Wild Cowboy Nights

by Katee Robert

  He started to point out that they were, in fact, on a date right now, but the truth slammed into his chest all over again. I’m not what she wants. He’d known it before—it was a truth he hadn’t been able to escape from the very beginning—but somehow hearing her talk about potential prospects while sitting across the table from him made him sick to his stomach. He didn’t want to think about her going out with another guy, or her sharing her goofy smiles with some other dude, or, fuck, her letting someone else between those sweet thighs.

  “Adam?”

  He realized he was clutching his cloth napkin in a white-knuckled grip. “Yeah, sorry.” He had to get it together. He didn’t have a goddamn right to be jealous of some future guy. He was here with her now, but he wouldn’t be forever. That was his choice.

  He just had to remember that.

  “Why a cat café?”

  She pressed her lips together but seemed to decide it wasn’t worth asking him what the hell was going on in his head. Which was good, because he didn’t fucking know. Jules took a sip of her water. “There have been quite a few studies done that show having a pet—any pet—is enough to combat everything from poor physical health to depression to plain old loneliness. Animals never ask for anything but love, and that’s a gift that a lot of people don’t have in their lives. But not everyone can have a pet of their own for various reasons—which is where I come in.”

  It was so…Jules. Loving and thoughtful and kind. “You get a lot of traffic in there.”

  “Yep.” She smiled. “Just being able to stop by, have a cup of coffee, and spend some time with a cat curled up in your lap is all some people need to restart their day. The cats love the attention. The people love the cats. And I love making people happy, so it’s win-win across the board.” She frowned. “Or win-win-win. Whatever. You know what I mean.”

  “I do.” He’d always wanted a pet—though he was more inclined to dogs than cats—but his life made it hard to have one. There were other guys on the circuit who managed it, but to Adam, dogs represented stability. It wouldn’t be right to have one without a yard or property to let him run free on. Being cooped up in the truck for hours on end, or tied to a fence while he rode…it would just be wrong.

  “See. This is nice. We can hold down a conversation.”

  He chuckled. “And if the topics stall out, you can always slide on over here and offer up another solution.”

  Her face flamed red. “Shh, someone will hear you.”

  “I thought that was the whole point.” He couldn’t quite keep the irritation the thought brought out of his voice.

  If anything, her blush got deeper. “That’s was before. That’s not what I want now.”

  Well, hell, he liked the sound of that. He looked around. El Pollo Delicioso was hardly five stars, but it had cloth napkins and more on the menu than tacos, so they were on a real honest-to-God date. That didn’t mean he was going to stop giving her grief, though. “Come on, sugar. I’ll make you feel good—again.”

  “You’re out of control.” She bit her lip. “I like it.”

  He felt out of control, like one wrong step would send him hurtling into something that was completely out of his realm of experience. The jealousy from earlier hadn’t abated. If anything, it was getting worse with each passing heartbeat, because he knew this couldn’t last forever. The longer it went on, the more the loss bloomed in the back of his mind. He was going to lose her, and he was only just realizing how much he wanted her.

  He didn’t want this to end.

  Adam stared across the table at her, the realization a weight in his chest threatening to drown him. He couldn’t tell if it was a good thing or a bad thing. All he knew was that his life would be a sad specter without Jules in it. He opened his mouth to tell her that, but a shadow fell over their table.

  “If it isn’t the cute couple.”

  For fuck’s sake. Adam sat back and crossed his arms over his chest. “Grant. You know, you and Jules aren’t together anymore—haven’t been for years. Why the hell do you keep showing up every time I turn around? Stalking is frowned upon in these parts—not to mention illegal.”

  Grant narrowed his eyes. “Jules and I are friends, aren’t we, Jules?”

  “Actually—”

  “I just came over to say congratulations. You’ve convinced me.”

  “Great.” Adam rolled his eyes. “Of what?”

  Grant looked from him to Jules and back again. “That you’re dating. A friend of mine saw you in, shall we say, a compromising position not more than an hour ago on the side of the road like a common—”

  Adam felt like the top of his head was going to explode. “Boy, I suggest you don’t finish whatever you were about to say. I’m taking my lady out to a nice dinner, and you’re over here, fucking that shit up. Leave.”

  “Yeah, well, I was just going.” Grant turned to leave, muttering, “I could never get her to fuck me in my truck.”

  Adam didn’t make a decision to move. One second he was staring at the little pissant’s back, and the next he was on his feet and grabbing Grant’s collar. “Let’s take a walk.”

  “Adam!”

  He ignored Jules, walking Grant out of the restaurant by his throat and giving him a shake for good measure. “In what world would you think I’m the kind of man to let you talk about my woman like that?” Another shake. “Here’s a hint—I’m not.”

  Jules burst through the door. “Adam, stop! Adam, he’s turning purple.”

  He tightened his grip on Grant’s neck. “This is the last time I’m going to say this, so I suggest you keep from passing out long enough to hear it. Stay the fuck away from Jules. If you haven’t noticed, she doesn’t like you. She’s too good of a person to say that, but I’m not. You do or say something to hurt her feelings again, and I’ll put you in the fucking hospital.”

  He let go. Grant dropped to his knees, clutching his throat.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  He already knew, before he turned to her, that she wasn’t talking to Grant. Adam growled. “We’re leaving.” He didn’t give her a chance to argue, hooking an arm around her waist and practically carrying her away from her wheezing ex.

  They were in the truck when she spoke next. “We just walked out on our bill.”

  “I’ll go by tomorrow and take care of it.” There was no way he trusted himself to be within punching distance of Grant. Adam pulled out of the parking lot so fast, the momentum threw Jules against him. He knew he needed to slow down, to calm down, but he couldn’t get himself under control.

  It felt like the entire night had been one giant avalanche to this point. He’d known it was coming, but he hadn’t been able to escape it. Jules was too damn good for him, and if she didn’t know it after that clusterfuck, then he was luckier than he deserved.

  “Do you trust me?”

  She huffed out a breath. “What kind of question is that? Of course I do, even when you’re acting like an idiot.”

  “Good.” He turned off the highway, taking a little dirt road that hadn’t gotten much use in high school and didn’t appear to get much now. The truck bumped and shook over the potholes, but eventually spit them out in a field with nothing around for miles. “Come on.” He got out, grabbed the two blankets from beneath his seat, and walked around to lower the tailgate. Jules followed, but she didn’t look too happy with him. He laid the blankets out in the bed of his truck and turned to her. “I’m sorry. I was out of line.”

  “You think?” She frowned up at him. “What was that? I know Grant’s an awful person, but he’s not worth getting brought up on assault charges.”

  He let go of the steering wheel and realized his hands were shaking. “He shouldn’t have said that about you.”

  “You’re right. He shouldn’t. But they’re just words.”

  Except he’
d seen her face the moment she registered what Grant had said. If there’d just been anger present, maybe Adam could have let it go—maybe—but there had been shame there, too. He reached for her, slowly, giving her time to decide if she’d let him touch her.

  Jules didn’t move, allowing him to cup her face. He stroked her cheekbones with his thumbs. “I don’t want you to regret what we’ve done. There’s no shame in any of it.”

  “Guess I can’t be scandalous without seeing some negative effects, huh?”

  He shook his head. “Take everyone else out of the equation. Do you regret what we’ve done?”

  “I…” She sighed. “No. I’ve managed to become a town scandal, at least temporarily. It’s going to change the way people look at me, and that’s something. These last couple of weeks with you…I’ll always look back on them fondly.” Her smile was a little bittersweet. “Though I think I’ll keep most of this out of the stories I’ll tell my grandbabies one day. They’re not exactly appropriate for tiny ears.”

  There it was again—the ever-present reminder that this thing between them wouldn’t last forever. The knowledge that there would be another man Jules would fall in love with, a man who’d put a ring on her finger and who’d be there in the delivery room with her when she delivered their children. A man who’d get to spend the rest of his life by her side.

  And it wouldn’t be Adam.

  His chest clenched so tightly, he couldn’t draw a full breath. So he did the only thing he could think of.

  He kissed her.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  There were so many things left to say, but Jules let Adam sweep them both away. She couldn’t ignore what he’d done to Grant, just like she couldn’t ignore the fact that when he touched her, her entire body lit up. And then he looked at her with those dark eyes and actually cared about the things she found important.

  God, he cared more than he’d ever let anyone see.

  Let me in. Please, just let me past those walls you’ve built so thickly around yourself.

  She couldn’t let the words out. They were the keeping kind of things, and he’d told her time and time again that he wasn’t staying. Expecting him to suddenly fall for her and change his mind wasn’t fair to both of them. She was the one messing with the rules after she’d assured him she’d be fine with the boundaries he set.

  This was never meant to be more than a crazy footnote in my life.

  Except it didn’t feel like a footnote.

  It felt world ending.

  So she let him kiss her and she wrapped her arms around his neck, needing to be as close as they could be to settle the fears rising in the back of her mind.

  Fears that, when he walked away, he’d take a bloody piece of her heart with him.

  He lifted her onto the tailgate. “Let me make love to you, sugar. Just this once.”

  Her heart leaped into her throat, blocking the words she had no business so much as thinking. Jules nodded, because there was nothing else left to say that wouldn’t ruin it. She felt absurdly like crying as he pulled off her boots and lifted her dress over her head. “Adam—”

  “There’s time for that tomorrow.”

  He was right. They had tonight, and everything could wait for sunrise. She nodded. “Okay.”

  “Good.” He stripped quickly and set both their clothes in the bed of the truck. Then he kissed her again, backing her up and laying her flat on the blankets. “Never lose you, sugar.” His lips brushed the sensitive spot behind her ear. “There isn’t anyone like you out there—I’ve been around the block enough times to know—and the world would be a dimmer place if you compromised any part of yourself to appease someone else.” He eased her bra off, his lips moving over her skin, saying words she never knew she wanted to hear. “You’re better than a goddamn eight-second ride, Jules Rodriguez, and I’ll never meet your like again.”

  She started to say…God, she didn’t even know what…but he moved down her body, slipping off her panties and spreading her thighs. “And tonight, you’re mine.” And then his mouth was there against the most intimate part of her, touching her just as his words had a moment before.

  Jules gave herself over to him, letting go of her worries for tomorrow and her irritation over how Adam handled things back at the restaurant. He was like a wild thing, barely tamed. Just like the bulls he loved to ride or the stallions on the ranch. He’d let her cuddle up to him, but one wrong move and someone was going to lose an arm.

  Not her. She’d spent enough time with him to be sure of that—he’d never hurt her. But that didn’t mean a single thing when it came to the people around her.

  “You’re thinking too hard.”

  “I can’t help it.” Her life would be so much easier if she knew how to turn off her stampeding thoughts.

  Adam sighed, his breath on her sensitive skin making her squirm. “Let me help.” Then he pushed two fingers into her and sucked her clit into his mouth, setting his teeth against her. The sensation was so intense, it was just this side of pain. Jules’s mind went blank, and her body went tight.

  “Holy good gracious.”

  He pumped his fingers slowly, dragging them over that spot inside her. She pressed her heels against the bed of the truck, trying to take him deeper, but he laughed softly and used his free hand to pin her hips. “Not yet, sugar.”

  “Adam, please.”

  He gave her one long lick. “Are you still thinking too hard?”

  “I… What?” She squirmed, but he had full control—just like always. She’d always considered herself an independent woman, but there was something about being at Adam’s mercy that flat-out did it for her. She tried lifting her hips again. “More.”

  “All right, sugar. I’ll give you more.”

  She cried out when he removed his hand, but the unmistakable crinkle of a condom wrapper had her shutting right up. This was good. This was even better. He crawled up her body and settled between her thighs. She wrapped her legs around his waist, arching against him. “Kiss me.”

  “Bossy.” He cupped the back of her head and took her mouth even as his cock slid home.

  Something inside her that had been rattled and uncertain settled in that moment of perfection. We have the now. Stop asking for more than he’s willing to give. He said I’m his for tonight, and that’ll have to be enough.

  But she needed more. Jules dragged her nails down his back. “You make me so hot and crazy and gah.”

  “Tell me more.” He began to move, the slightest strokes that drove her to distraction but nowhere near enough to send her over the edge.

  “I was okay.” She dug her fingers into his ass, pulling him deeper. “Mostly okay. Somewhat okay.”

  “Mmm.” He nibbled on her neck, keeping up that infuriating movement.

  She couldn’t catch her breath. “One look, Adam. That’s all it takes. You give me that look and I’m ready to drag you into the nearest enclosed space and drop my panties.”

  “Good.” He picked up his strokes, withdrawing almost all the way out before pushing back into her. “Because I feel the same fucking way, sugar. Every time I stop moving for more than five seconds, all I can think about is the feel of you beneath me, taste you on my tongue, and smell your coconut shampoo. It drives me fucking insane.”

  “I’m sorry,” she gasped.

  “I’m not. I fucking love it.” He hitched her leg higher on his waist, driving deeper yet. “And the thought of you sharing your future with another man makes it feel like I have fifteen-hundred-pound bull trampling all over my chest.” He lowered his voice, so soft that she could barely hear him over the sounds of her breathing. “I want that future. I want it so bad, I can barely stand it.”

  She started to say…something…but he was already moving, flipping her over and drawing her up onto her hands and knees. “But tonight is mine, sugar. And I’
m going to make sure you never forget me.”

  Forget him? Impossible.

  He slammed into her, driving a cry from her lips. And then there was no more time for talking. She clutched the blankets, shoving back against him even as he gripped her hips tighter, the sound of flesh meeting flesh joining the cricket sounds in the field around them. “Touch yourself, sugar. I want to feel you come around my cock.”

  She obeyed without thought, sliding her hand between her legs and stroking her clit. Combined with him filling her, it didn’t take long for the first spasms to start. “Adam.”

  “That’s right. Take it all.” He slammed into her again and again, driving her out of her mind with pleasure, until she was sure she couldn’t take it anymore. Only then did his strokes become irregular, and he let himself go with a curse.

  He collapsed next to her, pulling her back against his chest. She stared up at the sky, a blanket of stars that somehow made this even more intimate.

  Too soon, her mind kicked back into gear, replaying every single word he’d said since they left the restaurant. She fought to keep her body relaxed, but his sigh proved just how sucky she was at it. “Relax, sugar. We’ll talk in the morning.”

  Maybe. Or maybe that would give him time to reconsider whatever he’d meant when he said he wanted a future with her. She bit her lip so hard it was a wonder she didn’t draw blood, barely able to wrap her mind around it.

  A future with Adam Meyer.

  It was the one thing she hadn’t allowed herself to consider. And why would she? He wasn’t staying in Devil’s Falls.

  But what if he did?

  Jules liked him—a lot. She liked that he didn’t seem to think she was boring or “good ole Jules” or feel the need to patronize her and tell her how he knew better. In fact, he’d done nothing but empower her.

  She liked the way he obviously loved his mom. He might not have spent much time back home over the last decade, but he still cared a whole lot. And Amelia loved her son more than anything else in the world. Jules knew that because she was a shameless eavesdropper when it came to her customers. Amelia was always telling Lenora about Adam’s latest escapades with the same tone of voice Jules’s mom used to brag about her good grades. It was really sweet.