Foolproof Love(10)
“Sure.”
She gave Adam a bright smile. “Can I talk to you privately? You can bring Khan.”
He scooped up the orange tom with one hand and his coffee with the other. “You named a cat after a Star Trek villain.”
“Guilty.” She opened the door to the back. “The others are Cujo, Loki, Rick, Dog, Ninja Kitteh, and Mr. Winkles.”
He laughed. “That’s a whole lot of pop culture wrapped up into tiny bundles.”
“Hey, the names fit.”
“I bet they do.”
She stopped in the kitchen and made an effort not to wring her hands. The worst he can say is no. “So, uh, thanks again for doing me that favor last night.”
He paced around the kitchen, seeming to take in everything as he stroked Khan’s back. “It was really no problem. Kissing beautiful women isn’t exactly a hardship.”
He thinks I’m… She rushed on, refusing to dwell on that. He had to say something nice. He was Daniel’s friend, after all. “So, it goes like this—Grant is a giant asshole.”
“Agreed.” He made another circuit around the kitchen, pausing to poke at the cat-shaped cookie cutters she had out on the counter for the batch of sugar cookies she was baking later.
So far, so good. “When he dumped me and left town, he basically said the reason we couldn’t be together was that he wanted to be with someone more exciting—someone who wanted more out of life than to live and die in a small town.”
He turned to face her, his jaw tight. “Calling him an asshole might be too kind.”
“He’s hardly the only one who’s ever said that to me, but that’s beside the point. Everyone in this town thinks I’m destined to be a spinster. I’m not. At least, I hope I’m not. But I have no way to prove it, and I’m sick of them thinking my sole purpose in life should be to win Grant back. So, here’s the thing.” Time for the pitch. “If your offer still stands, I’d really, really like it if you’d keep pretending to be my boyfriend—and really give Devil’s Falls something to talk about.”
Adam blinked. “I’m sorry, what? I think I misheard you over the sound of this fellow’s purring. I thought you just said that you want to use me to stir up the gossip mill in town.”
That was the part he’d decide to focus on? “You did.”
“How the hell am I supposed to do that?”
“I don’t know. You’re Adam Meyer—bull rider and Devil’s Falls legend. You have excitement in your blood.”
He stared at her, still for the first time since they walked back to the kitchen.
She sighed. “You’re right. It’s a dumb idea. I have a ton of them. It’s a sickness.”
“Wait, wait.” He set the cat down and took a drink of his coffee. “You know if I’m going to be your boyfriend, we can’t do it halfway.”
Now she was sure she’d heard him wrong. “I’m sorry, what?”
“This is Devil’s Falls. The only thing the people here love more than ranching is good gossip, which can work against you as easily as you want it to work for you. If even one person thinks we aren’t serious, it’ll be impossible to convince them you shouldn’t crawl back to golden-boy Grant.”
She was almost afraid to hope she was hearing him right. “You…you’ll do it?” But then her brain caught up to everything he’d said. “Wait, what do you mean?”
His grin made her stomach leap. “We’ll give them something to talk about. Something to show them you’re 100 percent over that jackass.”
That was what she wanted. It was just daunting when her mind was all too eager to offer up exactly what they could do to get the town talking and defuse the whole Jules-and-Grant fantasy. It would have to be pretty scandalous. She picked up Khan, holding him to her chest like a furry shield, though she couldn’t say what she wanted protection from. “You’re really agreeing to this?”
“Hell, sugar, I could never turn down a woman in need, and you fit the bill.”
She could barely believe it. Crazy schemes were her and Aubry’s thing, but maybe they were Adam’s, too. “Thank you. Oh God, thank you so much. I owe you…” She looked around for inspiration. “Free coffee for life?”
He laughed. “I wouldn’t say no to free coffee for the duration of my time here.” He lifted his mug. “This is amazing.”