Mia would love for you to check out the other Hard Men of the Rockies titles by Chick Swagger authors. Here’s a sneak peek at Adam’s story…
I recognized the collection of bumper stickers as I slowly passed. It was Madi’s Jeep alright, parallel parked in front of a brand new bar I’d never seen. Her headlights were dim in the way that signaled her battery was running dangerously low.
Shouldn’t have surprised me.
She’d always been careless like that. With the winter storm moving in, it would take AAA hours to reach her for a jump. And she could forget about a tow truck. I’d told her for years to either buy a newer model car with automatic lights or stop being so scatterbrained. Now that her commercial decorating business was doing so well, it wasn’t like she couldn’t afford the newer car option.
The side streets of Fort Collins, Colorado near the Colorado State campus were empty, even for a Monday night in October. But that’s what happened with high wind gusts, low wind chill and a deluge of snow just now threatening to fall. Needing to make sure she was okay, I double parked beside her. Finding she’d at least remembered to lock her doors, I hunkered down against the bone-freezing cold and went inside.
Her ass was the first thing I noticed when I walked into the bar.
The second thing was that there were absolutely no customers in the place. Were they even open? I couldn’t recall seeing a sign.
A slow grin spread across my face even as a pang of nostalgia tore through my gut like a ripcord pulled on a parachute. We’d really been something together once, back during our carefree high school days. Now we were good friends with occasional benefits. Benefits I hoped to take advantage of at some point during my Colorado stay.
Madi shifted her hips as she bent over an empty table, doing what exactly, I couldn’t tell. Her hair was blonder than when I’d last seen her. And longer. But that was to be expected with women. Extensions were becoming the norm, even among the unpretentious like Madi.
It had been months since I’d last seen the woman who’d once been my fiancé, if you could call our spontaneous and short-lived idea of commitment when we were eighteen an engagement. Months since my Grandma Rosie’s heart attack had me and the rest of my family running back to Fort Collins to be by her side, afraid for the worst. But it had only been days since the end of the LaKendrick Smith trial, where Adam Holder had become a household name. And I was still riding high and feeling invincible, coming off the greatest victory so far in my legal career.
I probably should’ve given Madi a heads up that I was coming back to town, but that just wasn’t our way. Since I’d be around for the next four weeks, helping my cousins update and remodel Grandma Rosie’s family home, my plan had been to look her up later. Even if Madi hadn’t been my first priority, she wouldn’t begrudge me from admiring the view before I made my presence known.
She shifted again, causing her flannel shirt to ride up. A mismatched, purple lace camisole peeked out from underneath. She wore black boots with a thick, minky-fur lining. They came up just above her calf and were sturdy yet stylish if there was such a thing for snow boots. Her leggings, made of high quality dri-fit material, stretched taut across her backside in a way that conjured caveman fantasies, ensuring the survival of the species for billions of years to come.
I’d gotten so used to seeing women covered in business suits after showering in feminism that I’d forgotten what this—the watching of a salt-of-the-earth woman doing an unspecified task—could do to a man. In D.C., where I now lived, women were powerful, sexy, and smart as hell. But nothing could compare to the draw of a strong, equally smart and beautiful, home-grown Colorado girl.
The frigid breath of wind rattled the windows, but even that sound didn’t faze her.
Soon she straightened.
I saw a clipboard and pen in her hand, the colored-cord of earbuds hanging from her ears.
Without thinking of consequences, my palm wrapped around her hip and gave it a squeeze.
She reacted quickly, bringing her elbow up and around.
Years of football training, dodging hits and tackles, kicked in and I ducked, circling her around to face me as I did. Trying to keep us both on balance, I gripped the bottom of her flannel shirt. The material gave when she swung from the opposite direction.
The rrrriiiiippppp and thwack happened at the same time. Buttons scattered just as an explosion went off in my temple.
From the center of her chest, she yanked the earbud cord from her ears.
“Whoa, angel. I didn’t mean to…” I watched as she pushed her hair out of her face. My stomach dropped. “Shit. You’re not Madi.”