Going Hard: Boys of Fall Read Online Free PDF Page B

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