Page 11 of Sugarloaf Ridge Lies

“Do you see your nana often?” she asks.

“Every week.”Through the good times and bad.

A wide smile breaks across her face but wavers before slipping. “That’s lovely.” Her eyes return to the road, fingers again twisted together, her knuckles white.

I grind my teeth with the thought of her hurting. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

She reaches over and places her hand on my leg. My muscles tense beneath her touch. “No, please. It’s not your fault. When you lose someone it’s the simple things you miss.” She removes her hand and sighs. “It’s like yesterday you were with them and then something reminds you that they’re all gone.”

All? Jesus. What the fuck happened?

Let’s change the subject. Her grief must be recent.

“We can go back to talkin’ about the manipulating stuff if it’d help. Get you into teach-mode? Or not?”

A small laugh bubbles up her throat. “I’m fine. My emotions are all over the place. Not enough sleep or coffee.”

“Ah,” I say with a growl. “Now that’s something I can help with.”

Her delicate brows bunch. “You can help me with sleep?”

I mentally slap my palm to my forehead. “I mean I can help with the coffee situation. Not the sleep because I’m not sure how I could help you with that.” A vision of her tangled and naked in my sheets springs to mind.I know exactly how I could aid her sleeping situation....

She laughs. “I was just joking. I knew what you meant.”

“There’s a coffee van up ahead.”

The converted ice-cream truck-come coffee van appears amongst the tall pines. I pull onto the gravelled road beside the highway.

“I’ve driven past it but never thought they sold coffee,” Liv says.

I fling off my seatbelt and grab my wallet from the dash. “What’ll you have?”

She shakes her head and pulls a purse from her handbag. “No. Let me. It’s the least I can do.”

My brain seizes. I can’t remember the last time a woman offered to get me anything.

“Not if I get there first.” I scramble from the car.

Liv follows.

My jacket hooks on the door handle, stalling my swift departure. Liv’s boots kick up the gravel in front of me as she hitches up her skirt and runs.Girl can move.

She beats me to the van and swings around. Her golden locks shift softly with the breeze, settling on her shoulders. “What’ll you have?” she says in a sweet voice, taunting me with my earlier words.

I shake my head and smirk.I’d have you over my knee and carrying you home to my bed if you want to play, Olive...

“My usual.”

Liv places a hand on her hip and bites the inside of her cheek. “And how am I supposed to know that?”

I give the owner Kate a wave through the small window and point in her direction for Liv’s benefit. “She knows.”

“Fine.” Liv’s long skirt swishes around her ankles as she swiftly turns towards the window. “Hi, Kate, I’m Liv. Usual for this guy, and I’ll have a flat white with half a sugar.”

When we return to my Ute, Liv takes a sip of her coffee and groans. “Why didn’t anyone tell me about the van? This coffee is to die for. Like, I’m dead.”

The paper cup meets her plump glossy lips again. Her moans of appreciation fill the cab, causing something of mine to twitch that shouldn’t be twitching.Down, boy.

---