Chapter 12
“I will not let a coffee machine defeat me.” ~ Eli
Eli
I’m not surprised there’s a light on in Paisley’s office when I arrive at Buccaneer’s Whiskey. No matter how early I arrived at work this past week, Paisley was already here. And she’s here when I finish work, too.
Is she doing okay? She must be exhausted. I’ll make her a coffee and bring it to her. It’s as good an excuse as any to check on her.
Plan in place, I fold out of my SUV and head inside.
The offices of the distillery are dark when I enter. Not strange considering it’s barely six a.m. My brothers and the rest of the staff usually don’t arrive until around eight. Although Kai is always late, Zane comes and goes at will, and Miles often doesn’t show up at all.
I can’t complain. Zane is a master at marketing. And Miles did warn me he wouldn’t be at the distillery often when we founded the company .
I dump my briefcase in my office before making my way to the break room. I prepare a cup of coffee for Paisley the way I know she drinks it. Strong with lots of sugar but no milk.
I hum as I traverse through the offices to the distillery. I pass Jaxon’s office but he isn’t in yet before reaching Paisley’s.
“Good morning,” I call as I enter.
Paisley jumps in her chair and clutches her chest. “You scared me.”
I lift the coffee up in the air. “I bring you replenishments.”
She reaches for the cup. “I could use a hit of caffeine.”
I hand her the coffee making sure our fingers touch. A jolt of excitement rolls through me at the feel of her skin. The pads of her fingers are surprisingly soft considering how much she works with her hands.
I can’t help but wonder how soft the rest of her skin is. It’s a question I’ve spent quite a bit of time considering while laying in my bed with my cock in my hand. My cock twitches in reminder and I clear my throat before I end up getting hard.
Paisley sips on her coffee and moans. Damn. I want to hear her moan when she’s sipping from my lips, not coffee. There is no chance of me not getting hard now.
“What are you working on?”
She rips her glasses off and flings them on the desk. “The scheduling. Coordinating the brewing, fermentation, packaging, and cleaning schedules shouldn’t be this hard.”
I chuckle. “Except you’d rather be playing around with new recipes or getting your hands dirty with the actual brewing. ”
She narrows her eyes on me. Without her glasses on, those hazel eyes of hers are even more gorgeous. “How do you know?”
“Because I know you, Lace.”
She nabs her glasses and sets them back on her face. “Lace? You don’t know me well if you can’t remember my name.”
The term of endearment slipped out. “I know you prefer to get your hands dirty rather than sit behind a computer all day.”
She raises an eyebrow.
“I remember in biology class none of your friends would dissect the frog as assigned and you ended up dissecting five of them. One for you and one for each of your friends.”
She narrows her eyes on me. “It wasn’t cheating.”
I raise my hands. “Of course not. Paisley Bardot would never cheat.”
She sniffs and lifts her nose in the air. It’s adorable. “Dang right, I wouldn’t. I made my friends recite all the parts of a frog’s anatomy before I agreed to help with their dissections.”
“You and your friends always were troublemakers.”
She scowls. “I’m not a troublemaker.”
“And you didn’t cover the social science teacher’s desk with yellow sticky notes with drawings of a penis on them either?”
“He shouldn’t have said sex education was a waste of time.”
“The drawings were very accurate.” We were fourteen at the time. How did she know the anatomy of a penis at such an early age? Especially when the teacher refused to teach us the sex education curriculum ?
“I traced the drawings from an anatomy book I checked out in the library.”
I grin. “I should have known. You practically lived in the library.”
“It was the only place where I could get some peace from Chloe, Sophia, and Nova.”
“I can’t believe they’ve settled down.”
She snorts. “Don’t let them fool you. Being engaged – or married in Chloe’s case – hasn’t settled them down one bit.”
I lift my coffee cup and realize it’s empty. I stand. “You want another coffee?”
She pushes away from her desk. “I’ll go with you.”
“Why are you here this early?” she asks as we travel through the building.
“Working. The same as you,” I say as I open the door to the break room and usher her inside. “Have a seat I’ll make you a coffee.”
She sits down. Her eyes widen as she studies the room.
“What is it?”
“This break room is over the top.”
I scan the room. It’s nothing special. Sure, the tables and chairs are luxurious but what’s the sense in having a break room with uncomfortable chairs? You can’t have a proper break if you’re uncomfortable.
“I want everyone to be comfortable, so they can rest during their breaks.”
She points to the shelf of glasses. “And they need baccarat crystal to rest? ”
“Those were a gift. Since I wasn’t planning on using them in my home, I brought them here.”
“Already too much baccarat crystal at home?” she teases.
“Nah. I break shit too often. No fancy crystal for me.”
“You break shit?”
“Correction. My brothers come over and decide to play hot potato with my stuff.”
She giggles. “Now there’s an explanation I believe.”
“My brothers are shit stirrers.”
“They’re nearly as bad as my friends.”
“Do not tell them that. They’ll take it as a challenge.”
“As would Chloe and Sophia.”
“We should probably keep them apart.”
She nods. “Good idea.”
I return my attention to the coffee machine. I place Paisley’s cup under the dispenser and hit the espresso button. But, instead of coffee filling her cup, water spurts out of the machine straight at me.
I slap my hands at the water in an attempt to stop the flow. But water continues to soak me until Paisley unplugs the machine.
“What did you do?” she asks.
I scowl at the machine. “Nothing. This machine hates me.”
“An inanimate object hates you?”
“Yep.” I nod. “It’s possessed by the devil.”
She giggles and I glare at her. She holds up her hands as she backs away. “Sorry. I’m just a little surprised by Eli Raider claiming a coffee machine is possessed by the devil. ”
I grab a towel and pat my suit jacket to dry it. “I’m going to have to dry clean this suit.”
“If you wore jeans and a t-shirt, you wouldn’t have to worry about the dry cleaner.”
I frown. “Do you not approve of suits?” She complains about my clothes a lot.
“Suits are fine. But we live on an island. Even the mayor wears shorts and flip-flops.”
“Because Lana is a nut.”
“True but she’s not wrong in her choice of attire for an island environment. The expected high temperature for today is eighty.”
I toss the towel on the counter since drying myself is a waste of my time. I need to change my outfit. It’s a good thing I keep a spare suit in my office. “The heat doesn’t bother me much since I don’t get outside often.”
“I self identify as a workaholic and I get outside.”
“When?” I push her. There’s no way she has time to go outside.
“I go for a walk at lunch every day.”
Now I understand why I can never find her when it’s time to eat. I thought she was hiding from me.
“It lowers my blood pressure, gets the heart pumping, relieves stress, and helps to prevent weight gain amongst other benefits.”
I rake my gaze over her body. “You don’t have to worry about gaining weight. ”
“Everyone has to worry about gaining weight at a certain age.”
I chuckle. “You’re thirty. Not sixty.”
She slides her glasses up her nose. “Nearly thirty-one.”
I bark out a laugh. “I misspoke. You’re obviously an old lady.”
She nudges me to move. “Get out of the way. I need to fix this machine.”
“I’ll fix it.”
She raises an eyebrow. “You’re going to fix the machine you believe is possessed by the devil?”
“Better me than you to be cursed to spend an eternal life in hell with the Prince of Darkness.”
“Lucky for me, I don’t believe in the devil.”
She winks and my heart flutters. She’s laughing and joking with me. Maybe she doesn’t hate me anymore. Maybe I should ask why she hated me before.
“I’m serious, Mr. Billionaire. Out of my way. I’ve got this.”
And maybe I shouldn’t push my luck. At least, not yet.
I’m slowly insinuating myself into Paisley’s life. Day by day. Coffee by coffee. Joke by joke. She’s getting used to me. It won’t be long before she’ll forget all about my money and her previous hatred of me.
And then I’ll pounce.