Chapter Twenty-Three
Calypso
One of my favorite things about the slow months, other than getting to sleep in more, is how much time I have to try new recipes.
There are a lot of things to hate about the slow months as well, like having to budget for the weeks that the bakery isn’t bringing in its share of profits. Lexi experiences these drops as well. Despite how many times we make it through to the otherside, it never gets easier.
It’s important to hold onto the bright side.
Today, that is my chai and pear scones.
At least I hope so.
Pear isn’t the most popular fruit, but it’s a combination I’ve wanted to try for a while.
I pull the baking sheet out of the oven and set it on the worktable. The scones need to cool before I add the two glaze options—simple vanilla and maple butter.
It’s a good time when I see my mom’s name pop up on my phone screen.
“Hey, Mom,” I say and mindlessly flip through a recipe I’ve started to put together. It’s a binder full of scribbled recipes, printed out photos for inspiration, and a bunch of other random shit I wanted to come back to later.
One day I’ll sit down and organize it, I’ve told myself for two years now.
“Hi, Lyp,” she says in her soft, smooth voice. “How’s your day?”
I shrug even though she can’t see it. “It’s been good. I’m trying a new recipe.”
She asks about that, which takes up a few minutes of time. I hoped it would be enough to distract her from Liam and Stefan, but she called with an agenda.
“That sounds delicious,” she says with encouragement. “Why don’t you bring some on Sunday?”
We have a weekly dinner at Selena and Tim’s house. It started as my mom and siblings attending but we’ve always been close to them, despite our friendships with their kids ebbing and flowing over the years. Grady and Blake have been attending since he moved back last year.
“Sure.” I lay my hands on the table and stare down at my phone, letting my guard down.
“Great! Bring your boyfriend as well,” she says.
Bonnie Davies has spent her life fooling people with her sweet, unsuspecting tone and the playful snickers that have always sounded more mischievous coming from me. It’s all an act. When she wants one of her kids to do something, her tone leaves no room for argument.
I try anyway.
“I think he’s busy that day,” I hum, pretending to be uncertain. “Let me talk to him.”
“No, I can call him myself.”
“You don’t have his number,” I insist. Reluctantly, I add, “Do you?”
She laughs. “No, of course not. It wouldn’t be hard to get, though.”
That’s true.
“Mom, I’m not sure I’m ready to bring Liam to a family dinner,” I admit.
She’s silent for a long moment before slowly drawing out, “You’re living with the man, Calypso Rainn, and I’ve met him once already.”
“Then let’s have dinner next week—the three of us. But not family dinner.”
“He’s already spent a day with us,” she reminds me.
I huff out an annoyed breath. “This is different,” I argue. “You know it, or you wouldn’t be so pushy right now.”
“I don’t care if he only stayed at your home for one night,” she says in a strict tone. “I want to know the man who is with my daughter. He’s already spent time with your siblings and Grady. I figured having them there would be easier for him.”
I twist my lips to the side. Yeah, Liam has been spending a lot of time with my brothers and Grady. The four of them are going to watch baseball and grill at Lucas’s tonight, actually.
“He might want to spend time with his sister,” I say. “She just moved to town.”
Without missing a beat, she says, “Bring her too.”
“Should I bring the sign guy across the street next?” I huff, referring to the guy who wears different fruit costumes at the smoothie shop.
Amused, she says, “Sure, why not? It’s dinner, not a secret society.”
I let out a long, dramatic sigh.
“Thank you,” she says. “Love you. Can’t wait to try the scones.”
I roll my eyes. “Bye, mother.”
Hanging up, I drop my head back and pray for an ounce of patience to get through the next two weeks.
I spent the entire day at the bakery, much later than usual for an opening shift.
Brighter Daze donates cookies to the local schools every year, and one of the orders goes out in a couple days.
After my morning call with my mother, it was a full house in the kitchen, plus Lexi and Gavin.
There were three hundred monarch butterfly sugar cookies that needed to be decorated for the public elementary school.
The vibrant orange insect represents their mascot, and we have a cute cartoon-style design that’s perfect for kids.
There are four schools we do this for throughout the month of August. The public charter school that Grady, Vivi, and Selena work at, as well as the public elementary, middle, and high schools.
Each one has between two to four hundred students, so we spread it across the span of a few weeks and spend the end of summer prepping for this.
Students also get a ten percent discount at a lot of places in Amada Beach, including Brighter Daze. That also applies to college students of any age. It’s one of a few ways the town is pushing for higher graduation rates, even though San Diego has a high rate to begin with.
All of that to say, I’m fucking tired.
Between it being our third week of cookie donations, everything with Stefan, and how much the Maddon family has disrupted my life recently, I’m high-strung.
More than that, I’m horny.
God, I hate that word. I’m not usually someone who opposes crude words, but I can always make an exception for that one. There’s no other way to put it, though.
After Liam’s little speech about how he isn’t ready because he’s worried about pushing me, I don’t know how to go about this situation. He said the ball was in my court, then stole it back.
Which is totally okay—I need him to want physical intimacy as much as I do. Now I’m in control, but there are conditions.
What the fuck are those conditions?
We kiss a lot, but even when we make out before bed, it stays far too PG for my liking. But he’s open with his affection, in public and private, so I appreciate that he makes sure it’s not only for the facade.
Physical touch seems more important to him, but he’s always willing to ask for what he needs rather than expecting me to adapt overnight.
As much as I’m beginning to be a big fan of those mundane intimacies, like holding hands and kissing goodbye, I’ve enjoyed the pleasures of sexual intimacies for a long time.
Knowing what sex is like with Liam while living with him and not having it is torture. All of his stupid kisses and morning cuddles only makes it worse—especially when his dick wakes up way before he does. It’s a constant reminder of how it felt to have him between my legs.
So when he mentioned going to Lucas and Knox’s, I told him it was a great idea. It was the closest I’ve ever gotten to begging him for anything.
Go! Leave! Stay a few hours and linger at the goodbyes.
I saw an opportunity to unwind, so I’m taking full advantage of it.
After I got home, I quickly fed Rosie and left her downstairs with the back door open. Then I went upstairs to take a long, needed bubble bath. I’m a big fan of them. They aren’t something I do regularly but a few times a year when I’m desperate to relax.
During that hour, I caught up on the book club of the month’s pick. Lexi, Vivi, and I started the club a few years ago, then fell out of routine. We recently reestablished it and invited Blake to join.
Vivi always chooses a contemporary romance novel, usually her most anticipated upcoming indie release.
Out of us all, she reads the most and on a regular basis.
Lexi’s picks range from classics like Frankenstein to political fantasies like Babel.
Everything she chooses is great, but we had to start giving her a page limit.
Blake likes women’s fiction and memoirs.
This month, I got to choose.
Before book club, I wasn’t the most avid reader.
I always did well in school, but I never read for pleasure.
I didn’t really know what I wanted to choose first when we started this years ago.
After strolling through the bookstore for a bit, I came across a hilarious, pleasant little section labeled Monster Romance.
Obviously I had to choose that. We started with the blue aliens, which seems to be a lot of people’s introduction to monster smut.
Since then, I’ve pretty much always stayed on theme. Because of how short a lot of the books are, I usually have to find a series so we can read two or three of them.
Now, I am fully dry, lotioned, and naked on my bed.
The blue aliens surprisingly do something for me, but they’re not on my mind today.
Over the last month and a half, very little has been, other than Liam fucking Maddon. That infuriatingly gorgeous, tattooed man who I can’t seem to get away from for more than a few hours at a time.
With how quickly things happened last week, I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about what all sharing a space with Liam entails. For example, it’s difficult to find time to pleasure myself.
Especially when my personal wet dream is walking around my house, shirtless. Sleeping in my bed, cooking dinner with me, kissing me.
Everything except fucking me.
I have a couple more hours to take care of myself, and I’m shamelessly imagining the man I’m fake dating.
Opening my bedside drawer, I grab my rose vibrator instead of the pastel pink dildo. It doesn’t have Liam’s length or girth, and I fear it will only make my frustration stronger tonight.
There’s only one cock I want inside of me and I’m so wound up, I doubt it will take long anyway.
If Liam and I weren’t so goddamn stubborn, I know exactly how my fantasies would play out.