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And, no matter how she was starting to feel about Adam, she would never be enough for him. That was startlingly clear.
“It’s okay, Adam. It will be okay.”
But the sinking feeling in her chest wouldn’t go away. The only thing that had kept him in place for more than two weeks was his mom. If she lost her battle with cancer, he would run as far and fast as he could and not look back.Chapter Twenty-TwoAdam woke up with a naked Jules in his arms, and hell if that wasn’t a way to start the day. He blinked at the bright sunlight and shielded his eyes. She lifted her head. “What time is it?”
“I don’t know.” He eyed the sky. “Still early. Maybe seven.”
“Crap, I have to get going.” She sat up, giving him the view of a lifetime, and grabbed her dress. “I open the café today.”
As much as he wanted to pull her back down and lose himself in her for a few hours, she was right. Responsibilities waited. His mama had a doctor’s appointment today, and he was determined to bully her into letting him go with her. He sat up and stretched. “Let’s get you back to town, then.”
Jules pulled on her dress and sent him a grin he felt right through his chest. “Last night was something else.”
“Yeah, it was.”
Her smile dimmed. “But we do have to talk about Grant at some point. He was a jackass last night, but you can’t just go around manhandling him because he said something…ill-advised.”
Ill-advised about summed it up. “Sure I can.” When she frowned, he relented. “Sugar, I’ll mind my p’s and q’s, but I’m not civilized enough to sit back and let him insult you. If that’s what you’re looking for, I’m not your man.”
She yanked on her boots. “Just try not to get arrested, okay? Sheriff Taylor is getting close to retiring, and having to haul you in will do a number on his blood pressure.”
He finished buttoning his jeans and pulled her into his arms. “You know, Quinn said the same damn thing to me back at the bonfire. Clearly I have a reputation if you all are so worried I’m going to give the good old sheriff a heart attack.”
“Well, if he caught sight of what kind of trouble we’ve been getting into in your truck, I think that’s a very real risk.”
Adam laughed. “You spend an awful lot of your time taking care of other people.”
“Some people don’t have anyone to take care of them.” She ducked out of his hold when he went for a kiss. “Morning breath!”
“I think we’ve already established I have a solution for that.”
“Good point.” She bounded around the side of his truck, reappearing a few seconds later with the fresh bottle of water he’d put in there yesterday, toothbrush, and toothpaste. “You know, I’m not really a fan of camping out, but this has been fun.” She shot a look at the bed of his truck, covered with rumpled blankets. “Or maybe I’ve been listening to too many country songs.”
“No such thing.” He waited for her to brush her teeth and then followed suit. “Everything worth knowing can be found in a country song.”
“I thought the saying was that ‘everything I need to know in life, I learned in kindergarten’?”
He grinned. “That, too.”
The drive back into Devil’s Falls passed in comfortable silence, Jules cuddled up against him. The words he’d said—and hadn’t said—last night were a jumbled mess in his chest. He would lose her if he didn’t find a way to say what needed to be said—then actually put those words into action—and he didn’t want to lose her. He pulled up behind her shop and put the truck into park. “Sugar, I have something to say.”
She went still against him. “I’m listening.”
“I don’t know what the future will hold—”
“No one does.”
He waited, and she ducked her head.
“Whoops. You’re saying your thing and I’m interrupting.”
“I know it hasn’t been that long, but I can’t imagine my life without you.” He opened his mouth to tell her that he wouldn’t leave, that he’d do his damnedest to be the man she wanted, but he couldn’t force the words out. Despite everything, they still felt like a lie. Instead, he said, “I don’t know what’s going to happen, and I can only take things one day at a time, but I want you, sugar. Just you.”
When she looked up at him, her eyes were shining with unshed tears, her expression looking almost…worried. “Oh, Adam.” She kissed him, a quick brushing of her lips against his, and then she was gone, slipping out of his truck and practically running inside.
He stared at the door for a long time. “That went…well.” She hadn’t told him to fuck off, but she hadn’t exactly seemed happy, either. He glanced at the clock. Dealing with Jules’s weird reaction would have to wait—he had to leave now if he wanted to be on time for his mom’s appointment. Thank God Devil’s Falls was so small or he would be late.
