Sugarlips (Beefcakes Book 2) by Katana Collins (best love novels of all time TXT) 📗

“I’ve been texting you,” Chloe said.

Elaina grimaced. “I’m sorry… I had my phone on silent.”

She hung an expensive looking bag on the coat rack near the door and crossed quickly into the kitchen, sliding into the empty chair next to her mom.

Chloe nodded. “So,” she said, clapping her hands together. “As you all know, we are starting our food truck! The Dump Truck—catering junk food to people who’ve just been dumped!”

Addy’s face screwed into a frown, sending her forehead into a fit of wrinkles. I rolled my eyes at my consistently pessimistic sister. Not that I could blame her… I was the same damn way. It was one of the few ways you could tell we were twins. “What?” I snapped at her.

“The Dump Truck?” she repeated. “It sounds like you run a sanitation service, not a food truck. It’s not exactly appetizing.”

Chloe’s mom clicked her tongue. “She’s got a point, sweetie.”

For the first time since we hatched this plan, I saw Chloe’s vibrato stutter. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, and the lines of her throat tightened. “Well, we didn’t call you here to critique the name of the food truck. But we will take that into consideration.”

I pushed one covered plate forward to the center of the table. “Anyway, we are trying to keep the menu small and the food relatively simple. We want most of the items to be pre-baked since we don’t have a full working kitchen in the truck yet.”

“But our kitchenette passed the inspection with flying colors,” Chloe added, rolling her shoulders back with pride.

“So, for the first menu item…” I uncovered the plate, presenting them with the first set of things we’ll offer in the truck. “A Daily Donut. This one is our ‘peanut butter and jelly’ filled donut and will be our launch day flavor.”

Each family member reached out and took a donut, except for Chloe’s parents who broke one in half and shared it.

“It’s delicious,” Mrs. Dyker said, smiling.

“We’re thinking they should be $1.99 each with an option to buy half a dozen for $9.99 or a dozen for $19.99.”

Finn finished his donut in two bites, and as he was reaching for another, Chloe smacked his hand. I nearly barked a laugh. I’d never seen a woman keep Finn in line—not even our own damn mother. “We’ve got four more things for you to try!” Chloe said. “Don’t fill up on donuts.”

“Next, we have something for the patrons who prefer salty to sweet. Fried mac & cheese balls.” As I spoke, Chloe lifted the plate cover. “They’re like my special version of arancini. These will be on the menu every day and they will come with five balls per order.”

Addy’s eyes went wide and she dove for the first one, biting into it. “Oh yeah,” she moaned. “These are amazing.”

I grinned at my twin, knowing she loved them. I created that recipe initially for her after she sprained her ankle a few years ago, and she’d requested them every year on her birthday ever since.

“We’re not really sure what to charge for them, so we’d really love to know your thoughts,” Chloe said.

“Keep in mind,” I added, “I can partially prepare them ahead of time, but they need to be fried to order, so they’re a little more time intensive.”

My mom spoke up first. “I wouldn’t go higher than $5.99… but I think they would sell better at $4.99.”

“A dollar per ball doesn’t leave a wide margin for profit,” Elaina said.

“Could you do four per serving instead of five at that price?” Mr. Dyker asked.

Chloe looked up from where she was taking notes, quirking her brow at me.

“Probably,” I said. “As long as they feel they’re still getting a good deal.”

“We could make four balls, slightly larger than this so they fill up the paper bowl we serve them in,” Chloe said, and I nodded. That could work.

“Knock, knock,” Neil’s deep voice called from the front door, and he poked his head inside.

“Neil! Glad you could make it.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Elaina’s shoulders stiffen as he entered the house and carefully sat across from her at the table, beside our mom.

Just like Elaina, tension knotted in my shoulders, and my gaze kept bouncing between Neil and Elaina like a tennis match. A very silent tennis match.

Much to my contrary, though, Chloe was as relaxed as ever, and she smiled warmly at Neil. “Thanks so much for coming,” she said.

He gave her a nod and his smile, like mine, was tight. “Of course.”

“Right… well… we, uh, asked ourselves what’s the one most cliché thing people reach for after a breakup?”

“A dartboard?” Elaina asked, blinking innocently enough, but her smile was sadistic.

Neil snorted and rolled his eyes.

“Um… no.” I cleared my throat and crossed to Chloe’s freezer to pull out the next menu item.

“Ice cream!” Chloe exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. “But we realized we couldn’t just serve ice cream, so we made chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches.”

I grinned and passed out the ice cream sandwiches to everyone. “We made ice cream sandwiches?” As I passed by her, I poked her in the ribs playfully.

Chloe rolled her eyes and giggled, poking me right back. “Well, they were my idea.”

I laughed. “Sure, sure. Fair enough. I’m not about to go toe-to-toe with Chloe Dyker.”

“Damn straight!” she laughed.

From across the table, I saw Elaina’s eyes narrow on us, and I blinked, realizing how closely we were standing to each other. My body was angled toward Chloe and her shoulder was almost nestled against my chest.

I coughed and stepped back with a quick glance at Neil who was sitting back in his chair, his arms crossed protectively over his chest.

Elaina took a small nibble of her ice cream cookie sandwich and her nose scrunched with scrutiny. Chloe sent me a nervous glance before saying, “These will be a bit more expensive at $5.99 because it’s two cookies plus the