Chapter 29 #3
She chuckles. “I am very much more than half, but yes, that is my husband,” she says, a little sparkle in her eyes as she looks up behind me.
“Holy shit, you’re Julian’s?” she says in a surprised whisper.
I turn to see where she looked and find both Ace and Julian lounging in chairs lofted on the second level.
I love how that sounds—Julian’s. It’s almost like he heard it and glances down from where he’s sitting.
His hair pulled tightly back and wearing all black, he watches me with a smirk playing across his lips as he sips something from a glass.
I don’t need to hear what he’s thinking right now, not with the way he’s watching me.
And I feel it buzzing across my skin and rolling through my body. He looks downright dangerous.
I smile at her and hold up the drink. “Here’s hoping.
” When I take a sip, so many different notes dance across my tongue, from the sweetness from the blend of bourbon, to the bitterness of the herbs from the amaro, and the tang from the Chartreuse that I watched her pour.
It feels a little like kismet, considering the liquor in my drink and the color of my heels are the same. “This is—Wow.”
“I know. It’s a little adjustment to the classic Final Word cocktail. I like to call this one the Next Chapter,” she says with a wink. “I think we can all use more of things that are next versus final, don’t you think?”
I smile widely at the way she just summed up every thought that’s been swirling since we arrived here. “I like that, a lot.”
“Me too,” she says as she taps the bar in front of me. “You can head up there any time you’d like. I’m sure they’re waiting for you.” She shifts down the bar to help the people at the other end.
I call out, “Thanks, Hadley. It was nice meeting you.”
“Pleasure was all mine, Dr. Wynona Crowne,” she says with a smirk.
With a returned smile, my brow furrows, wondering how she knows my full name.
“Oh yeah, if anyone is going to annoy details out of him, it’s going to be me.” She mouths, He’s obsessed.
I bite my lip, trying to hide my pleased smile, and turn in my chair, sipping on my drink.
Making my way up the spiral stairs to the second floor, Julian and the three other men he’s been with stand as I approach.
“Gentleman.” I nod with a smile.
Julian wraps his arm around my waist and leans into me, kissing close to my ear and whispering, “You look so fucking good, Crowne.”
My cheeks heat at the compliment and the way he holds me close. He offers me his seat, a low leather club chair that I take. Crossing my legs and focusing on the person who I haven’t met yet, he tips his head and says, “We haven’t had the pleasure.”
Julian snickers beside me, perched on the arm of the chair, and mumbling, “Fucking typical.”
The man, who’s meticulously dressed, the only one here in a white dress shirt—the rest wearing black or blue, introduces himself. “Rhodes Donovan.”
Smiling, I say, “Dr. Wyn Crowne.”
Julian pipes in, “Rhodes and I have known one another for a long time.”
“You’re the collector, then?” I ask, sipping on my drink.
He tuts. “Of many things, yes. But regarding Julian, I can usually acquire the types of gemstones he wants when he can’t acquire them on his own.”
“Or steal them from me,” Julian mumbles.
“Gems and diamonds are two things I don’t steal,” he bites back with a sly smile. When he glances at Julian and then back to me, he adds, “All of the stones he’s whining about, he lost during an auction. Couldn’t ante up.”
“Oh, I’ve heard,” I say, smiling as I glance at Julian.
“I’m flattered that I’ve made it to your pillow talk time, Julian,” Rhodes says with raised eyebrows.
Julian runs his middle finger across his lips, trying to mask his smirk.
“Rhodes has an impressive art collection. Something I bet Jo would be interested in seeing, come to think of it. Owns galleries all over the world. Quite a few other businesses as well,” Julian says as I lean closer to him, my shoulder grazing the side of his leg as he sits along the arm of my chair.
“See now? Flattery will get you everywhere, my friend. You should have started with that,” Rhodes says. I don’t doubt for one minute that Rhodes might be the most dangerous at this table. And in this company, that was saying something.
“Wyn,” Ace Foxx cuts in. “Lincoln was telling me about the blends you’ve been working on in your spare time.
” He glances up at Julian first, and then his brother, and back to me before he adds, “Might be an opportunity for us to collaborate. Even make a little noise about it. It’ll help get your name out there a bit when you’re ready for it. ”
We talk about what that might look like as I watch the bar below as two women pour flights along the bar—a far more tame sight than the ones people witness at The Whispering Fool, but it also makes me think of podcast nights in Montana, and of my sisters.
I know they have their own lives, career paths, and even hobbies, but I wonder if they’d consider opening the whiskey distillery with me.
This lifestyle and the way the Foxx family has made it work for each of them in unique ways is impressive, but even more so, it’s inspiring.
Lincoln speaks with me about the business side of bourbon, how events have brought on an entirely new revenue stream, and, not to mention, the way they’re experimenting with new blends.
The more I spend time thinking about it, the more it seems like I always should’ve come to this conclusion.
I want this—my version of it, at least. Making whiskey, folding it into my family’s bar business, all of us included in different ways, that we’re passionate about.
A business instead of academics. A career that’s an entirely different approach to the life I thought I was coming back to. Maybe he’s right, I’ve just made up my mind. I’m doing this.