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“Yeah,” I reply, clearing my throat. “How is Free?” I ask, nodding toward the picture.
“You’ll see for yourself in about ten minutes,” she says, grabbing her purse and heading to the front door. I notice instantly she added a blue sweater over her tank top, which hangs off one shoulder and hits just below her belly button. Thank God for the white tank top underneath or she’ll see exactly what my body thinks of hers the entire ride to her store.
Her very sexy lingerie store.
“Afraid you can’t control your urges if left alone with me?” I ask, meeting her at the front door and waiting for her to walk through first. My mom raised a gentleman, but also because I can stare at her ass a little more.
Sorry, I’m also a guy.
When we’re both on the front porch and her door is secured, she turns to me with evil in her eyes. “No, I’m afraid if I kill you, I won’t be able to dispose of the body by myself.” Then she gives me a big, wolfish grin and heads off to her car. I’m left standing on her porch, a stupid smile plastered on my own face. I’ve missed sparring with Harper.
Just don’t tell her that.
The drive up to her store is short. Most businesses in town aren’t open on Sunday, which means the only foot traffic are those coming in and out of the diner just up the block. The hardware store isn’t open, but that’s something I plan to change. Even if I have to work that day myself. The only option for purchasing building materials is to drive to Harriston about thirty minutes away. It’s proven most home improvement projects are completed by the homeowner are done on the weekend. Yet, Douglas Hardware is only open on Saturdays from seven to one.
It’s something that’s going to change.
Especially when I purchase the building next door and bring in more merchandise.
I park in front of the hardware store, planning to head there after installing Harper’s new laptop, and meet her at her lingerie store. Kiss Me Goodnight. It’s definitely an interesting name for a business, but it fits her. It fits the vibe she’s going for within the walls of her place. It’s not just super sexy lingerie (though she has plenty of that too), but it’s casual pajamas and body products too.
Inside smells amazing. Like warmth and sweetness, with a hint of seduction, all rolled into one. A total chick place, but I get it. It’s totally her. Just as I set the new laptop down on the counter, the front door bursts open in a frenzy of chaos and lavender. Free. Her name is Freedom Rayne, born to tree-hugging, vegetarian hippies who changed their own last name when they were married.
“I brought coffee with soymilk and honey and goat cheese fig muffins!” she exclaims as she sweeps in, her long flowy skirt billowing around her bare ankles.
“Goat cheese?” I ask, standing up and staring down at the food as if it were about to bite me.
“Don’t knock it until you try it, Latham Douglas. It’s like sex for your mouth,” she sasses, making Harper choke on her coffee with soymilk.
“My mouth does love sex,” I boast, reaching into the pan and grabbing a muffin. Both ladies watch as I bring the sweet treat (if you can really call goat cheese and fig a sweet treat) to my mouth, shoving the entire thing inside in one solid bite.
“Damn, your mouth does love to devour,” Free coos, leaning her elbow onto the counter and staring up at me with a smile. “Harper, isn’t his mouth amazing? He just shoved that entire thing in there and actually makes it look sexy.” She bats her eyelashes my way and smiles wickedly, but I already know it’s totally for show. Free isn’t into me anymore than I’m into her. It’s just a game that I’ll happily oblige.
When I swallow the surprisingly delicious muffin, I lean forward, setting my own elbow on the counter and say, “You should see what I can do with my tongue.”
I hear a gasp, but not from Free. No, this one comes from Harper, who just so happens to knock into the display shelf of lotions, setting them all flying like a crazy game of dominoes. “Get a room!”
“Ehh, I don’t think Lath can handle what I would offer,” Free says, shrugging to her friend and throwing me a wink and knowing smile.
“I believe you speak the truth, Freedom Rayne.”
“I love the way you say my name, Lath. With just a hint of that southern North Carolina drawl, I bet you get all the ladies worked into a tizzy.”
Before I can reply with a smart-alecky quip, Harper stands up from collecting the goodies she knocked down, places her hands on her delicious hips, and glares at both of us. “Can you stop stroking his already massive ego, please? I brought you here to help me bury the body, not flirt with him.”
“You want to stroke my massive what?” I ask, turning my predatory smirk her way.
Harper rolls her eyes so hard I’m pretty sure she just saw her brain. “Puh-lease, I’d rather not discuss whatever tiny, itsy-bitsy, little thing you want stroked.”
I swear, her mouth makes me so hard.
Instead of retorting and calling her out on her lie, as I’d love to, I send a wink her way and dive into the laptop box in the bag. Pretending to ignore her, I get busy setting up her new system, which, thankfully, her old one backed up every night off-site and at the end of every day with an external hard drive. I’m not sure who was computer savvy enough to make such a suggestion to Harper, but it was definitely a solid business decision. Most businesses don’t think to have two forms of backup, my own included. That’s another thing I’ll be changing when I officially take over the hardware store.
When the backup is installing, I finally glance up and notice Harper and Free. They’re over by the far south wall, pointing and discussing something. Weird, considering that wall butts against the empty store between hers and mine. Maybe she’s going to add some displays to that wall. Right now, she has a small unit that houses baskets of sexy panties.
Needing to stretch my legs, I make my way to them. Neither of them hear my approach, a product of my time in the military, and their words become clearer.
“I love that idea. Open brick on this wall with an arched doorway between the two. That’ll be beautiful,” Free says, painting a picture for her friend.
