Page 39 of On the Rocks

“I’m a natural on camera.” He flashed a smile. “Just make sure you get my good side.”

I stumbled at his comment, the glass in my hand shaking so badly that the sample slopped over the lip of the glass and onto his pristine white shirt.

“Oh my god!” I returned the glass to the workstation and twisted, looking for a towel. Why didn’t we have any towels? “Shit, Aiden. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean?—”

“It’s fine.”

“No, your shirt,” I said, noticing the way the liquid turned the white material transparent, clinging to the rippling muscle beneath. What were the freaking chances? I curled my hands by my sides to stop myself from touching. It didn’t stop me fromwantingto touch though. From wanting to live out one of the fantasies from my dreams. I wanted to latch onto that luxury linen and rip the dress shirt open, buttons flying across the room, and get my hands on those abs.

“One second,” Dot called, racing back to her workstation. “I’ve got some napkins here.”

My cheeks flushed so hot I put my hands up to hide the color.

Aiden reached for my shoulder, mistaking my reaction for embarrassment. “Cora, honestly, it’s not the first time I’ve spilled something on myself at work.”

That image wasn’t helping.

“Kind of a hazard of the job when working with liquids.” He squeezed my shoulder once, then touched his hand to his shirt before raising it to his mouth, sucking the taste off the end of his finger.

My mouth went dry. These dreams were going to be the death of me.

“Mmm,” he hummed. “Oh, that’s good. That’sreallygood.”

“Here!” Dot said, reappearing with a handful of napkins.

Aiden took them with a “thanks,” dabbing at his shirt.

“I think I have some more,” Dot said, rushing off again.

“This should do,” he called, but Dot was already on a mission. Aiden popped one of the dress shirt buttons open to wipe at the skin underneath.

I glanced away. “Well, that’s gonna show up in tonight’s dream,” I muttered to myself.

When I looked up again, Aiden was staring at me, and my heart lobbed against my rib cage.Holy shit, he heard me! That furious blush started crawling its way up my neck again, more so because Aiden didn’t look confused or angry or annoyed.

He looked…intrigued? His eyebrow arched and his lips quirked, and when he opened his mouth, I just knew he was going to ask me about the dream.Please don’t. Please no! Not here.I needed to escape. I needed to?—

“So,” Javeed said, interrupting whatever Aiden was about to say. “Besides the fact you’re wearing most of the sample, I take it you approve?”

Aiden nodded. “I’d say we’re in good shape for you to move onto the next phase of testing.”

Javeed flipped out his phone, checking his calendar app. “If we get taste testers in here by next week, we could have preliminary public reactions by the end of the month.”

Aiden agreed. “I like that timeline. I think it’ll match up well with what marketing has on the go. I didn’t want to show you anything too soon, in case the combinations didn’t work out, but you’ve made considerable progress, and we’ve got a few different flavors now that are promising…” He gestured to Chris’s laptop, open on a workstation. “Can I borrow this?”

“Go for it,” Chris said.

Aiden logged himself in, opening his email. “Now remember, these are just initial mockups for packaging and promotion. They’ll be tweaked as the final drink recipes are approved, but I thought you’d like to see what we’re working with so far.” He moved out of the way.

Dot, Javeed, Chris, and I gathered around the screen, scrolling through the images marketing had sent him.

“I asked for a bold color palette, something that would complement our current branding for Elixir but that would also set Elixir Free apart on the shelf. Give it its own identity.”

“I think we’re also heading for a summer launch,” Chris said, “so this color scheme matches that perfectly.”

“Agreed,” Aiden said. “I would also just like to point out for interested parties how sleek these new mocktail bottles are.”

My lips twisted, holding back a laugh as I caught his eye.

---