Chapter 23 Misty #2
“She can watch if you want.” He shrugs. “I kill people for a living. I’m not here to judge.”
“You’re the worst.”
He pulls me close to him and kisses my lips, warm on my cold skin. “No, I’m the best. That’s why you hired me. Look, they have something called a Frostbite Fizz. Sounds fermented and extremely alcoholic. Let’s try it. Look, Cocoa, they have dog cocktails too.”
“Oh no, we can’t go there. Granny Keagan doesn’t like her.
Mrs. Chase says she stole her chocolate-peppermint-chunk cookie recipe.
To be fair, it’s modified from the back of a chocolate chip bag, so it’s not like it’s that hard to reverse engineer.
The secret,” I whisper, “is a one-to-five ratio of white and dark chocolate chips and mixing sea salt flakes in with the crushed candy canes.”
“And now you have to kill me because you told me?” His mouth quirks.
I whisper against his neck to the delicious friction of his stubble, “Something like that.”
“How about this place? Oh no.” He backtracks from the look on my face. “Let me guess—we can’t go here because your grandmother insulted the owner’s spaghetti sauce.”
“Close. She slept with her son.”
Talbot freezes.
Cocoa runs into the back of his legs.
“Good god.”
“He’s the eldest son, and she started having kids early. Earlier than me, anyway, considering I have none…” Shut up shut up Talbot doesn’t want kids with you… “He was in his late forties.”
“You have some nerve, Misty Evans, some nerve to show up here.” Mrs. Monroe rushes out into the poinsettia-lined walkway.
Everyone in the Christmas market is now blatantly staring at us.
“That witch seduced my innocent son.”
“I’m really sorry, Mrs. Monroe.”
“He had to lose his virginity sometime.” Talbot snickers.
“This isn’t funny!” the elderly woman shrieks.
“I am so sorry, Mrs. Monroe—whoa!” Then I let out a curse.
Talbot drags me down as something flies over my head.
“Did you just throw a dildo at me?” I’m shocked.
“She left that at my house.” Mrs. Monroe is furious
“Wow, okay, I did not know that the liaison was still ongoing…” Mrs. Monroe hauls back.
“Is that a butt plug?” I squint.
“Oh shit! Run!” Talbot grabs me
Cocoa skids behind us as we race through the market.
“What kind of Christmas market is this?” There’s laughter on Talbot’s voice.
“You’re distracting me! We shouldn’t have even been on this path. Oh my gosh, now I really need a drink.” We stop outside of another tiny drink stand in the Christmas market
“Can we go in here, or did your grandmother have sex with this guy’s great aunt’s Bundt cake or something?” Talbot asks.
“No, she actually painted a big green Grinch sign on his garage because he bought the last giant candle at Costco, but he doesn’t know it was her, so we’re good.”
Talbot smirks and once inside, orders us something blessedly alcoholic.
I take a big gulp of the Jack Frost Julep as Talbot pays for the drinks.
I do not offer to pay for it.
Wait, I’m lying—of course I do. “I have it.”
“If you stand here and tell me Austen was making you pay for shit”—Talbot lowers his voice to growl in my ear—“I don’t give a shit what you say. I’m getting my gun and I’m going after him right now.”
I clamp my mouth shut.
“Good girl.” He kisses me softly.
There’s free space on the long stone bench overlooking the outdoor ice rink with the big Christmas tree in the middle.
The alcohol is making me think, Hey, maybe this dating thing isn’t so bad. I can be charming and funnyish. I’m even ignoring the hair I’m pretty sure I can feel sprouting out of my chin.
Wait… crap. Is that Austen down there?
I turn my head, hoping he doesn’t see me, then secretly hope he does and is really jealous.
Haha! I have a hot guy I’m dating, and he may or may not like me, but he definitely likes kissing me.
It’s juvenile.
Talbot’s too observant. “You hoping to make him jealous, or you want a threesome?” He smiles against my mouth. I taste the sharp alcohol from his drink.
“No, I… no!”
Talbot leans forward. I smell his snowy and leathery scent. “Full disclosure, I’d do it with you and your stepfather. Just saying!” he yelps when I slap his chest.
Cocoa glares up at me from under her oversized doggie hat. How dare I even pretend to hurt her most favoritest person in the entire universe?
“I so am not meant to go on dates.” I sigh into my drink.
Cocoa whines and paws Talbot’s leg.
“There’s my little baby. Who’s your favorite?” He sets her on his lap and adjusts her hat. “Is it me?”
The corgi nestles against him like he’s her long-lost father.
“We both have terrible taste in men.”
“No, you have terrible taste in men. Cocoa Puff knows quality when she sees it.”
One hand holds Cocoa’s drink so she can lap it up. The other stretches along the back of the bench to drape around my shoulders.
The alcohol is helping me relax, helping me resist the urge to pepper him with anxious questions, like What’s going on? What are we? Are you my boyfriend now?
Clingy. You’re being too clingy, I scold myself.
Guys like Talbot don’t do commitments. He’s probably bored because I won’t let him kill Austen. He just wants to hang out and hook up. He probably has a slew of girls in the different cities he works in.
I down the rest of my drink.
“You truly are your grandmother’s granddaughter.” He takes a flask out of his pocket and tips it into my cup.
“Is that Misty Evans?” A middle-aged woman in jeggings, boots, and a cropped puffer jacket wanders over, accompanied by Aunt Kathy and Grandma Pam.
“Hi, Mrs. Starling.” I tug at my cropped sweater.
“I saw your mom at the PTA meeting last week and asked about you. Your aunt has been filling me in.”
Everyone is always asking about me. I’m the cautionary tale women want to report back to their adult daughters when they thank them for not screwing up the life script and putting their mothering skills in question.
She looks Talbot up and down. “It’s so nice that you’re getting back out there.
” She pumps a victory fist into the air, sending all her gift bags rustling.
“We’ve all been praying for you after what happened with Austen.
It’s for the best, though, you know. Men like that want a certain type of woman.
” Mrs. Starling leans in. “My sister dated an NHL player back in college, and you wouldn’t believe what she put up with.
She did the rebound route too. Now she’s married to a nice man, an estate lawyer.
Your mom’s so worried about you, but I told her, ‘Don’t worry.
Misty’s a solid girl with her feet planted firmly on the ground.
She’s just going through a rough patch. She’ll be back to her same boring, no-nonsense self, just you wait. ’ That’s what I told her.”
“Naw, Mrs. Starling, I’m not her rebound. Misty’s lowering her standards.” Talbot looks at her over the top of his sunglasses. “She just wants to get laid on the regular and wants a hot guy in her living room that she can show off to her friends, don’t you, Gumdrop?”
“I, um…” I want to die.
Mrs. Starling would look surprised if her face hadn’t been Botoxed to the North Pole and back.
“She’s readjusted her priorities, accepted that she’s horny and shallow.
” Talbot pulls me into his lap, kissing me deep and hungry and not at all like you should kiss someone in the middle of the Christmas market.
His hands are up under my cropped sweater, definitely under my bra, cupping my tits right there in front of Santa and everyone.
He slaps my ass hard before grabbing my hips and grinding me against him.
Grandma Pam is about to have a stroke.
Aunt Kathy yells, “I’m calling the police!”
I push against his chest, but that only pushes my hips deeper against him.
“You ready to ditch this Christmas market, Gumdrop?” He slaps my ass one more time and releases me.
Red-faced and dizzy, I tug at my clothes, grimacing at my step-grandmother.
“I just wanted to say thank you for the cookies, dear.” Mrs. Starling is in shock.
“Talbot helped.”
“Oh, so he’s unemployed and knows how to bake. Very nice.” Mrs. Starling nods.
“She’s with me because of this.” He grabs his junk. “It’s pierced.”
That breaks through the Botox.
“Well! My daughter found her husband on Frosted Flings. You should check it out. It’s for people who love Christmas.”
“You know all those apps are owned by the same company, right?” I quickly shut my mouth.
“I suppose that’s where you found him, Misty? Online?”
“No, Mrs. Starling.”
Talbot’s hand is back under my sweater. “No, ma’am, she picked me up as a hitchhiker.”
That’s our origin story?
“She’d just been dumped. Her fragile mental state is my gain.” He gives her a feral grin.
Mrs. Starling’s hands flutter as she collects herself.
Grandma Pam is furious. “Your mother will be hearing about this,” she hisses as they usher Mrs. Starling away.
“I’m dead. My mom’s going to kill me,” I groan. “I never should have gone on a date with you.”
“Please. You made your ex-boyfriend jealous, and I got to feel up your Gumdrops. It’s a win.”
I grab my sweater, pulling it away from my chest that feels weirdly tight.
“Now I want a taste of your Gumdrops.” He pinches my nipple, making me squeak.
I feel someone watching me. Even with the heat radiating off of Talbot, I’m suddenly cold.
“That’s cliché, kissing on center ice.” He nods to Austen and Brielle kissing and posing for pictures for Harbor Hawks fans.
Austen pauses and stares up at us.
“They don’t do it like us.” Then his mouth is back on mine, lips soft but unyielding, the whiskey burn of him in my throat.
I can’t help but look over his shoulder.
“Seriously?” He nips my lip.
“Sorry?”
“You getting off on him watching or something?”
“Um, no.” I push at him. He just laughs and nips my jaw.
Grandma Pam and Aunt Kathy are making their way down to the ice.
Now Brielle is pointing up at us.
I hear my stepsister’s voice, shrill on the wind. “…something fishy about the two of them.”