Page 8 of Sheriff's Dirty Secret
“Are you really not sleeping well?” she asked, just as my sister Scarlett sat next to her.
“Not sleeping well?” Scar’s lips twitched. “Because you’re having incredible sex with someone or….”—she took a good look at me—“the opposite. I got it.” I rolled my eyes at her. “You know what fixes that?” She wagged her brows, and Raven giggled.
“I have a feeling Oli hasn’t had someone put…” My eyes widened wondering what the hell Rave was going to say. “…her to bed in a while.”
“Really?” Scar’s attention moved to me. “Are we mad at someone? Wait, who are you seeing?”
“No one,” I muttered.
“I don’t know about that.” Raven grinned, and I gave her the most annoyed expression I could muster.
“Who?” Scarlett asked.
“Who what?” Coral, the oldest of us, asked behind me. I didn’t have to glance at her as she took the seat next to me.
“Olie is seeing someone. Or maybe she’s not seeing someone now since she’s, you know…“ Scarlett made a cranky face that made me want to laugh out loud.
Instead, I rolled my eyes and huffed under my breath. “You’re all ridiculous.”
“What is it you always say?” Scarlett pretended to think. “Best way to get over someone is to get?—“
“On top of someone else,” all three sisters chimed in.
They weren’t wrong. It was a motto I had wholeheartedly lived by.
Especially after I had my heart stomped on and obliterated to smithereens by my high school sweetheart. Like a stupid schoolgirl, I’d thought love was all that mattered. Andrew had said all the right things, making me think we would be this sweet, little family. When I’d been accepted to a culinary school in New York, he’d talked me out of going. Telling me what was the point of getting all those school loans if I was going to stay home to raise our kids and already knew how to cook?
Stupidly and naively, I’d gone along with it. Let go of my dreams and goals for him. For us, I’d thought.
My parents had never liked Andrew, something that had only pushed me closer to him. That was until I decided to surprise him at his college for Thanksgiving break after he called to tell me he couldn’t get time off from the local restaurant he worked at. I’d driven four hours there, and to my surprise, after his roommate let me into their dorm as he was leaving, there was my boyfriend, the guy I’d thought I’d marry, the one who had named our kids, in bed, snoring with some girl I’d known in high school.
I shook away the thought before I got pissed. Getting angry at my dumbass ex was a waste of time and energy. I’d quickly learned that men came and went. Like a bus you missed, you only had to wait for a little bit to catch the next one.
I wasn’t a blushing virgin or inexperienced. I wasn’t ashamed about my body count or the notches on my bedpost. I was honestly proud of them. I was comfortable in my body and sexuality, and figuring out how to get those needs taken care of was fine by me.
Life is too short for mediocre sex and faking orgasms.
As long as I was safe and not playing with anyone’s feelings, there was nothing wrong with what I was doing. I liked dating.Or you used to, a voice quipped in my head. Lately, I’d been so busy with my baking and thinking about the guy who was all about protecting and serving, I hadn’t really tried to put myself out there.
“Best way to get over someone is to get on top of someone else,” I mumbled and forced a smile. For the first time since deciding that was the easiest, safest way to live my life, the idea of hooking up with some random tourist didn’t call me in the least.
You should at least try,the realistic, jaded part of me said while the hopeless romantic who had struck her interest in the sheriff shook her head.
“You know what…” I said, feeling my sisters’ gazes. “You’re right.” Their eyes widened, and two tilted their heads. “Or wait, does that mean I’m always right? Since it’s my motto?” I asked with a grin I plastered on my face.Fake it till you make it.“I think I am going to go get someone to buy me a drink.”
“Wait, what about Luke?” Raven asked. Disappointment shimmered in her eyes. And I hated it.
“Luke? Who’s Luke?” Scarlett asked.
“Luke is the sheriff,” I explained, “and our baby sister?—“
“I’m not a baby,” she argued like she always did any time we called her that, but I ignored her.
“Thinks he would be the perfect guy for me,” I shared.
“I never said he’d be perfect. No one is perfect,” Raven argued.
“No shit,” I muttered and took a deep breath. “He’s also not interested,” I shared, pretending his rejection didn’t still sting. And because I couldn’t help myself when I needed to prove a point, I kept sharing.Too much.“I showed up at his place Fridaynight… well, early Saturday, wearing a very cute dress and red lipstick, and he told me to go home.” I shrugged but avoided their eyes. I could only imagine the pity in their gazes.
