Page 24 of Love Is Brewing

“You talk about your mother and siblings so fondly,” she said. “Fifth Kid Brewing. I’m assuming you’re the fifth kid?”

“I am,” he said. “Out of eight.”

“Good lord,” she said. “Your parents had to be busy. I’m the baby of three. You know Ben. I’ve got a brother, Matt, between us. He’s an attorney at the family firm too.”

“Can I confess that when I formally met Ben earlier today and heard his last name, it reminded me of you, but Kelly is a common enough last name.”

“It is,” she admitted. “Just like Carlisle is, but I doubt everyone thinks you’re related to the billionaire.”

“They don’t think it,” he said seriously. “They know it or find out soon enough.”

Her smile dropped. “No,” she whispered. She leaned in. “West is your brother?”

Elias laughed. “You don’t have to whisper. It’s big news in this area. You would have heard it soon enough, if not from the locals then from your brother, I’m positive. Yes. He’s the oldest of the eight of us.”

She pulled her credit card out and put it in the billfold without even looking at the bill. She didn’t care what it said.

It’s not as if she was hurting for money. She knew he wasn’t either.

First by the fact he owned Fifth Kid Brewing, but more knowing who his older brother was.

Talk about putting her foot in her mouth since the minute she ran into Elias.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I had no idea. I’m still learning things about this area and am lucky I found a restaurant to eat at tonight.”

“It’s easy to find on the main street,” he said, laughing. “But I get it. And I appreciate you didn’t know who I was. Trust me when I tell you, that’s the reason most want to get to know me.”

“You mean rather than buying you off with a meal so they don’t have to fix a scratch on your truck?”

He smiled and his eyes crinkled up some. She didn’t know his age, but she was positive with a bit of research she could find out many things about him.

She was good at research and would admit that she did it often when she was interested in a guy.

This almost didn’t feel right to her though.

“There you go,” he said.

She handed over the billfold with her credit card. “This was nice,” she said. “I can’t tell you the last time I sat and had dinner with another person who wasn’t work related and I didn’t have to be on my game the whole time.”

“I don’t normally have that problem,” he said. “Even business meetings, we aren’t a formal breed.”

“That’s a nice thought,” she said. “I’m always formal. Kind of have to be.”

“Unless it’s a snowstorm,” he said.

“I’ll give you that,” she said, smiling.

Her credit card came back and she glanced at the amount, added a nice tip, signed, and returned her card to her wallet.

“Since you were so relaxed and all, how about we do this again? Maybe have it planned out better than you stealing my parking spot?”

“I think I might like that,” she said. “But don’t feel obligated or anything.”

“When it comes to a woman, the last thing I feel is obligated. My mother would kick my butt.”

She wasn’t sure what he meant by that. She wanted to think it wasn’t anything bad but wasn’t positive either.

“I’m glad it worked out the way it did,” she said. “You’ve got my card and know how to reach me.”

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