by Mia Ashlinn
“Rafe!” Katie-Anne’s squeal barely shot out of her mouth before she jumped out of her seat and threw herself at her close friend and business associate. “What are you doing here? I thought you couldn’t make it.”
He chuckled as he caught Katie-Anne in a giant bear hug. “I said that I wasn’t positive if I could.”
“Semantics,” Katie-Anne retorted.
With a sensual smile, Rafe winked then stopped suddenly. His eyes grew wide and amazingly large, his tanned face paling. “U–u–uh” he stammered before stopping again. With a shake of his head, he broke eye contact with whoever he’d seen.
Following Rafe’s line of vision, Sarah saw that he’d been looking at Brooklyn. Or better yet, he’d been staring at her. His scorching-hot, highly intense eye contact had been centered on the exotic-looking, slightly eccentric blonde. Interesting.
“I—” Brooklyn didn’t even finish her sentence before she leaped from her chair and took off, her blonde hair streaking behind her. If she hadn’t been watching her, Sarah would have probably missed the red blur running for the bathroom.
Um, what just happened here?
Rafe shook his head a second and third time, confusing Sarah even further. “Where is Lainey, mia tesoro?” he asked Katie-Anne, changing the subject suddenly. “I need to speak with Lainey about…something. Now.”
“Oh,” Katie-Anne said. “She’s had some business come up with her sister and parents. She hopes that she’ll be able to swing by later.”
Rafe grunted. “Una strega.”
“No shit,” Katie-Anne agreed. “Leila’s a witch of the first degree.”
Nodding, Rafe muttered, “Well, I should probably say hello to the others.” He loosened his hold on Katie-Anne. “But I shall return for some quality time with the lovely ladies of Serenity very soon.” With that sexy promise and a sinful smile, he strode across the room to the throng of men around the television, drawing Sarah’s gaze to them as well.
As Rafe sat down next to Deke, Sarah couldn’t keep herself from admiring all of the men. Her adoring gaze drifted to the two she wanted but was terrified to have, Deke and Adam, who were chatting it up with Wyatt and Hale along with two of their security guys, Dominic and Calen. Then she wandered toward Micah, Noah, and Nathan Blaylock. The three conspicuously different brothers were apparently arguing over something while Caedon attempted to referee. Good luck with that. Continuing on, she eyeballed Jaycee, Katie-Anne, and Shannon’s men. They were the only ones actually watching the game. Surprise, surprise.
Finally, she settled on the adorable Tate Dawson, who stood frozen, staring at the door with two strange men and Ella’s mother standing in it. But he wasn’t there for long before he took off, literally running out of the bar and nearly knocking down the people in the process.
“Hayden? Jaxon?” Ella asked, confused. Then seeming to recover, she cursed, “Fuck,” as she took off after her fleeing brother.
“Well, wasn’t that dramatic?” Jaycee asked, turning to check on the twins and Kane in their respective Pack ‘n Plays. When she appeared to be satisfied that the babies were okay, she rotated back around. “Then again, it’s Serenity. And it’s Thanksgiving. We have to have some sort of drama. Otherwise, we’d be pretty fucking dull.”
Shannon smacked Jaycee on the back of her head. “Behave,” she scolded.
Jaycee shrugged. “It’s the truth. We aren’t exactly a calm bunch. We’re rowdy and loudmouthed, Shannon. So suck it up. Deal with it. What-the-fuck-ever.”
“Bite me,” Shannon retorted, sticking her tongue out.
“Maybe later,” Jaycee quipped with a sly grin. “Definitely later.”
Sarah just shook her head. This could go on for a while—unless someone stopped them. And Sarah did. She had something she wanted to ask. No, it was something she was dying to ask. If she was going to face the men about the Leila situation tomorrow, she preferred to prepare herself now. “What happened with Leila?”
Oh yeah, that shut them up. Every single person at the table turned to her. They stared, making her more than a little nervous, and she squirmed under their severe scrutiny. However, she held strong. She didn’t look away or change the subject like she once would have. Instead, she waited.
Much to her surprise, Ella’s older sister, Molly-Grace, answered, “She left town.” The quiet woman didn’t say any more than that. Her statement was simple, sweet, and to the point—like the woman was.
Frowning, Shannon nodded. “Brenton Sterling’s boyfriend got the scoop of the year when he overheard some of us talking about Leila the other night. He sold the story to the highest bidder after he attempted to blackmail our men, who pretty much gave him the finger.”
“Some scandal sheet ran with the story,” Jaycee added. “It hit the papers early this morning.”
“Oh.” Sarah gasped, not knowing what else to say. She’d suspected some of what had happened, just not all. A minute passed before she could gather her wits enough to speak. “What about Lainey?”
“Her parents kicked her out,” Molly-Grace replied. “So she’s moving in with us.”
“Why?” Sarah asked.
Molly-Grace glowered, appearing more menacing than Sarah had ever seen her. “Who knows why the psychos do anything.”
That was the truth if Sarah had ever heard it. Again, they all went silent. But there was one more thing Sarah had to know. “Are you all sad that you didn’t get your sweet revenge? Does it bother you that you didn’t get to serve her the sweetest dish?”
“No,” a clearly winded Ella said as she rejoined the party. “We got her out of town. That’s what matters. Besides, her scandal overshadowed mine and Katie-Anne’s. We couldn’t have worked it out any better than that.”
Ella’s answer surprised Sarah. She would have thought the women wanted to take her down personally. Obviously not.
“Actually, I’m relieved,” Jaycee said, sipping on her tea. “She helped me—in a really fucked up, twisted kind of way.”
Oddly, Sarah understood. And she told her so. “Me, too.”
Shannon nodded her agreement. “I think The Bitch helped us all see something about ourselves and about our lives. She did serve us the sweetest dish on a silver platter. Or at least she did me.” Pausing, she blotted tiny tears from the corner of her eyes with the napkin in front of her. “Love is the sweetest dish. Nothing is sweeter or tastes better. In the end, love is all that matters.”
She was right. Sarah knew it. Love was the sweetest dish. It was the only dish, in her opinion. Since her attack, she’d forgotten to enjoy life’s greatest pleasures. She hadn’t tasted the sweetest dish—not with the love of anyone, not even her friends and family. Emotionally, she’d shut them all out. Well, no more. Starting tomorrow, she would take a bite out of the sweetest dish. It might take her days, weeks, months, or even years. But she would find a way to enjoy the flavor and essence of love again because existing was no longer enough to sustain her. Merely living was not good enough. She wanted to love and be loved.
Peering over at Deke and Adam again, Sarah knew without a shadow of a doubt who would be able to help her heal, who she’d want by her side through the uphill battle she was about to fight. As soon as she gathered her courage and asked the two men, they’d be there for her in every way that counted.
Tomorrow, she promised herself one more time. We’ll talk—about everything.
“A toast to the truly sweetest dish,” Jaycee announced, lifting her glass high in the air. “May we all devour it every day of our lives.” She grinned wickedly then added, “Amongst other things.”
“Hear, hear,” Shannon called out as she mimicked Jaycee.
Katie-Anne grinned and picked up her drink. “I’ll drink to that,” she said.
One by one, each of the women raised their glasses to the sky. But before they drank, Sarah had one thing to add. “To friendship ménages. Without them, where would we be?”
Predictably, Jaycee, Shannon, and Katie-Anne had t
o have the last word. They looked at each other, answering, “In jail,” simultaneously, then fell into a fit of giggles.
Taking a sip of her drink, Sarah sighed. Love, laughter, friends, family, and a Thanksgiving none of them would ever forget. The sweetest dish never tasted so good.
THE END
WWW.MIAASHLINN.COM
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mia Ashlinn lives in East Tennessee in a charming house by a creek, only miles from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. When not writing, Mia splits her time between reading and culinary pursuits.
Prolific from a young age, Mia has read an exorbitant number of books. Mia’s reading interests cover a wide range, from romance to mystery and once even to a phone book, though she found it a little wordy for her tastes.
Mia fantasized about writing when she read her first romance novel at age ten. Unfortunately, life continually got in the way. Her daughter’s entry into school presented the perfect opportunity to follow her dreams. With the support of her husband, Mia began the adventure of writing, which culminated in the acceptance of her first manuscript with Siren Publishing.
Mia believes that grown-ups deserve their own fairy-tale romances with the happily ever after of their dreams. Her recipe for a fairy tale includes handsome heroes willing to share the heart of a captivating heroine all set in an unorthodox Kansas town. Mia sprinkles in a smidgeon of humor, a dash of romance, and a whole mess of naughtiness. What she serves up is a decadent treat she hopes her readers will devour.
Mia Ashlinn is happily married to a wonderful, loving man who has inspired her in more ways than he could ever know. He has given her the world in one very sassy drama queen who is the light of her life.
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