or so. Since she spends so little time there, maybe the legendary ‘funk’ won’t affect her. As to the money pit aspect, Rocky pulled Sam in to set that house to rights. I’m betting his repairs stick. That man’s amazing.”
Rae’s stomach rolled with guilt. She hadn’t heard from Sam since Luke had told him to back off. She felt bad that she’d caused friction between the two cousins. She felt worse thinking she’d hurt Sam’s feelings. They’d formed a friendship of sorts and she’d pretty much botched it. She needed to mend that bridge, but she wasn’t sure how. One thing was certain, she couldn’t avoid Sam forever. He’d be at the CL meeting on Thursday for sure.
“When Rocky gets back,” Chloe said, “maybe she can pick Harper’s brain.”
“Why wait?’ Daisy asked. “Sam bailed on dinner last night because he’s set on putting that house to rights as quickly as possible. Means he’s spending a lot of time there. I’ll ask him to pick Harper’s brain. That way we can have even more specifics for Thursday.”
“Couldn’t hurt,” Chloe said.
“I guess not,” Rae said.
“I’ll text him right now,” Daisy said while whipping out her phone.
“Why not just call?” Rae asked.
Daisy rolled her eyes. “That’s so yesterday.”
Chloe grinned then reached over and squeezed Rae’s hand. “So what about the rest of your day? How did it go with the bank?”
Rae smiled back, anxious to share her good news and knowing Chloe would encourage her to share every detail. “Sugar Tots is as good as mine.”
TWENTY-FOUR
Sam was in the liquor store when his phone pinged for the twentieth time in the last hour. He’d been trading texts, sexy texts with Harper. If he didn’t know better, he’d think he’d been possessed by a twenty-year-old. Sam was almost forty. He texted out of necessity, not on the norm. He sure as hell didn’t thumb racy thoughts into his phone and hit Send.
Except for tonight.
She’d started it. He’d just gotten Ben and Mina settled with a bucket of fried chicken when Harper had sent him her first note.
GET OVER HERE SOON OR I’LL COME W/O U
He’d had to read it twice. Did she mean what he thought she meant? Would she be so brazen?
Yeah. She would.
Balls tight, Sam had walked out of the kitchen and thumbed a response. DO THAT AND I’LL HAVE TO PUNISH YOU
THREAT?
PROMISE
IN2 KINK?
IN2 U
There’d been a pause and he’d thought he’d blown it. But then she’d responded …
NOT IF U DON’T GET HERE SOON
To which Sam texted: RED OR WHITE?
For the next half hour he’d been in a bit of a blue-ball haze. He’d dropped the kids at their grandparents’ on the pretense that a friend had a plumbing problem and he’d promised to lend a hand. He wasn’t sure how long he’d be. An hour? Two? He’d be in touch.
Looking his mother-in-law in the eye hadn’t come easy. His pocket had pinged with another incoming message and Sue had raised a brow.
“Impatient friend,” she said.
Did she suspect Sam had a date? She knew he’d gone out that one time with Rae and both she and Charlie had approved. They knew he’d loved their daughter. Time to move on. So they and everyone else in Sugar Creek kept telling him. Only this wasn’t a date. And it wasn’t Rae. This was Harper and an hour or two of hot sex. Maybe kinky sex. It had been a long time, long before his wife, but Sam could do kink.
He’d driven to the liquor store conjuring different scenarios. He’d been ready to describe one when he’d received that ping in the Merlot aisle, only the text wasn’t from Harper, it was from Daisy and it was freaking long. Sam didn’t know many texting acronyms, but he used the few he did know and tried to be succinct. Daisy was a text-a-holic and never, ever abbreviated. She had a lot to say about Rae and the book deal and Harper getting them some “buzz.” The note rambled on and was killing his own “buzz” so he texted back “WILL DO” and made a mental note to reread in depth … L8R.
Sam reached the Rothwell Farm just before six. It was already dark. The temp—five below. The night air stung his cheeks and his boots crunched on icy snow as he made his way to the dimly lit porch. He was too hot to be cold. Too randy to be nervous. Harper had worked him up good and hard with her sexting. And the visual of her naked body, that beautifully sculpted body with its lush assets, was a constant in his mind’s eye. Harper was everything he’d imagined that first day when she’d landed in his arms—
In spite of the freezing temperature, she answered the door in that black lace thong and bra and—thank you Jesus—stiletto heels. He was pretty sure he he’d died and gone to heaven or maybe hell depending on whether he’d gotten in over his head. She could be into some serious S&M for all he knew. Not his thing. Regardless, he moved inside.
“Brought the wine,” he said.
“Brought something else, too,” she said, palming the bulge in his jeans. “The wine can wait. I can’t. But first, I’ve got some rules.”
Sam shut the door and set aside the wine while Harper launched into a laundry list of do’s and don’ts and within the first five seconds he knew her kink didn’t extend to S&M, although she wasn’t opposed to D&S or B&D. She added a couple acronyms he didn’t recognize, but he wasn’t really listening at this point so much as thinking about that lush mouth wrapped around his—
“No sleeping over. And when we’re done, we’re done. We won’t discuss it after or ever. I—”
“We doing this?” Sam asked as tossed his jacket. “Or are you going to talk it to death?”
Blue eyes sparking, Harper grabbed the wine bottle then launched herself at Sam, wrapping her legs around his middle and using her mouth for something other than yakking. Holy hell, this woman could kiss. Counting his lucky stars and cradling her beautiful ass, Sam opted to move this party upstairs, pronto.
“Bad time to talk?”
“Great time to talk.” Rae lowered the volume on the television via remote, repositioned her laptop, and rested back against her pillows. She was beginning to think she wasn’t going to hear from Luke again today, so she’d immersed herself in work, rather than dwelling on his absence. “How’d it go with your dad?”
“Believe it or not the old man put up a fight even with the four of us and mom facing him down.”
“Who gave Jerome more grief? You or Dev?”
“That would be Rocky.”
“Really?”
“She lost it, Rae. I mean big-time. She was all up in his face, accusing him of being a selfish SOB. What if he took a turn for the worse by not addressing this present glitch? What if he died? Then she’d forever associate her wedding day with the day that killed him.”
“
“Then the zinger. How dare he potentially ruin what should be the happiest day of her life.”
Rae cringed. “That’s—”
“Harsh? You should’ve been there. It was worse in person. I mean, yeah, I’m pissed at Dad for the way he’s handled a lot of this,” Luke said, “but it’s hard to take a tough stance when he looks like a shadow of his former
