Page 106 of Dirty Rock

No.

No.

That wasn’t the way it was meant to go.

I couldn’t look at the car crash that was about to collide against my own heart, so I turned away.

“You okay, honey?” Molly asked quietly.

“I think she’s leaving.”

“What?”

Molly spun in her seat to get a look for herself, and I dropped my chin to my chest and closed my eyes, waiting for confirmation of my girl’s departure.

“Oh my,” Molly whispered.

My fucking heart sank.

Until I felt a hand on my elbow—a squeeze of familiar fingers against my jacket.

My body was spun around and pushed back at once, the middle of my spine colliding with the edge of the bar as Julia pressed her hands against my chest and rose up on her toes.

She was there in front of me.Bright eyes, pinked cheeks, parted lips, and a face I wanted to wake up to the next morning.

It seemed like the whole bar stopped to look.

Music faded away.

The chatter died down.

The only sound I connected with was her breathing as she let her soft lips rise at the corners.

“Don’t you dare make me regret this, Rhett Ryan.”

Before I could promise her that I wouldn’t, she slid a hand around my neck and pulled my lips down to crash against hers… and every problem I’d ever had drifted away to nothing.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Julia melted in my grip; her fingers greedy in my hair. My eyes were closed until her breath stuttered, and I forced them open to take her in.

A very un-Jules-like, shy laugh fell free before she buried her head against my chest. I wrapped her up in my arms and rested my chin on the top of it. The shit-eating grin on my face probably looked ridiculous, and when my eyes met the rest of the guys’ around the bar, I couldn’t shake it off. I was greeted with a mixture of wide eyes, open mouths, smirking lips, and smug faces. Some clearly had their suspicions. Others, like Coops and Big D, looked utterly fucking horrified.

“Is everyone looking at us?” Jules mumbled into my chest.

“Nah. No one’s noticed a thing.”

Jules lifted her head to look at me. “Everything changes from this moment here, you know that, right? We can’t go back now.”

“Are you trying to scare me?”

“I mean, maybe. A little bit. Why aren’t you freaking out?”

“You’re freaking out enough for the both of us.” I smirked.

“Thank God Dicky isn’t here.”

I scowled down at her. “He’s going to find out now anyway. What would it matter if he was?”

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