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

again, Liam leaned into me. “Is that a good idea? You two weren’t on great terms after that news broadcast.”

I waved Liam’s concern away. “Seriously, if it doesn’t bother me, it shouldn’t bother you. Besides, he apologized.”

“He did? When?”

“Today,” I answered, sipping the apology wine.

“With wine,” Tanja clarified, wiggling her brows. “Any guy that plows me with wine is okay in my book.”

I giggled at that, but instead of correcting her mistake, I said, “Any guy who plows you at all, am I right?”

She lifted her glass. “Here, here!”

“That’s exciting for you… a new client. Just be careful,” Liam said.

I pinched his chin, dipping my finger into his chin dimple. “I will, grandpa.” I wasn’t worried. I could handle Nick.

He scowled at me over-dramatically, his forehead wrinkling like a cartoon of an old man, and he gave me his best shaky, old man voice. “Now listen here, little lady…” He slapped his hand on the bar top, and clutched between his fingers, was an envelope.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Oh, this?” He dropped the old man act and waved the opened letter in front of my face. “Just a little invitation to an exclusive New Hampshire Entrepreneur networking event.”

His eyes went wider than his grin.

“What?” I reached for the letter, tearing it from his grasp and skimming over it. “This could be huge for Beefcakes! Congratulations!”

But as my eyes read over the words… it wasn’t for Beefcakes.

“It’s for us,” Liam said. “For The Dump Truck. And…”

“… for Sugarlips PR & Marketing.” I was rendered speechless. “Tanja, didn’t you go to this last year when you were working with that talent agency?”

She glanced over at the letterhead, uninterested. “Oh yeah. They had shit champagne for such a fancy affair.”

“The fact that we’re both invited is huge.” I paused, turning the letter over as though the answers to my questions might be written on the back side. “How did they even know about Sugarlips PR & Marketing? I’m not exactly a household name yet.”

“Word has probably gotten around at how successfully Beefcakes has been doing since we signed with you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Word got around.” I threw air quotes around the sentence. “As in, you’ve been telling people?”

“Not just me. Neil, Finn, my mom. They’re all so impressed with how you’ve helped us branch out. And let’s not forget the most influential and most proud people in this town… your parents and sister.”

Was it cheesy that I wanted to keep the letter and frame it? It was. So cheesy. Even still, I smoothed the wrinkles with my palm before folding it and tucking it into my clutch.

Tanja gave another heavy sigh and put her hand up for Nick. “If you guys are going to talk business, I’m getting the check.”

Nick nodded as he came over with Liam’s beer. “One check or two?”

“Two—” I said, just as Tanja answered with, “One.”

My stomach tightened. Did she seriously expect me to pay for this round? It was one thing when I had the money, living with Dan. But this was different. I pressed my lips into a line. “Oh, do you just want to split it fifty-fifty?” I asked as calmly as I could.

She glanced quickly at Liam. “And pay for half of Liam’s beer? No thanks.”

“Oh, I’ll pay for my beer. It’s only $3 for happy hour, anyway,” he said and innocently grabbed his wallet out of his back pocket.

I could feel the heat of anger crawling up my neck until I thought I might look like a cartoon character with steam coming out of my ears. “So, then, when you asked for one check …” I paused, letting my words suspend in the air between us. Say it, I willed her. Admit that you expected me to pay.

To her credit, her cheeks flushed pink and she looked away from me, down at the bar. “I… I guess I wasn’t thinking. It was a force of habit.”

“I’ll get this one,” Liam said, lifting the check to look at it. “For crashing girls’ night early.”

“There,” Tanja smiled, pleased with herself. “All worked out.”

I slapped my hand down over his. “Don’t you dare,” I said to Liam. “You didn’t crash anything. You and I had plans and this happy hour was a surprise add-on to our manicure date.” I looked to Tanja. “We should split this.” I didn’t bring up the fact that she and I had already gotten a free glass of wine from Nick, and I had gifted her the bottle of nail polish as a small surprise. With our wines being on the happy hour menu, the whole bill was less than $15.

She glared at me and shoved her stool back. “Fine,” she said, her scowl quickly shifting to a sweet smile. “You’re right. No big deal.” She pulled a few folded bills out of her wallet and tossed them casually onto the bar. “I’ll see you Sunday for brunch, right?”

It was like friendship whiplash. “Um… yeah.”

“Great! Bye Liam. Kisses!” She was already halfway across the bar, blowing us kisses from over her shoulder before disappearing out the front door.

“What the hell was that about?” Liam asked.

I sighed and grabbed the bills she had tossed onto the bar, unfolding them. Three dollars. Three dollars folded together that didn’t even cover the cost of her drink. “That’s just Tanja,” I said, feeling suddenly exhausted.

“That’s just Tanja?” he repeated, throwing air quotes around the phrase. “If anyone deserves the Tasmanian devil tag, it’s her, not you. She left here in a whirlwind.”

I tugged a twenty-dollar bill out of my wallet and tossed it down with the check. As his brows lifted, he put down some of his own cash. “I can only imagine the two of you in undergrad… all girls gone wild.”

I snorted. “Hardly. I was more known for my success in the beer pong tournaments. Tanja was the one collecting beads.”

He scrunched his nose. “I would have slaughtered you in beer pong, you know.”

“Oh really? Were there lots of beer pong tournaments over at