Page 14 of Bad Decisions & Back Roads

I shouted over the pounding rain, “I didn’t know anything about this stupid lawsuit.I just asked Misty about it.I can’t believe he’s doing that.It’s stupid.”

He didn’t even look up.“Hang on.I’m—yep.That should do it.”

He slid the panel back on, screwed it into place, then finally stood and looked at me.He blinked.Then blinked again.His eyes dropped.Not politely.Directly to my chest.

He asked, “What are you?—”

“I didn’t know about the lawsuit,” I repeated, defensive.“Not until I asked Misty right now.”

He made a strangled noise—half cough, half near-death experience—and continued staring like my nipples had personally insulted him.

Movement above him caught my eye.

Misty hung halfway out the upstairs window, pointing emphatically at her own boobs while yanking her shirt tight across them.Then she pointed at me.

I looked down.Well…shit.

My shirt was completely see-through.Not damp.Not clingy.Transparent.Without a bra, there were no mysteries left.No room for imagination.My breasts had introduced themselves, shaken hands, and handed out business cards.

Misty was laughing hard, even though I couldn’t hear it.I saw it.

I threw her the middle finger.

Timothy immediately took a giant step backward.

“Oh my God—no!”I yelped.“Not you.I was flipping off Misty.”I pointed above him.“She’s laughing at me because…” I waved at my chest.

He glanced up to her, then looked back at me.This time his gaze did a slow, traitorous sweep all the way down before snapping back up like he hated himself for having given in and looking.

I crossed my arms over my chest, which only made things worse somehow.

“Thank you for fixing the air,” I said in the crisp tone of a woman pretending she wasn’t currently starring inWet T-Shirt: Small Town Edition.“Consider the nipple show your tip.”

I marched away with every ounce of dignity I could scrape together, which would’ve been more convincing if my soaked sandals hadn’t made a loudfwap-fwap-fwapnoise all the way back to the house.

Inside, I could hear Misty laughing a deep, wheezing,I-might-need-an-inhalersound.

When she finally emerged from her bedroom, wiping tears from beneath her eyes, I pointed at her.“You made that worse.Now he hates me even more.I sexually harassed him while he’s at work and flipped him off.”

“Sexually harassed?”Misty clutched her chest, wheezing out more laughter.“Honey, that man looked like he was fighting for his life out there.”

“That’s because a woman with decent boobs unexpectedly showed up in a see-through shirt.Any straight man would’ve looked.”I waved at my chest.

“Looked?Child, that man blue-screened.His whole system shut down.You gave him a full factory reset.”

I glared.

She grinned wider.“Also, calling it anipple showbefore marching off like Dolly Parton in a thunderstorm?”She pressed a hand to her stomach as if that might control her laughs.“I may never recover from witnessing that.Highlight of my year.Maybe my life.”

I groaned and covered my face.“I panicked.”

“You sure did.Now that man’s got enough fantasy material to carry him through hurricane season.”

“Oh my God.”

“Possibly through Christmas.”

“Misty…”