Sugarlips (Beefcakes Book 2)

by Katana Collins

  “Until you leave,” Finn said. “Which is what? A few weeks?”

  Neil darted a glare at our youngest brother. “Yes… but I’ll only be gone a couple of months. Then I’ll be home for good.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Finn said. “We’ve heard that before.”

  “This time, it’s true,” I said, stepping in on my brother’s behalf. Hell, I was the first one to give him a guilt trip over leaving us without a goodbye back when he was eighteen. But this time, it was different. “He’s buying the warehouse behind Beefcakes…” I grinned at my brother and turned to go inside. “Tell them,” I said. “They deserve to know so they can trust you’re coming back.”

  I’d already heard Neil’s plans to turn the warehouse into a training facility for film stunt work. He was partnering with Jude and Ash, his best friends who worked in movies out in Los Angeles, to create the business. I was thrilled for him. Except, it meant a shit ton more work for me at the bakery. A bakery that I wasn’t really the face of to begin with. A bakery that wasn’t my dream… but the dream I was carrying on for my sick mom.

  I glanced over my shoulder at the broken-down truck in front of my condo. Several cars slowed down as they passed, the people inside staring out their windows at the beater. No doubt wondering what vagabond had come through and broke down in front of Liam Evans’s home.

  I walked inside, leaving Neil to tell the rest of our family his plans for when he came back to Maple Grove. I’d barely made it down the hall when I nearly ran into Chloe standing there… hiding? Was she hiding?

  Her eyes went wide when she saw me, and she ducked back into the kitchen. “Chloe? I can see you.”

  She poked her head back up from behind the granite counter. “I heard your family arguing and I didn’t know what to do,” she whispered.

  “Sooooo… you thought ducking below my counter was the best option? It’s not like they didn’t know you were in here.” I left out the fact that she was the reason the little scuffle began in the first place.

  She stood up and threw her hands in the air. “Well, I don’t know. I panicked.”

  I laughed and tucked my hand into my front pocket. “Clearly.”

  She sighed and grabbed her purse off the counter. “I can go. I thought you invited me for dinner, but I can see now that you didn’t—”

  I stepped in front of her, blocking her path toward the door. “Don’t go.”

  She rolled her eyes. “But you don’t want me here. It’s some family thing. I remember Elaina saying you guys do this a lot.” She waved her hands around the kitchen as though having a family dinner was a magical thing.

  “We do. Which is why you joining us isn’t a big interruption.” I reached out and slid the strap of her purse off her shoulder. “Come on. Stay. I made puttanesca…”

  Her eyes went wide, her plump lips puckering into an excited ‘oh’ and she skittered over to the stovetop, lifting the lid off of one of the saucepans. “Wait… this isn’t pasta.”

  “It’s spaghetti squash. With Mom’s cancer, we try to limit the amount of grains she eats.” I shook my head, grabbing a clean spoon and holding the sauce up for her to taste. “Here… try it.”

  She leaned forward, parting her lips and slowly wrapping them around the dome of the spoon. With some girls, I would have figured the low, satisfied moan and the slow drag of her tongue across her bottom lip to be intentionally seductive. Hell, even two weeks ago, I would have thought it was intentional from Chloe. But now I knew better. She wasn’t trying to be sexy. She just was sexy. Naturally. The truth was, Chloe was a total goofball.

  She pressed her fingertips to her mouth, her eyes fluttering open. “Oh my God,” she whispered. “It’s so good. You can cook. You can bake. You’re fit and hot as hell… explain to me how in God’s name are you still single?”

  I laughed, ignoring the fireball that surged through my blood with the knowledge that Chloe Dyker thought I was hot. With a shrug, I dropped the spoon into the sink. “One of the wonders of the world, I guess.”

  “I’m serious,” she said, following me over to the sink as I washed my hands. “Are the women of Maple Grove blind?”

  I glanced briefly at her over my shoulder before spinning around to face her, leaning against the sink’s edge. “I don’t know,” I said. “You’re a woman of Maple Grove. You tell me.”

  The second the words left my mouth, I regretted them. She drew back, her eyes searching my face quickly. “I…I was with my cheating asshole of a boyfriend—then fiancé—for years. I wasn’t looking at anyone because I wasn’t single.”

  I pressed my lips together nodding and made a quiet mmm sort of noise. “And now?” What was I doing? I didn’t want to date Chloe Dyker… did I?

  No. No, I did not. Even if she did things to my blood pressure and made my pulse race like I was finishing first in a marathon. Not to mention, my brother would kill me.

  Her breath shortened, causing that tight, lacy top to heave with each inhale. “Now…” she swallowed, her eyes dropping to my lips, and her hands fell to my arms, squeezing my biceps. “Now… I’m noticing.”

  Behind us, in the hallway, I heard my sister squeal, “Neil, that’s so exciting!”

  He must have finished telling them his plans for the training center. Chloe flinched, jumping back, her eyes cast to the floor. Slowly, she dragged her gaze back to mine and whispered, “Even if we’re both interested in… in that… with everything that’s happened with my sister and Neil…” Her words faded and she shook her head. “Truthfully, I really just need a friend.”

  I nodded and forced my face to rearrange into a smile. The dreaded friend zone. “I think you mean a best friend,” I whispered back, correcting her. Chloe was so damn good at hiding her feelings. So good at seeming okay, it was easy to forget that only a few days ago, she’d learned she was being cheated on by her fiancé. Beneath her tough exterior, she was probably heartbroken. And here I was preying on her; taking advantage of that, even if it was unintentional.

  I was rewarded with the most blindingly beautiful grin that warmed me from the inside out. “So … you finally submit to the idea that we’re going to be best friends?”

  Considering I only had a couple of guy friends from high school, and all of my culinary school friends had moved away to bigger cities, it was easy to find myself nodding. With my crazy schedule and the 3:00 a.m. wake up calls… I barely saw the friends I did have.

  I had to admit, in the limited amount of time Chloe and I had hung out, we actually made pretty good friends. I thought back to the other night at her house when I slept there. Despite the heavy flirting, we had fun. A lot of fun. I hadn’t laughed that hard in years with someone who wasn’t family.

  “Come on,” I tugged a strand of her hair, playfully. “Let’s get this dinner on the table.”

  We parted just as my family came clomping into the kitchen.

  Dinner went pretty smoothly. Conversation between my family and Chloe was easy, and she made them laugh with her animated stories of her sorority sisters. As she spoke, her knee would occasionally bump mine. Sometimes on purpose when she was driving home a point. And other times because she was so vivacious that her movements couldn’t be contained to the confines of her personal space.

  Not to mention, that girl could wolf down some food. It was impressive the way she went back for seconds, cleared her plate, then fell back in the chair, looking at me with those wide-set blue eyes of hers. “Please tell me there’s dessert.”

  Mom smiled, standing up, and patted Chloe’s shoulder as she passed by. “Oh, honey. In this house? There’s always dessert.”

  “Yeah,” Finn added. “And it’s usually whatever didn’t sell at Beefcakes that day.”

  “Where you going, Mom?”

  She waved Neil’s question away. “Just the restroom. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  I stood up and headed toward the oven. “Normally, they’re right. Neil and I bring whatever day-olds are left at the bakery. But
not tonight, folks. We sold out of everything.” I slipped the oven mitt on my hand and pointed at Neil. “Even the Pop-Tarts and cheesecake. So, tonight’s dessert is…” I bent to retrieve the hot cast iron skillet from the oven and placed it in the center of the table on a hot plate “Chocolate chip cookie ‘pizza’!”

  “Holy shit,” Finn said.

  “It’s a giant chocolate chip cookie, with melted chocolate and peanut butter drizzled on top. M&Ms. And, of course… we will add a scoop of ice cream and homemade whipped cream to every slice.”

  “Oh my God,” Chloe whispered, pressing her palms to her stomach. “I think I just had a teeny-tiny orgasm.”

  My laugh caught me by surprise. A sharp, loud barking sound that echoed in the kitchen as I cut a slice and handed it to her. “Well, if hearing about it causes an orgasm, prepare yourself. You’re about to become a squirter.”

  Finn, Addy, and Chloe laughed, while Neil’s face twisted in disgust. “Oh my God, you guys. Get it out now before Mom comes back.”

  I grabbed whipped cream and ice cream from the freezer and put them on the table as well.

  Addy took a bite of her chocolate chip pie and shook her head. “So… you two are really just friends?” She said, pointing her fork between Chloe and me.

  I nodded, smiling at Chloe. “We are.”

  “Best friends,” she added, grinning.

  “Best friends who talk about squirting?” Neil asked, his voice grim.

  “Are there any other kind?” Chloe stood out of her seat and grabbed the whipped cream, splatting it onto Neil’s chocolate chip cookie. She wiggled her brows at him as she did it. “Remind you of anything?”

  The entire table busted out laughing, Neil included. I had to admit, it was the first time I’d seen him laugh since breaking up with Elaina.

  Mom came back into the room, her eyes bright. “What’d I miss?”

  Finn’s shoulders bounced as he tried to suppress his laughter, and Chloe licked errant whipped cream off her thumb. “Liam and I were just telling everyone about what good friends we’ve become this week.”

  Mom beamed, brushing her hand to my cheek. “That’s sweet.”

  Chloe took a bite of her chocolate chip slice and moaned. “Oh my God. It really is ridiculously good. You have to put this on the menu of the food truck.”

  Neil blinked, looking back and forth between me and Chloe. “So… that’s for real? That truck outside isn’t some weird Chloe Dyker prank?”

  “I didn’t even know you wanted to open a food truck,” Finn said.

  “Me neither,” Neil added.

  Only Mom and Addy remained quiet… they were the only two people I had mentioned the idea to. But even that was a year ago. Before the craziness of Beefcakes took off.

  I shrugged, trying to downplay the idea. “It was a passing thought—”

  “Liam,” Mom whispered. “Tell them.”

  “Tell me what?” Neil pressed.

  I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Okay, fine. Yes, I’ve been wanting to open a food truck. I’ve been thinking about it for a couple years now, and while I love helping out at the bakery, I always thought a food truck would be a really fun way to branch out.”

  Neil’s dark brows knitted together. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  I shrugged. “When would I have told you? Amidst the viral video turmoil? Or while you were filming the reality show? There wasn’t a lot of time—”

  “In two years? In a year, there was never time to talk about your dreams?” Neil gestured to Chloe. “And now… you’re going into business with Chloe Dyker? Seriously?”

  “I think you’ll make a smart business partner,” Mom said to Chloe, taking a bite of her cookie.

  I nodded. “Chloe is shrewd and has a background in business and marketing. Her work helping us promote Beefcakes on TikTok – whatever the heck that is – is already showing results.

  “And she’ll push Liam to take risks while Liam will help keep her feet on the ground,” Mom added. “It’s wise to partner with someone who has different assets than you.”

  “And she apparently bought a truck without consulting Liam,” Neil said, gesturing to the driveway.

  “Yeah,” I scrunched my nose at Chloe. I didn’t exactly want to talk to her about this with my family here. But Neil had a point… I would have looked at Kelly Blue Book and price shopped.

  Chloe rolled her eyes. “I got it for such a good price, there wasn’t time to call Liam and have him look, too. Besides… I took the money I was supposed to use to buy a new recliner and bought the truck instead.”

  “Damn,” Finn whispered. “How much was that recliner going to be?”

  “Yeah, the truck was quite a bit more than a chair, but, Liam, you said a food truck is usually in the twelve-thousand-dollar range, right?”

  I nodded, narrowing my eyes at her. “Yeah…”

  “This truck was only three thousand!”

  I winced. “There’s probably a reason for that. Does it even work?”

  “You saw me drive it up.”

  “Does the kitchen section work?”

  “The burners and the fryers do.” She worried her bottom lip between her teeth. “But you said yourself… we can make most of the items at the bakery.”

  I swiped my palm down my face. “Did you at least get the truck inspected before you bought it?” Addy asked.

  “Um…sort of.”

  Shit. “Look… why don’t we have a meeting tomorrow and talk about those details?” I said. I really, really didn’t want to continue this conversation in front of my family.

  Neil snorted and pushed an M&M around his plate. “Way to go, guys. The food truck is off to a real good start.”

  “Hey!” Chloe slammed her fork onto the table. “Liam and this whole family have been nothing but supportive to you and your dreams. Can’t you do the same for your little brother?”

  “What do you know about my family or my dreams?” Neil snapped back.

  “I know you left for LA years ago to pursue lifting and stunt work. I know you always wanted to be a baker and create healthy baked goods. And I know that you are planning to open up a stunt training center here in town… yeah,” she added. “You all talk really loudly, and this condo is small enough to hear everything. I know enough that your family was thrilled for you when you delivered that news, and yet you’re being a total dick to Liam upon learning about his dream. No wonder he didn’t tell you.” Chloe stood, grabbing her purse. “I think I lost my appetite. Thank you, Liam, for a great dinner.”

  Mom’s brow arched at Neil. “She’s right.” Her words stopped Chloe in her tracks midway to the front door.

  Neil’s head snapped up. “What?”

  “She’s right,” Mom repeated.

  “I am?” Chloe asked.

  Mom nodded. “Neil, I love you. But you’re being a jerk. And this family might have given you grief for how you left… but we never once made you feel guilty or stupid for why you left.”

  Neil blinked, his cheeks turning a shade of a pink I’d never seen on him before. He muttered a curse and pushed his fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled, his eyes flicking briefly to me before landing back on his beer. “I… I’ve been in a shit mood lately and I guess I’ve sort of taken it out on you.”

  The corners of my mouth twitched, and I tried to give him a smile. “It’s okay. I know it’s been a hard week.”

  Mom cleared her throat, and her eyes flicked to the hallway where Chloe was still standing. “You have another apology.”

  “I’m sorry, Chloe,” Neil called to her and she slowly came back into the kitchen. “I mean, I do think you should probably consult with your partner before making big decisions like buying the truck. But I shouldn’t have said that other stuff.”

  Just as quickly as her fury came on… it was gone. The scowl was replaced with an ear to ear grin that crinkled the bridge of her nose in the smallest, cutest way, and she launched he
rself at Neil, hugging him around the neck. “Apology accepted.”

  I wondered if both Dyker sisters were that quick to forgive… and something told me Neil was wondering the same thing.

  9

  Liam

  After dinner, Addy bolted, heading to her bar to work a late shift. And Finn went home to go to sleep since he was helping us tomorrow at the bakery, taking Mom home on his way. That left Neil, Chloe, and me, doing dishes and tidying up after the dinner.

  “You seriously don’t have a dishwasher?” Chloe asked.

  I tugged on the stainless-steel door, showing her the dishwasher that hadn’t been working for four months. “I have a dishwasher. It’s just broken.”

  I left out the fact that I tried to fix it myself and increased the problem tenfold. What would have been a couple hundred dollars to fix turned into me needing to get a whole new dishwasher after I took my wrench to the damn thing. “Now it’s fancy storage for my pots and pans until I can replace it.”

  “They have sales on appliances, like, every couple of months at—”

  She didn’t get to finish her thought and instead, as she turned to face me, the wet wine glass slipped from her hand and shattered in the sink. “Shit!” she cried out, and I came rushing over from where I was folding the tablecloth.

  “You okay?”

  She clicked her tongue and examined her fingers. “Yeah… yeah I think so. Crap, I’m sorry.”

  I waved away her concern. “They’re like $3 from Target. You didn’t get cut, did you?”

  I took her hand in mine, turning it over, looking for any blood. She pointed to her chipped pinky nail and sighed. “I’m fine, Liam. Unless you count a broken nail as an emergency.”

  I grinned and tried not to focus on how soft her skin was as I released my hold on her hand. “A broken nail? Maybe I could call the ambulance?”

  She grinned, but quickly shrugged, pretending to be hurt. “I am a single woman now. And I’ve heard EMT guys can be pretty cute.”