Page 43 of Sugarlips
Nick placed a hand on each of our shoulders and pushed Chloe and me closer together so that she was nearly falling into my arms. I quickly caught her, just as her toes stubbed against mine and her soft breasts brushed my chest. “That's right,” Nick said to the camera. “These two lovebirds can be awfully convincing.”
“What?”
“No!” Chloe and I both exclaimed together at once.
“Thanks so much for tuning in. Back to you in the studio, Bill and Teresa.”
She turned to us after signing off, lowering her microphone to her side. “You two are dating and you didn't tell me? That would've made awaymore compelling story.”
“We're not —”
She rolled her eyes as the sound guy took the microphone from her hands. She wasn't even paying attention to us anymore. Instead, she was speaking to her two-person crew. “It's not a big deal. I’ll re-film the intro add it in post. Good luck with the food truck guys!”
And before we could correct or stop her, she and her news van were gone.
Nick chuckled, shoulders bouncing as Chloe whipped around, standing nose to nose with him. “What the hell did you do that for?”
“Hey, if you're going to strong-arm me into playing nice, I have every right to fight fire with fire.”
Chloe's cheeks flushed red and her bubblegum-pink lips ghosted into a thin white line as she pressed them firmly together.Holy shit. The sight of Chloe mad was both terrifying and beautiful. “You're screwing with our lives. If my sister —”
“And you messing with my businessisn'tscrewing with my life?” Nick asked, then scoffed when Chloe didn't answer. A rough guttural sound that rolled in the back of his throat. “Don't dish it out if you can’t also take it, sweetheart.”
Up until today, I always liked Nick. I didn't think he was a bad guy, just rough around the edges. But I'd never seen him like this before. I was not impressed, to say the least.
As Nick turned to walk back into his restaurant, Chloe's fists tightened at her sides, bunching into two white knuckle balls. “Don'tcall me sweetheart.”
I nodded in agreement. Nick paused, slowly turning back to face us. His eyebrow arched like a backbend over deep brown eyes. "You prefer I call you bitc—"
He barely got the word out, before I was throwing my fist toward his face. I don't know what came over me. But the moment I heard that word, a white-hot fury overtook my body, and in a motion that felt completely out of my control, my fist connected hard with Nick's jaw.
Nick stumbled back a few steps, his hand cupping his face. “Oh shit,” I said, as Nick chuckled.
He actually fuckinglaughedafter getting sucker-punched in the face and spat some blood onto the sidewalk, saying, “I didn't know you had that in you. You sure she's not your girl?”
I braced myself, fully expecting Nick to return the favor and punch me back. But instead, his laugh faded as he sauntered slowly back inside his restaurant, rubbing his palm across his jaw.
“Oh my God!” Chloe cried, throwing her arms around my neck and hugging me. “I can't believe you did that for me.”
“He called you a bitch. That's unacceptable. Then again, punching someone in the face is probably also unacceptable.” I shook out my aching hand, opening and closing it a few times.
Chloe pulled back from the hug, keeping a hand on each my shoulders. She blinked those blue eyes, now shimmering with a layer of unshed tears.
Oh crap. No more tears. Not right now while I was out in public after having just punched a guy in the face and could feel my heart beating within my throbbing knuckles. The last thing I needed right now was to start sympathetic crying right along with Chloe. But sure enough, there was that tightness in my throat as it always was when a woman around me cried.
“It's just,” Chloe started to say, but her voice cracked. She tried clearing her throat and began again. “It's just I've been called that before. A few times actually. Once in front of Dan, who actually agreed with the guy when he said it. No one's ever stood up for me before, outside of my sister, mother, and father.”
I couldn’t have heard that right. “Dan actuallyagreedwith the guy?” I shook my head. I hated him more and more with every passing day.
“We were in line at a store and the guy behind me kept bumping me. I turned around to ask him to stop at least twice, and by the third time he told me I was a prissy bitch. Dan laughed and said that I sometimes could be.” Chloe shrugged and pulled away from me, her hands skimming down the length of my arms. “I mean, I guess they’re right. Icanbe both prissy and bitchy.”
I launched myself forward, gripping her hands gently and pulling her back to look at me. “I want to be really clear,” I said. “If a man had done either of those things you did — told someone who bumped him to back off or strongly advocated for their new business while being interviewed on the news — no one would ever call him an insult like bitch. This misogynistic bullshit’sgotto stop.”
Chloe blinked, her mouth gaping open, and I felt my cheeks go hot. Just like my stupid sympathetic crying, I was pretty sure men who blushed weren’t exactly sexy. But there was something in the intense way she was staring at me—those unrelenting blue eyes wider and brighter than before.
Her tensed shoulders relaxed, and a soft smile splayed across her full lips. “Liam Evans,” she said quietly, “Explain to me again how the hell you’re single?”
Her thumbs started stroking the backs of my hands in sensual circles, and that glistening gaze of hers dropped to my mouth, hungry.
