Page 63 of Head Over Spurs

Looking into her assessing gaze, Jules took a deep breath and admitted, “I knew him before this summer.”

The couple stared back at her in surprise. “Wait, knew how? Why didn’t you mention that?” Maddie asked, leaning towards her in curiosity now.

“A year ago, when I was at that ranch in Texas, I went to shoot the rodeo there. He was competing and… we hooked up.”

An amused Grey rubbed his hand along his jaw, trying to hide his enjoyment with this turn of events. “That explains a lot,” he said.

“No, hold on. We are not going to just take that as the whole explanation.” Maddie lunged forward, nearly knocking the pizza out of Jules’s hands as she clutched for her forearm. “Hooked up how exactly? Are we talking making out a little or like sex? Details now.”

Jules couldn’t help but laugh at the way Grey’s face soured at his girlfriend’s questions.

“I don’t think we need details,” he grumbled.

Maddie waved her hands dismissively. “Hush, we talk about you too.”

“You do?” His eyebrows shot up to his hairline.

“Have some pizza,” she told him, keeping her focus on Jules. “Details, J.”

She grinned wildly, recalling the marathon of a night they had in that hotel room. Every detail was seared into her brain, but she would spare Grey tonight. After all, he had made her post-bar pizza. “Like—wereallyhooked up. The sex was unreal. Hands down, the best I have ever had.”

“Oh my god, you had sex with Riley.”

“Yes.”

“You had sex with Riley a year ago.”

“I did. And… again last week.”

“Oh my god, Jules. Why am I just hearing all of this now?And you didn’t keep in touch or anything? Did you know he was here? Did you know it was him when you first got here?”

Her friend was firing off questions at record speed, it sounded like Jules’s brain felt. Placing her pizza on the table, she reached for her best friend’s hand. “Okay, slow down. One question at a time.”

Maddie took a deep breath and squeezed her hand. “Right. Back to the beginning. How did you leave things in Texas?”

“I was feeling guilty and embarrassed that I had been unprofessional. I was reckless and focused on myself even though I was there on a job. And then the ranch called, worried about what happened and where I had gone. I felt awful for worrying them, and I didn’t think past that feeling. I just fled… before he woke up.”

“You didn’t even try to wake him up to say goodbye?”

“I didn’t know what to do. I might be impulsive, but I had never put myself in a situation like that,” Jules groaned. She fell back onto the couch, covering her face with both hands. “Plus, you know he was this wild rodeo cowboy. I figured he had nights like that all the time.”

“I don’t think he did,” Grey told her.

She nodded. “Since being here, he has kind of mentioned how that was a rare thing for him. But seeing him again and working with him daily… it’s been impossible. We’re—I don’t know what we are. We keep having these little moments. And lately they have escalated, specifically just before you all went up to camp.”

“He really likes you,” Maddie guessed.

“It would seem so.”

“And you are clearly crazy about him.”

“I don’t think it’sthatclear,” Jules grumbled.

Maddie grabbed a slice of pizza and took a hearty bite. Witha mouth full, she shook her head. “You’re wrong. It all makes sense now. I knew you had been acting weird.”

“What’s the problem, though?” Grey asked. “He’s a good guy. You two work well together, you like each other. What’s the hold up?”

“If we let go and really jump into this, I don’t think I’ll be able to leave again. And it’s not like I can stay here. Bringing us back to the call tonight.”

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