Wild Cowboy Nights

by Katee Robert

  “Yeah, you keep saying that. Maybe you just haven’t found a good enough reason to put down roots and be that guy—until now.”

  That’s what he was afraid of. Not that he’d put down roots, but that he’d start to and then the restlessness in his blood would start up again. He’d turn back into a tumbleweed before a gale-force wind, yanked right out of whatever life he thought he could have here.

  And, really, what did he have to offer Jules? He was a few years out of being a washed-up bull rider who’d been lucky enough not to be permanently injured but who didn’t exactly have any applicable skills otherwise. The thought tightened his throat. Rationally, he knew he couldn’t ride bulls forever, but he didn’t have any long-term plans beyond working the rodeo in whatever capacity he could. Which was pathetic when he really sat down to think about it.

  And his mama…

  “I’m not that man.” He said it more firmly, as if that could quell the growing thing in his chest that was determined to take on a life of its own. It was all twisted up with his dread about what might happen to his mama, a weird mix of fear and hope and something else that he had no name for. He tried to smile. “You know me—I am what I am.”

  “Sure—before. But you’ve been back in town almost three weeks now, and you’re not going insane or fleeing at the first chance you get.” He motioned at the truck. “Hell, you’re downright respectable these days.”

  His gave his front door a long look. “I have my reasons. They aren’t permanent.”

  “Sounds like you have more than one these days.” Quinn held up his hands when Adam glared. “Sorry, sorry. Can’t help that I miss you when you’re off living life like a country song.”

  “For fuck’s sake.” Adam ducked into the garage and grabbed two beers. He walked back, dropped into the chair next to his friend, and passed one over. “You’re ridiculous.”

  “It should be my middle name.” Quinn took a long drink of his beer. “So why are you getting your ride all shined up?”

  He didn’t want to admit it, but his friend would pester him if he tried to avoid the topic. “I’m taking Jules out on a real date.”

  Quinn threw back his head and let loose a booming laugh. “Oh God, that’s the funniest shit I’ve heard all day. Sounds like you’re doing a hell of a job of keeping things in perspective with her.”

  “Something like that.” He was doing such a good job, he’d gone from pretending to date her to actually dating her. He took a deep breath and turned the conversation, grateful when Quinn allowed it this time. They chatted about cattle and Adam told a few of his wild rodeo stories, and before he knew it, it was time to go pick up Jules.

  His friend stopped by the driver’s door and Adam rolled down the window. The joking expression on Quinn’s face dropped for the first time since he’d shown up. “Daniel’s cousin is a good girl.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” He expected this from his mom and the townsfolk in general—it even made sense for Daniel to be warning him off since Jules was his cousin. To have Quinn doing it, too…it stung. A lot. “I’m not stringing her along. I’ve been honest with her from the beginning, and she’s been with me every step of the way. Jules is a grown-ass woman, and I doubt she’d take kindly to everyone and their dog being so sure that I’m going to break her heart.”

  Quinn raised his eyebrows. “Touched on a sore spot, didn’t I?”

  “I get tired of everyone thinking I’m a piece of shit.” Even if he agreed with them most days.

  “Nobody thinks that—or at least no one worth mentioning.” He shook his head. “All I was going to say, jackass, is that I think she might be good for you.” He turned around and walked off without another word, leaving Adam staring after him.

  He’d done a spectacular job of proving to his friend that he was managing to keep calm and rational about this situation. He headed for Jules’s place, kicking himself again for letting what everyone else thought of him get under his skin. She knew the score. Fuck, she was the one with a future that didn’t fit him in the least. She’d be a fool to let her heart get involved.

  Except she asked you to be her boyfriend. And you said yes.

  It didn’t mean anything—not really. Even if they were dating for real—which wasn’t that different from them pretending to date—she knew he was leaving. He knew he was leaving. The entire fucking town knew he was leaving. It’d be fun while it lasted, but it couldn’t last.

  He stopped in front of her café, shut off the engine, and headed inside, still arguing with himself. He wasn’t some monster, taking advantage of little innocent Jules Rodriguez. She’d come to him. She was the one who wanted sex. Yeah, he’d taken them all the way up to that point, but she’d pushed them over the edge.

  If anything, people should be worried about how he was going to take the goddamn breakup. He’d never been with a woman like this before—someone who seemed to bring joy into any room she stepped into, someone who always had a new and wacky perspective on life, someone who was happy. Grant might have set her on her heels temporarily, but that wouldn’t last. Jules was the type who bounced back, better than ever, and she would this time, too.

  Just like she would after he left.

  It was Adam who wasn’t sure how the hell he was going to go back to life on the road after he’d known what it was like to hold her in his arms.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Jules walked out of the kitchen to find Adam standing in the doorway of her café, glaring down at the trio of cats twining around his feet. She eyed them—Cujo, Rick, and Dog—wondering if they’d done something to deserve the look. With those three, there was no telling. They got into more trouble than the rest of the cats combined. But Adam didn’t seem to be bleeding and there were no suspicious wet spots on his pant legs—talking down Mr. Lee the last time that had happened had taken all of her not inconsiderable persuasive skills—so she was almost afraid to ask what was wrong.

  Oh, right, I shouldn’t even do it anyways, because he gets so freaking snarly about it.

  So she pasted a smile on her face. “Hey, there.”

  He looked up, and the scowl disappeared. Jules actually rocked back on her heels. Good lord, being smiled at by Adam Meyer is as good as one of those purple nurple shots. Better, even. Adam carefully stepped over the cats and stalked toward her. “Hey, sugar.”

  She barely had a chance to process his intent before he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. His lips brushed hers, which should have been PG, but one of his hands was at the small of her back, pressing her fully against the front of his very aroused body, and the other was in her hair, tugging hard enough that she knew exactly who was in charge of this encounter. Her toes curled in her boots, and she went all soft and melty. When he lifted his head, all she could do was blink up at him. “Hi.”

  His grin was so self-satisfied that her toes curled all over again. “You said that already.”

  “Did I? I think I’m in danger of saying it a third time.” She clamped her mouth shut before she could do just that.

  He leaned back a little. “You ready for our date?”

  “Yes…don’t I look ready?” She glanced down at herself. She’d chosen a dress from Aubry’s closet that was a mash-up of pinup and country girl—in that it was plaid, which was as country girl as Aubry got. Jules had picked it because it was fancier than anything she owned, and it seemed like she should get fancy for a real date with Adam.

  “You look good enough to eat.”

  “I hope you mean that in a non–Hannibal Lecter way, or I’m going to have to call the police,” Aubry called out.

  They both looked over to where Aubry sat in her usual corner seat with Mr. Winkles in her lap, a cup of coffee in her hands despite the fact that it was well after five in the evening. She speared Adam with a glare over the top of her glasses that would have had a lesser man hightailing it for t
he door.

  Adam just grinned. “I mean it in a flirting way that has nothing to do with cannibalism.”

  She glared even harder. “I’m onto you, country boy. Treat my friend right.”

  Some of the humor fled his face, but his smile didn’t waver. “Sure thing.” He turned back to Jules and offered his elbow. “Do you need to do anything else before we go?”

  She was as prepared as she was going to be. Aunt Lori was watching the café until her cousin Jamie showed up to finish off the shift and close. She crouched down carefully to give each of the cats at Adam’s feet a scratch, though Cujo dodged her reach and leaped onto the counter to get closer to his face. Thanks a lot, you silly thing. She pushed to her feet and looked around. There were half a dozen other things she could find to occupy herself before they left, but anything else she would be stalling. “I think I’m good.”

  “Then let’s get out of here.”

  They headed out onto the street, and she stopped short at the sight of his truck. It shone brightly in the evening sun, free of any dirt or dust or mud. “You cleaned your truck.”

  “My mama taught me that you don’t pick up a lady in a filthy truck.” He opened the door for her, looking as out of place as she suddenly felt.

  Jules climbed up, wondering at the awkward feeling coursing through her body and making her want to fidget. This was a date. A real date. It shouldn’t be any different than any of their other dates. She’d never had a problem speaking her mind with Adam, so why was she just staring at him mutely as he started his truck and headed down the road?

  The minutes ticked by, the silence only getting stranger as time went on. They hit the town limits, and Jules was ready to scream. “Why is this so weird? We’ve been naked and in more compromising positions than I care to count and suddenly I feel like I’m sixteen and on my first date and don’t know what to do with my hands.”

  Adam’s hands flexed on the steering wheel. “I don’t know.”

  She waited, but he didn’t say anything else. There had to be some way to fix this, because the thought that she’d ruined them by changing things made her sick to her stomach. It was bad enough that he was leaving town at some unknown date in the future and that she’d likely never see him again—for this to end before he left? No. Absolutely not. She craved him like her favorite blanket and wine and B.O.B. all rolled into one. Except he could hold down a conversation and he really listened to her. Usually.

  She had to do something, and she had to do it now.

  Holding her breath, Jules slid across the bench seat until she was pressed against Adam from shoulder to knee. He took the hint and lifted his arm to rest it on the back of the seat. It wasn’t putting his arm around her, but it’d have to do for now.

  You can do this. You’re in charge of your own destiny. You’re bold and fearless and oh my God, I can’t believe I’m doing this.

  Before she could talk herself out of it, she went for his zipper.

  Adam tensed. “Sugar, what do you think you’re doing?”

  “I’m being scandalous.” She unbuttoned the top of his jeans and dragged his zipper down. “Stop talking before I chicken out.”

  “Chicken out from— Holy shit.”

  She took him in her hand, almost breathing a sigh of relief when he grew hard. This, at least, hadn’t changed. “I liked how things were between us. I don’t want them to change.”

  “Do you think now is really the time for this conversation?”

  Yes, because it was easier to put herself out there when she knew she had him at a slight disadvantage. She stroked him, using the motion she knew he liked. “I think it’s the perfect time. I like you, Adam. I know that’s silly, and I know you’re leaving, and I know I can’t ever ask you if you’re okay, but I don’t care. I want to enjoy the time we have, and we can’t do that if we’re sitting here not talking.”

  Adam pulled onto the shoulder and put the truck in park. “You have my full attention.”

  “Oh, well, good.” She kept touching him, suddenly not sure where she wanted to take this. Liar. You knew exactly what you wanted from the moment you decided to go for it. With that little voice in her head driving her on, she kissed him.

  Adam took control of the kiss immediately, gripping the back of her neck with one hand and angling his body so she could keep stroking him. “You are something else, sugar.”

  “You keep saying that. I keep taking it as a compliment.”

  “Good.”

  He reached down and hooked her knee, bringing her up and over to straddle him. It happened so smoothly, she didn’t lose her grip and was left staring at him. “Tell the truth—do you practice that move? Because no one should be that good naturally.”

  He laughed, the deep sound rumbling between them. “I’ll never tell.”

  Which was as good as admitting that he had. She waited for that splinter of jealousy to dig deeper, but there was nothing there. Who cared about his past—or his future, for that matter? Right now, in this moment, he was hers and hers alone. She kissed him again, wriggling closer, which hiked up her dress. He took the hint, running his hands up her legs to cup her butt and bring her down to line up the hard ridge of him against her clit.

  She pulled away enough to say, “I want you inside me.”

  “You’re reading my mind.” He slid over to the middle of the seat and kept an arm around her waist as he fumbled in the glove compartment, coming up with a condom.

  She eyed it. “How long has that been in there?” Weren’t there some rules about keeping those things in a cool, dry place or risking them breaking? A glove compartment in Texas might be dry, but it sure wasn’t cool.

  “I put it in there this morning.” He gave her a panty-melting smile. “Just call me optimistic.”

  “You’re a scoundrel.” She grabbed the condom from his hand. “I like it.” It was quick work to rip the wrapper and roll the condom onto him. This was good. This, they knew how to do. The rest of it would fall into place once they had a chance to reset the clock.

  Adam pulled her panties to the side, and she wasted no time sinking onto him. Jules closed her eyes, the feeling of fullness nearly overwhelming. She moved, taking him deeper. “This feels too good to be real.”

  “You took the words right out of my mouth.” He unbuttoned the front of her dress and pushed it off her shoulders, taking her bra with it and baring her breasts. “Fuck, sugar, your body is a work of art.” He let go of her hips to palm her breasts as she rode him. “You’re so goddamn sexy, it makes me crazy. How the hell am I supposed to focus on anything else when every time I think about you, I can practically feel that tight little pussy of yours squeezing my cock?”

  She gripped his shoulders and rolled her body, making him hit a spot inside her that had her moaning. “Sounds like a…personal problem.”

  “You have no fucking idea.” He squeezed her breasts and then released them, the imprint of his hands burning itself into her memory. “And this?” He fisted the fabric of her dress, lifting it above her hips. “You sliding down my cock is a sight I could spend the rest of my life watching and never get tired of. Whoever made you feel like you were somehow less is a fucking idiot. You’re perfect. You’re better than perfect.”

  His words warmed her, even as her body sparked with the beginning of an orgasm. “Adam—”

  “Need a little something to get you over the edge, don’t you, sugar?” He grabbed her hip with one hand and slid his other down to stroke her clit. His grip guided her pace, taking the control from her even as his fingers took her exactly where she needed to go. Jules buried her face in his neck as she came, her shudders racking her entire body.

  Adam laid her down on the seat, the position allowing him deeper. “Feeling you come around me, knowing that I’m the cause of it—there isn’t another thing in this world like it.” His voice went hoarse. “I’v
e never had someone make me lose control like you do.”

  She clung to him as his strokes became more uneven, his hold on her tightening as he followed her over the edge, knowing that she was the cause of it making her entire body spark with pleasure all over again. “Adam, you’re more addicting that nicotine.”

  “Oh, yeah?” His laugh rumbled through her. “I can’t say I don’t like hearing that.”

  She smiled, though the truth settled in her stomach. Nicotine might feel good in the moment, just like being with him did, but it was ultimately a toxic substance that only left pain in its wake.

  Kind of like her relationship with Adam.

  Chapter Twenty

  Adam stared at his drink, feeling like a jackass. Jules had been right—things went weird as soon as they got into his truck. He’d known it, and he hadn’t done a damn thing to stop it, not with Quinn’s words still ringing in his ears, joining the chorus of everyone else who’d warned him away from her. Instead of making her comfortable, he’d let the silence draw on, punishing them both for thinking they could do this.

  And then Jules had taken matters—and him—into her own hands. She was right—if there was one thing they knew how to do, it was have sex. They’d been doing just fine before becoming official and there was no reason anything had to change.

  “You’re thinking awfully hard over there.”

  He looked up to find Jules crossing her eyes at him. Adam laughed. “Life is never boring when you’re around, is it?”

  “On the contrary, most people think my life is incredibly boring. Or at least proceeding as expected.” Her smile dimmed, but she seemed to make an effort to reclaim it. “But it’s mine, and that’s all anyone can really ask for, right? I like Cups and Kittens and I like my best friend, even if she’s a bit on the antisocial side, and I maybe I don’t have a ton on the horizon when it comes to my love life, but I’m only twenty-six. I’m hardly a spinster that should just swear off the whole thing now—especially since we’ve been running around causing a ruckus. That’s sure to open up some new avenues for me.”