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“No,” Adeline responds for me, as if Chloe can hear. “He’s gonna have to wait. What are you gonna do about it anyway?”

Nothing.

There isn’t shit I can do right now, or even if it were a sunny day. I’d still visit and offer recommendations, but I couldn’t fix it. And, right now, I’m buckled down like everyone else.

With Adeline.

With her in my clothes.

Her hair is still damp from the rain, and she smells like it, too. Fresh and intoxicating to all my senses with whatever floral perfume she had on before. She’s a country goddess who looks like she stepped into my house just to get some reprieve.

She’s stunning.

Real.

A fantasy wrapped into every quality I could want in a woman.

Perfect.

Maybe, too, perfect, and that should be a clear indicator it isn’t going to work. It’s too damn good to be true.

“Can I talk first?” I press because she keeps cutting me off every time I try to answer and getting herself all worked up about it.

“No,” she snips haughtily. “Because I know you, Dodger. And you always go outta your way to help people. Even if they call the wrong person.”

“Like you?”

“I had my reasons, and I believed I was in danger.”

“Houses aren’t alive, AK. And I have a duty to this town. If someone needs me—” She leaps at me, arms suddenly wrapping around my neck, chest pressed into mine, before her lips crash into mine with the ferocity of a tiny baby raptor.

Her mouth parts before her sweet tongue dives in to taste me, and I’ve had it.

My brain snaps in half.

I’ve waited too damn long to have Adeline to myself. To feel her mouth and her body pressed up against me, but now her tongue, all warnings and reservations go out the window.

Pulling her closer by her hip, I begin to devour this woman. Our kisses become uneven, needy breaths, and I’m encouraged by every single one of them falling from this woman’s lips.

Especially the last one.

Because when she thought I was playing games, my next move leaves no room for how serious I’m ready to play.

10

ADELINE

He’s so stubborn.

And sexy.

And every one of my wildest dreams.

It’s a multitude of things, I think, that got me to finally snap and just kiss him already.

One being that he was still completely soaked through. The material of his button-up, clinging to life on his skin, outlines every muscle and ridge of his body.

Second, he fed Pickles his hamburger, and I imagined him being a pet dad—yeah, I know, stupid, but still entered my head as one of the most attractive things he’s ever done.