Page 14 of For the Promise

“That’s the spirit.”

He motions me forward. “How much do you know about distilling whiskey?”

“I know the basics. Select the proper grains. Grind the grains to grist. Mix with hot water in the mash tun to extract sugars, creating wort. Move the wort to fermentation tanks. Add yeast to turn the sugar to alcohol. At the end of fermentation, you have created wash.”

Jaxon holds up his hand to stop me.

“I wasn’t finished.”

“Why do you want a tour when you know more about distilling whiskey than my brother Kai?”

I roll my eyes. “Kai is the operations manager. He knows how whiskey is created.”

“Kai is a goofball who thinks time is a construct created by the ‘man’ to put him down.”

I rear back. “Kai doesn’t believe in time management? Does he not understand how important time management is? How do you finish your work on time? Get your product ready to deliver on time? Meet your obligations?”

“Calm down. You’re going to make yourself hyperventilate.”

I glare at Jaxon. “Don’t you dare tell me to calm down. I’ll hyperventilate if I want to.”

He lifts a brow. “You’ll hyperventilate if you want to?”

“Fine. I won’t hyperventilate. But you should never tell a woman to calm down.”

“Even if she’s spiraling out of control?”

“Especially then.”

He shakes his head. “I’ll never understand women.”

“And I’ll never understand men.”

His brow wrinkles. “Men aren’t difficult to understand.”

I snort. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“I don’t kid.”

I can believe it. Jaxon Raider is a serious man. A serious nerd. And a serious hottie. The confusion on his face is adorable.

The door flies open behind him and Kai rushes inside. He waves as he runs past us.

“No running in the distillery!” Jaxon hollers after him.

“No time. In a hurry!” Kai shouts without slowing.

“Where are you going? We have a safety inspection next week. You’re supposed to ensure we’re ready.”

“We’ll be ready!”

I scowl as Kai grabs his bag from his office and runs out of the distillery.

“Must be nice to have job security,” I mutter.

“Job security? Are you worried about losing your job? As far as I can tell, Paisley is happy with your performance.”

“I’m not worried about losing my job.”

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