Page 21 of Breeding Clinic

Liam strolls over to admire them. “Gorgeous.” He puts his hand around my waist and pulls me closer, then bends down. “The flowers are pretty too.”

He dips his head most of the way but pauses. Waiting. He wants a kiss, but he’s letting me decide.

I stretch up and close the distance between us. The kiss is sweet. A gentle brushing of lips with a promise of more to come later.

We pull apart and his hand slides to my hip before dropping away. “I’ll drive?”

“Okay.” My heart is fluttering with excitement as I grab my purse and follow him out.

The bubble tea shop isn’t far. Liam studies the menu with a frown, squinting at the myriad of options. There’s a column for tea bases, then flavors, then pearls.

When it’s our turn to order I get a classic brown sugar tea with tapioca pearls. The girl asks him what he wants, and Liam flounders. I take pity on him and order him a strawberry milk tea with strawberry pops.

“Thanks,” he says, scratching the back of his head. “I didn’t realize tea could be complicated.”

I smile. “They do give you a lot of options.”

We grab our teas and big straws from the counter and find a table by the front window.

Liam watches me shake my drink and stab the pointed straw through the top film. He does the same and takes a tentative sip.

“It’s not carbonated at all,” he says, staring at the drink. “Why do they call it bubble tea?”

“Because of the pearls.”

“Then why don’t they call it pearl tea?”

I shrug and sip my drink. “I don’t know. That’s just what they call it.”

“What do I do with them? They keep getting in my straw.” The skin between his eyebrows creases with worry.

I suppress a grin. “You suck them up. They’re edible.”

“I have to suck the balls?”

A couple of people look at us, and I blush with amused embarrassment. He’s ridiculous. I can’t tell if he’s acting clueless on purpose to make me less nervous. “Yeah, you suck the balls.”

On his second sip, he grins. But on his third, he finally gets one of the pops. I can tell the moment it explodes in his mouth because his eyes widen.

“What was that?” he asks, staring at his drink with suspicion.

I suppress a laugh. “Some of the pearls burst.”

“You did that on purpose. Yours are different from mine. This tea was sabotaged. Let me try yours.”

I put my drink down between us. “Okay, but some people don’t like the tapioca pearls because they’re chewy.”

“Hmm. I’d better play it safe then.” Instead of taking a sip of my drink, he leans forward over the table and kisses me. Histongue darts between my lips for a quick taste, and then he pulls away. “Very sweet.”

The PDA is shameless and I blush all the way to the tops of my ears. “You’re bad.”

He grins, his cheek dimpling. “Only if you like it.”

“Well, is it everything you thought it’d be?” I ask, trying to get us back on track. This is a bubble tea shop in the middle of the day, not a dark booth in the back of a crowded bar.

His eyes roam over me. “It’s better than I ever could have expected. So did you write any more naughty books I’m not cool enough to read?”

I tuck a loose strand behind my ear and play with my hair. “No. I’m working on edits right now. I busted my ass and banked some manuscripts last year because I knew my schedule was going to be crazy with all of this. That way I can still have new releases without having the pressure to write.”

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