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

While our parents and Addy and Finn nodded in approval, eating their ice cream sandwiches, Elaina’s silence spoke louder than any words could.

“Is there… a problem?” Chloe asked her sister.

Elaina cleared her throat and shrugged. “Nope. It’s just not my cup of tea.”

To my left, Neil snorted, and I quickly spoke to cover up the sound. “Any thoughts on how I could improve the recipe?”

From the way Elaina glared at Neil from across the table, my attempt to cover up his snort did not go too well. “Maybe I just don’t like cookies that much.”

“I’ve seen you take down an entire tube of raw cookie dough in a single sitting,” Chloe snapped, folding her arms.

“Well, it’s no yogurt and almonds,” Neil said, referencing the simple lunch that Elaina ate almost every day. “Maybe if you used frozen yogurt instead of ice cream, she would like it.”

Elaina launched to her feet with such force that I thought for a second she was going to dive across the table and smack Neil... over freaking yogurt. “Maybe it’s okay that I have different preferences than other people. Maybe my sister respects my boundaries.”

Finn’s brows creased as he looked between them. “Your boundaries about… ice cream?” he asked.

“Yes,” both Neil and Elaina snapped at the same time.

“But maybe those boundaries you set for yourself are actually stifling the thing you really want,” Neil threw back at her.

“How do you know what I want? What if you’re just projecting what you want onto me?”

“You still talking about ice cream?” Addy prodded this time. Except she knew full well that her little question was tossing a single piece of raw meat into a lion’s den.

“Yes!” They both cried once more.

“Okay,” I said carefully. “We’ll take into consideration some sort of frozen yogurt dessert—”

“Don’t bother,” Elaina said. “If you’ll excuse me, I have work I need to finish up.”

“It’s seven-thirty in the evening—” Chloe started, but she was cut off by the sound of Elaina’s footsteps stomping upstairs to her bedroom.

“Me too,” Neil grunted, standing from his chair and heading to the door.

“But you just got here,” I called after him.

The only response was the front door slamming shut behind him.

“Well,” Chloe sighed, “that could have gone better.”

“Are you two done playing matchmaker?” Mom whispered.

“We weren’t,” I said.

Chloe sighed and flopped down into a chair at the table, reaching for a donut. “I’m not sorry,” she said. “They need to talk. If not to each other, then they need to talk to someone about what happened.”

Chloe’s dad stood and dropped a quick kiss on the top of her head. “That may be, pumpkin. But none of us can force that to happen.” He offered me a hand to shake, which I did as he kindly smiled at me. “You have some tasty products here. I think you two will do well.”

Her mom stood as well and after giving Chloe a hug, she hugged me. “In two days, this town won’t know how it survived before, without a food truck.” She winked and pinched Chloe’s chin before they, too, left.

God, I hoped she was right.

13 Chloe

I didn’t see Elaina at all the next day. Or the next evening, even though I had cooked us a squash casserole for dinner. I left her a plate covered with a note, and at around ten that evening, I heard her come home.

The next morning, I was up early. The coffee was made. I scrambled some eggs. Elaina came downstairs, dressed in her normal pant suit and sputtered to a brief stop, eyeing me carefully. “You’re up early. Doesn’t the truck open at lunch time?”

The flutter of excitement in my belly jolted, making me feel like I might throw up my coffee. “I couldn’t sleep,” I said calmly. “Nerves. Plus, Liam’s been up since three in the morning. The least I can do is help him load the truck up with the prepped food.” I slid a plate of scrambled eggs across the counter to Elaina.

She lifted a brow at the plate. “Breakfast this morning… casserole last night. You trying to butter me up?”

I shook my head no and poured myself more coffee. “Nope. Casseroles by their nature are pretty big, so I figured I’d share. And like I said this morning… nerves.” I cleared my throat and stirred my spatula into the eggs, breaking them up. “You were late coming home last night.”

“Yeah…” Elaina started, sounding uncharacteristically quiet. I glanced over my shoulder and poured my eggs onto a second plate, turning off the burner and joining her at the island counter. “… I, um, was meeting with a realtor and went to see a couple houses.”

My heart sputtered. “You’re moving out? But… you just got here?”

Elaina sighed and took a tiny bite of eggs. “I’ve been here a couple weeks and… I don’t know, Chloe. Maybe it’s time we get back to normal. Each have our own place. Hell, I haven’t ever even had a place that was entirely mine. It’ll be good for me. For us.”

“Is this about Liam?”

“No.” She answered too quickly, and based on the shifting movement of her eyes, she knew it. With a sigh, she added, “Okay, maybe a little. You two seemed… close yesterday.”

“Well, we are close. We’re opening a business together. And we’re friends. He was here for me the night Dan left me.”

With her eyes cast down, she refused to meet my eyes and instead pushed the eggs around her plate. “You promised me…”

My gaze narrowed and even though she didn’t finish the thought, I knew the promise she was referring to. The promise that I wouldn’t date Liam. “And I’ve kept that promise. Nothing’s happened between Liam and me.” Other than that one kiss the night things ended with Dan. But I reassured myself that that was before our pinky promise.

She held my gaze a moment longer, and I could see the wheels turning as she assessed whether or not I was telling