Chapter 29 Ronan
TWENTY-NINE
RONAN
CELEbrATION
I let her go.
No matter what I said she wouldn’t believe it right now. Because I damn well was sticking no matter what. She was everything to me. However, all that pain swimming in her eyes told me I needed to be careful with her.
There was a lot I still didn’t know about her. Not that it would matter, I knew the important pieces about her and I’d learn the rest. Patience was not my strong suit, but if she needed the actions, she was going to get them.
I followed her back to the taproom. Most of the staff had arrived while we were in the workshop. Lennon was making drinks and laughing. She had a row of glasses lined up, and when she spotted me, she waved.
“There’s the man of the hour. We thought you were never going to show yourself.”
I grinned. “Just making sure I made enough for you to play with, Lennon.”
“And I have been with the pitcher you gave me. Come try my new drink. I think you’ll love it.” She flipped the shaker, then balanced it on her forearm and popped it into the air with a flourish, catching it behind her back.
Most of my buzz had worn off with the Beckett talk, as well as getting a quick and dirty taste of Kira. Right now was about the crew, not my romantic issues.
“Pour me a big one then.”
“That’s what I’m talking about.” Lennon strained the golden drink into a tall glass. “I think you’ll enjoy this one.”
I sat at the bar beside Justin and Annette.
“Be careful, Lennon is trying to get us all drunk.” Annette took a deep drink of a matching glass.
“I call it Sunshine Lemonade.” She flicked a napkin in front of me with a quick hand flourish and set the drink down in front of me. She added a drizzle of something orange that danced through the liquid, then garnished it with a sugared lemon.
“Did you say Sunshine Lemonade?”
She grinned. “Sure did. As if we haven’t heard you call Kira that every day.”
I flushed a little. Then again, I’d asked for it by naming the cider after her. I lifted the drink to my lips, and my sour taste buds went wild and then mellowed out with the sweet Honeycrisp cider she’d used to make the drink.
“That seems very dangerous.”
Annette hiccuped. “You’d be right. This is my second.”
I laughed. “I’m assuming Lennon took your keys?”
“Of course I did.” Lennon pointed over her shoulder. “The basket is full. Laverne said she’d send the drunk bus for us after lunch.”
I took another sip and savored it. She was a damn good mixologist. “Speaking of lunch. Where’s Kain?”
“Kitchen.”
I took my drink as I stood, then laughed when she put another one in front of me. “Bring that to the big guy. He’s currently addicted to them, too.”
“Will do. Thanks, Lennon.”
“No, thank you. I didn’t realize just how much I would love creating here.
” Her long lashes swept down to hide her emotions.
“Or how much I needed it.” She cleared her throat.
“Now go on. I have to go kick my staff’s ass since I’m the only one making drinks around here,” she said with a raised voice.
A sandy haired man scrambled around the back of the bar. “You only had to ask, princess.”
Lennon rolled her eyes. “Save it for the waitresses who love that shit, Dean.”
He grinned as he grabbed a white towel and threw it over his shoulder. “You wound me.”
I shook my head as I took my drinks into the kitchen. The scent of bacon and cheese made my stomach roar.
“Boa! You finally came out of your workshop.” Kain waggled his eyebrows at me. “Did you let Kira out with some whisker burn?”
“Shut up.” I held out the glass for him. “Compliments of Lennon.”
“Ahh, she’s a miracle, man. I usually don’t even like mixed drinks, but she’s got a way.” He took a drink and gave a smacking, “ahh.”
“What are you making? I’m freaking starving.”
“Figured grilled pizzas would be easiest. Soak up some of that dangerous alcohol. Goddamn, that cider has some kick. You done good, man.”
“Thanks. I can’t believe it finally came together.”
“Just had to wait out the perfect wave, brah.”
If that wasn’t the truth. And its name was Kira. “Yeah. I’ll probably play around with lower alcohol for bottling. I’m just glad we’ll be ready for the opening.”
“Now I can finally make a fucking menu.” He nodded to the leather notebook on the butcher block. “You can take a look.”
“Nice.” I headed for the counter, but he stopped me. “We have time for that.” He pulled out a large pizza flipper and spun it, then handed it to me. “Now help me take out the pizzas.”
“I can do that.”
The morning quickly melted away into food, laughter, and the buzz of excitement.
The staff was enjoying my ciders, and the flavors had instantly started conversations behind the bar and amongst the kitchen staff.
How fancy to make the menu versus making it a more mass appeal with sliders and poutine.
I voted for poutine.
I convinced Kira to test out the large U-shaped booth in the corner to have some pizza, but found myself yawning my head off halfway through my third slice.
“You need sleep.”
“Gonna put me to bed?”
“No. Now that you’re finally done with the ciders, I have tons of work to do.”
I laid my head on her shoulder. “Mean.”
She laughed, but leaned her head against the top of mine. “But if you want, I can come by tonight.”
“Yeah?” I stretched my arms above my head, then shook it as the exhaustion that came down on me like a blanket. I draped my arm around her neck. “Kain is working on my place. It’s a friggin’ wreck. I have a mattress on the floor like a damn college student.”
She leaned in and kissed my neck. “It’s been awhile since I made out with someone on the floor. I’m game if you are.”
I might be exhausted, but my dick had other plans. “I kinda want you to finally see my place when it doesn’t look like a shack.”
“I understand.” Her face fell.
“Can I crash at your place? I’d rather have you crawl in with me later tonight, and I can have sweet moonflower smelling sheets to sleep on.”
“Oh.” She glanced at my mouth, brushing her thumb along the corner of my mouth. “Sauce.”
I flicked my tongue out and caught the pad of her finger. “Thanks.”
She swallowed, then her gaze bounced up to mine. “I’d like that. As long as you take a shower.”
I laughed. “A long one.” I yawned again. This time I was pretty sure my jaw was going to unhinge from how wide it was. “I’ll stop at my place for clothes. Maybe I can stay the weekend.”
“You’re in no condition to drive.”
“I stopped drinking hours ago.” To be honest, I was a little sick of my own brew.
“You can’t keep your eyes open.”
“Sure I can,” I said mid-yawn. At her look, I chuckled. “Okay, you have a point.”
“Laverne has been sending the shuttle over for people who want rides home.”
“You sure you can’t go home with me? There’s not much you can do today.”
“I’m going over the books before Kain decimates my budget with his menu ideas.”
“Fine. You’re far too responsible for your own good.”
“You love that about me.” The surprise in her eyes and the way she looked down made me tip her chin up.
“You’re right about that. And if I wasn’t completely offline brain-wise, I’d stay and help. I know how much you want to do a good job here, Sunshine. And your brain is sexy as fuck.”
“Stop.” She pushed me out of the booth. “I gotta work. Go away.”
“Fine.” I got up with a groan. Everything hurt. I might have to take a pre-nap before I went to Kira’s place.
“We’ll take him home, boss.” Annette and Matt stopped at the booth. She hip bumped Matt. “We came together, so I can drive Ronan’s truck, then you won’t have to get someone else to bring back your ride.”
“You sure?” I asked.
Matt’s smile faded. “Uh, yeah. Sure, no problem.”
He did not look excited about the prospect. Then again, my place was a little out of the way.
Annette frowned at him. “We drank water for the last few hours so we could drive ourselves. It’s fine.”
Matt nodded. “Right. It’s no problem.”
Kira smiled. “That would help me out. I have to get this place cleaned up.”
“Do you want me to come back?” Annette asked.
“Nah. Today was supposed to be about fun. You guys earned a night off.”
“For you too.” Annette frowned. “You need it, Kira.”
She glanced at me. “I’ll have it—later.” She tucked a curl behind my ear. “Shower, pal.”
“On it.” She was so damned beautiful. Mussed up from me and from running around taking care of everyone, but that only heightened it for me. That she cared about this place and her people so much.
She kissed my cheek and left me with the secret smile that always got my dick twitching. I definitely needed a nap so I could enjoy all of her when she got home.
“All right, Romeo. Let’s go.” Annette slid her arm around mine and dragged me toward the door.
I trotted along with her. I was so tired that I could barely think around putting one foot in front of the other.
“I can’t believe you made that whole flight of ciders for Kira. That’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”
I squinted down at her. “How do you know it’s for Kira?”
“If I didn’t know then, I sure as heck do now.” She glanced back at Matt. “Take notes, Matt. This is the way to woo a girl.”
Matt rolled his eyes. “Good luck with that one. I don’t have that kind of money or talent.”
“Just takes some creativity. A girl loves to know a guy is thinking about her, that’s all.” She pointed me toward Matt’s beat up SUV, then opened the passenger door. “I’ll meet you at your house.”
“You know where you’re going?” I wasn’t entirely sure I could give directions clearly.
She pushed me inside. “I dropped off some paint samples to Kain last week. I got it.”
I sat down and swung my legs in, nearly delirious. “Okay.” I grabbed her hand before she could close the door. “Thanks, Annette. You’re a good friend.”
“Of course. You’re really good for Kira. I know she can spook easy, but she hasn’t had an easy time of it for a few years. She’s really happy lately. Keep it up.” With that, she shut the door.
Just how badly had her sister screwed her over? I didn’t really have the mental acuity to puzzle that out right now, but I’d figure it out.
Matt opened his door and got in. “Think you’ll stay awake enough, or should I put your address in my GPS?”
“You’re not going to follow her?”
“You’ve never seen Annette drive, have you?” He grinned as he put his SUV in gear.
I grabbed my seatbelt and clicked it in place. “I guess I haven’t.” I squinted at him. The sun was getting low and blinding me. I flipped down the visor and a paper fell in my lap. “Is my truck safe?”
“Mostly.”
I picked up the paper. It looked like an invoice, though I didn’t recognize the address. “Is this for Kira? She’ll kill you if you didn’t turn one in.”
Matt laughed and took it from me, stuffing it in his pants. “I had to get my truck serviced.”
“Oh, gotcha.” It didn’t look like a mechanic’s name, but then again, I was so damn blurry, it could be my name and I would have read it wrong.
I stretched my legs out as much as I could, but I bashed my knees into the glove box.
“As long as me and my truck make it to my place, I’m good.
” I clicked the seat to go back as far as it could and heard the rattle of what sounded like bottles in the back. “Oh, sorry, man.”
Matt reached back and moved a box. “No prob. Not used to a giant dude in my ride.” He tugged a blanket over it. He grinned and nodded at my rapidly disappearing brake lights. “See? She’s already leaving me in the dust.”
I turned back around. Yeah, she was outta here. “Maybe I better give you the address.”
“Good plan.”
I obviously needed that nap.