Page 39 of Here & There

“Mac might have said something to them.”

I explain the situation with the ATV club at the inn and Chris laughs. But she sobers when she talks about them again. “Every fucking year. They give all the nice, mostly sober ATV-riders a bad name. Last year they wore these T-shirts that saidAlpha Males.”

“Ugh,” I say. “Anyone who’s an actual alpha would never need to print it on their clothes.”

“Exactly!”

“Speaking of shirts,” I say, glancing down at the letters on hers. “Is that some kind of club?”

Chris gives a mischievous grin. “I think I might scare you off if I tell you. Unless…are you a romance reader?”

“Not really,” I say. “I used to love reading them as a teenager, but my boyfriend”—isRichard still my boyfriend? I haven’t parsed that yet—“is kind of a book snob.”

“Ugh. Theworst.Sorry. That is, if you guys are still together. I heard that little bit of hesitation, though.”

“We’re on a break. Anyway, it’s fine. He’s got his good points.”

Does he? Or is it that I’ve invested the last five years of my life into our relationship and my parents love him? I’ve never articulated that thought before. But I shove Richard from my thoughts.

“Will you tell me what your shirt means? I won’t judge. I swear.”

“Well, don’t tell anyone, but Lana writes books on the side. It’s a hobby of hers, but she’s surprisingly serious about it. She writes kind of prissy historical stories; you know, with no sexy times. She’s really good, even though she’s too scared to publish any of them. But I started doing some research for her andkind of…strayed off course. I got deep into the steamy stuff. So to speak. Like,deep.Anyway I found one where this character wears this acronym on her shirt.” She plucks her T-shirt and doesn’t even look around when she says, “It meansShut the Fuck Up and Take That Dick Like a Good Girl.”

I choke on my own spit.

The other patron in the store, an older woman, looks up over the rack, her eyes wide.

“Chris!” I whisper. “What?”

“Oh, you heard me.”

I did hear her. And for some absolutely unknown reason, I picture Mac saying those very words.

To me.

As she snickers, I train my eyes back on the clothes, flicking through the racks without seeing what I’m looking at.

While Deanie and I talk about men—or at least, she does—and other personal things to a degree, we don’t tend to go too deep. I think it’s because we’re colleagues first and friends second. We often devolve into work talk too. I work so much that I’ve let my other friendships fade away over the years. What would it be like having a friend like Chris who wasn’t my business associate? Who I talk freely about things with?

Like about how the thought of Mac speaking those words makes my legs go to jelly? I’ve never wanted anyone to talk like that to me. In fact it’s something I’d probably think I’d be offended by.

But the thought is so scandalous I think it again.

Visions of that big man with his broad chest gripping the back of my hair…I think of the dark hair dusting his chest, the furrow of it dipping into a dark patch below his waistband.

My insides swirl and twist so hard I have to take a breath.

It’s not feelings. It’s just lust. Maybe I can break my rules and entertain thoughts of lust about him. He never has to know.

I hesitate only for a moment before looking back up again and leaning over the rack. I clear my throat, and Chris looks up. “Do you…have some of those books you might want to share?”

Chris grins. “See? I knew you had it in you.”

A few hours later, I’ve not only gathered enough clothes to last me my whole time here, but I think I might be slightly in girl-love with this woman. I can’t wait to tell Deanie about her.

“Thank you so much for your help,” I say as we leave the last store. “It would have taken me forever to find all this stuff on my own.”

“And I thank you for giving our local economy a huge boost today. Mac’s going to lose it when he sees some of these.”

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