by Katee Robert
A fight was not on the books, and letting her drunk ass anywhere near pointy objects was the worst idea he’d ever heard. Adam looked around the bar, searching for inspiration. He’d never realized how many potential weapons there were just sitting around until he had a drunk good girl wanting to get into some trouble. “Bar fights are overrated.”
“God.” She grabbed the shot Stuart set on the bar and downed it before Adam could blink. “Of course you’ve been in a bar fight. I bet you’ve been in a ton.”
More than he cared to remember, all for reasons he couldn’t remember. He didn’t drink much these days, but in his early twenties, he’d been angry and felt like he had something to prove. Trouble had been his middle name, and he’d gone looking for it every chance he had.
Hell, that was why he’d started riding bulls to begin with. That moment before the gates slammed open, he wasn’t thinking about how tight his skin got when he stayed in one place too long or the sad look in his mama’s eyes when she realized he was itching to leave Devil’s Falls again. There was just Adam and the bull and the next few seconds of freedom and adrenaline.
When had his life gotten so empty?
He worked to keep the smile on his face. “It’s overrated.”
“I wouldn’t know.” Her expression was so woeful, he almost laughed. She instantly brightened. “I love this song!”
He hadn’t even been aware of the song changing, and then she was off, shooting around him and veering to the dance floor where she started… He stared. Only someone being really, really nice would call that dancing. She looked like a marionette whose strings were cut, all jarring motions and jerking limbs.
It might have been the cutest thing he’d ever seen. Awkward. Horribly awkward. But cute.
Adam sighed. “I need a beer.”
Almost instantly, one appeared at his elbow. Stuart didn’t immediately move away. “She’s a good girl.”
“So I keep hearing.” Along with the part no one but his mama seemed to be able to say. He wasn’t good. Oh, he wasn’t bad. But he wasn’t anywhere near Jules’s level. She practically shone with goodness. Hell, she owned a business whose sole purpose was to make people happy—and she’d managed to rescue half a dozen cats in the process. She was so sweet, it should make his teeth ache.
But then he thought about her sunny smile that only seemed to appear when he was inside her.
Adam’s body kicked into high gear, and it was everything he could do to keep his reaction from physically manifesting. He turned away from the bar, beer in hand, to find Grant on the edge of the dance floor. Whatever the man said had Jules’s back going straight and her shoulders going back in a stance he recognized. Shit.
He strode across the bar, arriving at her side in time to hear Grant say, “Jesus, Jules, it was a joke. Obviously I wasn’t being serious.”
There were tears shining in her eyes, and the sight of them snapped something inside Adam. He moved between her and her ex. “You know what, I’m getting really tired of your brand of shit.”
Grant took a step back before he seemed to catch himself. “It’s not my fault Jules is drunk and took it wrong.”
“You offered to let me give you a BJ in the bathroom!”
Just like that, any good intentions Adam had went up in smoke—and there hadn’t been many to begin with. “You think you’re a big-time operator because you played ball, then went off to a fancy school and got yourself a law degree. Guess what? You’re still back in Devil’s Falls, the same as everyone in this bar. You’re no better than anyone else. In fact, you’re a whole hell of a lot worse.”
“And what have you done? Thirty-three and a washed-up bull rider.” Grant sneered. “I’m sure there’s an opening at the Gas ’N’ Go for the night shift.”
“Oh, no, you didn’t!”
Adam made a grab for Jules, but she slipped through his hands like water. And then she was in Grant’s face, poking him in the chest. “Damn you to hell and back, Grant Thomas. I know for a fact your mama raised you not to talk to your betters like that.”
He shook his head. “If you’re not going to put that mouth to good use, then go home, Jules. You’re making a spectacle of yourself.” And then he was gone, walking out of the bar like he hadn’t a care in the world.
Adam started after him but stopped, his need to make sure Jules didn’t take a nosedive superseding his desire to beat that jackass’s face in. He turned to find her pointing at the two blondes seated at the table Grant had occupied before all this got started. “You can’t seriously think that’s sexy.”
The one on the right shrugged. “He’s hot.”
“He’s an idiot.” The other one laughed. “But he buys us all the alcohol we can drink.”
“Good lord, that’s a low bar to set.” Jules threw up her hands. “I don’t even know why I bother.”
The first one cocked her head to the side. “Because you’re nice?”
“I need another shot.”
Adam snagged her around the waist. “Hold your horses, sugar. You drink any more tonight and you’re going to have to scrape yourself off the floor in the morning.”
“Don’t care.”
“You might not right now, but you will when you wake up hugging a toilet.” He hauled her to the bar and dug out the cash to pay for their tab. “We’re getting out of here.” Hopefully the fresh air would sober her up a little.
They hit the street, and he kept his arm around her in case the world decided to start spinning on her. Jules marched ahead, though, practically dragging him behind her, keeping up an ongoing rant about Grant. “I can’t believe him. It’s like he came back into town solely to rain on my parade. I like my life. I’m happy. I have a plan that I’m totally on track with. Why does he have to show up and make me feel like I’m failing?”
“Why do you care so much?” That’s the thing that really bugged him. The town was one thing, but she really cared what Grant thought of her. The guy made a few dickhead comments and here she was, creating a fake relationship and doing all sorts of crazy shit to prove him wrong.
Was she holding a flame for the guy?
Adam’s stomach turned at the thought. People didn’t jump through the sheer number of hoops that Jules had unless there were lingering feelings. There was no damn good reason for the knowledge to burn him up inside, but he felt like he’d swallowed a dozen hot coals.
While he was aggravated as all get-out, she stopped and leaned back against his chest. “I don’t want to go home.”
He couldn’t take her back to his mom’s house, and he didn’t have a place of his own. He walked them to his truck and opened the driver’s side door to double-check under the seat. Sure enough, there were two thick blankets under there. Most of the time, he forked over the money for a hotel room, but there were the nights when he chose the solitude of his truck over dealing with that bullshit. “You want to go for a ride?”
“A ride, huh?” She turned in his arms and waggled her eyebrows at him. Or she tried to.
Adam shook his head and lifted her into the truck. “Not like that, sugar. You’re drunk as a skunk.”
“Which means it’s the perfect time for some nooky.”
Maybe under different circumstances. But she was too drunk for a yes to really be a yes, and, fake girlfriend or not, he wasn’t the kind of man who was into that sort of thing. Tonight she didn’t need sex. She needed someone to take care of her. “Scoot over.” He followed her up into the cab and shut the door.
Five minutes later, they left the town limits of Devil’s Falls in the rearview mirror. He took them out to one of the spots that had been his favorite as a teenager. He and his friends had spent more nights than he could count out on the edge of this field, drinking and bullshitting and passing out in the beds of their trucks. He shut off the engine and stared at the stars while the engine ticked. “He’s
not worth it.”
“Hmm?” She scooted over and burrowed under his arm to lean against his side.
“Grant. He’s not worth it. You’re so far out of his league, it’s not even funny.” Out of both our leagues.
A soft snore was his only response. Despite everything, he smiled. She really was something else. He’d never put much thought into the kind of woman he’d eventually settle down with—or into settling down in general. But he could almost picture it with Jules. Life would never be boring, that was for damn sure.
As if on cue, the restlessness in his blood kicked up a notch, like an itch he could never quite scratch, reminding him that he’d been in the same place for two weeks, longer than he’d spent in one town in twelve years. If his mom…
No, it’s time to face the truth. It’s not an if. It’s a when. If the cancer doesn’t take her, old age will at some point.
When his mom died…
Adam pulled Jules more tightly against him and rested his chin on the top of her head. He could barely stand to think the thought. How the hell would he be able to spend time in Devil’s Falls when every time he turned around, he’d be assaulted with memories of her and have to experience the loss all over again? It had been unbearable after John died. With his mom it would be so much worse.
Even if she lived to the ripe old age of a hundred, the open road was too tempting a siren call for him to ignore for long. He needed the horizon stretching out before him, the thrill of the next bull ride promising an adrenaline rush like no other.
The closest he’d come to it outside the rodeo was the woman in his arms, and hell if that didn’t make him a dick for using her to quell his thrill-seeking nature. It couldn’t last, though. Nothing had kept him in one place for long before, and he didn’t imagine anything would in the future.
No, he wasn’t staying. He couldn’t.
Chapter Fourteen
Jules woke up wonderfully warm…and certain that some small animal had crawled into her mouth and died. She shifted, not quite willing to leave the safe circle of Adam’s arms—because she’d know that spicy scent anywhere.
“Morning.”
She looked up, finding him far too close to risk opening her mouth. There was no help for it. She slithered out of his hold and to the other side of the bench seat. Eyeing the distance between them, she decided caution was the better part of valor and held her hand in front of her mouth. “Morning.”
His eyebrows crept up. “What are you doing?”
Being an idiot, apparently. Considering what she remembered of the night before, he shouldn’t be surprised. “Morning breath.”
If anything, he looked even more amused. “Here.” He opened the glove compartment and pulled out a bottle of water, a tiny toothbrush, and a travel-size tube of toothpaste.
She was so shocked, she dropped her hand. “You carry around a toothbrush setup in your truck?”
“As you said…morning breath. It’s always good to have a backup ready if I’m not in a hotel room for whatever reason.” He passed them over and waited while she considered. “If you’re one of those people who are weird about toothbrushes—”
“No, it’s fine.” Considering where both their mouths had been on each other in the last week, sharing a toothbrush shouldn’t be a big deal. It just felt kind of…domestic. Intimate.
Or maybe she was so hungover, she was thinking crazy thoughts.
Jules climbed out of the truck and went to work, brushing away until her mouth felt minty clean and there wasn’t a trace of morning breath left. Then she waited while Adam did the same. It gave her the opportunity to really remember how much of a hot mess she’d been the night before. Regret soured her stomach—or maybe that was the purple nurples. “I think I’m dying.”
He spit. “Nah, you’re just feeling the effects of too much alcohol in too little time.” He gave her some serious side eye. “Not going to lie—you were in rare form last night.”
“Sorry.” She should have just gone with the moonlight picnic. There was probably good food involved, and there definitely had to have been sex on the books. Instead she’d gotten drunk and made a fool of herself in front of half the town. Talk about making a scene. I’m surprised I haven’t already gotten a call from Jamie—or worse, Mom. She didn’t even want to look at her phone in case she was wrong.
Wait. Jules patted her pockets. Oh, crap. Her phone. She didn’t have it. Aubry must have been going crazy imagining all the ways Jules might have been killed when she didn’t come home. Hopefully she’d assume she spent the night with Adam.
She was definitely going to hear about this when she got back to the apartment.
He held the door open for her. “Happens to the best of us.”
Maybe. But it never happened with her—mostly because even if she got particularly drunk, her bed was only a handful of steps away. I’m never drinking in public again. Her stomach made a truly embarrassing sound and she glared at it. “Shut up.”
“You want to get some breakfast?” He started the truck, heading back toward the main road. “You’ll feel better if you eat.”
That was debatable. Right now, all she wanted was to crawl into a hole and never surface again. “Are you sure you want to be seen with me?”
He laughed. “Aw, sugar. You might have been a little bit of a shit show last night, but trust me—I’ve seen worse. I’ve been worse.”
That was strangely comforting. “I should know better. I’m not twenty-one. Four shots in half an hour is more than enough to make me act a fool.” She crossed her arms over her chest and slumped down. “I hate that he makes me so crazy. That they all make me so crazy. Everyone thinks that I’ve accomplished all I’m going to in life—that I had my chance at greatness and Grant and blew it—and they’ve written me off as a result.” She should be past it by now, shouldn’t she? But Grant showing back up in town was like rubbing salt in her wound. Every time she turned around, someone was giving her considering looks like they should be asking her if she was really okay. She’d walk to hell and back before her pinnacle in life was dating that man.
That said, the whole situation wasn’t all bad.
There had been Adam, after all. Fake boyfriend or not, spending time with him wasn’t exactly a hardship. Assuming he’s not going to drop me off on my front doorstep and hightail it out of town as far and fast as this rig can take him. “I don’t suppose you still want to have sex with me?”
“Sugar, come here.”
She slid across the seat and yelped when he grabbed her hand and pressed it against the front of his jeans. His length met her touch, hard enough to make her bite her lip. Adam’s eyes were dark as he looked into hers. “I’m always ready for you. If you think for a second getting a little drunk and trying to fight your ex is enough to make me change my mind about wanting you, you’ve got another think coming.”
“Oh.”
“All the words in the world and that’s the one you respond with.”
She could do better. Really, she could. Jules swallowed hard. “I’m glad. I like having sex with you.”
Adam threw back his head and let loose a laugh that resonated with something in her chest. “Damn, sugar. You’re something else—and before you go overthinking things, I mean that as a compliment.”
Considering every other time someone had said something of that nature, they hadn’t meant it as anything positive, she wasn’t used to being complimented. “You are a strange, strange man, Adam Meyer.”
“It’s been said before.” He turned onto the highway, heading away from Devil’s Falls. There were a grand total of four towns within easy drivable distance, and the only one in this direction was Pecos, so they had a good thirty minutes before they got to wherever he was headed.
She settled against him. “I know this is like two weeks late, but you really aren’t what I expected.”
&
nbsp; “Oh, yeah?”
She ignored the tight way he spoke. “You’re such a…well, a good guy. From the way some of the locals talk about the legendary Adam Meyer, I expected a hell-raiser.” People still talked about the time he started a brawl after the Devils’ rivals beat them in the division championships. Yeah, he’d been all of seventeen at the time, but he’d gone on to be a freaking bull rider. Every rodeo cowboy she’d met over the years was a hard-core adrenaline junkie. Adam just seemed so…well, not chill exactly, but not like a junkie jonesing for his next hit. He was intense and sometimes he moved around a room like the walls were closing in, but he wasn’t anything like she’d imagined.
And that wasn’t even getting into the sex and how out-of-this-world good it’d been.
He still didn’t say anything, so she just kept talking. “Do you like bull riding?”
“I love it.” His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Those few seconds are the only time everything around me becomes crystal clear and quiet. I feel fucking invincible.”
“Before you’re thrown butt over teakettle and have to run away because the bull is angry and looking for someone to take it out on.”
He smiled. “Yeah, before then.”
It felt almost like he was opening up to her, so she pushed her luck a little. “I hear you’re something of a rodeo star.”
“That’s not why I do it.”
She traced the veins in his forearm as he drove. “You must have a whole lot of stories that would scare years off your friends’ lives.”
“A few.” There was that smile again, the one she was seriously starting to crave. “Down in San Antonio a few years back, there was this big, mean old brute by the name of Sue.”
Jules blinked. “Sue. As in the song?”
“The very one.” He chuckled softly. “Well, he has a nasty history of putting his riders in the hospital, to the point where the odds of hitting eight seconds is so far against them, a man can make a pretty penny if he manages.”