“You can’t not go,” she said sternly. “You have to be there for your mother’s birthday. No matter how you feel about her right now, she’s still your mom.”
“I know.” Misery jammed in his throat. “But I don’t think I can put on a happy face and pretend everything is okay. I had to do it at Nate’s wedding, and then Owen’s, and I don’t have the energy for another social occasion where I have to force a smile the whole time.”
“That sucks,” she agreed, “but you don’t have a choice, bud. You’re going.”
“It’s not like I’m not going home at all,” he said defensively. “I was planning on showing up next week. That way I can talk to my mom without my brothers glaring at me the entire time, which is what they’ll do if I’m at that party.”
“You’re going,” she said again, firmer this time.
He swallowed another sigh. “I still have this job to fini—”
“Bullshit,” Mari interrupted. “You said so yourself—you can choose whichever and however many towns to shoot.” Her tone became businesslike. “You wanted to do Kansas and Nebraska this week, and then drive up to the Dakotas. The way I see it, we can hit the first two and still make it to Colorado in time for Saturday. But that means you’ll have to sacrifice North and South Dakota.”
He sat up and dragged a hand through his hair. “I already told Nate I wouldn’t make it.”
“Well, now you can call him and tell him you will.” She set her jaw. “I mean it, Austin, you can’t miss this party. You have to go.”
“Or what?” he had to ask, even though he knew goading her was the last thing he ought to be doing. “What are you gonna do if I refuse? Tie me up, throw me in the trunk and drive me there yourself?”
“You’re so melodramatic.” She rolled her eyes. “But to answer your question, if you refuse, I just won’t have sex with you again.”
He shot her an incredulous look. “You’re using sexual blackmail on me?”
“Yep. Now that you’ve had a taste of me, I know you’ll want a lot more, and I’m perfectly willing to deprive you of all that sweet lovin’.”
Despite himself, he started to laugh. “Cocky little thing, aren’t we?”
Mari dropped the sheet she’d wrapped around her torso and exposed her bare breasts, then eyed him defiantly. “You know you want another piece of this, Bishop. Don’t pretend you don’t.”
He could have tried to deny it, but his cock revealed his exact feelings on Mari’s nakedness. It immediately got hard and rose to salute the topless woman sitting in front of it.
“See,” she said smugly.
He slanted his head. “So you’re seriously going to withhold sex unless I go to that party?”
“Uh-huh. Not only that, but I’ll go out of my way to torment you. Like, walking around in even skimpier clothing than before. Maybe eating a lot of popsicles. Rubbing sunscreen all over myself. You know, all that super-sexy stuff.” She grinned. “So you may as well agree now otherwise you’re in for a serious case of blue balls.”
“You’re evil.”
“And you know I’m right. You need to be there.”
After a beat, he released another sigh, this one heavy with defeat. “I know.”
“Good, then it’s settled. You forfeit the Dakotas, we finish up Kansas and Nebraska by Friday, and then we’re heading straight to Paradise.”
Chapter Six
Welcome to Paradise.
Six days later, as they drove past the bright-blue sign welcoming them to Austin’s hometown, Mari gasped in delight, feeling like she’d stepped right into a postcard. The mountains in the distance stood tall and proud, their peaks dusted with snow even in the summer, and the lush greenery and rocky hills were vastly more interesting than the flat Iowan landscape she’d grown up in. Here, the air smelled fresher, the colors seemed more vivid, and everything was so much prettier to look at.
“I love it,” she declared as they reached a rickety old bridge with a sign indicating that “Downtown Paradise” was one mile away.
In the driver’s seat, Austin nodded absently. And he only got more distracted once they reached the heart of town. Mari knew he was feeling ambivalent about coming home, but she didn’t let his lack of enthusiasm dim her own. Instead, she gazed at the quaint shops and clean sidewalks, the beautiful historical buildings, the town square that was so reminiscent of all the town squares they’d seen during their road trip.
When they reached the end of the strip, she caught sight of a corner bar with a familiar name—Bishop’s Corner—and quickly turned to Austin. “Is that your brother’s bar?”
“Yeah,” was all he said, before speeding through the intersection and putting the bar behind them in the rearview mirror.
“You don’t want to stop and say hi?”
Austin shrugged. “He’s not there.”
She wrinkled her forehead. “How do you know?”