“This place looks fab, Brina,” Scottie called out.
It was time to head to her meeting with the TV people, so she closed up the clamshell on what was left of her burger—not much—and picked up her purse as she went out to the kitchen.
“It does, doesn’t it?” She gestured at Adley with her chin. “I owe it all to this chick. She’s got a great eye.” And did Adley blush as she looked down at her feet? Sure seemed like it. “Okay, I’ve gotta run.” She glanced at her watch as she headed for the back door. “Shouldn’t be longer than an hour or so. Bye.”
When the door clicked shut behind her, she blew out a breath and leaned back against it, needing a moment to get her bearings. Again,she wanted to wonder what that was about, to be indignant about the interference, but she did neither. Because she knew exactly what was happening. Her feelings for Adley, the ones she’d so carefully tucked away in their secret compartment, had picked the lock somehow and were sneaking out, oozing into her brain, her body, her heart.
If only she had the first clue what to do about them…
* * *
“You’re different.” Scottie didn’t say the words until the door had clicked shut behind Sabrina and they heard her car start up.
“I know, I know,” Adley said with soft laugh as she scrolled on her phone for the notes she’d made about a new flavor. “I’m bouncy.”
“No. No, it’s something else.” And then Scottie scrutinized her, which Adley hated because she could never hide anything from her. Not one thing. Ever. Scottie gasped. “Wait. Are you sleeping with her again?”
“What?” Why was her voice suddenly an octave higher than usual? She cleared her throat, hoping to get it back down to normal. “No, why would you think that?”
“Do youwantto sleep with her again?” Adley swallowed, but before she could answer, Scottie went on, “’Cause you shouldn’t sleep with your boss.”
“Well. I mean, she’s not really my boss.”
“You called her Boss Lady.”
“Yeah, in jest.”
“In jest? Are we in nineteenth century England? Nobody saysin jest.”
Adley frowned. “What? Lots of people say in jest.”
“No, they say joking or kidding or screwing around or yanking somebody’s chain or busting somebody’s chops. Nobody says in jest.”
An eye roll. “Fine. I called her Boss Ladyjokingly.”
“Better. And it’s cute that you think this will distract me from the original question, which is do you want to sleep with her again?”
Yes. The answer to that question was a loud and exuberant yes. Adley knew that. Watching Sabrina in her element, handling vendors and interviewing potential employees and doing interviews for the small local paper? It was something to see. She was confident and incontrol and oh so sexy that it set Adley’s body to buzzing. And now that she’d been working here closely with Sabrina for a few weeks, it seemed like her body wasalwaysbuzzing.
“God, I don’t know,” she said honestly. And she explained the buzzing. “It’s like a low-key humming that runs through my entire body anytime I’m in the same vicinity as her. Like I’m plugged in or something. It’s so weird.”
“But in an awesome way, right?” Scottie got a slightly dreamy look on her face. “I remember when that started for me. Anytime I was around Marisa, I felt turned-on.” She laughed and shook her head. “Not like that. I mean, yes, like that, but I meant like somebody flipped a switch inside me every time she came into view.”
“Yes,” Adley said, thrilled that somebody got it. “Like we’re those fluorescent light bulbs they have in school, remember? The long skinny ones? And the teacher turns them on, and they buzz slightly at all times? Like that. Just like that.”
They basked for a moment in the knowledge that they both understood what Adley was dealing with. But then Scottie slid in with the obvious, unanswerable question. “So, what are you gonna do?”
Adley blew out a breath. “Fuck if I know.”
She didn’t think she’d ever spoken truer words in her entire life.
* * *
The grand opening of A Second Scoop was one day away. One day. Tomorrow. It was tomorrow.
Holy shit.
Teagan and her wife and baby were coming today and thank God because Sabrina was nervous. Beyond nervous. She’d been through countless grand openings for Sweet Heavens in the past, and while there was always an adrenaline kick of excitement around them, she’d never been this nervous. Not once. Not ever. Because this? This was her baby. Its success or failure was all on her. No big corporation to blame. No headquarters taking decisions out of her hands. No ability to eschew this one and look on to the next. Nope. It was her. All her.
