“Okay,” I said, nodding. “Okay, cool. I’m always careful and stuff, just to clarify.”

  “Good to know. So am I.” He just stood there, his hands on his hips, waiting for me to figure out what the fuck I was doing.

  Letting out a long breath, I pushed my hair away from my face. Then, I couldn’t help but laugh at myself. I was being so weird. Sex was easy. It was fun. I was good at it and I already knew that Bishop and I were good together. Why the hell was I being such a dork?

  “Still gonna wear a condom, though,” Bishop said after a few moments.

  “Uh, yeah, you are,” I replied, making him grin.

  “Come here, honey,” he said, his lips still turned up at the corners. “I’ve been waitin’ all day for this.”

  Because I clearly hadn’t gotten the weirdness out of my system, I did a dorky skip-step over to him, making him laugh. I was slightly mortified as he gripped my bare hips and smiled down at me.

  “I might need you to do that again,” he said in mock seriousness. “Because your tits were bouncing all over the place and it was fuckin’ fantastic.”

  “Shut up,” I replied, laughing.

  “You’re beautiful, you know that?”

  “I’m gorgeous,” I joked, wrapping my arms around his neck. “But I’ve got nothing on you.”

  “Honey, the scales aren’t anywhere close to even,” he replied, sliding his hands around until he was gripping my ass. I could feel the scratchy edges of the condom tucked between his fingers. “You’ve got me beat by a mile.”

  He leaned down to kiss me, and it was like every molecule in my body danced. There he is.

  We made our way slowly to the bed, a single step backward, then two, both of us sliding our hands over anything we could reach. His fingers traced the base of my spine and the crack of my ass, mine trailed along his ribcage and the muscles of his abdomen. He kissed my neck. I bit down gently on his nipple, freezing him in place until I’d let go.

  When the back of my knees hit the side of the mattress, Bishop pulled away.

  “Careful now,” he murmured, helping me onto the bed.

  “It’s just a scratch,” I said quietly, pulling him toward me. “You’ll probably have worse on your back by the time we’re done.”

  “Charlie,” he said, fitting his hips between my thighs. “You draw blood with your fingernails, we’re gonna have a problem.”

  “I was joking,” I said, fighting a smile.

  “So was I,” he whispered, leaning down until our noses were almost touching. “Doubt I’d even notice. The roof could fuckin’ cave in and I’d still be oblivious.”

  He was careful this time around. The last time we’d had sex, things had been so frantic. A game. Built up frustration that had finally exploded. This time, things went slowly. A touch here, a kiss there, his fingers entwined with mine.

  When he finally slid inside me, I gasped. The puzzle pieces analogy was so damn cheesy, but so true in that moment. We fit together so perfectly. There was no struggle. No discomfort.

  Missionary had never been so damn good before.

  “Fuck,” he muttered, closing his eyes for a moment as he tipped his head toward the ceiling.

  I knew exactly how he felt.

  My skin tingled. Every inch of my felt overly sensitized. Then he began to move, and I was the one cursing under my breath.

  I watched him through hazy eyes as he braced himself on one hand above me, his other hand wrapped around my thigh. He shifted, searching my face. Then he shifted again and I yelped.

  “Perfect,” he breathed, pulling back and then sliding forward to hit the same spot, again and again.

  I was barely aware of gripping his arms, sliding my hands over his chest, running the tips of my fingers down his back and over the globes of his ass to the backs of his thighs. All of my focus was on that single spot inside me that thrummed, pulling tighter and tighter until it felt like I was going to lose my mind.

  “Do it,” he said quietly as my hand slipped between us.

  The minute my fingers reached my clit, I came so hard that I was shaking with pleasure and relief.

  “You feel so fuckin’ good,” he murmured, his lips on mine. Only seconds later he followed me down the rabbit hole.

  As he rolled to the side I took a huge breath and reached for my thighs. They were still shaking like I’d run a marathon.

  “All good?” he asked, reaching out to put his hand over one of mine.

  “It was worth staying sober at my own graduation party,” I said with a shrug, making him chuckle.

  “Jesus,” he said, tucking his bent arm under his head. “I’m halfway surprised I didn’t black out.”

  “We do good work together,” I replied, smiling.

  “Understatement.”

  We lay there for a while in the quiet as the sun set outside my windows, the room growing darker.

  “The pictures look nice,” he said, jerking his chin toward the wall. “Haven’t seen those before.”

  “Thanks,” I murmured, looking up at the collage I’d put together. I’d found a huge set of picture frames of all sizes at a garage sale and I’d been slowly finding the perfect photos for each one. I thought they looked pretty fucking cool now that they were all hung up.

  “Is that your parents in the bottom corner?” Bishop asked.

  I didn’t even have to look to know which one he was talking about. It was a photo of my parents when they were young, canoodling in a chair and completely unaware that anyone was taking their picture. Mom was dressed like she’d just stepped off a train from the 1940s and because my dad was just wearing a white t-shirt and jeans, he didn’t break that illusion. I’d printed it black and white, and unless you looked closely, you’d think the photo was much older than it was.

  “Yeah, it’s them,” I said, rolling to the side so we were face to face. “I didn’t pick any photos where they’re actually looking at the camera. I didn’t want them watching me in my bedroom.”

  Bishop laughed. “That’s honest to God something I woulda never thought of. I better put that photo of Uncle Beau and I away the next time you’re in my room.”

  I shrugged one of my shoulders and scooted closer to him. “I don’t care if other people are looking at the camera—it only creeps me out if my parents are looking.”

  Bishop yawned, quickly putting his fist over his mouth. “Damn, sorry about that. I’m beat. It was a long ass week.”

  I smiled at him as he wiped at his eyes. “I’m going to sleep in tomorrow,” I said, rolling away from him so I could climb off the bed. “And it’s going to be fucking glorious.”

  “No work tomorrow, huh?” he asked, getting off the bed on the opposite side. He stood with his back to me for a moment and when he turned toward me, he’d concealed the condom in his hand. It was kind of sweet, the way he did it. Like he was shielding my innocent eyes.

  “No work tomorrow,” I confirmed. “Back at it the day after.”

  “How’s that going?” he asked as he went into the bathroom. He left the door open as he got rid of the condom, and I laughed silently as I heard him peeing. He hid the used condom but peed with the door open? Like I’d find one gross but not the other?

  “It’s going well,” I called out as I grabbed a tank top and pulled it over my head. “Hard, but good.”

  I’d been telling everyone that. Things were hard but everything was fine. The shop was doing well. It was everything I’d hoped and I was just working overtime to keep it that way. Only my parents knew the truth.

  I heard the faucet running as I threw on a pair of underwear and by the time I was done, Bishop was out of the bathroom.

  “Aw, ya got dressed,” he said in disappointment.

  “Just pajamas,” I countered with a smile. “You done in there?”

  He gestured for me to go into the bathroom and then lightly swatted my ass as I passed him. When I closed the door between us—I was not going to pee with the door open—I wondered if he’d still be there when I got back.

  I wanted him to stay the night. I wanted to catch up on things and I always slept so good when he was there but I didn’t feel like I had a right to ask. Things hadn’t changed for me. I was still neck deep and drowning in my new business and I knew I didn’t have any extra time to spend cultivating something with Bishop. In a perfect world, hell yes, I’d have my cake and eat it too, but the world we were living in was far from perfect.

  Bishop was sitting on the side of my bed in his boxers when I came back into the room.

  “Wasn’t sure if you wanted me to leave or not,” he said easily, his eyes on mine. “Up to you.”

  “Stay?” I asked quietly. “It’s still early.”

  “Can’t promise I won’t pass out,” he warned. “Your bed’s comfortable and I’m tired.”

  “Fine with me,” I told him, moving forward to give him a kiss.

  “How’s the leg?” he asked, laying his hand gently over the bandage.

  “Totally fine,” I assured him. “Sore but no big deal.”

  “Wasn’t sure if we’d pulled on it while we were distracted,” he said, standing up so I could pull the bedding back.

  I laughed. “You pretty much held it immobile the whole time,” I assured him, climbing into bed.

  As soon as we were cocooned inside the bedding Bishop pulled me against his chest.

  “Your parents’ place is gonna be so nice,” he said, running his fingers through my hair. “Your mom’s got an eye for makin’ shit look good.”

  “You have no idea,” I joked. “Are you guys getting close to being finished?”

  “Not too much longer,” he replied. “But don’t tell your parents. I think Harry’s givin’ them worst case scenarios on the timin’ so he can be the conquerin’ hero when we finish early.”

  “Probably trying to impress Farrah,” I said with a smile.

  “Oh, for sure. Your ma’s got everyone on the job wrapped around her finger,” he murmured.

  “Even you?” I asked, kissing his chest.

  “Even me,” he confirmed. “She’s so nice—but it’s not that fake-nice bullshit. I can spot that a mile away. Just genuinely nice…but with an attitude. Don’t fuck with her, but also, would you like a sandwich because she made extras.”

  I burst out laughing. “That’s Farrah to a T,” I said through my giggles. “She doesn’t give a shit what anyone thinks of her, but she’s not an asshole about it. She wants you to feel good but she’s not going to take your shit.”

  “You’re like her,” he said.

  “Yeah, I am,” I agreed. “Mostly. I was never as wild as she is—that was Cecilia.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Christ,” I said, shaking my head a little. “Yeah. She was a nightmare.”

  “She’s always seemed cool when I’m around her.”

  “She figured her shit out,” I replied with a sigh. “I didn’t really know her when she was an asshole. Partying and lying, treating people like shit and worrying the hell out of my parents. She left when I was little and by the time she moved back home she was a different person.”

  “You never worried your parents?” he asked, his voice growing husky as he relaxed toward sleep.

  “Not really,” I said, closing my eyes. “We got into normal scrapes and did the regular stupid kid stuff, but I always had the twins and Kara to pull me back from doing anything epically stupid.”

  “Or shielding you from shit so you didn’t,” Bishop said knowingly.

  He’d been at our apartment when we’d found out just how bad Kara had been bullied back in high school. It had stunned me, to say the least. After Kara realized that we’d unearthed all her secrets, she’d kicked me out of the apartment. Ironically, that was the night me and Bishop had become friends.

  “Too bad we couldn’t have shielded Draco,” I said quietly.

  “There was no shieldin’ him from that shit,” Bishop said, pulling me closer and dropping a kiss on the top of my head. “No matter how good you are at keepin’ secrets, he always woulda found out, and probably woulda done the same thing again.”

  “You’re just saying that to make me feel better,” I mumbled.

  “I’m probably sayin’ it to make me feel better,” he said with a chuckle, his chest shaking under my cheek. “I don’t know what I woulda done if he hadn’t been inside with me. Even after he’d left that umbrella of protection still stood. I got super fuckin’ lucky.”

  I lay there thinking about what he’d said after his breathing evened out and I knew he was asleep. If Kara hadn’t had half naked pictures taken of her at prom and then sent to the entire school, if Draco hadn’t beat the shit out of the douchebag who’d taken them, if Draco hadn’t been sent to prison… none of us would know Bishop. We’d never have met him. It was funny how you could find a tiny silver lining even in the worst circumstances.

  I fell asleep to the sound of Bishop’s heartbeat but woke up later to curses flying out of his mouth.

  “What?” I said in confusion, pushing myself up onto my hands and knees. I looked around blearily. “What?”

  “You do sleep like a fuckin’ octopus,” he wheezed. “Arms and legs fuckin’ everywhere.”

  “What did I do?” I asked, my eyes widening as I became aware of how he’d curled up like a potato bug.

  “Kneed me in the stomach,” he said, his voice a little less raspy. “Perilously close to my dick.”

  “Oh, no,” I said, leaning back on my knees. I couldn’t help the small laugh that burst out of my mouth. “I’m sorry! It’s not funny.”

  He glared at me as I tried to stop smiling.

  “Honey, you are beautiful,” he said, reaching out to touch my cheek. “And I fuckin’ dig you in a big way.”

  “Okay,” I said, a little confused at the change of subject.

  “But I’m gonna go sleep in my own bed before I’m seriously injured.”

  My mouth dropped open in surprise as he started to smile.

  “Fine,” I said, pulling the pillow out from under his head. “Go then.” I smacked him with it.

  “You’re a goddess,” he said, sliding out of bed. “So fuckin’ gorgeous.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” I replied. We were both laughing by that point.

  “You’re just a terrible person to sleep with,” he said, backing up with his hands in the air. “Not sure how I forgot that.”

  “You weren’t complaining the other times,” I said, throwing the pillow at him.

  “I think the other times we ended up spoonin’ and I could keep ya somewhat contained,” he said apologetically, still chuckling. He tossed the pillow back to me.

  “See you in the morning?” I asked, hiding my disappointment quite well, I thought.

  “You want me to stay?” he asked, pausing at the doorway. “We can figure somethin’ out so—”

  “It’s fine,” I said, waving him off. “Really. I’m going to crash for like twelve more hours and catch up on all the sleep I’ve been missing. I can see you tomorrow.”

  He leaned down and grabbed his clothes and shoes before striding back to the bed. “I had a good time tonight,” he said, leaning forward to kiss me softly. “Until the sleep Mortal Kombat, that is.”

  “Me too,” I replied, pushing him away. “Go. Let me get my beauty rest.”

  “Night, Honey,” he said as he opened my bedroom door.

  “Goodnight, Beauregard Augustus Bishop.”

  He was shaking his head as he closed the door behind him.

  For all the assurances I’d given about how I was going to fall right back asleep, you’d think that I would’ve been able to actually go back to sleep. I didn’t. By the time Bishop had left my room I was wide awake. My body must’ve gotten used to just a few hours of sleep at night after the last few weeks of non-stop work.

  I curled back up under the covers and stared at the ceiling, the calm of earlier completely lost. I was in some serious trouble with my business and I had no fucking clue how to dig myself out of it.

  At first, I’d thought that it was a fluke that we weren’t bringing in as much revenue as we had before. I told myself that it was the weather, the full moon, the fact that the shop had switched owners and people were unsure if we would be the same little coffee shop they’d come to know and love.

  Me and my dad had gone over the statements Mal had given us again and again, looking for any discrepancies. I’d never believed it, but dad had suspected that she’d fudged some numbers so she could increase the sale price of the cart. It turned out she hadn’t though, not unless she had someone cooking the books that was better at it than my genius father which was unlikely.

  I’d let two baristas go while I tried to find the leak in the boat. Kara was able to cover some of their shifts and I took the bulk of them. It was partly because they were lazy and never showed up to work on time and I just didn’t like them in general, but it also meant that I didn’t have to pay them. If I was paying myself for only forty hours of work while actually working closer to seventy—well, that wasn’t anyone’s business. I knew it wasn’t sustainable, but for now, it was my only option.

  Fewer and fewer people were coming to the cart. It was so confusing. We’d had a solid customer base when I’d taken over. Lately, I hadn’t even seen some of the regulars that knew us all by name.

  I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I spent hours of my day posting shit on social media, making sure all of our signs were visible from the road, hell, I’d even added Christmas lights to the cart so we’d attract more attention—and still I hadn’t been able to make a dent.

  I felt like I was swimming against the current but I refused to give up. I’d put all my savings into the fucking coffee cart. I’d been so sure that I could make it more successful than it had been before.

  I really hated that I seemed to be tanking the entire business.

  I also really hated that my fantastic night with Bishop was over and I was back to stressing about what the hell I was going to do about the business. I rolled over to my stomach and yelled quietly into my pillow. Then, I remembered what was in my purse.