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“A quick bang with no strings attached? Because that’s all I do. It’s really a win-win situation for you.” She shrugs again.
Fucking shrugs, like my dick isn’t trying to rip its way through my jeans to get to her after that statement. This is a man’s dream right here, and yet… something stops me from immediately taking her up on her offer.
“Why is that all you do?”
Sidney sighs, looking away from me to stare out at the partiers in the town square again, the flirty smile falling from her face.
“Men can’t be trusted.”
Exactly. We can’t. Because I want to fuck you into next week and then take away all your troubles, and I’m going to stand here and lie about it.
“My dad cheated on my mom, and my uncle cheated on my aunt, when they were supposedly away on a fishing trip two years ago, and then they up and died on that stupid trip in a car accident coming home from a bar so we never got an explanationwhy, and everything has just gone to shit because of it.” She shakes her head. “Which is why my mom and my aunt are insane, why Penny and Ginger are hell on wheels, and why I never get to fully enjoy my favorite month of the year anymore, because I’m busy putting out their fires. Or running away from them. Literally. There was an accidental garage inferno a year ago that was a sight to see; let me tell you.”
She snorts, then continues, “So, anyway, I prefer meaningless sex with no strings attached. That way, no one has any expectations. There’s no trust that will be broken, or feelings that will be hurt. Everyone walks away happy and satisfied, without having to worry someone will put five pounds of pumpkin guts in the wheel well of your car’s trunk while you’re asleep, and you won’t realize it until an unseasonably warm day a few months later, wondering why your entire car smells like a rotting corpse.”
I don’t even know which part of that long-winded explanation to unpack first when she trails off, still staring out the front window as the party in the town square rages on. After everything that happened, I’ve definitely become the kind of man who prefers no-strings-attached, meaningless sex. But the thought of doing that withhersuddenly makes me physically ill.
“God, I can’t believe I told you all of that.” Sidney shakes her head again with a quiet laugh, the pumpkins on her headband continuing to bob around as she looks at me. “Anyone ever tell you that you’re easy to talk to?”
“Never in my entire fucking life.”
She throws her head back this time, and a full belly laugh comes out of her, the sound of her so happy taking my goddamn breath away.
“You know my life story now, and I don’t even know your name.”
“It’s Ford. Ford Prescott.”
I hold out my hand for her to shake, even though I know having her touch it again will make me completely forget my purpose for coming to this town.
Who am I kidding? Purpose? What purpose? My only purpose in life right now is to make this woman happy as often as possible.
Sidney ignores my outstretched hand with a widening of her eyes. “Your last name isPrescott?Oh, this isn’t good for me,” she murmurs before suddenly looking around the bar. “Shit! I forgot about Penny and Ginger. I cannot believe I took my eyes off them. What anamateur.”
Before I can ask why my last name isn’t good for her, Sidney moves around me and continues to frantically look around the empty place, like she’s hoping the girls will suddenly jump out from under a table and shout “Boo!” even though Marcus is the only one still in here with us, cleaning up things behind the bar.
“I’m sure they’re fine.”
Sidney laughs, but there’s no humor on her face when she does, just misery and annoyance that I, once again, immediately want to fix.
“Oh, I’m sure they are too. ButI’mnot gonna be in about two sec—”
The door to Wicked Pub and Grub is suddenly slammed open, hitting the wall behind it with a bang.
“Can anyone in here explain to me why Jarvis Green has been blowing up my phone for the last ten minutes, complaining that someone filled his front yard with instant mashed potatoes?” an older man with salt-and-pepper hair in a sheriff’s uniform asks as he holds the door to the bar open with his back, standing in the doorway with his arms crossed in front of him. “He sent me a picture. There were so many empty boxes in his driveway he couldn’t even get his car out of his garage.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see two blonde heads go racing by the front window facing the sidewalk, the blur of their bodies disappearing around the corner before I can blink. Something Sidney said about covering for them when they do stupid shit, aside from hiding her underwear all over town, nags at the back of my mind.
“Good evening, Deputy Stuart! Lovely weather we’re having on this October Eve, isn’t it? How’s Kenny? Is he excited for next month?” Sidney greets the man before looking over at me. “We’re all very excited his son Kenny is going to be sworn in as the newest deputy in Harvest Grove.”
“Cut the shit, Sidney,” the man says with a sigh. “This wouldn’t normally be a problem, but Jarvis turned on his sprinklers before he went outside. He’s got a yard full of mashed potatoes now, not to mention the hundreds of powdered gravy packetssomeonedumped into his gutters.”
Sidney curses under her breath, but it’s the only sign of distress she shows before a big smile takes over her face.
“Mashed potatoes? Delicious! Gravy? Even better! A match made in heaven. I see nothing wrong with this,” Sidney informs him, making me snort out my second laugh of the evening.
The sheriff just stares at her, silently blinking a few times.
“Okay, fine! It was me. I did it. Just finished with my handiwork and thought I’d stop in here for a beverage. And I’d do it again, considering Jarvis cheated on Connie after thirty-five years of marriage.”
