by Holley Trent
“I love you, too. You know that.”
When he pulled away, he took the seat Everley had temporarily abandoned because she’d gone to refill her water bottle. He pulled her onto his lap upon her return.
“We’ve got a couple of months,” Joey said. “Lisa doesn’t want to decide on names until we’ve met them.”
“An admirable plan,” Bruce said with a serious nod.
They chatted a while longer, discussing plans for the Burnout Bungalows and fantasy trips and wishes they had for the future. Then they parted ways to nap and shower before dinner. They pretty much had the place to themselves for a couple of days. The core staff would be too busy preparing for the cheer event to bother them.
Lisa walked slowly up the path toward the owner’s cabin with Joey on one arm and Finch on her other side, holding her hand. “Do you ever think about how weird this shit is?”
Joey snorted. “I think about that every time I wake up and Finch sneers at me.”
Finch gasped in that appalled, wounded way of the truly wronged. “The fly of your briefs pops open!”
“We’ve discussed this. Sleep on the other side.”
“I can’t sleep on the other side. Lisa needs to be nearest to the bathroom.”
“Then just accept the fact that sometimes, you’re going to wake up with a cock near you. Do I complain about you shoving your cold feet against my junk every night? No. Do you know why? Because I’m a team player.”
Lisa shook her head and let them argue, because that was simply their communication style, and there was no real animosity behind their words.
In truth, she thought they just didn’t want to let other people know how much they cared about each other. Lisa certainly wouldn’t give a shit if they let themselves be affectionate in moments when they knew others were watching.
But that took time, just like Joey and Lisa had needed time.
They needed to adjust to the idea that they could have each other, and that it was possible for someone to turn their life upside down solely for the want of being with them.
And they obviously wanted each other in their own, disordered ways.
Finch had stuck her neck out at work for Joey, and Joey had been very clear to his family that Finch lived with him and Lisa, knowing full well his mother would probably go nuclear at the oddness of it all.
Weirdly enough, she hadn’t.
Lisa didn’t try to make sense of the ways of Bitty Novak. She didn’t have that kind of time on her hands.
“Dammit,” Joey snarled, reaching around to unhook a pine needle from Finch’s braid. “How do you do this? You were sitting there the whole time like that? Why do you always look like you’ve been rolling around in the woods?”
“Because…we always are?”
“But you don’t have to look like it. Lisa and I don’t, see? We’re immaculate. No one would suspect a thing.”
“I suppose you’ll just have to teach me the fine art of discretion since it obviously doesn’t come naturally to me.”
“And I suppose I could make the time.”
Lisa laughed and pulled them both even closer to her sides, setting the entire triad a bit off-balance for a couple of seconds until they found newer, surer footing.
They always found it.
Lisa hoped that would never, ever change.
A NOTE FROM HOLLEY
This novella (which technically isn’t a novella because it exceeds Romance Writers of America’s wordcount parameters [pretend there’s a shrug emoji here]) wraps up what’s been one of my most fun series to write.
When I pitched the stories that would become the Plot Twist miniseries to Carina Press, I honestly didn’t think the project would get very far.
I mean, come on—a collection of stories that kind of makes fun of the publishing industry? That’s a pretty bold submission, right? But I’d also pitched it right after another of my publishers had closed their romance imprint without warning. I was in a pretty prickly mental place.
Apparently, the acquisitions team liked these messy, mouthy characters as much as I did, and contracted Stacia, Dara, & Adrien’s story and Raleigh, Everley, & Bruce’s story as a pair.
I wanted to tell one more story set in the world not only so you could revisit with characters from the first two books, but also because I knew my brain wouldn’t rest unless I did something with Ms. Hot Pink.
I’d like to give an incredibly heartfelt thanks to my adventurous paranormal readers who followed me over to this side of the subgenre with very little grumbling and also to my editor and chief enabler John Jacobson (who’s definitely co-captain of Team No Chill).
Thanks for joining me on this wild ride!
OTHER PLOT TWIST STORIES
Published by Harlequin/Carina Press
Available in e-book, mass-market paperback, and audiobook formats
Writing Her In
(Stacia, Dara, and Adrien)
Three Part Harmony
(Raleigh, Everley, and Bruce)
ABOUT HOLLEY TRENT
When Holley was a kid, she wanted to be an obstetrician, but the idea of having to answer her phone eventually turned her off of that. She switched majors to English during her sophomore year of college and never looked back.
She was born in New York, raised in North Carolina, and resides somewhere on the Front Range. She sounds like a Minnesotan at times and doesn’t try to understand it.
You can learn more about Holley’s contemporary and paranormal romance backlists at her website, www.holleytrent.com.
She also writes sci-fi romance under the name H.E. Trent. The style’s the same. There are just more spaceships involved.
COPYRIGHTS & CREDITS
WORKING TITLE
First Edition
Copyright © 2019 by Holley Trent
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
Cover stock:
© Model - Flamingo Images (Shutter Stock)
© Glitter background - Ron Dale (Shutter Stock)
Christmas tree image on cover is a resource from Freepik.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, corporations, institutions, organizations, events, or locales in this novel are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, used fictitiously. The resemblance of any character to actual persons (living or dead) is entirely coincidental.
