Page 12 of For the Promise

She points to my face. “You’re still doing it now. What did the food do to you?”

Zane and Miles rush into the room.

“I heard there was food.” Miles grabs a plate and piles it high with sandwiches.

Blossom snatches the plate from him. “The food is for the people helping with setting up the brewery. Your hair is wet, and you’re wearing board shorts. You haven’t been helping.”

“He’s been surfing,” Zane says as he grabs a plate.

“And where have you been?” Blossom asks him.

Zane winks at her. “I’m the marketing guru.”

Miles waggles his eyebrows. “And I’m the sales guru.”

My stomach sours as they flirt with her. Women always fall at the feet of my younger brothers. I shut down those thoughts. Why do I care if this particular woman falls at their feet? Blossom means nothing to me.

Yes, she’s beautiful and sexy. But she’s nothing to me. I have no reason to be jealous.

Blossom starts a slow clap at my brothers. “Wow. You must be very proud of yourselves.” She nabs the plate from Zane’s hands before steering him and Miles toward the door. “This food is not for office workers.”

“But—” Miles protests but she continues on as if he didn’t speak.

“I have carefully calculated the amount of food based upon the number of people helping. We don’t have extra.”

She shuts the door behind them. “Men,” she mutters.

I hold up my hands. “I promise not to eat any of this food.”

“You’re fine. I included all of the distillery workers in my calculations.”

“And I’m supposed to be the nerd.”

She barks out a laugh. “Did you make a joke? All I need to do is prove I don’t have cooties and we can be friends.”

“Cooties don’t exist.”

She narrows her eyes on me. “Are you certain?”

“Yes, I…” I trail off when I notice the gleam in her eyes. She’s making fun of me.

“I’m teasing you.” Her phone beeps with a message and she digs it out of her back pocket. She reads the message and sighs. “No time for lunch for me.”

She starts for the door, but I have the weirdest urge to feed her. To take care of her. Before I can question myself, I grab a protein bar and water.

“Here.” I shove the items in her hands. “The sound of your stomach rumbling is distracting me.”

She smiles and those light brown eyes snare me. I want to step closer to her. I want to watch those eyes flare with passion as I suck on her lips. My cock twitches in agreement.

I step back before I listen to my body and reach for her. Office romances are a bad idea. As evidenced by Eli and Paisley, as well as Rhett and Dakota. None of those couples have gotten together yet, but their mating rituals are causing disruption.

A large object falls to the floor outside the breakroom. Entirely too much disruption.

Chapter 5

“Gotta love when a nerd surprises you.” ~ Blossom

A few weeks later