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He frowned down at me. But it was a sexy frown, if such a thing existed. “I’m gonna have to start punishing you. Every time you’re naughty and make a mess,” he growled, fire flashing in his dark eyes.
I gave his ass another squeeze. Because I knew exactly how to improve his mood. “Then I’m going to be a lot less motivated to clean up.”
He tipped my chin up. Eyes ablaze. “Not sure if I should spank you or make you suck my cock.”
I licked my lips. “Neither is much of a punishment. You know I love giving head. And I’d much rather blow you than vacuum.”
His eyes bulged, and that cool confidence wavered. “Then I suppose we can come to some kind of arrangement.”
I trailed my fingers down his chest before sinking to my knees. “Hmm. Then I should probably give you a preview of my skills.”
He threw his head back and groaned. “You can make a mess anytime.”
Chapter35
Parker
Of all the people to arrive in Lovewell and make herself right at home, the last person I expected was Liv. But here she was, charming patrons in the diner, tossing her red hair around, and soaking up all the charming small-town details.
She had taken one look at me and one look at Paz and demanded to know what was going on. So I shoved her into my car and headed to the diner, hoping the greasy food would subdue her curiosity.
“Holy sexual tension, Batman!” she said, sliding into the vinyl booth. “Don’t lie to me. I know you’re hitting that. The fucking steam between you! I could have written on the windows with my finger.” She fanned herself with the menu. “I need my laptop. I should be writing a romance right now.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“Yeah, you’re right. If I were to switch genres, I wouldn’t go for a sappy small-town love story. It’d definitely be a why choose. A handful of bear shifter lumbersnacks for sure.” She tapped her chin. “Ooh, maybe moose shifters. Not sure that’s been done.”
“Gross.”
“Do not yuck my yum, lady. I’ve got all kinds of recs for you when you decide to broaden your literary horizons.” She scooted forward in the booth and dropped her elbows to the table. “Tell me all about it. I imagine this”—she waved an arm, indicating the diner—“is the best we’ve got in this one-horse town, so let’s get a milkshake, then give me all the dirty details about the lumbersuit.”
“They have a bar.”
“Ooh, a seedy dive?”
“Sort of. It’s not what you’re picturing, I’m sure. Not fisherman and dockworkers.”
“A lumbersnack dive? I’m down for checking that out tonight. But if you do not start talking right now, I’m gonna ask all these nice, nosey people about your sex life instead.”
I glared at her. There were only two people who truly had my back in this life: My mother, who I would do anything for. And Liv. She had taken one look at me at the start of our freshman year of college and decided we’d be best friends. And we had been for sixteen years. In all that time, I had never once doubted her loyalty or her love for me.
We didn’t compete with one another, and we didn’t get jealous. Ours was a friendship born out of mutual weirdness and a desire to be understood.
She was the creative free spirit with a goth edge, and I was the goody-two-shoes who was afraid of her own shadow. We were both only children with divorced parents who’d bonded over our mutual love of Britney Spears and Jane Austen.
Before I could sate her curiosity, Bernice wandered over, eyebrows almost touching her beehive while she took Liv in. Waist-length red hair, flowy black dress, multiple earrings in each ear, and a massive evil eye pendant around her neck. Not to mention the black eyeliner thick enough to line a parking lot.
We placed our orders while Bernice gawked. Liv was gorgeous, and in a town like this, her style was light-years past unique. While I had spent a lot of my life blending in, Liv had an innate understanding that standing out was her only option. And she embraced it wholeheartedly.
She leaned forward. “It dawned on me that the people here think you’re me.” She grinned, giddy at the prospect. There was nothing a dramatic soul like Liv’s loved more than role playing and general shenanigans.
I shook my head. “They think I’m L.T. Shipman. They think I’m up here researching a series of books set in a small logging town.”
“Ooh. I knew that was a great idea. The woods, chainsaws? Creepy as fuck. I could definitely work in a psycho sexual angle.” She tapped the table rhythmically with her hands, signaling that she was coming up with a book idea.
“Okay, okay, okay. But up here, I’m the writer, got it?”
She smiled broadly. “And what do I do?”
