The hazy fog she always seemed to be in whenever she ran into Adam lately immediately lifted.
Afraid? Her?
She was Janae Sanders, she didn’t let anything make her shake. Not doctors with big egos, and certainly not this fine-ass man who was probably used to women just fainting at the sight of all his gorgeousness.
“Listen, dinner was nice, and the company was good. But being in New York must’ve dulled your senses if you can’t remember that I don’t run or back down from anything, least of all you.”
He shrugged, and the sheer casualness of the gesture grated against her nerves.
“I mean, what else was I supposed to think when you don’t return any of my calls and I haven’t seen hide nor hair of you since we talked on my truck.”
“Are you insinuating I’ve been avoiding you?”
“Insinuating?” He raised a brow to emphasize his skepticism. “Janae, we live in a town small enough that if someone sneezed on one end, someone else from the other end of town would say bless you.”
She folded her arms, planting her feet, refusing to give an inch to his accusation. “I’ve been busy.” She waved her hands in the air. “I’ve had a bunch of errands to run.” She shook her head, letting the tiny box braids she’d just gotten put in yesterday swing back and forth. Since her head was still tender as hell, she had to force herself not to let the pain creep up on her face. “And I had to get my hair done yesterday, as well as do this pesky thing called work.”
“You don’t workthat much, and there isn’tthat muchspace in Monroe Hills for us to go more than a couple of days without seeing each other. Also, we have best friends in common. For that reason alone, we should be more prone to running into each other than not.”
He had her there. Monroe Hills was small enough that youcould probably drive through it in all of twenty minutes. It was hard not to bump into your neighbors if you lived in the city proper. And since she’d never lived on one of the rural spreads at the edge of town, there really was no excuse for not seeing Adam other than the obvious.
But damn if she was about to admit that to him. Nope, she sure as hell wasn’t.
“I’m not avoiding you, Adam.”
“If that’s true, then why aren’t you going to the reunion? Even if you don’t want to go with me, it’s your reunion too. With the lack of resources this district has, it’s not guaranteed we’ll get another one anytime soon. Come tonight. Or are you really that afraid of little ole me that you’d miss out on a night of fun with your friends?”
To be clear, Janae wasn’t afraid of Adam. After he’d reached past her defenses the other night and called her out on her inability to trust people to do right by her, she felt too raw, too exposed. And that was what she feared. His ability to get past her walls and make himself comfortable within them.
The last time she’d allowed that she’d ended up married to a man who tried to change everything about her. She knew it wasn’t fair to paint Adam with the same toxic brush as her ex-husband, Marq. Nothing about Adam seemed remotely as controlling as Marq was. The truth was, she couldn’t risk finding out either way. There was too much at stake. She had to be there for her child, and the last time a man had broken her heart, she’d barely been able to find the strength to show up the way she needed to for James.
Oh, she’d done it. That’s what mothers did, what they were supposed to do. There had been very little left in her well when she had, however.
She was James’ mother. It was her job to make sure he was set and taken care of. The one time she’d forgotten that and done what was best for her was the reason she was in the predicament she was in right now, working to save and scrimp every free pennyshe could that wasn’t going toward the house, her car, and their general upkeep.
“I’m not missing anything.” She huffed before glaring at him. “I already have my ticket.”
“Is that so?” he asked, calling bullshit on her boldfaced lie.
“Yes,” she replied through clenched teeth. “I do.”
“Good.” He crossed his arms and widened his grin. “I can’t wait to see you there.”
She put her hand on her hip and quirked an eyebrow up. “It won’t be hard to find me. I’ll be the fiercest woman in the room.”
He winked at her as he turned in the direction his mother had gone. “I have no doubt you will be. Nice braids, by the way. Your braider did you right.”
And when he backed away from her, his eyes twinkling with amusement and his lips slightly curled into a wicked grin, it was then that she knew Adam Henderson had played her, and she’d walked right into it.
Yup.
Adam had played her.
The proof? Instead of laying on her couch binge-watching her favorite show, she’d spent all day primping, and now she was at the boutique trying to find something for an event she hadn’t planned to attend in the first place. It wasn’t that hanging out with her friends from high school was a bad thing in and of itself. It just didn’t seem all that important when she saw those same friends on nearly a daily basis thanks to living in a small town. She didn’t need to catch up with them. She was already caught up.
You’re not caught up on Adam, though.
Stupid subconscious thoughts always throwing the truth in her face. She didn’t need that right now.
