AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I guess as long as I can do whatever it is barefoot.
His reply is almost immediate.
You can wear, or not wear, whatever you want.
I quickly set my phone on the bar and pick up my bottle to take a drink. Yeah, this bottle isn’t even half empty. I haven’t even had two full hard ciders. But my imagination is running away with that.
“Hey, Abi, you’re still here. You want to come back and sit with us?” Riley Wright and Peyton Hansen, two Sapphire Falls natives, are suddenly leaning onto the bar beside me. I didn’t even see them approach.
Riley’s husband, Derek, is the bartender so she’s up here often, flirting and teasing with him. They’re adorable. I really like them both.
Peyton has returned some empty glasses and is apparently waiting for refills. She grins at me.
I look over at the table where we were all sitting together a few minutes ago. Peyton’s husband, Scott, is there with her sister and brother-in-law, Hope and TJ. My boss Lauren introduced me to Riley and Peyton because they’re closer to my age than she is. But I think Lauren is starting to figure out that I have more in common with her nerdy, introverted, bluntly-says-whatever-is-on-his-mind best friend and business partner, Mason, than I do with the fun, vivacious Peyton and Riley.
I’d told the group I was getting ready to leave and had come up to the bar to settle my tab. Then I’d decided to finish my cider, and I’d started texting Torin. “Oh, no, sorry. I was on my way out and…got a text.”
Riley grins at me. “I didn’t know you had a boyfriend.”
I shake my head quickly. “I don’t.”
“Well, a potential one then.”
“No.”
She lifts a brow. “You’re smiling and blushing over texts, girl. Do you have a girlfriend?”
I look down at my phone. “Oh. I mean, it’s a guy. But it’s not…well, it is, but…”
“Is he hot?” Peyton asks, interrupting my stammering.
He is. Very. I nod. “Yes.”
“Are you related?”
“No.”
“Is he married?”
I swallow hard. Not yet. But he’s going to be soon. To someone. I hate how that makes me feel. It’s almost like I’m…jealous. Which is stupid. There’s not even a fiancée to be jealous of, and I’m not marrying him—I’ve literally said no to marrying him—so it’s absolutely ridiculous for me to be jealous. “No.”
“Have you ever masturbated while thinking of him?”
I choke.
Yes.
“Jesus, Peyton,” Derek says, sliding the refilled drinks across the bar to her.
“What?” Peyton asks. “That would be a pretty good sign that she’s into him.”
Peyton is also very blunt and says whatever is on her mind. But in a very different way from the kind-of-grumpy-socially-awkward genius scientist, Mason. Peyton is more live-out-loud-and-don’t-give-a-fuck.
And now I’m definitely blushing. Hotly.
Riley and Peyton both notice. And give me knowing grins.
“We’ll let you get back to the sexting,” Peyton says, picking up the tray of glasses and bottles. “But if you want to really do it right, you need to go home and get naked. Or at least go into the store room. Derek will unlock it for you.”
