Chapter 10 #2
Sage incense attaches to everything. Never again. Ghosts aren’t so bad.
She’s still laughing as she meets my gaze.
This close, I can see the band of lighter brown in the middle of her irises, and a tiny mole next to her eyebrow.
Her lush, full lower lip is pushed out the slightest bit as she laughs.
But then her laughter trails off, and in the silence between us a new feeling comes to life—an awareness that we’re alone in here, faces tilted together, laughing.
Planning. Trying to build this place up, brick by brick.
I’ve never shared a dream with anyone before. While I had been invested in the success of Mountain Morning Brewing, it had never felt even one percent mine.
Without intending to, I lean in, drawn to her and the promise of our shared dream, but then reality hits me like a punch to the solar plexus. I made a promise to Hannah—a promise I need to keep.
So I pull away and stand up abruptly, the sound of the chair screeching back assaulting our ears. “Let’s go. It’s getting late.”
She nods without speaking.
We step into the night, Briar pausing to lock the door behind us.
“What do you think about all of this?” she asks as she steps up next to me.
I hope to hell she’s not asking about what just happened inside.
I don’t have an explanation for why I almost kissed her. Maybe I’m just contrary, the way Hannah has always said, because there are billions of women on this planet that I’m allowed to kiss. Briar Sterling is one of the only ones who’s off limits.
It’s only the energy of the day, I tell myself.
It’s natural to feel swept away by it.
We start walking, strolling past couples and a few drunk people howling with laughter and smelling of beer.
“Which part were you asking for my opinion on?” I finally say. “The cultist ladies with their sage?”
She laughs softly, the sound blending with the bells a corner Santa is ringing as he collects funds. “Working here with me. Do you really think we can pull this off?”
I feel a tugging in my chest, maybe a tearing. I come to an abrupt stop.
Briar stops with me, turning toward me expectantly.
The streetlights gleam down on us, making her long golden hair appear covered with frost. Her face is tipped up to me, like a question waiting to be answered.
“This is your brewery, Briar. I’m just an employee. Ten percent. We can say the bathroom’s mine.”
“I puked in the bathroom, so now it’s partly mine.”
I smile but don’t say anything.
She reaches into her pocket and then pulls out a key, placing it in my hand, which I don’t remember stretching out.
“This is yours,” she says. “Part of your ten percent. I figure you might need to come in at odd hours. To check on things, I mean.”
She pulls her hand away, her fingertips leaving little streamers of sensation on my skin. Again with the fingers. A simple touch that stays.
“Yeah,” I say roughly.
Briar watches me as if all the mysteries of the universe might be solved if she studies my broken nose for long enough. “Don’t you want to make your mark on the brewery?” she finally asks. “Or is this just a for-now thing?”
I consider her question as she looks up at me with those beautiful brown eyes, her breath warming the night between us.
“I don’t know,” I finally say. Then I decide to do the smart thing and draw a firm boundary for us both. “But it’s just a job for me. It’s your brewery, not mine.”
For a second, I see the wounded look in her eyes, but the next second it’s gone. Papered over. “You’re right,” she says. “I guess I’m scared to do this on my own. I didn’t think I was going to have to. Jonah, my ex—”
“Oh, I know all about him,” I say, flexing my fist.
“Yeah, I guess you were mad at him for lying to Hannah.”
“That’s one way of putting it.”
I’d had to content myself with only threatening to do Jonah Price bodily harm. Plenty of people wouldn’t believe it, but I have learned a few important lessons from my past mistake. Learned them good.
But I have to be honest with myself. At this particular moment, I’m not thinking about how that fuckhead messed with my sister.
I’m thinking that he put his hands all over this woman in front of me, all while lying to her.
He took advantage of her trust and used her.
Even though Briar’s not mine, and I’m mostly sure I don’t want her to be, I find that deeply offensive.
In fact, I’d prefer it if he didn’t live in the same state as her, let alone the same zip code.
“It’s just…he promised he would help, and—”
“I’m going to stop you right there,” I say. “Rule number three, Princess. Don’t share personal information with your employees. You’re the boss. It’s none of my business who you’ve slept with and what pretty lies they told you.”
She flinches, a stricken look filling her face. I meant to sound like an asshole, and I did, and I can’t let myself regret it. I need to stay on my side of the line I just drew. It’s the only way this is going to work.
If I let myself get too close…
Well, I can’t, and not just because of Hannah.
Briar is tough, more so than she realizes, but she’s soft inside. More marshmallow than person. I won’t be the man who turns her hard.
She stiffens her spine and meets my gaze, her expression closed-off now. “I’ll find my own way home. I assume you can do the same.”
I grunt and nod, wanting to take the words back, even though I know they’ve already made their mark. I tell myself it’s for the best and only half believe it.
“I’ll tell you where to meet me tomorrow to sign your employment contract,” she says coolly.
“You got it, Boss.” It’s not the first time I’ve called her that, but it doesn’t have the same playful ring as before.
It’s like I just traced that line separating us with a permanent marker.
I hang back and watch her walk away from me, but I fall into step behind her, trailing her the several blocks to her car to make sure she’s safe.