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No. That’s not going to solve anything, and you’ll just prove to him and everyone else that he can still get under your skin without even trying.
There had to be a better way to put him in his place.
Her gaze landed on her cousin across the way. Daniel stood next to a lowered tailgate next to his friend Quinn. And with them was a tall drink of water if she ever saw one. He had his back to her, but the way his shoulders filled out his T-shirt, tapering down to a lean waist and… Good lord, his pants were the very definition of painted-on jeans. Daniel said something, and he shook his head, turning so she could see his granite jawline and…
She blinked.
Holy shit, it’s Adam Meyers.
He’d been around while she was growing up, always running with her cousin and their other two friends, but he’d always seemed wilder than the other boys—more restless. Even when he was standing still, there was a look in his eye like he was just waiting for the right moment to burst into motion.
Sure enough, the first chance he got, he blew out of town and up and joined the rodeo. Or that was the word on the Devil’s Falls gossip grapevine.
He must be back in town to take care of his mom. Sympathy rose, blotting out her anger at Grant. Jules didn’t know what was wrong with his mom, but she didn’t have to be a doctor to know the woman was sick.
Knowing him, though, he won’t stick around for long.
Just like that, a plan clicked into place. A stupid, reckless plan guaranteed to shut Grant down for at least a little while.
Speaking of, he was still waiting for her to say yes and fulfill his high-handed expectations, but she managed a laugh. “That’s really sweet, Grant. It was great seeing you, but my boyfriend is waiting for me.”
He frowned. “Boyfriend?”
“Oh, yeah, it’s a new thing. We haven’t exactly gone public with it—you know how Devil’s Falls can be—so you wouldn’t have heard.” She gave him a pat on his arm. “It was nice seeing you. So great. Really, we’ll have to catch up sometime soon.” And then she stepped around him, dragging Aubry behind her.
“What are you doing?” Aubry whispered.
“Winging it.” She stopped by the trio of men, all too aware of Grant watching her. “Hi, Daniel. Quinn. Adam.”
They raised their beers. Daniel looked over her shoulder with a frown. “Is that your piece-of-shit ex-boyfriend I see?”
“The very one.” She disentangled her arm from Aubry’s. “Speaking of, I need a favor.”
“Anything for you, kid.”
She tried not to roll her eyes at him calling her kid. He was a whole seven years older than her. Not exactly ancient. “Actually, it’s not you I need the favor from.”
Before she could talk herself out of it, she sidled up to Adam and put her arms around his neck. To his credit, he didn’t shove her on her butt in the dirt, merely raising his eyebrows. Jules kept her voice low so there was no chance of Grant overhearing. “So as you’ve noticed, my ex is watching me really closely right now, and I might have told him a tiny white lie about me dating someone in order to avoid a devastating dose of humiliation. And since I can’t date Daniel and no one would ever believe I’d date Quinn—”
The man in question frowned. “You really know how to hit a man where it hurts, Jules.”
“—that leaves you.”
Adam’s face remained impassive. “I see.”
There wasn’t a whole lot to work with in those words, but he also had let his free hand drift down to settle on her hip, so she just kept talking. “If you could just play along and maybe kiss me like you want to do filthy things to me in the bed of your truck, I’d really appreciate it.”
If anything, his eyebrows rose higher. “That guy really got under your skin, didn’t he?”
“You have no idea.”
Next to them, Daniel made a sound suspiciously like a growl, but neither of them looked over. Adam’s hand pulsed on her hip, the heat of it shocking despite the warmth of the night. His calluses dragged over the sensitive skin bared by her T-shirt, and she shivered. Maybe this was a terrible idea.
She didn’t have time to really reconsider, though, because he set down his beer, cupped the back of her neck, and dealt her the single most devastating kiss of her life. No, not a kiss. He took possession of her mouth, his tongue tracing the seam of her lips and then delving inside. He tasted of beer and something darker, something that hinted at exactly what she’d asked for—like he wanted to do filthy things to her in the bed of his truck.
She closed her eyes, giving his tongue a tentative stroke, and had to fight down a moan at the way the move made her entire body go tight.
