Sugarlips (Beefcakes Book 2) by Katana Collins (latest books to read TXT) 📕

feel his desire. I could feel how much he wanted me, and I hated how badly I wanted him, too.

“Why are you resisting this?” Elaina asked, shaking her head. “I thought you liked him?”

‘Like’ didn’t even begin to cover my feelings for Liam. “I was engaged a couple of months ago, Elaina. I’ve never been alone for more than a few weeks at any given time after a breakup.” I glanced behind me to see if he was anywhere nearby. Even though I was tucked safely inside my car, I was parked in his driveway. I only had a few minutes before I needed to run inside and help him change for our taping of Coffee Talk with Jill and Bruce, but I didn’t want to miss my video chat with Elaina. Funny enough, she and I were talking more now that she was in Hungary. “Just because we like each other doesn’t mean we’re right for each other.”

Elaina pushed her lips into a firm line, thoughtfully. “Tell me something good about him. Something that makes you swoon?”

How long does she have? That list could fill a notebook. I smiled and stated one of the smaller moments that made me feel so deeply for him. “He’s a cuddler,” I said. It was so simple, but it meant everything to me that night. Dan hated cuddling. He would be too hot or too sweaty or just want to go to sleep after sex. But not Liam—at least, not in my limited experience.

My sister groaned. “How can you make that sound so dirty?” she laughed.

My eyes went wide. “It’s not dirty! He just likes to cuddle!”

She rolled her eyes. “Sure he does… with his penis.”

She made it sound so naughty, but it was adorably innocent. Even though we’d had a million things to do the morning after we’d had sex, he had pulled me into him and held me—his leg slung over my body, his arm tucking me into his side, his nose buried in my neck, his pelvis pushed against my…

Okay, maybe she had a point.

I scrunched my nose. “Don’t talk about Liam’s penis, please.”

Her brows disappeared beneath her side swept blond bangs. “I won’t if you won’t.”

I laughed at that, missing my sister, even though she’d only been gone a few days. Two weeks was going to be excruciating.

Elaina grinned at me from her part of the world—even though it was only 3:00 p.m. here in New Hampshire with sunlight filtering in through my car’s open window, it was nighttime where she was. In the last few days, Liam and I had formed a perfectly lovely pattern. Wake up before the sun. Bake until our fingers are numb. Then, I opened Beefcakes with Finn while Liam trained Jeremy, the new guy. By mid-afternoon, we each dragged ourselves home (or to the cot in his office) and collapsed for a nap before we opened the food truck in the evenings.

But today was different. Today, we had our big segment with Bruce and Jill and though I couldn’t speak for Liam, I was nervous as hell. Even though it was a morning show, we were pre-taping part of our segment this afternoon and getting shots of us working the truck tonight.

Elaina sat cross-legged on her bed in a silky tank top, grinning at me like a maniac. “You look happy,” I said, noting her beaming smile and the golden tan that kissed her skin, even in the low light of the evening. “You’re grinning so much, it looks like you’ve got a watermelon slice wedged between your lips.”

Elaina laughed and dropped her face into her hands. “I know. I know. It’s ridiculous.”

“It’s not,” I said quietly. “It’s beautiful. You deserve it.” My sister had been through hell and back, and apparently so had Neil. Despite all odds, they were making it work. It gave the rest of us hope.

“You deserve it, too, you know,” she said, suddenly very serious. “Liam’s a good guy. He’d be good for you.”

My smile faded. He’d be good for me. I heard that a lot. Like he could somehow tame the wild beast that was Chloe Dyker.

“What?” Elaina said, picking up on my shift in mood almost immediately. “What did I say?” That was the beauty of Elaina. She didn’t assume something was wrong with you. She always wondered where she went wrong first.

“He is good for me,” I said. “But I’m not good for him, Elaina.”

“That’s not true,” Elaina answered with quiet resolve. “You are good for him. Don’t let the voices from your past convince you otherwise.”

I forced a smile. Elaina was a good sister. The best. She loved me so much that she couldn’t see the situation all that clearly.

Elaina and I hung up so that she could go to bed… although I doubted there would be much sleep happening there. She and Neil were clearly in that phase where they couldn’t get enough of each other. I got out of the car and texted Liam to let him know I was here.

Come in, he texted back. Just getting out of the shower.

I let myself in and wandered down the hallway, pausing to look at the family photos he had framed on the wall. Pictures of him and his brothers rough housing and Addy in the background wearing some sort of red feather boa.

I chuckled. There couldn’t be a more accurate depiction of all four of them. The pictures morphed as they got older, but their personalities shined through no less. Addy always seemed to have a flair for dramatics and moodiness; Neil was front and center with a devilishly brooding grin; Finn always seemed to be doing something goofy and endearing… and almost always had a football or basketball in his hands. But Liam, on the other hand, faded into the background more and more with each passing year as they aged in the photos. Almost like the more outgoing his siblings became, the more he retreated into himself.

It made sense to me;