Foolproof Love(4)

 

He hadn’t offered, and this was pretend. Remembering that was important if she wanted to avoid compounding one potentially humiliating situation with another even more potentially humiliating situation.

 

She licked her lips. “Um, yes. Totally believable. Thank you.”

 

He still didn’t let her go. Instead he turned and lifted her onto the tailgate as if she weighed no more than a paper doll. “You want something to drink?”

 

“Uh, sure.” She should get down and walk away…which she absolutely would do as soon as she got control of her shaking legs. It would have taken a stronger woman than she was to not stare at Adam’s ass in those tight jeans as he ambled over to the cooler.

 

She turned to find Aubry doing a silent slow clap. “Don’t judge me.”

 

“Oh, I’m judging.”

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Two

 

Adam Meyers had been back in Devil’s Falls all of two days, and he was already going out of his mind.

 

He hadn’t wanted to come to this goddamn bonfire. He wasn’t back in Devil’s Falls for a good time—he wasn’t even back at all. Once he figured out what was going on with his mama, he was on the road again. Hell, it had only been a few days, and the restlessness in his blood was already snapping for a change of scenery.

 

Or it had been until Jules Rodriguez sidled up to him and proceeded to rock his world. That’d been a distraction he couldn’t afford to pass up.

 

He opened the cooler and fished out a pair of beers, using the move to get his physical reaction under control. He hadn’t expected to be affected like that, but she was so soft and sweet and the panic in her dark eyes had called to him.

 

You were doing her a favor, jackass.

 

Right. He glanced over his shoulder to where she was talking to the redhead. I’d like to do her another favor. Maybe two.

 

“Damn it, what are you doing?”

 

He’d known this was coming the second he walked away from the women. He couldn’t even blame Daniel. His friend had always had been overprotective of Jules.

 

Adam used his boot to shut the cooler lid. “She asked me for a favor. I’d be a dick to ignore her cry for help.”

 

“That’s my baby cousin.”

 

Cousin or not, the soft, sexy woman he’d just held in his arms was not a baby. Not even close. He snorted. “It’s not like I’m robbing the cradle here. And it was just a kiss.”

 

“You know damn well it was a bad idea.” When Adam just stared, Daniel cursed. “Damn it, Adam. It better stop at just a kiss.” He stalked away, snagging a beer as he did.

 

He didn’t blame his friend for getting up in arms. Jules had always been a good girl, and Adam was many things, but good wasn’t on the list. Which was most likely why she’d chosen him to act as her pretend boyfriend.

 

Adam turned around to find Grant standing just out of reach. He hadn’t had much interaction with the guy—by the time Grant graduated seven years behind him, Adam had already blown out of town for the rodeo circuit. His mama told him stories, though. It was one of her favorite things to do on their weekly calls while he was traveling around and getting into trouble. The tidbits of Devil’s Falls gossip had always grounded him. No matter how crazy his life got, or how free he felt on the back of a bull for those precious seconds before he was thrown, nothing much changed back home.

 

That was how he knew Grant and Jules had dated through high school and that he’d dumped her before he went off to that fancy school his daddy had paid out the nose for. It wasn’t something Adam had put much thought into all those years ago, but now he had to stop and wonder what the hell Jules had seen in this guy.

 

Grant was too polished, too put together. Even his teeth were perfect, white and straight and screaming money. It made sense. His daddy was a big fish in Devil’s Falls, and he’d never let anyone forget it. Stood to reason that his son inherited his shitty, entitled attitude.

 

And he was obviously chewing on something he wanted to say.

 

Adam stopped, aware of Quinn at his back. He doubted this preppy man was going to cause problems, but if he got a wild hair, he’d find that it was two on one. “Can I help you?”

 

“You’re Adam Meyers.”

 

“Guilty.”

 

Grant shot a look over his shoulder to where Jules sat on Adam’s tailgate, her long legs swinging as she chatted with her redhead friend. There was nothing over the top sexy about the way she was dressed—shorts and a plaid long-sleeved shirt that she’d rolled up to her elbows—but she drew Adam’s gaze despite that. There was just something so alive about her.