CHAPTER EIGHT
There is no fulfillment that is not made sweeter for the prolonging of desire. –
Janice didn’t like losing, even while she pretended it didn’t matter.
But Lily was on to her.
At first, the woman would have this line furrowing her forehead—just the slightest thing that it was barely noticeable before she smoothed it out quickly and adopted a cool expression. Then she would make some joke to distract everyone before concentrating again on winning.
Unfortunately, Darla was taking the lead and looked like she was on a streak.
Lily watched in fascination, having long bowed out of the bowling game and was just sitting with the other ladies, filling herself with greasy fries and pizza. It was something Ethel wouldn’t approve of, considering the woman was a health buff—but since this was singles’ night out and she wasn’t here, she couldn’t exactly witness their eating frenzy.
Janice now had the ball, and she narrowed her eyes as she looked on in concentration towards the lane. A few seconds later, she released the ball and it rolled straight, hitting the pins with a bang and letting them all fall simultaneously.
“Go, tiger!” Lily cheered, pumping a fist in the air.
The women clapped, and Janice grinned at everyone before sidling over to grab a slice of pizza. Darla raised a brow, announcing that she could beat that twice over because this was apparently her specialty.
And she did just that.
Janice scowled at the win and Darla gloated by jumping up and down and not shutting up about it. The other women rolled their eyes and teased the two that it was just a game, then discussed where they could possibly go next. Some women suggested they could go to the diner and continue eating, while others suggested they should go to Hanna’s house and do some movie marathon.
Janice rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on. That’s so lame. We do that all the time. How about we go to the bar and play pool?”
Hanna’s eyes widened, looking scandalized. “In the daytime?”
“We’ll just have a few drinks while no guys are around. We will have the place all to ourselves and we can eat and drink what we want and have a ton of fun,” Janice explained. “Now doesn’t that sound tempting?”
Lily watched as the other women considered the idea. Hanna’s scandalized look changed to excitement, and she knew it would only take one sentence to tip the ice over. She sipped at her soda, talking as casually as she could.
“We could talk about dirty little secrets,” she suggested.
And that did it. The women unanimously agreed that was the best thing ever, and they started for their cars chatting a mile a minute. The bar was technically closed at this time of day, but it didn’t take much convincing for the owner, Ned, to open it and give them a few hours.
Lily wasn’t much of a drinker, so she took it easy and played pool with Janice first. Hanna joined in, but she was so terrible at it that she ended up making the balls fly then fall all over the floor so that the owner began frowning at them. Hanna gave him the peace sign, then decided to join in on the drinking with Darla and the others. Soon, Darla brought a tray for the players, glasses of “lady” drinks that Lily didn’t recognize. Janice scoffed and got herself a couple shots of tequila, which roused them as she drank five shots straight.
“I think we’re going to need a whole lot of food if we’re going to settle in,” Janice announced.
“Put it on my bill!” Darla exclaimed, all her earlier prohibition gone.
The owner was probably too amused to kick them out, and he went to the kitchen to do the cooking himself. Ned came out with two trays full of food, and some of the girls gave the old man kisses on the cheek for being such a sweetheart. He grumbled a lot but Lily could tell he was mighty pleased with the attention before he returned to the back of the long bar.
There was a jukebox at the side and Lily had an idea. She took out some quarters and started pushing some buttons, and seconds later, Patsy Cline crooned and filled the area with the song Crazy.
They played some more pool, then settled down in one of the booths and took their food and drinks with them. They chatted about their lives, and Lily stayed quiet as she listened to the women settle in comfortably and open up a bit more about who they were.
Hanna was the daughter of the bakery owner and apparently had a knack for baking herself. While not necessarily fat, she said that she worked out like crazy to keep her body the way it was—and yes, to please her boyfriend, whom she was crazy about—while she enjoyed the pastries she and her mother loved to bake. Hanna was currently working at the bakery and experimenting on cakes so she could add those to the store when her dad finally let her take over.
Darla was the rich kid, with parents who donated to the church and charities every month. Her parents were both politicians and not really in town much so she grew up with a housekeeper that she treated like family. Darla had two brothers who were both in university, and she was currently designing and creating clothes that she sold online. Her parents, apparently, wanted her to get into law school but she had declined, saying that it simply wasn’t her thing.
The shy one of the group, Beth, was the town librarian and had only arrived in town three years ago. She initially never talked to anyone, preferring to stay with her books, but Hanna had managed to pull her away enough for one night together with the girls—and the rest was history. Lily had taken a particular liking to her, especially because they had so much in common when it came to their favorite must-reads. Beth had promised Lily she’d let her know right away when there was a vacancy there, which Lily absolutely appreciated.
Janice, as everyone knew, was Pastor Seb’s cousin, and working at the sheriff’s office. They teased her about a certain officer named Sullivan who was decidedly smitten with her, but she simply rolled her eyes and said she wasn’t interested.
“I’m enjoying my work and would rather focus on that for now,” Janice commented over her fish and chips.
Darla scoffed. “So you’d rather just work and work and have no benefits? Come on. I’ve seen Sullivan. He’s not bad looking at all.”
“Not interested.”
Lily did remember Sullivan, who was at the bake sale and had gotten introduced to her. He was a gorgeous red head who was tall and very well-muscled and apparently a big softie when it came to Janice.
“Why aren’t you interested?” Lily asked, suddenly curious. She’d seen the way they’d interacted at the bake sale. Janice had been even more sarcastic when Sullivan came, dodging him every which way but trying not to make it obvious.
Janice frowned at her food. “He’s too…nice. I mean, I’m okay with nice, but he treats me like I’m some kind of princess. And you know I’m not exactly the royalty type. Give me a wild man any day.”
Darla whistled. “Now we’re talking.” She raised her glass in the air, and they all toasted. Then she turned to Lily. “What about you? Any guys you want to rough and tumble in bed so far?”
An image came to mind of Sebastian and her in bed, writhing against each other as he pounded her into bed and made her scream out his name. Desire shot up in her system instantly, and she squirmed. Hanna noticed and her eyes lit up.
“A-ha! I know that look. I get that when my boyfriend gets naughty with me,” she said. “Who is it?”
Sebastian’s name was at the tip of her tongue, but she managed to evade on time. “No one. I’m just…missing it, I guess.”
Janice made noises of agreement. The topic shifted to sex in particular as the women began spilling out their dirtiest fantasy.
“Definitely the couch,” Hanna confessed. “I know you’d all expect me to say the bakery, but trust me—it’s very unsanitary. We’ve never done it on the couch because one of the parents is always home, so it’s something I want to try out.”
“Bathroom of a restaurant,” Janice said with relish. Everyone laughed, but she was adamant about it. “It’s the hottest thing ever, don’t you think? The guy will just have to slide my panties down and touch me there before he slides his thing in and takes me against the wall. It has to be quick, because we might end up getting caught.”
Lily’s mind supplied an image of her and a certain guy doing the same thing. She stuck her legs together as her belly quivered and a shot of fire went down. The women didn’t stop.
“The library,” Beth finally said after a moment’s hesitation, blushing furiously. “An exotic stranger who will read sonnets to me and sweep me off my feet.”
“And take you against the shelves,” Janice added.
“Or behind, against the ladder,” Hanna piped in.
The women howled as Beth coughed into her drink and turned redder. Lily grinned, patting the woman on the back to ease her coughing.
“My turn,” Darla announced, blonde hair swaying. “I would love to do it…in a tent on a camping trip. Particularly with Pastor Seb.”
Janice groaned. “Stop. You’re supplying me with unwanted visions of my cousin.”
Darla grinned. “It’s fantasy. I can dream. We all know we’d love to hit that.”
“Oh, yeah,” Hanna agreed. “One night of wild, wild passion.”
The truth of the matter was, so did Lily.
“How about you?” Darla turned to Lily.
Lily sipped at her drink first to avoid spilling out the truth. “Car, most definitely.”
The women cheered again, and the stories went on. A certain bond between the women grew that day between the five of them. Lily felt it and it made her feel a little more at home. She felt accepted, felt like she belonged with them and for the first time in a while, felt contentment with her decision to come here. The food and drinks kept coming, with Ned keeping the alcohol at a minimum until he finally reminded them that the place was about to open for the big boys in less than two hours and they really should get home. They all thanked him—a bit tipsily—and promised him that they would be able to go home safely, since Beth and Hanna hadn’t really drunk much.
They waved their goodbyes and Beth and Hanna drove the women off. Lily took a ride with Beth and Janice and Janice was still crooning the jukebox songs by the time they got her home. She gave them a fuzzy smile and told them to behave, and finally, Beth asked Lily where she wanted to be dropped off.
Lily smiled, knowing exactly where she wanted to be dropped off. She’d been aware of where he was going to be for the rest of the week by word of mouth.
“Church. I need to make a confession,” Lily said honestly.
Beth’s eyes twinkled, not getting it. “All right. If you say so.”
They chatted more about books, and Lily felt like she was floating on air as the alcohol got into her system. But she wasn’t so drunk that she didn’t know what she was doing—just enough to give her the courage for what she was about to do next.
All her life, she’d always followed the rules. She’d always run away from things that scared her, and it was time to stop that.
Her feelings for Sebastian scared her—an exhilarating combination of desire and yearning. Based on last night, she was pretty sure it wasn’t one-sided.
And it was time to act on it.
The good pastor wanted her, but he wasn’t going to do anything about it. So she was going to have to do the seducing.
Consequences be damned.