Going Hard: Boys of Fall Read Online Free Page A

bitable. All of those things should have added up to perfection, not…whatever their night had been.
    Serviceable?
    Her bra was serviceable. Sex should not be.
    In fact, she wasn’t sure it even got to be called serviceable. Pure vanilla with no sprinkles or caramel, not even a cherry. Heck, she’d had more fun banishing her cherry as a teen. And that had sucked.
    How’d her glass get empty again?
    She stabbed at the ice chips, slurping the last of the purple concoction with the teensy straw.
    “There’s nothing left in there, Hol.”
    She blew raspberries at him. “I know that.”
    “How about I take you home?”
    She shut one eye to get him to come in a little clearer. “Didn’t we try that once?”
    “Could you keep it down?”
    “Why?” she whispered.
    He leaned into her. “You realize that’s really not a whisper?”
    She sucked in a breath at the heavy scent of leather and…citrus. No. Something like citrus. She didn’t remember that from the last time he got close to her.
    His cheek brushed her jaw and she resisted the urge to lick him. Barely.
    Wow. Where had that come from? He was one of the few men in town who had kept clean shaven as long as she could remember. Right now there was a shadow of scruff accentuating his sharp cheekbones and deliciously cut jaw.
    Her gaze skimmed down his throat. A collarbone shouldn’t look that attractive under a business shirt, should it?
    She resolutely turned toward the bar and her drink. What the hell were in these things? Hormones on the half shell? Aphrodisiacs Anonymous needed to take note.
    Maybe she did need to go home.
    She’d have to look up the ingredients again and see if there was a correlation to this particular liquor and scents. Maybe that’s why her body was going haywire.
    Because it couldn’t be Rafe.
    Been there, done that, refused the T-shirt.
    “I should have another.”
    “Not if you want to wake up for work. It’s already nine.”
    She rolled her eyes. “What are you afraid you’re going to miss, a TV show?”
    “No. I don’t really watch TV.”
    “This is not shocking. That would require you actually relaxing enough to sit still.”
    He lifted his beer to his lips and she couldn’t stop watching his throat work. A quarter of his beer was gone when he put the glass back down and licked his lips.
    Please tell me I’m not drooling over this man.
    Oh, please. She’d gotten him out of her system months ago, hadn’t she?
    “Sitting still doesn’t seem like your M.O. either, Librarian.”
    She shrugged. “Too true. I’d rather read.” But not lately. Nothing seemed to capture her attention. Not her favorite books, not the new ones that came in weekly, not even the reams of advanced reader copies she received to entice the library to buy.
    Nada.
    She fished out an ice cube and popped it into her mouth. And that was why she was at Pitchers mid-week. She was so damn antsy and restless. Flirting with a few of the ranch hands didn’t even hold her interest. Of course, she’d known most everyone in town since the beginning of time, so it wasn’t like there was any new blood to salivate over.
    So why was she perking up because of Mr. Stick-in-the-Mud?
    Obviously there was some sort of secret ingredient in the Purple Rain. She’d make sure she got the same drink when she went out tomorrow night. She was going to try the next town over in the opposite direction. Surely Tidal Junction had a better class of clientele.
    So many Junctions around these parts. One of them had to deliver, right?
    “You’re going to crack a tooth.”
    “I crunch on ice all the time.”
    “They say that’s a sign of frustration.”
    “Well, you are standing next to me, killing my buzz.”
    “Not that kind of frustration.”
    She gave him a side eye. “Why do you care?”
    “We’re friends, aren’t we?”
    “Aren’t we?” she parroted.
    He sighed. “Did anyone tell you you’re cranky when you’re drunk?”
    “It’s only because you’re in my