Bittersweet (True North, #1)

by Sarina Bowen

BPG kept giving me tasks that weren’t aligned with my skills, and then yelling at me when I failed.

There was even a Facebook group called I Survived BPG.

I was just a half mile from the first grower on my list—the Shipley Farm. I’d known a Griffin Shipley during my first unsuccessful year of college. He was a football stud and party boy, and we’d hooked up a couple of times. I remembered those nights with perfect clarity. Every thrilling moment.

“Audrey Kidder?” he growled. The growly monster knew my name. Wait. I knew that growly monster. “Griffin?”

I had a flicker of a memory of the last time I’d seen Griff Shipley. We were in his room at the frat house, and he had me up against his bedroom door.

“What are you doing on my farm?” he demanded. “Aside from driving into my ditch.”

Apparently all the people who grew pristine organic food were beautiful themselves.

“We have to pull the princess here out of the ditch and change her tire. Then warp speed her ass back to the Death Star so she can report that the rebels are mutinying.” “Jesus, I’d forgotten about your Star Wars obsession.”

“I’m happy to get going just as soon as I’m able. After we have a brief discussion about cider and apples.” “A brief discussion.” He stared me down. “Yes. You repeat things very well. Good job.”

Whatever the cause, I started acting like an asshole at the moment I discovered Audrey’s perfect ass sticking out of that car on my dirt road.

“Why don’t you ask your parents for the startup money?” I asked. Audrey was a rich girl. That’s why the sorority types had liked her so much. “Can’t they help?” “No, Griff.” Her voice dipped. “As a matter of fact they can’t.”

Her face lit up like a kid’s on Christmas, and I felt a twinge of unfamiliar kinship in my chest. Cider was my passion, and whenever anyone expressed interest, it made me happy. Then again, the girl really had enjoyed getting drunk back in the day.

Christ on a cracker. The way her shapely mouth looked when she said fuck was ridiculously distracting.

For a moment she blinked up at me, then licked her lips. Do not look at her lips. Do not think about them. Do not remember what she once did with… Fuck.

Tasting cider before lunch in the hopes of making a sale wasn’t exactly a social occasion. But it was as close as I’d come in a while. Pathetic much?

“Wow. That’s some fine apple juice you’ve got there, Griff.” “What?” I yelped. “Apple j—” She grinned. “Joking!

I tried not to find her ridiculously attractive.

I shall report back to the Death Star, where Darth Vader will express his disappointment and then strangle me for quoting eight bucks a bottle.” Damn this girl. Not only did she know her stuff, she was smiling at me now over the rim of her glass.

“Thank you for giving me a try. I need the job.” “You’re welcome,” I said. Translation: we’re desperate.

Come with us, Audrey,” my sister the traitor said.

he busied himself singing Technotronic’s “Pump Up the Jam,” and dancing around. “You are killing me with that song,” his twin sister Daphne complained. The two of them looked to be high school aged. “This is what I sing when we make jam.”

Knife work was soothing to me. Some people knitted. Some did yoga. I liked to cut things.

When you’ve been told all your life that you’re quite useless, whipping up a little barbecue sauce is a good time.

All that hotness wasted on a grouch.

she smiled. At least one of the Shipleys liked me.

“What keeps you from getting cranky?” I called after him. “Whatever it is, have some of it.” All the Shipleys laughed except for Griff.

The sight of Audrey Kidder invading my family kitchen had a strange effect on me. Watching her at our stove was like getting a glimpse of an alternate universe where I had time for a woman in my life.

Hell, we hadn’t even been friends in college. She’d been dating Bryce, a younger football teammate of mine. For months, whenever he brought her by the house, I was tortured by her smile and her easy laugh.

Two of the best nights of my life were the ones I spent with her.

Shit, I was actually staring at her. “Is there something on my ass that shouldn’t be there?” she asked. “Uh.” I was so busted. “Just a bit of hay.” “Get it off, would you?” Ruh-roh.

I’d managed to put Audrey Kidder out of my mind for a good, solid five minutes,

“Griff, why don’t you say grace?” “All right.” Nothing like exchanging a few words with God while your ex-hookup watched from across the table.

“Does anyone need anything while I’m over here?” “Just more of that sauce,” my little sister said. Bunch of traitors. The whole lot of them.

But goddamn it, the girl could really cook. She was still irritating as hell and worked for a bunch of crooks. But she had one talent. Okay, two. Food and sex…

“Where do you two know each other from, anyway?” Zach asked, heading over to the sideboard for another helping. My mother looked up. “You two met before?” Well, damn it, Zach. Now I’d have to kill him after lunch. Shame, too. Such a great employee.

“We overlapped at BU.” She gave me a sidelong glance from across the table as if to say, see what I did there? Oh, we overlapped all right.

“I’m probably going to burn, but I don’t mind. I haven’t been outside all day in years.”

“Mom is gonna flip,” he said eventually. “Those cows were Dad’s babies.” “We’re not selling you, Dyl.”

“I think you want to get into Audrey Kidder’s pants.” Hell, was I that obvious?

“When you said you knew her in college, I didn’t know you meant biblically.”

I’d always wanted Audrey. From the first moment she showed up with my teammate Bryce, I’d been jealous. And not just because she was hot. I’d been drawn to her silly spirit, and the carefree way that she seemed to enjoy life without trying too hard.

she turned me on like nobody’s business,

I’d seen Bryce go upstairs with some leggy girl I didn’t know.

“Hi, Griffin,” Audrey had said as she bounced through the door. “Is Bryce around, by chance?” I hadn’t even hesitated. “Check the TV room upstairs. Pretty sure I saw him up there.”

I was sure I’d never see her again. And why would I deserve to, anyway? But two weeks later she came back to the house with some of her sorority sisters. Maybe Audrey had revenge on the mind because she was dressed to kill.

when we went upstairs I thought I’d die from happiness. A week later we repeated the same performance. I was a goner after that, and thinking about her all the time—

she and I had amazing chemistry.

I’d been frosty toward Audrey today. Rejection—even five years past—had turned me into a bigger grouch than usual.

Hell, I wanted to succeed, if only to see the stunned expression on his too-handsome face.

That man was just using me to further his agenda. Men had done that to me many times, actually. You’d think I’d stop falling for it.