Page 19 of Sweet Addiction
“Right...” Lexie laughs. “I’m tired with one man. Four sounds?—”
“Painful?” I ask and tap my white-cranberry martini against Lexie’s club soda.
“Sweetie...” A definite look of pity takes shape on Lexie’s face. “It should never be painful.”
“A little pain can be fun,” Lilah offers and digs the palm of her hand into the side of her baby bump before she shakes her head. “I take it back. None of you should have sex. Like ever. Don’t make my mistakes.”
She winces, and I bite down on my lip, trying not to laugh. Lilah’s nearly seven months pregnant, and she’s in that stage where she has a love-hate relationship with sex every time her baby girl kicks her. It shouldn’t be funny, but it really is.
At least she’s having sex, which is more than I can say for myself.
“Oh, honey.” Kaleigh looks over Lilah’s shoulder at her husband hulking over in the corner of West End, enjoying a drink with a few of his cousins and keeping a ridiculously overprotective eye on my sister. She rests her chin in her hands and sighs as if she were caught in a daydream. “If I had a man who looked at me the way that one looks at you, I’d be pregnant for the rest of my life.”
I swallow my martini and try not to spit the tart drink right back up. “And that’s enough about my sister’s sex life.”
“Either way,”—Lexie smiles at me—“I’d say the first official Hopeless Romantics Book Club meeting of the year was a success. I’m so proud of you, Dillan. You’ve barely been open four months, and you’re killing it.”
I look away from her, uncomfortable with her praise when I know how hard I’m struggling every day to make the shop a success and balance it all. They all think it’s easy, but it’s far from it. “Thanks.”
“That romantasy book the girls were talking about reading next month sounds really good. What was it called?” Lilah asks as the waiter drops off the food we ordered to share.
“Crown Of Stars and Ruin,” Kaleigh offers, grabbing a potsticker and dragging it through the sticky sauce. “Everyone’s been asking about it when they come in. It came out of nowheresix months ago, but man, that sucker has staying power. It took a few weeks to gain momentum, but once it hit, it hasn’t budged. It’s been in the top ten since October.”
“I thought the girls wanted to read that last month,” Lexie reminds us between bites of loaded potato skins, the crumbly bacon sliding off the plate as she pushes one my way.
“They did. But we went with a holiday read instead.” I don’t add thethankfullythat’s on the tip of my tongue.
Lilah looks from me to Kaleigh. “Who’s the author? I’ve been telling Mom she should try romantasy for ages, but she keeps saying the muse just isn’t there.”
I keep my head down and sip my drink, annoyingly relieved when the devil in designer clothes walks into the bar. The heavens might as well part for the way everyone steps aside as Jamie, Ryker, and he saunter up to our table. But I guess that’s what happens when three pro athletes enter a room.
“Ladies,” Rome says and signs for Ryker, who has his hearing aids in, but the bar is too loud and crowded to chance it.
Ryker and Jamie both squeeze my shoulder as they move around our table, but Rome sticks to the other side. Smart man.
“Book club?”Ryker asks as Jamie drops down into a chair next to Lilah, resting his big hand gently on her belly and waiting for her to move so he can feel the baby kick, which she does almost immediately.
“Of course,”Kaleigh answers, smiling shyly at Ryker. Not that I blame her. Those Beneventi boys are definitely made differently.
Jamie must get the kick he was waiting for, judging by the happy grin he has as he slides his hand away. “Was it a good book at least?”
“Of course.” My sister rolls her eyes.
“Was it a spicy book?”Rome asks, his smirk firmly in place as his eyes narrow on me, silently reminding me this manhas seen me naked. Something he never lets me forget. If I thought Rome tortured me before we slept together, I was sorely mistaken. I had no idea what torture actually was until I spent the night with this man and he became my enemy by the next one.
Something I will take to my grave before I willingly admit it to anyone.
“It’s a romance book club that takes place in a romance bookstore, genius,”I say and sign, ignoring the way he stares.“Of course it was spicy. It was also incredible. With a beautiful story about love and loss and fighting for what matters.”
It’s been two years, and this gigantic ass still gets under my skin, no matter how hard I try to ignore him.
“So, what I’m hearing is you enjoyed the spice, didn’t you, Dillan?”
“I fucking hate you.”I smile sharply as I say and sign the words, just to make sure he gets every last one.
Ryker looks between the two of us, like he’s in on a secret, but I know he isn’t.“Why don’t the two of you fuck and finally get it over with?”he asks, proving me right. He doesn’t know. None of them do. Rome and I might not have ever talked about that night, but our friends have big mouths and not a single filter between them. If any one of them knew, they’d all know by now, and I’d have heard something. But I haven’t. That might be the only thing that’s kept me from figuring out how to chemically castrate the fucker.
Rome’s eyes flash with something that looks a whole lot like heat before it morphs into anger. Then, just as quickly as if neither emotion was ever there, they disappear, and cockiness returns.
