Page 46 of Sugarlips
I snorted a laugh. Never in a million years did I think Dan would have the balls to ask for his things back.
But, here we were. Dan’s face turned beet red just as his new girlfriend sidled up beside him, placing her palm on his arm. “I should sue you!” he hissed.
The veiled threat tore another laugh from me, and I paused to drain what was left of my drink, shaking my head. A fiery rage erupted in my belly. What was it about Dan that had me so tied up in knots? I didn’t even think Ilovedhim anymore. Yet, he’d humiliated me in front of everyone. Every friend we shared, every colleague, every person in town seemed to suspect or evenknowthat he’d had this other girlfriend. And now… here she was. Right in front of my fucking eyes. Their relationship was no longer something in the shadows he had to hide. And they had no shame taking it out publicly, apparently.How dare he be so fucking blasé about tearing our life apart?
“Go ahead,” I challenged him. “I will turn around and counter sue you. Not only for the multiple deposits we lost on the wedding, but for pain and emotional distress. And why don’t we just add in there a settlement for alimony payments while we’re at it. I know we weren’t officially married, but once a judge sees that you begged me to quit my job to plan a wedding—when you were already cheating on me—I think they’ll probably see my side of things. Or at the very least, I’ll be entitled to half of what’s in that joint account we set up. So… you really want to challenge me for a few suits and a tacky lounge chair?” I stood up, sliding the bar stool back. My attempt was to get in Dan’s face… but I forgot how damn short I was. As I stood up, my nose barely reached his chin. “Go right ahead, Dan.”
What was this pull toward my ex? I didn’t evenwanthim anymore. Even if he dropped Hippie Chick right this second and begged me to take him back, I knew I wouldn’t.
I rocked back on my heels, examining Dan closely from the loose fit of his button-down shirt to the brown loafers he wore on his feet. Was this really the love of my life?Clearly not.
I glanced over as Liam stood as well, throwing some money onto the bar to pay for our drinks. Gorgeous Liam with his washboard abs and rock-hard biceps. I licked my lips as his emerald eyes locked onto mine in a way that sped my heartrate up.
I desperately wanted Liam. Now more than ever. Dan wasn’t even half as sexy as my business partner. But if I wasn’t enough to keep a man likeDaninterested, how could I ever be enough to hold Liam? Wouldn’t he also just go find another woman sexier than me, dirtier than me, smarter than me, or whatever it was that Hippie Chick was that I wasn’t?
“Doesn’t seem like you’re all that heartbroken, either,” Dan said, breaking me free from my thoughts. He tilted his chin toward Liam. “It’s just like you to move on so quickly. You could never be alone for long.”
This was the moment I should have corrected him. I should have made it perfectly clear that despite how it looked on TV or here in the bar with Liam and me sitting side by side, we werenotdating. But my eyes fell to Dan’s hands linked with hers, and my heart and stomach just felt… hollow. “Says the man wholiterallyhad zero gap between his fiancé and the other woman. You’ve got some nerve telling meIcan’t be alone for long.” My gaze dipped to my feet, unable to look either of them in the eyes. “How do you sleep at night?” I asked quietly, shaking my head.
“Quite comfortably—” Dan started to say, but I quickly cut him off.
“Notyou.” I turned my glare toher. Hippie Chick—or rather, Raina. Saying her name seemed to give her power in my brain and I hated that she had that over me. “You. How doyousleep at night? Not only just knowing you were with another woman’s fiancé, but how can you be with someone who cheated and lied for over a year? How can you stand there and hold his hand and think that somehow you’re the exception to the rule?”
“That’s enough, Chloe—”
Dan tried to cut me off, but I took a step closer to her, staring her dead in the eyes. “Let me tell you… you’renotspecial. Whether it’s in a month or a year or ten years, he will do to you exactly what he did to me.”
“C’mon, babe,” Liam whispered, sliding his arm around my waist and tugging me in close to his body. “Let’s get home.” When his lips landed at the top of my head, I heard him deeply inhale the scent of my hair.
I curled my arm around his back, hugging him back as we fell in step toward the front door. “Babe?” I whispered back to Liam.
He shrugged and held the door for me, all the while still hugging me into his side. “If most of Maple Grove is going to think we’re a couple now, then we might as well let that douchebag sweat it out for a while longer, too. He’s the one person who actually deserves not only to see what he lost, butfeelit, too.” He paused before adding, “What do you say we have a nightcap back at my place? I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to deal with the wrath of family and friends after they’ve seen tonight’s report.”
I sighed and leaned my head on Liam’s shoulder as we walked out to the parking lot. “Yes, please.”
And for just a moment, as we walked with our arms around each other, I allowed myself to feel what it would be like to be Liam Evans’s girlfriend.
16
Liam
This is a bad idea, I thought as Chloe hoisted herself to sit on my kitchen counter. What was I thinking inviting Chloe Dyker to come hang out here for a while?I was thinking with the wrong damn head, that’s what.Even though she told me in no uncertain terms that we couldn’t be together, I wanted her.
But somewhere along the way in these last few weeks, Chloe had predicted correctly—she was becoming my best friend. Which was why I needed to tell my crazy teenage-level hormones to calm the fuck down. There was no way we could remain friends and still sleep together. And Chloe was too special to lose.
“Okay,” I said, rifling around my cabinets. “I’ve got whiskey…” I glanced over at her and laughed as her nose scrunched.
“Ew,” she said.
“Very well.” I dug deeper into the cabinet. “If you don’t like whiskey, I’m going to guess you’re not a rye drinker, either.”
“Liam, your liquor cabinet needs some work. Don’t you have vodka? A nice tequila? Anything that isn’t brown!” She hopped off the counter and pushed me out of the way, looking through the cabinet herself. “This is ridiculous! You have six different types of whiskey, but only an airplane bottle of blueberry vodka!”
She took it, cracked it open, and dumped it into the diet coke I had already gotten for her.
“Technically, these aren’t all whiskey. This one’s scotch, this is a rye—”
“Liam!” She whined. “Maybe we should have created analcoholdelivery truck instead of a food truck.”
