AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Baby?”
“Yeah, Mama?”
“What are you going to do about the Rodriguez girl?” Some censure had leaked back into her tone. “I was by Cups and Kittens earlier today, and she looks like she got hit by a truck.” There was no doubt in her mind that he was the cause, and he couldn’t even get pissed because it was the damn truth.
He’d well and truly fucked up.
“I’m going to make it right.” He didn’t know how, and he’d more than deserve it if Jules told him to take a hike while she moved on with her life. Adam didn’t give a fuck. He’d fallen for her, and he’d do whatever it took to fix things and prove to her that he was the perfect man for her. He just had to figure out how.
His mama patted him on the arm. “You better. She’s a good girl. I think she’d make an excellent daughter-in-law.”
He laughed. “Yeah, well, let’s take things one day at a time.”
“That’s the only way you can take them, baby.” She kissed him on the cheek. “Now, go get your woman.”Chapter Twenty-FiveJules spent the week after breaking up with Adam in a strange haze. She did everything she could think of to snap out of it, but nothing worked. Not riding, not playing bloodthirsty video games with Aubry, not cuddling her cats. Nothing. She caught herself thinking about Adam half a dozen times a day, wondering if he was okay or if the pressure had gotten to be too much and he’d left town.
It hurt to think of never seeing him again.
It hurt worse to think of running into him randomly on his visits back in town.
Everything hurt.
She’d tried to comfort herself by promising herself that she’d find someone else, that she’d finally take the leap and sign up for internet dating, but the words were just that—words. They didn’t comfort her in the least. She’d sat for an hour and just stared at the registration page before closing the browser completely. What did some guy on the other side of a screen have that made jumping through the required hoops worth it?
Would he give her dirty-talking lessons or, even better, would he hold her close and whisper things that made her hot and twisty without laying a finger on her? Would he get Aubry’s stamp of approval and seem to actually enjoy going toe-to-toe with her? Would he make love to Jules in the bed of his truck beneath a summer sky?
And if he managed to achieve that herculean feat…would she be picturing Adam the entire time?
The more she thought about it, the more she had to face the facts—Adam Meyer had well and truly ruined her for anyone else.
She checked the clock, breathing a sigh of relief that she could finally close. There hadn’t been anyone in for over an hour, but she didn’t like to keep changeable hours. People depended on her being open the hours that were posted, and doing otherwise just didn’t sit right with her, whether there were customers or not. She stepped over where Ninja Kitteh was lounging in the middle of the floor and walked to the door to lock it.
And froze.
Adam stood on the other side of the glass, looking even better than she remembered. Her heart leaped into her throat, and she had to clench her hands to keep from opening the door and throwing herself into his arms. He walked away. Just because he didn’t actually leave town in the last week doesn’t change a single thing. She had to remember that, though it was hard to with him looking at her like he’d been in the desert for weeks and she was an oasis.
“Can I come in?”
She didn’t have to be able to hear him to know what words his lips formed. Numb, she nodded and opened the door. Stupid. So freaking stupid. But she’d proven time and again that she didn’t have a lick of common sense when it came to this man. “Hi.”
“Hi.” He looked down as Khan came and rubbed himself on Adam’s legs, purring furiously. “How are things?”
Awful. Terrible. No good. “Great.”
“Good.” He gave in to the cat’s demanding and picked him up. Khan looked at Jules, smug as all get-out. As well he should be—he was in Adam’s arms and she was standing just out of reach.
She was in the lowest of low places if she was jealous of a cat. “Great.”
“You said that.” A small smile quirked the edges of his lips, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to kiss him or smack him for walking back in here and making her heart break all over again.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “What do you want, Adam? Because I think you made your position pretty freaking clear the other day.”
