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

you said was spot on about the pizza delivery chains opening up nearby.” He rubbed at the back of his neck with a chagrined smile that looked more like a grimace.

Ah, yes. I saw that one franchise opened about ten miles outside of town. “Has business been hit because of that?”

He nodded and tapped a calloused finger to the stack of vouchers I had dropped off today from the food truck. “Thank God for your referral service. It balanced out the loss. Even still… I’d like to not have any loss.”

“What made you think of hiring me? Other than my comment about the delivery chains?”

“Look what’s become of your food truck? It’s the talk of the town… hell, the state. Plus, I saw that Beefcakes and The Dump Truck have now branched out and are offering delivery options all around the country. It just… it seems like you know what you’re doing.”

My heart slammed rapidly against my chest. Nerves and excitement collided in my belly. I loved this part of the job. Nick would be the first client of mine who wasn’t a friend. In fact, Nick was the furthest thing from a friend… if you had asked me a week ago, I would have said the man hated and resented me.

Beside me, Tanja gave an impatient sigh and spun in her barstool, perusing the male patrons sitting at the other end of the bar while she took a long sip of her wine.

I got a business card from my wristlet and slid it across the table to Nick. “Why don’t we have lunch in the next couple days? I’ll draw up some ideas and a contract with my fees and we’ll go from there.”

“Sugarlips Public Relations & Marketing,” he read from my card. “We’ll sweeten up your brand in no time!” He flicked a finger to the card before sliding it into his back pocket. “Catchy.”

I smiled and shrugged. “It’s what I do.”

When he walked away, I grabbed Tanja’s arm and squeezed it with an excited squeal. “A potential client!”

Tanja swiveled back to face me and looked bored, her half-hooded gaze drifting from Nick to me. “Your first client,” she said. There was something in her tone; a biting edge that bruised my skin.

“Not really… I’m doing a ton of work for Beefcakes. I’ve grown their revenue by forty percent—”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she interrupted. “Your first client who doesn’t want to sleep with you.”

My hair bristled and I shook my head, shocked at what she was saying to me. “That’s not why Liam hired me.”

She rolled her eyes, but softened it with a small smile. “Come one, Chloe. You got a job because he was into you and wanted to spend more time with you. It’s fine. We’ve all been there.” She lifted her glass and tapped the edge of it to mine. “And now you can leverage that position you had with Beefcakes for more clients and more work.”

Is that what people thought? I wasn’t sure which was worse—the idea that people would think I was sleeping with Liam for the work, or that people thought I only got the job because Liam was trying to get into my pants. Both options were so degrading. And the fact that it was coming from my best friend made it so much worse.

I paused, watching her from over my glass that was still almost entirely full. Hers was already half gone. How had we drifted apart so much in the last few months? Wasn’t she supposed to have my back?

My thoughts were interrupted by Liam entering the bar and rushing toward us. His cheeks were flushed and his green eyes were wide and bright with excitement.

“Hey guys,” he said and slid into the stool beside me. His greeting was quickly disrupted by Tanja’s scoff beside us. I took a deep breath.

Maybe she’s just in a bad mood, I thought. Give her some grace.

“Liam, you remember Tanja, right?”

She gave a little wiggle of her fingers and he nodded at her. “Yeah, of course. Hi, Tanja. How’s it going?”

“Girls night was going well,” she snapped. Liam’s eye slid to mine and it took everything in me not to roll them into the back of my head.

“Girls night? We don’t have to—”

“It was an impromptu girl’s night,” I said. “We’re just finishing up our happy hour.”

“And you’re ten minutes early,” Tanja added. Though she smiled, there was venom in her words.

“I’m sorry.” Liam seemed a little startled by Tanja’s reaction, and frankly, so was I. Countless girls’ nights and brunches in the past had been disrupted by her dates. I remembered one day in particular where she spent the whole lunch literally Facetiming her boyfriend who was in Atlanta shooting a film. Not to mention the amount of nights she would leave early for a booty call or run off to the VIP section with some guy she met at the bar.

“I can come back in a few minutes,” Liam said.

I clutched his arm as he moved away, tugging him back into me. “No,” I said. “It’s fine.”

Tanja’s reaction to Liam was perplexing… to word it nicely. She never acted this way around Dan. Then again, he rarely ever invaded girl time.

“You sure?” Liam asked.

“Of course. Right Tanja?”

She gave us both a smile and for a moment, I thought it was genuine.

He leaned in, lifting my wine glass and sniffing it. “Guess who just hired me to help with his marketing?” I whispered.

“Who?”

I flicked my eyes at Nick, pouring a draft for someone at the opposite end of the bar.

Not very subtly, Liam craned his head, searching for who I was gesturing to.

Tanja rolled her eyes. “For God’s sake. It’s Nick.”

“What’s up?” Nick called to us, having heard his name.

I froze, feeling caught red-handed for talking about him. But Liam, ever casual, held up a hand in a quick wave. “I’ll take a pilsner,” he said, not quite warm and friendly, but also not overtly aggressive either. Once Nick seemed occupied once