“What am I your waitress now?”
“A cute waitress.” Huck hooked an arm around Poppy’s neck and gave her a big smacking kiss on the cheek.
“I’ll show you cute.” She grabbed him by the ear and pulled him away amid Huck’s stream of cussing.
When they were gone, Jaxon looked at Dawson. “What’s going on?”
“Funny, but I was going to ask you the exact same question. Although I think I already know the answer. We all do.”
“And what’s the answer?”
Dawson studied him. “You’ve gone and fallen for Tully.”
Jaxon forced a laugh. “Wrong answer. I haven’t fallen for Tallulah Gentry. She’s the last woman on earth I’d fall for.”
Dawson leaned against the tailgate and crossed his arms over his chest. “Then explain why you stopped answering her texts and she’s taken to texting Huck to keep her abreast of the renovations.”
Jaxon rolled up the blueprint . . . a little more aggressively than was needed. “I thought you wanted me to stay away from Tully. So I’m staying away from her.”
“Which doesn’t explain why you two were going at it on the porch swing.”
Jaxon turned to him. “You were watching?”
“Not hardly. I’m into a little kink every now and then, Jax, but not when it includes my brother. I was coming out to the porch to see if you wanted to play some hearts with me and Poppy. And it didn’t look like you were staying away from her.”
He shrugged. “Just a moment of lust.”
It was an out-and-out lie. What had happened on the swing had been so much more than lust. There was no way to describe how he felt when Tully was kissing him. Those sweet, innocent kisses she’d covered his face with had made him feel things he’d never felt with another woman. And watching her reach orgasm as her sweet ass rubbed against his cock had completely obliterated him. But it wasn’t just desire that had consumed him. There had been a deeper emotion beneath the physical need.
An emotion he refused to put a name too.
Especially after overhearing her talking with her daddy.
Their conversation had been like having a bucket of ice-cold water thrown in his face. She claimed to believe he hadn’t robbed the gas station, and yet, she was there checking to make sure he wasn’t robbing the hardware store.
That had hurt.
It hurt so damned badly.
And what hurt even more was the way she’d treated him when her daddy was there. Like some stranger she barely knew.
Of course, he should be used to that. Every girl in Promise Springs had treated him and his brothers the same way. The Hennessy boys were good enough to make out with in dark corners or fool around with in the backseat of trucks . . . or receive orgasms from on porch swings, but they were not good enough to date or even acknowledge in public.
Tully was no different than every other girl in town.
“What you saw, Dawson, didn’t mean anything,” he said. “Not a damn thing.” He moved his brother out of the way and slammed the tailgate closed. “Now I’m heading into Dallas to see about ordering some tables and chairs. Huck can have my burger.”
Dawson didn’t say anything, even though he knew it was a lie. Poppy had already ordered the tables and chairs. Not to mention that by the time Jaxon got to Dallas, the commercial furniture store would be closed for the weekend. But he needed to get out of town. Promise Springs was screwing with his head like it always had.
He needed some space.
The rain that had been forecast started as soon as he reached the town limits. At first it was just a few drops, then the heavens opened up and completely doused his windshield.
Once he got the wipers going, he could see, but not well.
Which explained why he didn’t see the sheriff’s car sitting on the side of the road until he sailed past it going well over the speed limit. He let up on the accelerator, but it was too late. When he glanced in the rearview mirror, he saw rain-muted lights flashing behind him. His back window was too water-drenched to see who was driving the SUV.
He could only hope it was the sheriff.
