Oh. My. God.
Say my name again! Say it again!
My teeth sank into my lip, and I was pretty sure I was going to leave marks from how hard I was biting. I hadn’t had a guy light my fire in a long time. Maybe it was because he was playing the part of James—my favorite character I’d written so far. He made me swoon in nearly every chapter.
Is Liam the swooning type? I wondered.
“We’d better let Liam get back to work. They’re on a tight schedule,” Allysa said while glancing between Liam and me.
“Oh, yes, right. Well, it was nice meeting you, Liam,” I said, extending my hand toward him.
He took it and placed a soft kiss on the back of it. When I turned to follow Allysa out, I felt a hand on my arm, pulling me to a stop.
“Join me for bevvies this evening.” His husky voice slid against my ear.
My eyes scanned the room. No one was paying attention to Liam and me. We had fallen behind everyone. Turning to him, I lifted a brow. “What in the heck is a bevvie?”
He chuckled. “Join me for a beer later?”
I chewed on the corner of my lip. Digging into my oversized purse, I found a card in the little pocket and handed it over. “I’d love to. Here’s my card. It has my cell on it.”
Spinning on my heel, I walked out the door with a huge smile.
Well, my trip just took a turn toward fun.
I see your UPS man, Jen, and raise you a hot Australian actor.
“What do you mean you’re meeting a guy for dinner?” Waylynn asked as we strolled through the shoe department at Bergdorf Goodman.
“He’s doing the voice recording for my audiobook. It’s fine, Waylynn. I didn’t pick the guy up on the side of the road and ask him to fuck me.”
“You want him to fuck you?” she asked, surprise lacing her voice.
Laughing, I replied, “Well, now that you ask, I don’t think I would mind trying out Aussie dick.”
She slapped me on the shoulder and shook her head. “You’re bad.”
I gave her a wink. “Not yet.”
“Ugh. Where did my baby sister go?”
“She grew up. And excuse me, wasn’t it you who set me up with Doctor Hot Pants the last time I was here? If I remember correctly, he and I had a lot of fun together. Matter of fact, I think that was the last time I actually had real sex.”
Waylynn stopped walking. “Real sex?”
“Yeah, sex with something other than a battery operated device.”
Two older women walked by and huffed, shooting both of us dirty looks.
“Manny Tate was your last hook up?”
I snapped my fingers. “Manny! That’s his name.” I looked up in thought and smiled. “Yeah, he certainly knew what he was doing with his hands.”
“TMI, Meli. T-M-I!”
I picked up a pair of Jimmy Choos and frowned at the price tag. I owned one pair, and I had spent weeks in despair over paying so much for them. Unlike my sister, standing next to me in her expensive-ass Manolo Blahnik pumps that must have cost her over a thousand dollars, I couldn’t spend money that way. Or course, she was also married to one of the richest men in New York City and was told to dress the part. When she was at home she was in yoga pants, an old T-shirt, and a pair of Converse sneakers. Out in public she had to be dressed to the nines to fit in with the Who’s Who of New York City socialites. I knew she hated it.
“So, how come you’re not dating anyone?” she asked.
Letting out a gruff laugh, I said, “Hello? Do you not remember Ryan?”
She turned to me and frowned. “You’re not still hung up on him, are you?”
“God, no. But I won’t ever let myself be hurt like that again.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? You’re never going to date again?”
I shrugged. “I’ll date when I find a guy I connect with. One I can trust. It just hasn’t happened yet. Pretty much all men are cheating pigs.”
“Our brothers aren’t.”
Turning to her, I lifted my brow. “They’re manwhores. They can’t cheat on women because they won’t date them seriously in the first place. I can’t tell you how many women Trevor and Cord have slept with. Trevor’s banged pretty much every single one of my friends. Three of whom have yet to talk to me since he broke their hearts.”
Waylynn laughed. “Well, any woman in Oak Springs should know the Parker boys are not the settling-down type.”
“Well, they all thought they could settle him down. Needless to say, he proved them wrong. Besides, I don’t believe in love anymore.”
Waylynn stopped walking. “What? You make your living writing about love and you say you don’t believe in it?”
I shrugged. “I guess I believe in it. But I don’t think it will happen for me. I thought I had it once, but spending so much time with Steed and Paxton, I see what Ryan and I had was nothing more than physical attraction. When it wore off for him, he moved on.”