Page 30 of Someone You Deserve

I nod in response, processing what she said.

She pulls her door shut and starts backing out of her parking space. “See you next week, Penn!” she calls through the open window and takes off like she didn’t just spill some sixty-year-old drama to me, leaving me standing there reeling.

When I make my way back inside the hardware store, I find Elizabeth Hansen, my boss, behind the counter, emptying the drawer next to the register that’s filled with boxes of screws. “Hey, you’re back.”

“Yeah, what are you up to?”

“These need to be stocked on the shelves, but they’re all mixed up.” Dumping box on top of box, she scatters the screws all over the counter, making an even bigger mess than they were.

“I can see that,” I say through gritted teeth.

“Can you organize these and put them where they go, please?” she asks before walking away. And as much as I want to just throw them all in the trash, I do what’s asked of me while reminding myself that I only have to follow someone else’s orders for a little while longer.

***

“Damn it!” I shout as the whipped cream smashes into my face.

Tonight, Bentley got to choose the game for game night, and he chose Pie Face. That little bastard.

Astrid hands me a wet washcloth with a delighted smirk on her lips.

“I hate this game,” I grumble, wiping the sticky, sugary goop from my face.

“Me too,” Lilly whines. She’s already been pied three times, so she’s done for the night. But her brother is still sitting across the table, beaming from ear to ear with a perfectly clean face. That’s about to change here in a minute, and Astrid probably isn’t going to be happy with me when it does.

“We’ve played this before when you wanted to, Lilly,” Astrid reminds her. Lilly’s arms are folded across her chest as I slide the plastic catapult in front of Astrid for her last turn. When she makes it throughunscathed, cranking the knob but avoiding the cream being thrown into her face, we all let out a sigh of relief.

“You sure you don’t want some whipped cream, Bentley?” I pick up the bottle and shake it up before squirting it into my mouth.

“I want some!” Lilly shouts, pushing herself up in her chair to her knees. I lean over and give her a quick shot in her mouth.

“Astrid?” I arch a brow at her.

“Why not?” She licks her lips and opens her mouth, her perfect pink lips glistening. When she darts her tongue out to catch the whipped cream, I feel my dick twitch in my jeans. There are so many scenarios I’ve envisioned of her, me, and a can of whipped cream…

Fuck, maybe this was a bad idea.

Quickly giving her a shot of the sugary substance, I watch her throat bob as she swallows it down and all I can think about is how I wish it were my cock between her lips instead.

Yup, I’m going to hell.

“Fine, I’ll take some,” Bentley declares, reaching for the can, but I swipe it away before he can take it.

“Nope. I’ll do the honors for you too.”

He rolls his eyes but opens his mouth, trusting me far too easily. And before he can think otherwise, I shoot the whipped cream all over his face and everywherebuthis mouth. He jumps up in surprise, whipped cream flying. “Uncle Penn! What the heck?” he shouts.

Lilly cackles and Astrid laughs until she realizes that I’m not stopping. “Oh my God, Penn! That’s enough!”

I stand and shoot the can in her direction now, getting whipped cream all over the table and her upper body. Lilly jumps to scoop it up and put it in her mouth, but not before I douse her with some and then spray it all over the three of them, laughter and screaming carrying over the chaos.

When the can finally empties, all four of us are breathless and then we break out in laughter again.

“You’re cleaning this up!” Astrid yells at me, even though there’s a smile on her lips.

“That was the best game ever!” Lilly shouts, licking her arms and fingers.

“Penn isn’t allowed to be in charge of the whipped cream ever again.” Bentley glares at me. “But that was kind of fun,” he admits before heading down the hall toward the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind him.

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