“If you can’t ask me, Al, well, no one can. At least I know she’s not moved in for the earth-shaking sex.”
Allie sighed. “I’ve never had earth-shaking sex. Good sex, yes, really great sex, definitely, but nothing that left me splayed out on the bed with my body turned to boneless mush and my mind singing. Not romance-novel sex. Have you?”
“I have, yeah. With Bree. I hope one day to experience that again with someone.”
Envy and longing shot through her like an arrow. Would she ever have that? Her last boyfriend had been romantic, considerate, great in bed…but somehow fell short of earth-shaking. She shook her head slightly and concentrated on Sophie. “With Bree?”
“I don’t know.” Sophie’s sigh drifted down the line. “I can’t say yet.”
“I hope I get that too. One day.”
“Maybe you’ve been looking in the wrong places.”
Allie fell silent. The wrong places? Or with the wrong people? Maybe she needed to open her mind to what her body was telling her. If a tentative closed-mouth kiss could have her lit from within, surely it was time to think about that.
Chapter 14
The Hollowman was packed. Tarrynpushed her way to her usual seat at the bar to find Phyll already there, the three ballot boxes in front of her.
“I saved you a seat,” Phyll boomed.
Jason approached and set a cocktail glass in front of her. “Tonight’s house special: the Fake Marriage. It’s a mix of things that shouldn’t go together but actually do. It’s got gin, rum, ginger beer—”
“It sounds lethal.”
“One per person.”
Tarryn looked around the crowded bar. It looked like half the town had turned out for the vote count. Garrett and Will were talking earnestly in a corner, Kirra and some of the sistergirls were chatting with the high school couple who’d volunteered. They were sweet and earnest. Tarryn hoped they’d win.
“Is Sophie here?” she asked. Her heart thumped against her ribs. She hadn’t seen Sophie since the evening before and she wasn’t sure if she was avoiding her. She’d had a nervous, churning feeling in her insides all day at the thought.
“Somewhere,” Phyll said. “Which is good if you and she win.”
“We won’t win,” Tarryn said firmly. “Garrett and Will have it.”
“Don’t be too sure.” Phyll winked. “I voted for you and Sophie.”
“Not helpful, Aunt Phyll.”
“I can see the pair of you dressed in white—”
“Never!”
“—riding in an open-top RollsRoyce—”
“And where would we get one of those? The fake couple will ride on the back of the feedstore’s ute!”
“—throwing rose petals at the crowd.”
“I hate to burst your bubble, Aunt Phyll, but that’s about three steps too far. But Will and Garrett will look adorable in white dresses.”
Phyll tapped the voting boxes. “Let’s see who wins.”
Tarryn glanced around. Where was Sophie? She wanted to make the first meeting happen so she could stop stressing, wondering if Sophie was going to freeze her out. And then she was there. Tarryn sensed her standing just behind her shoulder before she saw her. Maybe it was a flick of her mussed blonde hair, maybe it was her scent—something indefinable that definitely wasn’t perfume, but was uniquely Sophie, more than just scented bodywash and shampoo. Tarryn’s fingers twitched on the Fake Marriage cocktail, and she took a sip to hide her flushed face.
“Hi.” Sophie pushed her hands into the front pockets of her jeans and hunched her shoulders. “How are you both?”
“Good,” said Phyll. “Ready to count.”
