sir, this is Agent Blake checking in."

"About time. Welcome to Kentucky. We need to set up an appointment to meet in person. I think..." Annie about jumped out of the chair when she heard the knock at the door. It must be Father James. She didn't know anyone else.

"I'm sorry, sir. Can you hang on?" She waited until he grunted his approval and went to the door. She opened the door and stood staring at a woman dressed perfectly in black trousers, and a pink b.u.t.ton-up blouse accessorized with a ca.s.serole dish.

"Hiya! I'm Pam Gilbert, the PTA President," she said as she smiled at Annie and held out the ca.s.serole dish. "I wanted to welcome you to town on behalf of all the parents." Annie took the dish in her hands and stared at it. Homemade food? She couldn't remember the last time she had homemade food.

"Thank you, Pam. It's nice to meet you."

"Well, I won't keep you, but if you need anything just give me a shout." Pam gave a little finger wave and went back to her minivan.

"Blake!" Annie shook her head as she watched the minivan with the Dale Junior sticker on the back window, next to the white stick figures of a dad, mom, and two boys, peel out of the church parking lot.

"Sorry, sir. Just meeting the locals." Annie closed the door and headed to put the ca.s.serole into the freezer.

"As I was saying, I was hoping we could meet in person on..." Annie pivoted in the small entryway when the doorbell rang. "Was that the doorbell?"

"Yeah, sorry. Hold on for just a sec." Annie balanced the ca.s.serole dish on her hip and the phone on her shoulder as she opened the door. She looked out and then down to a trio of white-haired ladies.

"h.e.l.lo, dear. We're the Rose sisters. I'm Lily Rae. This is my sister Daisy Mae." The leader bobbed her head toward the thin, wiry looking sister with her silver hair pulled back into a tight bun, with a couple pencils poking out of it. Annie realized that she had seen when she had driven past the Cafe. "And this is Violet Fae." The small, round woman grabbed her around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug that had the ca.s.serole dish teetering and the cell phone coming close to getting lost in Violet's puffy cleavage.

"Bless your heart you are a skinny thing! Thank goodness we brought you some food. You must be starving!" Violet clucked as she looked Annie over.

"Thank you for the food. Someone named Pam just dropped off a ca.s.serole. This is all very nice of you."

"Dang it! Pam beat us here. We'll never hear the end of it." Daisy shook her head and s.h.i.+fted the large basket hanging at the crook of her arm.

"But I bet she didn't stay to give her a proper welcome. She had to pick the boys up from soccer practice," Lily p.r.o.nounced. "We won't run out on you so quickly. Come and sit for a spell and we'll get know one another." The sisters pushed past her and into the small kitchen before Annie could stop them.

"I'm sorry," she said as she trailed after them. "I do not mean to be rude, but I'm on the phone." Annie paused at the kitchen and watched as they looked around.

"That's okay, dear. Give us that ca.s.serole and we'll just put the food away. I'm sure you want to finish your call with your...boyfriend?" Lily asked as she reached for the ca.s.serole.

"I don't have a boyfriend." Three white heads swiveled around and smiles appeared at once.

"Well, love your heart! It's lucky we stopped by then. We know plenty of men. Now don't be rude and keep that person waiting on the phone. Don't mind us!" Lily put the ca.s.serole in the fridge, turned to her sisters and started pulling out covered dishes from the basket. Annie looked down at the phone and cringed.

"Sorry about that. The welcoming committee is here."

"I guessed that. Now about our meeting." The doorbell went off again and her boss dropped the f word.

"I got it, dear!" one of the sisters shouted from the kitchen.

"Go ahead, Romero. But, you may want to make it quick." Annie looked to the door to see a pretty woman her own age with a handsome man who had Fed written all over him. "Sir, do you have anyone else in town?" she whispered, looking away from the couple.

"No, why?"

"A fed just walked in. I would bet my life on it."

"Details."

"Thirty, dark hair, silver eyes, six feet, no visible tats. He's with a woman in her mid to late twenties, brown hair." Annie waited as she heard the keys of Romero's computer tapping as he ran a search.

"I think I got it. Cole Parker. He's the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Lexington Office. I heard through the cop-vine he just got engaged. If you need anything and he's nearby, you get him to help. He's the one that just took down that corruption ring out of New York and D.C. Now, before we get interrupted again. Jesus, was that the doorbell again?"

"Yes, sir." Annie was sure she heard the whistle of steam coming out of his ears.

"Meeting, tomorrow, seven in the morning at the office. Got it."

"Yes, sir." The doorbell rang again and Romero hung up while rattling off a string of curse words. They really did have a lot to discuss. Annie tucked away her phone and turned to see her small house filled up and people hanging out on the porch. Who were these people and why where they here?

"Oh, good, you're off the phone. Come meet everyone!" Lily took her hand and dragged her over to the FBI agent and his fiance. "This is Cole Parker and Paige Davies."

"It's so nice to meet you. I heard all about you and I just had to meet you!"

"Heard about me?" She shot a glance at Cole. Maybe he knew somehow who she was. The look she got back said he didn't, but he was smart enough to figure it out.

"Yes! Marshall told me all about you and my brother. It was so funny that I had to meet the woman who didn't swoon at his feet."

"Sorry. Paige forgets that not everyone knows her family tree. The brother to whom she is referring is Cade Davies. He's the biology teacher and football coach at the high school."

"Oh! The guy that needs to learn self-defense. Yeah, I know who you're talking about. It's nice to meet you both."

"Annie, come meet this young man. He's single too!" Wow, Lily was sure one for subtlety. "This is Ahmed. He's not from here either."

Annie looked at the hard man and cringed. Was everyone here a fed? At least the feds here were hot. Ahmed was shorter than Cole, but was built. His body showed a life dedication to training and she bet she could bounce a quarter off his...well, his everything.

"So, what do you do for a living?"

"I am the head of security for Mo," he said in a heavily accented voice. Middle East somewhere she guessed.

"Mo?"

"The Prince of Rahmi. Well, and now also his fiancee Danielle." He nodded to the couple now talking to Cole and Paige. "So, Miss Lily has put you on the must need to be married list."

"It appears so. Never really wanted to be married. My lifestyle doesn't support it."

"Hmm. Guidance counselors have tough schedules." He gave her a look that said he knew way more than she wanted him too. "If you ever need help...guiding someone, let me know. We single-don't-want-to-be-married people need to stick together." With a quick bow of his head, he turned and headed out the door. Who were these people? She needed to hook up her computer as soon as she had her meeting with her boss, get her new login to the database and run a search on the whole town.

Chapter Four.

Cade stared at the papers spread out on his desk in disbelief. He had never felt like hurting a kid, but he sure did now. What were they thinking? Drugs... drugs in Keeneston. It didn't happen. It just didn't happen. But, the evidence was right there in front of him. Not one, not two, but three of his players had tested positive for S2.

They had had an alright practice on Tuesday, and besides Bonner being an a.s.s, practice today went well too, not good, but not as horribly as Monday's. Now, though, he was going to have to get rid of three of the team's best players. The starting wide receiver was out, Bonner was out, and the only offensive lineman with any experience was also out. The team went from a five hundred team to a "we'll be lucky to win a game or two" team. Worse, he was going to have to tell these kids that their dreams of college ball were over because he was left with no other choice but to kick them all off the team.

Cade shoved his long legs out from the desk and paced around his cla.s.sroom. What would their parents say? He knew they would all be asking to talk to him. He paused by one of the large rectangular windows and looked out into the almost empty parking lot. Corey Bonner and Lee Faust, the starting senior center who also tested positive for S2, were standing by their cars. Cade watched as Bonner shoved Faust and started waving his hands around angrily.

Faust calmly looked at Bonner and said something that made Bonner freeze. Faust was always the one you had to worry about when he was quiet. Cade watched as Bonner pulled out his cell phone and made a call. As soon as he put it away, Cade pushed up the window and leaned out.