7. Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Nate
I ’m in my office, recording the notes I’d taken earlier and setting a schedule for next week’s brewing when I hear someone say, “Um, we’re closed.”
“I’m here to see Nate.”
Adalie.
My cock twitches and my heart rate spikes before I can remind myself to calm the fuck down.
“Nate?” the employee says.
“Yes. Nate Sinclair. Owner. Brewmaster. Is he here?”
I can’t help but smile at the snarky edge to her voice. Soft Adalie has a bit of steel in her.
She marches into my office, dropping a bag on an empty chair. She’s standing as tall as she can with her shoulders back and her chin tipped up. Her hands are clenched into fists at her sides, but she’s not angry. At least, I don’t think she’s angry at me .
“I need your help,” she says with confidence.
“Oh?” What would she need my help for?
“You do crazy things.”
I lift my eyebrows at that, but don’t interrupt.
“You ride a motorcycle, you play hockey, and you jump off bridges.”
“I’ve also jumped out of a plane a couple times,” I say, leaning back in my chair.
“Exactly. You don’t seem to care what people think.”
I’m still failing to see where this is going, but I agree with a nod. “Generally.”
“I need to get out of my comfort zone. I want you to help me with that.”
“What’s wrong with your comfort zone?” I ask. “I happen to like mine.”
“I am apparently not memorable enough to show up when people say they’re going to. Or to invite out because I’ll probably say no, anyway.”
Her clenched fists loosen and her hands come together in front of her, twisting in the first show of nerves since she barged in here. Or maybe not nerves. Hurt. At her sister, standing her up last night?
I don’t tell her she’s plenty memorable. I haven’t stopped remembering her since I first laid eyes on her Friday night. I’m not sure if that admission will help in this situation or not.
“What about your friends?” I ask instead. “Can’t they help you?”
Her shoulders relax a bit and her chin dips. “My friends?” She takes a breath. “My friends love me. They’d tell me I don’t have to change for anyone.”
“They’d be right.”
“But you don’t know me,” she continues. “You don’t know what I would normally do or what I wouldn’t.”
I almost laugh at that. “I can guess.”
“So you can help me do things I would never do.”
I fold my hands behind my head, considering her. I want to say yes, and I take a second to examine why. As I watch her, she smooths her hands down the skirt of her dress in another gesture that belies the nerves she’s feeling. I’m reminded again of that flower, but now I realize she’s more like a wildflower, soft, pretty, and delicate, but stubborn enough to grow in places it has no business being.
I want to say yes because I want to get to know her better. It doesn’t matter that she’s not my type, that we’re completely wrong for each other and have probably nothing in common. She’s fascinating to me, and I can’t seem to get enough.
“Say I agree to this, what’s in it for me?” I ask.
“What do you want?”
I stand, stepping toward her, loving the way her eyes travel down my body and back up. She swallows when her eyes meet mine again, and I’m certain she’s as attracted to me as I am to her.
“Not… um… that.”
“Not what, princess?”
She swallows again, her eyes dropping to my lips. I know she’s thinking about how I’d kissed her. The memory of her body pressed against me had me awake most of the night.
“We can’t kiss again,” she says, her voice small, her gaze still trained on my lips, like she’s waiting for exactly what she said we can’t do.
“Why not?”
I step closer and she sucks in a breath, looking up at me. She straightens her spine, lifting her chin, like she’s just remembered she needs to. I watch as she transforms from a nervous flower into a prickly rose.
“Because,” she says, her voice firmer now. “You signed a contract with Blue Vista, and it would be risky to mess it up by involving emotions into our otherwise business relationship.”
“Who said anything about emotions?”
She blinks rapidly.
She is fun to tease.
“Anyway,” she says, drawing the word out. “I thought I could offer private art lessons.”
I arch a brow at her. “I’m not really into painting, princess.”
She rolls her eyes. I love the fiery spirit I’m seeing.
“I meant for Dani. She was talking to me on Friday about her art, and I can help her. More than the teachers at her school. She’s still in elementary, right?”
It’s my turn to be taken aback.
“You want to teach Dani?”
Adalie nods, and she looks excited at the idea. “Yes. I’ve been studying different mediums since I was about her age. Maybe a bit younger, even. I’ve taken dozens of classes. I could help her figure out what she wants to focus on and help hone her talent. She’s really very good already. Especially for only being ten.”
“So how would this work, then?” I ask, sitting against the edge of my desk, crossing my legs at the ankles.
Adalie reaches up, lifting her curls and letting them drop. “You have her for a week and she’s with her mom for a week, right?”
I nod and fold my arms over my chest, noting the way Adalie’s eyes follow the motion.
“On the weeks you have her, I could come over for an hour or two one day and we can do something art related. Painting, sketching, I can even do a bit of sculpting. I’ll pay for all the materials. Then, on the off weeks, you can help me do something I wouldn’t normally do.”
“Like what?”
She shrugs, her hands twisting back together and her teeth worrying her bottom lip. “That’s kind of why I need you. I don’t even know where to start.”
“What if I come up with something you’re absolutely against?”
“I won’t.”
I look at her skeptically. Several unsuitable things come to mind.
“We could come up with a code,” she says after a moment.
“Like a safe word?” The words are out before I can stop them, conjuring images of other reasons we might need a safe word.
“Yes. It should be something I already know I can’t stand since I’ll have no reason to say it.” Then she smiles, a teasing look coming to her eyes. “Stout.”
“You don’t like stouts?” I ask, appalled.
She shakes her head, still smiling.
I narrow my eyes. “Stouts are the best kind of beer. You’ve obviously never had a good one.”
She shrugs. “Derek has made me try a bunch of them. I never like them.”
“I’m going to find one you like.”
She laughs. “You can try.” She scrunches her nose, and it’s the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen in my life. “They’re just too heavy.”
I heave a sigh. “Fine. Stout is your safe word. So when do we start?”
She bounces on her toes, clapping her hands together. Then her smile fades. “Oh. I’m busy this week, so I guess we start with the art lesson next week? What’s the schedule with Dani?”
“Monday to Monday. She leaves for school from Katie’s house Monday morning, then comes to my house Monday afternoon. That way, the weekend isn’t broken up with shifting houses.”
Her smile returns and I’m fascinated by how easy it is for her to be happy. “Perfect. What day would work for you?”
Instead of answering, I ask, “What are you busy with this week?”
The question is absolutely none of my business, but she answers anyway.
“My friends are taking me out tonight and tomorrow for my birthday. I work late Friday and Saturday. My parents’ house on Sunday and game night at Derek’s house on Monday.”
I blink in surprise. “It’s your birthday?”
“Yesterday,” she says with a nod, like it’s not a big deal.
“Your sister stood you up on your birthday?”
She gives me a self-deprecating smile. “Now you understand why I want to try something different.”
I’m suddenly very angry. Why does she think this is something she needs to change? What her sister did has nothing to do with Adalie and everything to do with the sister. But at the same time, she wants to break out of her comfort zone, and she’s come to me to help her.
“I have to talk to Katie and Dani,” I say. “Katie and I have an agreement that any new thing in Dani’s life has to be approved by both of us.”
“Fair,” Adalie says, excitement returning to her eyes.
“And Dani has to want to do this. But given how she wouldn’t stop talking about you on Friday, or all weekend, I’m sure that won’t be a problem.”
Adalie’s smile grows. “I really liked her, too.”
“We’ll do Thursday nights for Dani. For our things, we’ll make it work depending on what we’re going to do.”
She squeals and throws her arms around my neck, but this time she doesn’t get carried away and kiss me. I’m disappointed, even as I take an extra second to let her go.
“This is going to be great,” she says as she steps back, grinning. “I have to get back to work. I’ll see you next Thursday.”
She backs away toward the door, bumping into the frame, then turns to head out.
I move forward, catching her hand before she can leave.
“Hey.” She stops, looking first at where I’m touching her, then up to my face. I so badly want to kiss her, but she said we can’t do that anymore, and she made a good point as to why. “Happy birthday, Adalie. I wish I’d known. I would have told Taylor to stop for a cake when he got the pizza.”
The smile she gives me now makes me feel ten feet tall, like just the idea of me doing something nice has made her happier. What would happen if I actually did something nice for her?
“Thank you, Nate. And don’t worry about the cake. Lis will make one for me on Monday.”
“What about your parents?”
She shrugs. “Possibly.”
I hate that for her. She should be confident that her family is going to be there for her, celebrate her the way she should be. How are her friends better than her family?
“I’ll see you later, Adalie. Have fun tonight.”
She looks down at where I’m still holding her hand, taking it back slowly, as though she doesn’t want to let go any more than I do.