“Drew.”
“King Drew with all of his demands and stipulations.”
Sorry, not sorry, but my dick came to life at the sound of that nickname, and I did have some demands running through my head.
“Funny lady. I’ll give you that, but Drew is fine. Maybe King later.” I tossed in a wink for effect.
“Where do you live?”
There she was—straight-shooter Jules, not one bit affected by my nonsense. I knew some of her control served as an armor, but she didn’t have to dig too deep. This was a strong young woman next to me.
“I bought an old farmhouse on the outskirts of town, up north. It used to belong to one of the Ag faculty at Hafton, but he died and no one in his family wanted it. It’s not a working farm, but the house is pretty cool.”
“Wow, I know where you mean ... I mean, in the north. Not exactly the house. Pretty different from my suburban development.”
I knew it was. I’d visited her at home.
“Yeah, it was a one-eighty from my life in South Carolina. We lived in this ridiculous mansion, complete with tennis courts and a swimming pool. And staff. My new digs are kind of rustic, and I like that.”
“A Southern boy. I think I knew that.”
“I went to prep school on the west coast of Florida, so I have a little honky-tonk in me from there. We’d hang with the locals any chance we could get.”
“Oh yeah, your tattoos. I’ve read about those. Are they part of your deep, dark honky-tonk side?”
Her tone was teasing, and I wanted to throttle her with my tongue, shove it into her mouth. Yet I didn’t want to quiet her. She was real. Jules didn’t search for conversation or ways to compliment me. She was one hundred percent in the moment.
I could have said something cheesy likeIf you’re lucky, you’ll get to see my tattoos.But with Jules, I wanted to do things differently. She made me want to go about it a whole new way. It being romance, affection; the new way being ... I hadn’t a clue.
Not to mention, my cheesy come-ons would have done little for her. She wasn’t a woman who was easily wooed by bullshit lines.
“At first, they were just plain old teenage rebellion, and then they were more. They were a private part of me. On my chest for me to share with who I chose.”
“I get it. That’s why I chose not to argue about my last school handling things privately. It was my story to share with who I felt I could share it with, and that was pretty much no one.”
“I’m sorry that I even had to know what happened,” I whispered. It was a sore subject; one we had skirted on more than one occasion. Sadly, I had to own up to my knowledge of it. Her old coach, Chuck, had called me himself; he believed I could be a new beginning for her.
And look what you’re doing to her new fucking beginning.
I shoved any ill thoughts to the far recesses of my mind. Jules was an unstoppable force when it came to the affairs of my heart.
“When Chuck called me—he and I knew each other when I was a player—he had to explain a little about what happened to me. But that’s not why I made you an offer to play. It was definitely your game tape.”
“Thanks.”
We sat in quiet for a few beats until I turned down my long dusty drive, the sound of my car kicking up gravel providing a change of topic. “I should probably get a truck.”
“Wow, this is stunning. Look at that view.”
There was a long meadow with a gazebo at the far end. My house sat to the right, pale blue clapboard with dark gray trim. I’d done some remodeling but kept it true to the era, searched the Internet for retro appliances.
“Come on, I’ll show you the inside.”
We walked in the front door and I watched Jules spin in her ankle boots, taking a slow three-sixty.
“I love it,” she said. “It’s beautiful.”
“Not as much as you.” And I finally took it a little cheesy.
