“I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

  “Be prepared, son.” He shakes his head. “Cybil is just like her mama was, sweet to her core and stubborn as hell.”

  “I can see that,” I say, and he looks like he wants to say more but stops, because both Cybil and Jade come around the corner, the two of them with their eyes red and faces blotchy from crying.

  When Cybil is close, I push up to stand, and she falls into me, pressing her face into my chest as I wrap my arms around her.

  “Mom is asking for you,” Jade tells her dad before locking her gaze on Cybil. “You should go home.”

  “I’m staying,” Cybil argues, shaking her head.

  “I know being here isn’t easy for you.”

  “It’s not, but I’m not leaving,” she says stubbornly.

  “Cybil—”

  “You both should go,” Bernard says, cutting the two of them off before they can start quarreling.

  “Dad.”

  “It doesn’t make much sense for the two of you to spend the next few hours mostly sitting in the waiting room. You can come back tomorrow when your mom’s in her room.” He looks at me. “Can you make sure they both get home?”

  “Absolutely,” I say, and he hugs Jade before Cybil goes to him and wraps her arms around his waist.

  “I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

  “Do you want us to bring you dinner or clothes or anything?” Cybil asks.

  “No, sweetheart, I’ll go home for a little while this evening to shower and pack a bag.”

  “Are you sure, Dad?” Jade asks, and he lifts an arm out toward her. She steps into him so that she and Cybil are in his embrace.

  “I love you, girls, and I’ll see you both tomorrow,” he says before he lets the two of them go and heads for the hall.

  “Do you want to come back to my house for a while?” Cybil asks, looking at Jade, and she shakes her head.

  “I think I’m going to open the store, keep my mind off things.”

  “Then we’ll go with you,” Cybil says, and Jade looks at me.

  “I’m good with whatever you ladies want to do,” I say, and she gives me a strange look before transferring it to Cybil.

  “He doesn’t know your secret,” Cybil says, laughing for the first time since Galvin called her today, and Jade grins.

  “What am I missing?” I look between the two of them, getting the feeling that they were trouble when they were younger and maybe still are.

  “You’ll see.” Jade nudges my shoulder while Cybil grabs my hand.

  “Maybe I should stay with Bernard,” I mutter, and the two of them laugh as we head out of the hospital.

  Once we’re in our rental and out of the parking garage, we head into town, which is small even by small-town standards, with only a couple of fast-food shops and no Target or even Walmart in sight. When we get to Main Street in the middle of town, Cybil directs me to park, then points out the window at a small shop nestled between other buildings. “That’s it.”

  “A bookstore?” I glance at Jade in the rearview mirror, then at Cybil sitting next to me.

  “Bound to Please is a little more than a bookstore,” Jade informs me as she opens her door and gets out, and I look over at Cybil and raise a brow.

  “You’ll see.” She unhooks her belt, then leans over to the console between us and cups my jaw before kissing me softly. “Thank you for being here with me, for getting me here, and just for being you.”

  “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, sunshine,” I tell her truthfully, and her face softens.

  “Hey, are you two coming?” Jade knocks on the window, and Cybil sighs while letting her hand fall away.

  “My best friend is nuts.”

  “I’m getting the feeling you both are.”

  “No, she’s just a bad influence,” she says before looking over my shoulder when Jade knocks again. “We’re coming! Sheesh. Calm down.” She opens her door as I open mine, and I get out, meeting her at the hood to take her hand. As we reach the entrance to the bookstore, Jade holds open the door for us to enter before her, and once we’re inside, I look around, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. Books fill most of the space, with a couch and coffee table under the window in the front and shelves with odds and ends near the register.

  “I’ll let you take him to the back room,” Jade says, heading for the counter, and Cybil leads me to a door with a DO NOT ENTER sign painted on it. She opens it, waiting for me to go in ahead of her.

  As I step into the room, it takes a second for it to register that the small room, no bigger than my closet back at home, is filled with sex toys and other X-rated paraphernalia.

  “Jade loves books as much as I do,” Cybil says, and I turn to face her. “Ever since we were little, she wanted to open a bookstore, but by the time she saved enough money to do it, she realized she wouldn’t be able to earn a living from selling paperbacks, so she came up with an idea in order to have her dream.”

  “It’s smart. Does everyone know about this place, or is it a secret all the women in town keep to themselves?”

  “Most people know about it,” Jade says, leaning against the doorjamb. “Even the mayor, who’s about seventy, has come in and bought a few things.”

  “Don’t tell me that!” Cybil cries, shaking her head and following Jade out of the room.

  “Hey, everyone needs to have a good time. You should have seen the—”

  Jade doesn’t have a chance to finish, because Cybil attacks and tries to cover her mouth, causing the two of them to fall to the floor in a pile of laughter. Crossing my arms over my chest, I watch them, shaking my head.

  “I missed you.” Cybil falls to her back next to Jade while reaching out to grab her hand.

  “I missed you, too, but I’m glad you’re home.” Jade’s eyes meet mine and fill with sadness before she sits up and pulls Cybil up with her. “You should take Tanner down the block to Brew’s.”

  “Should I take Tanner to Brew’s, or should we go to Brew’s and get you a chocolate chip iced latte?”

  “I wouldn’t be opposed to a chocolate chip latte.” She moves behind the counter. “And I would come with you, but I need to call Erin and Jeff and work out a schedule for the rest of the week, since I want to be able to spend as much time as I can with Mom while she’s in the hospital.”

  “All right, do you want anything else from Brew’s while we’re there?”

  “A sandwich, whatever is on special today. Unless it’s tuna; then just choose something.”

  “Got it.” Cybil looks at me. “Ready?”

  “Yep, lead the way.” I place my hand against her lower back, then open the door for her. Once we’re outside, she leads me down the block to a small café that’s part coffee shop, part deli, and the moment we enter, the entire place grows quiet as everyone turns our way.

  “How’s Maisie?” the older gentleman behind the register asks, and Cybil’s fingers tighten around mine as we step up to the counter.

  “She’s going to be okay.”

  “Good.” His eyes come to me, then drop to our hands. “Who’s your friend?”

  “This is Tanner. Tanner, I’d like you to meet Mr. Brew. He owns this place now but used to teach tenth-grade English when I was in school.”

  “Nice to meet you.” I lift my chin.

  “You too.” His attention goes back to Cybil. “Galvin is in town.”

  “I know.”

  “He got married.”

  “I know that too.” Her fingers tighten around mine as he looks between us once more, probably realizing that now is not the time to gossip or dig for information.

  “Are you two eating or just getting coffee?”

  “Jade wants her usual coffee and the special, as long as it’s not tuna. And I’ll have a grilled cheese and an iced coffee.” She tips her head back toward me. “Mr. Brew’s wife makes bread from scratch every day for the sandwiches. Jade always gets the special but swears Thanksgiving on Toast is the best thing here.”

  “I’ll try that then, and a Coke if you’ve got it,” I say, and Mr. Brew jots down our order, saying it will be a few minutes. While our sandwiches are being made, we take our drinks to a small table in the back away from everyone and take a seat.

  “Sorry about that.”

  “About what?” I ask, watching her mix extra sugar into her coffee.

  “Him bringing up Galvin.” She chews the inside of her cheek. “I think it’s weirder for everyone else than it is for me that we aren’t together anymore.”

  “You were together a long time.”

  “Yeah,” she agrees with a sigh, dropping her eyes to her drink.

  “Are you going to talk to him?”

  “I don’t know.” She lifts her head and locks her gaze on mine. “I don’t think we have anything to talk about, and I don’t need him to apologize again. Everything is done. I just want to move forward, you know?”

  “I get that.” I reach across the table and tuck a piece of hair behind her ear.

  “Do you have any advice on how to deal with an ex?”

  “No, I’ve never had an ex to deal with,” I say, and she blinks at me, looking stunned.

  “You’ve never had a girlfriend?”

  “I never had the time or the inclination to pursue anyone until you showed up. You’re the first woman who’s made me want more.”

  “You’re being serious.” Her eyes scan mine as she shakes her head. “Sorry, it’s just hard to believe, because you’re you.”

  “Pardon?”

  “You’re, like . . . the whole package. You’re sweet, considerate, super hot, and handy,” she says, listing my attributes, and I grin at the word hot, which makes her roll her eyes. “Okay, so maybe you’re also arrogant, which isn’t a great quality to have, but the fact that you could survive in the great outdoors would make up for that if zombies or aliens showed up or something.”

  “Good to know I’d be useful.” I laugh and rub the area over my heart that feels funny hearing her talk about me, and she smiles.

  “You’re more than just useful, and I’m seriously lucky,” she says quietly, and just like that, my decision to sell my part of Live Life Adventures is reinforced, because fuck me if there aren’t some things in life that are more important than making money, and one of those things is sitting across from me.

  Chapter 20

  CYBIL

  As I blink my eyes open, it takes a moment for them to adjust to the dark and for my mind to remind me of where I am. Home, only for some reason, it doesn’t quite feel like home. I miss Tanner’s bed and his house. The only thing that makes being here feel right is that he’s here with me.

  Unsure what woke me, I reach over to grab my cell, wanting to check the time. My guess is it’s early, since it’s still dark, but the almost-nonexistent windows in my room and the trees surrounding my house have a tendency to play tricks on you. When I see it’s almost three in the morning, I sigh, and Tanner’s arm around my waist tightens.

  “Are you awake?”

  I wait for him to answer, and when he doesn’t, I carefully move his arm and maneuver myself off the bed, grabbing a sweater on the way out, since there’s a chill in the air, and all I have on is a pair of panties and a thin camisole. After I step out of the room, I carefully shut the door and head down the hall, passing the spare bedroom that I turned into a closet and my tiny office. Since my house isn’t actually a house but a small single-wide trailer, it takes mere seconds to reach the kitchen.

  After turning on the light over the stove, I grab a glass from the cupboard and get the filtered water from the fridge, filling my glass before guzzling it down and filling it back up. I take my second glass to the door and pull the curtain aside to look across the yard at my shop, the steel building that’s three times bigger than my house and the main reason I bought this property, the other being that I’m over a quarter mile from my nearest neighbor.

  If I wasn’t worried about Tanner waking up and wondering where I went, I would go over there, find some fabric, and start up my sewing machine to help clear my head. Today, or I guess it was yesterday, was mentally exhausting, especially seeing Maisie in the hospital, completely out of it.

  “Hey.” Tanner’s sleepy voice startles me, and I jump slightly, turning to look at him over my shoulder as his arms wrap around my middle.

  “You scared me.”

  “Sorry.” His lips touch the space between my neck and shoulder, sending a shiver down my spine. “What woke you up?”

  “I don’t know,” I say quietly, letting the curtain fall back into place. “I think it’s a little of everything—Maisie being in the hospital, and just being back here.”

  “Being back here?” He turns me to face him and smooths my hair back over my shoulder; then his thumb slides back and forth across my jaw. The contact sends tingles across my skin.

  “I don’t know; it feels strange. But nothing here has changed except me. I don’t feel like the same person I was when I left. Does that make sense?”

  “I think a lot happened while you were gone, so I can understand why you’d feel different.” His hand slips back to my nape, and he squeezes while saying softly, “I also think it’s going to take time for people to see that being with Galvin didn’t define who you are.”

  “I think you’re right,” I agree, knowing my relationship with Galvin has always been the thing people thought of when they saw me, so they don’t know what to say or how to act around me now that he and I are no longer together. That’s why being with Tanner away from here felt so good. I didn’t have to deal with the awkwardness. I was just able to be myself. “We should go back to bed.”

  With a lift of his chin, he takes the glass from my hand, setting it on the counter before moving me down the hall. When we reach my room, I drop my sweater to the floor and climb into bed. He gets in with me, fitting himself against my back and resting his hand on my stomach, which causes my muscles to bunch and twitch.

  “I like your bed,” he says quietly, the words brushing my ear and causing my nipples to pebble.

  “You and I hardly fit in my bed,” I whisper back, covering his hand with mine as I smile. Really, I didn’t know if the two of us would be able to fit in my double bed, but somehow, we’re making it work.

  “That’s why I like it. You have nowhere to go, so you can’t run from me.”

  “Hmm,” I hum, and his hips push forward, allowing me to feel how hard he is. I press my thighs together to ease the ache between my legs. “I could get away if I wanted to,” I say breathlessly, and he lifts the bottom of my camisole, placing his hand against my bare stomach.

  “Why would you want to get away from me?” He nips my earlobe, causing a zing of desire and heat to travel down between my legs. With every inch of me waiting in anticipation, I hold my breath, then hiss as his fingers skim just under the edge of my panties, and lower over my pubic bone, then down between the lips of my pussy. Latching onto his arm, I pant for breath as he rolls over my clit.

  “You’re already soaked, sunshine, and I’ve hardly touched you.” His warm breath causes me to break out in goose bumps while his fingers send me spiraling quickly toward an orgasm.

  “Don’t stop.” I turn my head, and his mouth catches mine. As his tongue slips between my lips, I fall over the edge, moaning his name. I come back to myself as he slows the kiss and rolls me to my back.

  “Clothes off.” The gruff order leaves no room for argument, not that I would argue with him. I swiftly rid myself of my cami, then lift my hips and slide the cotton material down my thighs before tossing my panties to the end of the bed as he frees himself from his boxers. The moment we’re both naked, he grasps my ankles to spread my legs, then crawls up the bed between my legs and looms over me with only the moon making it possible to see him.

  “You’re beautiful.” I slide my hand down his chest and abs, then wrap my hand around his cock, listening to him groan as I stroke him, loving how he feels in my hand.

  “Legs around my hips, Cybil.” His hand covers mine as I lift my legs; then he guides our hands to my entrance, with me still holding him.

  I bite my bottom lip and arch my back off the bed as he enters me, sure there’s nothing better in the world than this, than feeling him inside me, feeling him over me, being the center of his attention. Moving my hands to his shoulders, I hold on as he thrusts in and out of me hard, stealing my breath every time he bottoms out. “Oh God,” I whimper when tingles begin to dance over my skin and my core starts to tighten.

  “I’m right there with you, sunshine.” He kisses me slowly, then pulls away and fucks me hard, the sound of skin slapping and heavy breathing filling the room.

  “Tanner.” I lose myself to the waves of pleasure that he’s built, my body becoming liquid, my mind blanking of everything but the tidal wave of pleasure as I come.

  “Never had anything better than you in my life, baby. Fuck, I’d give everything up for you and never regret it,” he groans, thrusting into me once more before planting himself there. Tears spring to my eyes, and I wrap my arms around his waist and lift up to bury my face against his neck. His words rock me to my core while his heavy weight settles on top of me, making me feel safe rather than suffocated. “I’m heavy, baby,” he says quietly.

  “Don’t move, please,” I whisper when he tries to roll away, and I tighten my hold on him. He doesn’t say a word. Instead, he gives me what I need. His weight settles back against me, and after a few short minutes, I fall asleep under the man I’m falling in love with, feeling safer and more complete than I have in years.

  I wake with a start, the sound of what my sleepy brain registered as a gunshot still ringing in my ears. With my heart pounding, I roll over to search for Tanner, but the bed is empty, as is the bathroom, which I can see from where I am.

  “Tanner?”

  Silence greets my ears, and my heart drops to my stomach as I quickly get off the bed to search the floor for my clothes, trying to listen for anything out of the ordinary as I put them on. With my hands now shaking, I open the door and step out into the hallway. I can’t see or hear anything, but I do smell something burning, so I rush to the kitchen and turn off the stove, where a single pancake is burnt to a crisp.