He smiled. “Now the truth comes out.”
“Guilty.” She twisted a strand of her dark hair around her finger. “I wanted to talk to you about something, but in the light of everything, I think it was a horrible Aubry-induced idea.”
Color him crazy, but any idea that came from that redhead made him curious. “Tell me.”
“I’d really rather not.” She huffed out a breath when he leveled a look at her. “Okay, fine. Do you want to be my boyfriend for real?”
He’d anticipated all sorts of words to come out of her mouth…but not that. “You want to date me.”
“I know we’re already sort of dating, but it’s fake dating. I want to real date.” She scrunched up her nose when she frowned. “Though, to be honest, I don’t really know what would be different. Maybe more sex? Or you tell me what’s wrong when I ask if you’re okay?”
“Sugar—”
“You’re not staying. I know.” Her smile was all sorts of tentative. “But you haven’t left yet. I like you, Adam. And I think you like me, too.”
Hell, yes, he did. Too much. Jules wasn’t the leaving kind. She was the type of woman that had a man thinking all sorts of insane thoughts about settling down and kids and coming in from work to find the windows lit and dinner on the stove. The kind of woman who had “home” written all over her.
You’ll break her heart if you say yes. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but it’s coming.
But not today.
He pulled her into his lap. “Well, fuck, sugar, you make one hell of an argument.”
Her hands landed on his shoulders. “Is that a no?”
“Nope.” He ran his hands up her thighs. “These jeans should be fucking illegal.”
“What? These are work jeans.” She frowned. “You didn’t really answer my question.”
“Sure I did. Yes, sugar, be my girlfriend.” Until I leave Devil’s Falls in my rearview once and for all. He dipped his thumbs beneath her waistband. “Now let me get you out of these jeans.”
She laughed and slapped his hands. “Daniel’s going to be back any time, and as much as I want to jump your bones, I’d rather not have to pay for the therapy he’d inevitably need if he saw us bumping uglies.”
“Jump my bones? Bumping uglies? I don’t think my dirty-talking lessons have had their desired effect. We’ll need a repeat.”
She leaned forward until her lips brushed his ear. “Come by when you get off work. I’ll be waiting for you with nothing but a sheet on.”
“Lose the sheet and you’ve got yourself a deal.”
Jules laughed, though the sound turned into a moan when he used his grip on her hips to slide her against the hard ridge of his cock. “Maybe I’ll be wearing panties and cowgirl boots. Or these jeans and nothing else. You’ll have to show up to find out.”
He cursed low and hard. “I’m going to be in hell for the rest of the day. I hope you’re happy.”
She pressed a quick kiss to his lips and wriggled free. “I am.”
And hell if she didn’t sound it.Chapter SeventeenJules paced from one side of her apartment to the other. This was such a dumb idea. What if he doesn’t show up. Worse, what if he does? She looked down at her getup—boots and panties and a long-sleeved flannel shirt that she’d left unbuttoned. When she got dressed, she’d had that look on Adam’s face fixated in her mind. He would have had her right then and there in the field without a second thought.
But that was the problem. He’d had the entire afternoon for second thoughts. It didn’t matter if he’d said he was coming over and that he’d be her boyfriend for real—he could have changed his mind.
She eyed the closed door to Aubry’s room. Her friend had taken one look at her, shaken her head, and gone off to hide. Not that Jules could blame her—she felt a whole lot like hiding right now, too.
A knock on the door had her considering diving for the thick, knitted throw blanket on the back of the couch. What had she been thinking, dressing like this? She looked like one of those cowgirl wannabes in a music video. It didn’t help that her boots, having seen better days, probably ruined the effect. They were the boots of a woman who worked.
She started to kick them off, but whoever it was at the door knocked again. Jules hurried over and peered through the peephole. Adam. There was no way he didn’t know she was here—especially since she’d been the one to tell him she would be. She rested her forehead against the door. “Get it together, Jules.”
“Sugar, if you’re going to talk to yourself, you might as well let me in so you can talk to me instead.”