Page 12 of Merry with a Brewmaster
“I know.”
“This isn’t goodbye—we’ll be right down the street.”
“I know.”
“But you’re still making the face.”
“Listen, you’re moving in with your guy and I’m moving in with a man I’ve seen naked, had spectacular orgasms with, and no longer can see naked.”
“Why can’t you?”
I blink at her and when she just stares back, I narrow my eyes. “Because I’m going to be his nanny and agreeing to be responsible for his child?”
“People sleep with their boss all the time.” She grins like the cat that ate the canary, and I can’t hold back my laugh. Saying that Isaac wasonlyher boss would be a huge understatement because of their history, but deep down, I loved their love story.
“No one is surprised you slept with your boss—literally no one.”
“My brother was,” she says with a smirk and I roll my eyes.
“That’s only because your brother refused to see what was right in front of him.”
She lifts a shoulder and lets it fall, her expression dreamy. “But it worked out for all of us in the end.”
“It did,” I concede. “But also make sure Isaac knows I still get dibs on girls’ nights”—I pause and amend—“girl dates, including but not limited to all meals, bookstore visits, grabbing coffee, and movie nights on the couch.”
“Promise.”
“Good, can we get drinks now? I have to meet Wells tonight and I don’t know if I can do that completely sober.”
“Let’s make you look hot instead.”
“But also wine?”
“Also wine.”
“Thanks for meeting me,”Wells says as he awkwardly stands at the same time I sit down next to him at the Book & Barrel. I’m right on time, but if the half-empty glass of red wine in front of him is any indication, he’s been here a while.
This bar is one of my favorite places in Love Beach. The former church is now filled with chic white leather chairs, bookcases, and the original stained glass windows. In fact, Vivian kept a lot of the original elements, most notably the cathedral ceilings, and turned this into a one-of-a-kind spot in our little beachy town.
“Can I have glass of white wine, please?” I ask Sam, my friend and bartender, before catching up quickly and promising to get together soon. It also allows me to ignore Wells until she walks away.
A necessary but small reprieve.
I can feel his eyes on me, feel his gaze raking over the leather mini skirt and tank top Reece picked out that I paired with my boots. It’s casually sexy, and I don’t miss the way he watches me recross my legs. “Stop staring.”
“You look hot, and you did it on purpose,” he says with another shameless perusal of my body.
“Are you saying I’m not hot all the time?”
“I’m saying that you knew you’d drive me fu—” Sam sets down my drink, and Wells swallows the curse as I thank her for my drink. “You knew you’d drive me crazy in that,” he hisses.
“I did.”
“Vienna,” he warns as I take a sip of my drink, my eyes never leaving his.
“I’ll do it.”
Dragging a hand over his face, he mumbles something unintelligible before glaring at me. “I should be happy. I should be fucking thrilled, but my dick is hard and I can’t do anything about it.”
