Going Hard: Boys of Fall (4 page)

Not only had she seen it and touched it, but she’d seen him grow from gangly teen to muscular man, and most of the process in between. He was a perfect specimen of male. Too bad he sucked at the follow-through.

Some guys were just pretty.

Maybe it was hard to have both. Darwinism. Couldn’t give the hot guy looks and prowess. Had to give something to the Average Joes in the world.

That had to be it.

He grasped her finger. “That’s dangerous, Hollie.”

“You sound like my brother.”

“That’s what brothers do.”

“Well, I have enough of them. That’s why I’m in this predicament to begin with. No guy wants to come near me for fear of what the Bennett boys will do to them, though Colt’s oblivious half the time anyway. Still, when he clues in, he acts as overprotective as Wade. And that’s why I have to go to Tidal Junction tomorrow to test the waters.”

He let go of her finger and curled his tighter around the bottom of his glass.

“Got a problem with that?”

“Yes,” he bit out.

“Then why don’t you show me a good time?”

His knuckles went white around the glass before he finally relaxed. “Looks like I need to.”

She grinned. “Right. Sure you will.”

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out two bills and dropped them on the bar. “I’m taking you home to get some rest.”

“I don’t want to.”

“You’re falling asleep on the bar, Hol.”

Her eyes did feel heavy, but he wasn’t going to give her orders. She was so tired of taking orders. “It’s too early to go home.”

“You need your rest. I’m taking you out tomorrow.”

She slid off her stool. The alarm really was going to suck in the morning. A drink or two, no big deal. Five? Was it five?

Yeah, if she couldn’t keep track then it was definitely time to say good night, Gracie.

“Thanks, Grandpa, but I’ll be fine on my own.”

“I insist.”

She swayed a little and used his very impressive triceps to steady herself. “Did I, or did I not just convey that I was tired of overbearing men in my life? How am I supposed to find a man if you’re growling around me?”

“Women who don’t look available are invariably more attractive than single women on the prowl.”

She tipped her chin up to try to focus on his thickly fringed dark eyes. “Are your standards that low when you look for chicks? Single or not, no problem?”

“I don’t go looking for chicks.”

Maybe if he did then he would have been better in the sack, but that wasn’t really her problem.

He stepped closer to her, until she bumped up against the bar. “And I didn’t say anything about my standards. What I said is that if you don’t look like you’re on the hunt, then men are more likely to be interested.”

“I’m pretty sure you did, but my faculties are slightly impaired so I’ll give you that one.”

“It’s time to go.”

She rubbed her aching forehead. “I shall concede to you at this very moment.”

“One time without an argument. I’ll take it.”

She teetered around him and headed for the exit. “Don’t get used to it.”

“Heaven forbid.”

S
he fluffed
her newly fringed bangs in the rearview mirror of her little Mazda Miata. It was an older model, and completely impractical, but she loved it. The bonus of a mild winter in Texas was that she could put the top down even in February.

She’d left work an hour early after she’d begged her stylist to squeeze her in for a color. An hour under the hood to bleach out her chestnut hair had been worth it. Courtney had given her a fabulously different cut and taken the time to use a few different levels of bleach on her hair to make a fashionable ombré hue out of her boring cap of brown.

No more bowl cut. She’d left herself in Courtney’s capable hands and told her to go crazy. She felt lighter and freer already. The perfect way to start off her date with Rafe.

Well, not really a date. More like a mutually beneficial night out. She could find herself a guy to flirt with, and maybe she could find a girl for Rafe. He needed to let loose.

He could follow her lead for once. It would be good for him.

And best of all, that silly teenager’s crush she’d once had on him? Totally banished. Lackluster sex had a way of doing that to a girl. So she could put aside their frenemy status and happily help him choose someone to break out of his architect mold with.

Hopefully while she was breaking out of some molds herself.

She parked, grabbed her shopping bags, and took the side stairs two at a time. She’d converted the back half of the house to a pseudo-apartment for herself.

It wasn’t much, but at least she had her own space. It had been more important to hoard her money to rent one of the new apartments being built on the edge of town.

Quinn had been growing in the last few years. Instead of pushing people outside the town limits, they were finally getting a little new construction to go with the new businesses sprouting up.

She was impatiently waiting for her number to be picked from the lottery system the complex had devised. However, she’d plundered her savings account for tonight. Hair and clothing were an expense she didn’t often allow herself.

Tonight she was going all out.

She wiggled out of work-appropriate skirt and blouse, the sensible pumps and pantyhose. All but the shoes went into the hamper. She took a super quick shower, using the handheld attachment to save her hair.

She slathered herself in her favorite pineapple lotion. It was summery and had a tang to it. Sure, it was February, but she didn’t really care. It made her feel strong and attractive. And hell, it went with her blond hair. Makeup was a bit trickier. Her palette fit a brunette, but she made it work.

Her perfectly broken-in jeans from her first year of college made up half of her outfit. They hugged her ass and thighs and fell in a perfect cut to jam into her favorite boots. They were knee-high and oiled to the perfect level between worn and cherished. The three-inch heel would give her a little help when it came to the towering Rafe.

She walked to her bed and looked over her shoulder into the mirror. From the back, she wasn’t so bad. She had a pretty nice ass thanks to all the stairs she did in the library, as well as the ladder she climbed up a few hundred times a day.

Up top, however…not so much.

She upended the bag on her bed and found the offensively expensive bra she’d purchased. Water bra, to be exact. It would give her a whole cup size increase. And when a girl barely filled a B-cup during the bloat of shark week, she needed all the help she could get.

She fastened it and fiddled with the straps until they were just right. “Wow.” She cupped her breasts and turned to the mirror. “So that’s what boobs look like. Well, fake ones anyway.” The lavender print was pretty, at the very least. Even if it felt like she was wearing beanbags over her nipples.

Hollie snapped the tag off the shirt she’d specifically bought a size too small. “Let’s show off these babies a little.” She buttoned the cherry-red plaid shirt and wrapped the ties around her midsection. She tugged at the thin material until she made sure the bra didn’t show.

“Hollie?”

“Yeah?” she called downstairs.

“You have company.”

He had to come to the front door? Couldn’t he be like any other guy and beep the horn or text? Cripes.

She grabbed her phone and shoved it in her back pocket. She stuffed cash and her license in her front pocket and called it good. If she brought a wallet, she’d lose it. That’s just how she was.

She went down the hall to the front of the house and down the stairs to the family room. Her mother and father were talking to Rafe. For once, he wasn’t dressed for work—or even half dressed for it. He never went completely casual.

Until tonight.

Gone were his dress pants and shirt. In their place were well-worn dark-washed jeans and a tan shirt that showed off his perpetual tan.

Gosh, he was beautiful. It really was a huge shame that the spark had snuffed out so completely when they’d gotten naked. It really didn’t seem fair. She’d had the hots for Rafe since she knew what hormones were.

Talk about cruel twist of fate that he was actually her worst lay to date.

Her boots hit the hardwood floor and Rafe turned around. “There you are. All ready to…” His voice trailed off.

“What?”

“Oh my gosh!” Her mother rushed forward and touched Hollie’s hair. “Wow, that’s a change.”

“Like it?” She smoothed the flyaway pieces she’d tucked behind her ears. The layers were cut so they hugged around her ears and softened her strong jawline, where her other cut had made her face look boxier.

“I love the cut.” Her mom tipped her head. “I’ll have to get used the blond.”

“I needed a change.” She looked over her mother’s shoulder to where Rafe stood, still speechless. Whether that was a good thing or not remained to be seen.

“What do you think, Dad?”

“Is there more to that shirt?”

“Dad,” she huffed.

Rafe’s brows lowered and his jaw tightened.

Okay, maybe not a good sign. She shrugged. “We’ll be back later.”

“Where are you two going?”

She opened her mouth to answer and Rafe beat her to it.

“Westerville.”

Westerville? That was three towns over. She thought they were going to Tidal Junction. She grabbed her army-green jacket off the coat rack. “Ready?”

She wasn’t expecting Rafe to fawn over her, but a small compliment would have been nice. He walked to his truck and opened the door for her.

“Thanks.”

He kept looking over her shoulder.

“Is there a problem?”

“No.”

“Then what’s with the attitude? You don’t have to come with me. I’m perfectly fine going to Tidal like I’d planned.”

“Not in that you’re not.”

“In what?” She looked down at her outfit. “I’m perfectly covered.” She swiped her hand over the inch of belly she was flashing. “This is nothing.”

“Get in the truck.”

“No.”

Rafe crowded her into the door. “Guys will be all over you in that outfit. Did you get the memo that it wasn’t summer yet?”

“Do you have an inner temperature gauge? It was almost seventy degrees today. If you’d been with me when I almost got arrested—” She cut herself off at his glower. “Okay, that was a bad example, but the girls at the bar were wearing even less than I am right now. I’m positively modest.”

“Get in the damn truck.”

“You’re going to scare guys off with that face you’re making. Why would I want to go out with you?”

He yanked her into him. Her chest slammed into his and her belly met with a very prominent ridge at the front of his jeans. “Does this feel like I don’t like how you look?”

She did remember this particular part of the equation. Rafe had been fashioned after a stallion for sure. “Oh.”

He glanced at her breasts and frowned. “Yeah. So, get into the truck.”

Did he like them? They were markedly larger now. Maybe he liked women who were more than a pair of perky nipples.

Dammit,
she
was more than them. He should know that.

For that matter, she needed to get over her hangups, boob-induced and otherwise. But one psychosis per day, please.

Bah. Why did she care what he thought anyway? She wasn’t out to impress Rafe Martinez. She was going out to make an acquaintance with men who didn’t know who Colt and Wade Bennett were.

And they sure as hell wouldn’t think she was some little sister who needed to be coddled.

She was a grown-ass woman who was hot for some action.

She grasped the oh-shit handle and climbed into the cab of his truck. “Well, let’s go then.”

His gaze was almost even with hers thanks to the height of his cab. He didn’t say a word, just slammed the door.

The ride into Westerville was a bit strained.

Enough that she switched on the radio and ignored him completely. He was not going to dim her enjoyment of the evening. She was going to have fun tonight.

When neon lights came into view, she sat up straighter. It was a double-level bar with an outdoor patio. Rafe parked across the street in one of the lots and she jumped down before he could come around and open her door. It was much too confusing to handle her sort-of attraction to him.

Okay, maybe a little more than sort of, but that was the confusing part. Why was it perfectly sparky here, but not when they’d gotten naked together?

Was there such a thing as sexual tension minus the sex?

Seemed stupid.

Either way, she was determined not to let it affect her night out. The past was the past, right?

She rushed ahead of him and showed her license at the door to get in. After flashing a mile-wide smile at the bouncer, she sailed inside while Rafe had to pay a cover charge.

It gave her enough time to wade into the crowd at the bar and order a drink. Now this was what a bar should look like. There were strangers as far as the eye could see. Cowboys, city types, college kids—every different flavor.

Perfect.

She didn’t want to get too out of control tonight so she ordered a Raspberry Kiss off the menu behind the bar. There were tons of beers on draft, but she didn’t want that kind of fullness. Especially since she had a belly-baring shirt on tonight.

A guy next to her tipped his head in the unspoken “how you doin’?” gesture. He was cute enough. Her age, with a charming spatter of freckles along his cheeks and neck. He had dark blond hair and a ginger beard.

Not her usual type, so she was immediately interested.

Just before she held out her hand to the guy, Rafe came up behind her and laid a proprietary hand on the bar under her arm. He didn’t touch her, exactly, but there was no doubt that he was letting the bar know she was taken.

Which she was not, dammit.

Hollie shot a look over her shoulder at Rafe, then back to her new friend, but he was already gone.

“Just how was your idea going to work again?” she asked Rafe.

“You didn’t want ginger boy.”

“How do you know?”

“You’d chew him up and spit him out before he had a chance to think about putting a move on you.”

“I would like to figure that out myself, thank you very much.”

He glanced down at her pink drink. “Are we going to have a repeat of last night?”

“No.” She took a sip. “I’m out for fun, not to get drunk.”

“That’s good to hear.”

She spun on her heel to look out at the dance floor. “Where do I want to go first?” She glanced at Rafe when he didn’t answer and found him staring at her chest. “Eyes up, buddy.”

“Something’s different.”

“Same Hollie, same boobs.” She arched a brow. “Why are you looking, anyway?”

He quickly looked back at his beer. “It wasn’t a salacious look.”

“Salacious?” She bumped his arm. “I rather like that one.”

Good word, actually. She heartily approved.

A trio of girls ambushed the bar and shoved her closer to Rafe. “Excuse you,” she muttered.

The blond in the group—of course it was a blond who started trouble, when Hollie was feeling very much like a brunette in blond’s clothing—looked down her nose at Hollie. Even in her three-inch-heeled boots, the Amazon towered over her. In fact, she was nearly eye to eye with Rafe.

So much so that she skipped the sneer that Hollie knew was coming and launched a cock-beaming smile at Rafe. “Hi there.”

He tipped his drink in his typical noncommittal reply.

Blond girl threw her shoulders back and nearly took out Hollie’s eye with her mammoth boobs. Probably no fabric enhancements for her.

Hollie expected to see Rafe salivating. Instead, his attention had already shifted back to the crowd of people.

Hollie hid a smile behind her hand as she sipped from her straw.

The girl flipped her hair and an obviously fake lock fell into Hollie’s drink. So she wasn’t the only non-natural blond in attendance, apparently.

Hollie pulled out her straw. “Watch it.”

“Did you put my hair in your drink?”

“No, you did.”

“Do you know how much it cost for me to get my hair done?” The girl grabbed napkins off the bar and blotted at her now pink hair. And not thanks to a careful dye job.

Hollie set her drink on the bar. No way she was drinking that now. “Not sure how much extensions are going for in Texas these days.”

The girl’s severely made-up eyes took on the size of individual blowfishes. Not her best look. Especially with the purple eyeliner. “This is my hair.”

“Sure it is, sweetie.”

The blond towered over Hollie, the other woman’s surgically corrected nose almost touching hers. “What would you know about nice hair, mouse? Oh, and boobs. Because those surely aren’t yours. Did you have to stuff your training bra?”

Hollie went to swing and a large arm curled around her waist, holding her arms at her sides.

“All right, ladies. That’s enough,” Rafe said right into her ear.

Her arms might be pinned, but her forehead was still plenty useful.

She head-butted Miss Extensions—and the amazon staggered back into her friends.

“Holy Christ,” Rafe muttered and stuffed her behind him. “Chill out, Hollie.”

“Did you see what she did?” The blond whirled around to see if anyone else was paying attention, but the only ones giving her any satisfaction were Wild Curls minion number one and Faded Mermaid Hair minion number two. They had almost identical outfits on as Extension Girl.