“Thanks, darlin’. That was the best breakfast I’ve ever had.”
Even with my sated body, feeling like I’m incapable of lifting even a finger, his words have me throwing my head back and laughing harder than I have in years. Well, that was until my laugh turned into a high-pitched, toe-curling scream. There really is no better way to wake up than with this man. Especially when that wake-up comes with his hard body pressing me against the shower wall as he takes me in the most deliciously hard way.
Yeah, I want to wake up this way for the rest of our life.
“Someone looks like she woke up on the right side of a cowboy,” Jana observes, wagging her brows rapidly when I walk into the kitchen of the PieHole two hours later. My legs still feel weak from Maverick’s very energetic good-bye against the front door ten minutes ago, so I almost fall on my ass when she speaks. I had been so lost in my thoughts, I don’t even think I realized she was standing there.
“Hi, Jana. Yes, it’s a beautiful day. I’m doing great, thanks for asking.” I respond smartly, pushing the images of Maverick’s good-bye from my mind, and grabbing my favorite apron off the hook of my office door before going to the sink to wash up.
“Don’t you be a smart-ass, Leighton dear. Give an old lady something to think about here! Come on, details, missy.”
“You really don’t understand boundaries at all, do you?” I laugh, moving from the sink to start prepping for today. First up on the list, cookie dough pie, I think.
“There is no such thing. Boundaries are for the boring and the young, too dumb to realize how short life is. Now tell me, how’s that broken hooha of yours?”
I hang my head, hiding my smile, and trying my hardest not to laugh at her. It would just encourage her. Which, if I’m honest with myself, doesn’t take much. The smallest reaction, even if it’s just breathing, will just incite her impossible behavior. I swear she gets more outrageous as the days go by.
“I’m guessing, with that blush you’re sportin’ now, you definitely fixed that broken hooha,” she muses to herself, clearly not needing an active participant for this conversation. Good, maybe she’ll move on and go get everything outside of my kitchen ready for the start of our day.
Of course, my relief is short-lived when I hear the back door bang open.
“Who had a broken hooha?” I hear and look up to see Quinn walk through into the kitchen from the mouth of the hallway. “I saw you pullin’ up and decided to come over,” she says with a shrug, answering my unasked question before walking over to the fridge closest to her and pulling out a pie. With her shop just down the street from the PieHole, this is a normal occurrence, something I would have been anticipating had I not been lost in the Maverick lust fog.
“Hey!” I snap, throwing my hands in the air and narrowing my eyes at the pie in her hand. “Sure, Quinn, help yourself.”
She sticks out her tongue, grabs a fork from the cutlery station, and starts eating from the center of the chocolate chip cherry cream pie that she just grabbed. I should have better hidden the featured pie for today. Or, at the very least, realized this could happen and made an extra to cover the one she’ll devour in seconds. Her eyes close in bliss around the prongs. She points her fork down toward the pie and then lifts her thumb up. Guess that means the new recipe I had created for the nonbake selections is a go.
“So,” she says, ignoring my annoyed glare, “what was all that about a broken hooha?” She finishes her question just like Jana had, wagging her brows in a dramatic fashion.
“Oh, no way! There is no way in hell that I’m having this conversation with you! Do you see what you’ve done now, Jana?” I complain, huffing at both of them.
They both laugh at my expense, clearly loving the fact that I’m uncomfortable talking about this with them. I mean Jana is one thing, but Quinn? There is no way that she wants to hear about her brother’s sex life with me. Scratch that; she’s just as shameless as Jana. There is no way I want her to hear about my sex life with her brother.
“Oh, come on!” she whines. “You have to give us something. There has to be some bonus here, being your best friend. I get the scoop the whole damn town is desperate for. The way everyone is talking you would think the two of you are two steps toward the altar! Hell, just this morning Elliott Parker came to pick up his new F-250 and he didn’t even want to talk about the lift I specially ordered and installed for him. The same lift I told him might not be available for months but that I was able to get in three days. Did he care? Nope. All he wanted to talk about was you and Mav. You betcha ass I’m going to be getting some details from my best friend if this is what I’m going to have to put up with from now until forever.”
I blush. “You’re being ridiculous.”
Quinn’s cheeks get red, not from embarrassment, though. Stubborn as a bull, my Quinn, and she hates when I don’t give in to her. “It will happen. I’m going to be hearing all of this, Leigh. You guys are like Romeo and Juliet. No, that’s not right—they had that whole-families-that-hate-each-other thing. And they died and shit. Whatever. You two are the town fairy tale, yeah, that’s it. They’re not going to stop. I just know it. Not even after you guys finally get married. Mark my words.”
“I would love a good wedding,” Jana adds wistfully.
“No one is getting married!” I yell, still looking incredulously at Quinn.
“Yet,” they both add simultaneously before dissolving into uncontrollable laughter.
“You keep it up and I won’t let you be my maid of honor,” I shoot back at Quinn. She stops laughing, looking over in my direction with wide eyes. I sneak a peek at Jana, seeing the same shocked glaze in her eyes that have taken over Quinn’s. Hell, I didn’t think they would take me seriously. Like I would ever think of excluding Quinn. I open my mouth to tell her that very thought, but stop dead when I feel the hard body press against my back. Warmth settles into my skin for just a beat before it’s zinging and zapping every nerve.
“Who’s gettin’ married, darlin’?” the deep voice asks, lips poised right at my ear. Chills dance down my skin like a steady rainfall in response to him being this close. My body’s reaction to him is something I hope I never get used to.
Instead of looking sheepishly shocked, the brazen duo is fighting with everything they’re worth to hold in their laughter. Something they’re failing miserably at.
Oh, the hell with this. Tossing the bag of berries that I had just grabbed off the workstation back down, I salute the ladies in front of me with one proud middle finger before turning to face Maverick.