Page 9 of Tempting Max

So, I hide in the brewhouse, you know, like an adult. It’s the only way I can keep my sanity—which is on pretty thin ice as it is.

“Absolutely,” Elliot chimes in. “She worked so hard, the customers and staff love her, she’s always going above and beyond, and she should get paid for it.” He looks at me. “She was a great hire, bro. Cute as fuck too.”

My fist curls with unexpected fury and the urge to pummel my brother into dust takes me by surprise. It’s a miracle I don’t shoot out of my chair and do something truly stupid. Instead, I grit my teeth and talk through them. “Don’t talk about her like that, she’s an employee. You know employees are off limits.”

Elliot puts his hands up, eyes huge, waving the white flag. “I know, I know, it was just an off-handed comment. I have no intentions with her. Fuck, I know what Sloane did to you, but yikes, man.”

Clenching my jaw, I take a deep breath and let my blood cool. Sloane had nothing to do with this outburst, but it’s convenient for them to think she does. Especially since I don’t really understand where my Hulk-level anger came from in the first place. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Elliot answers, looking at me like he’s never seen me before. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.”

Liam raises a brow, clearly hearing the bullshit in my curt reply. I can also see the moment when he decides not to poke the bear, i.e., me, any further. “Anyway, are you on board with making her manager?”

My gut reaction is no. Not even a little. The last woman we hired for a management position stole my heart and then immediately helped my uncle steal our birthright. It would be safe to say I’m a little gun-shy on females as a whole.

But my logic, what little I have left, knows that Gus is a thousand times the human and employee Sloane was. She’s been amazing. She’s turned our little crew into a family in the course of just a couple weeks and seems to truly believe in our venture. I both hate and love how that last bit gives me a little kick in the gut.

My last thread of reason wins out. “Of course, she’s doing a great job.”

“Perfect. Elliot, what’s on board for features this week?”

Elliot pulls out his tablet and accesses his social media schedule. He slides it across the table for us to look at. For a player who seems like his mind is always on the next woman, he has a surprising talent for promotion. “This week is all about the Grapefruit Shandy, I have events and promos for each day of the week. And I’ve added a summer beer flight to the menu that highlights our lighter, fruitier selection.”

Liam scrolls through the promo images, clever videos, photos, and posters. They make my head spin. Hell, they’re so good,I’mexcited to drink the Grapefruit Shandy, and I’m the one that perfected our recipe.

“Looks great.” Liam slides the tablet back to Elliot. I grunt in agreement.

He chuckles, “Try not to choke on your shock, you two. I get my shit done.”

“Never said you didn’t,” I counter.

“Your face did.”

“Moving on,” Liam presses. “Max, since you hired Gus, I think you should be the one to give her the promotion news. She comes in early this afternoon, might as well let her know now.”

I can feel the muscles in my jaw tighten and release three times before I can get out an answer. Telling her the good news will mean another one-on-one conversation—something I might not survive.

An awareness zips up my spine when I think of her smiling at the news, and I have to remind myself what happened last time I looked twice at one of our employees. No matter how cute she is, no matter how badly I want to taste the P’arête from her tongue. I can’t have her.

I can’t.

I manage to sound successfully unconcerned when I answer. “Yeah, of course.”

I wish my gut felt the same way.

7

GUS

“Gus.”

My entire body shivers with awareness at the sound of my name inhismouth.Max. I pause from where I’m reloading the beer cooler and take a breath. Despite the brewery being open for a week, I’ve barely seen the man.

Oh, I see his shadow lurking around from time to time, catching his dark gaze every once in a while, but that’s it. No conversations, no smiles, no ‘hey just checking in’ like a normal boss.

Even so, it hasn’t made me any less drawn to him and I hate that my mind wanders his direction more and more often. I just got out of a relationship that nearly destroyed me, I’m literally taking every day one step at a time and learning how to bemeagain. I don’t need to be thinking of his hands all the time, or the way he almost but not really smiled after the soft opening.Shit.

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