Page 9 of Brewing Up a Bad Boy

Yeah, but they probably don’t go all soft and gooey inside when their ex sits next to them at the table.That was something she was going to have to deal with. Lusting after Alistair was nothing new to her. That was easy. It was the emotional cost she’d pay if she opened that door again that would be difficult.

Because as much as she wanted to say she was over him emotionally, she wasn’t. A part of her was still in love with him, still dreamed of the good times and wondered if maybe there had been some way to make things work. That fact was driven home to her as he and Wes walked back in, and Alistair gave her a sheepish smile while Wes told everyone how helpful Alistair had been with his dad. She’d never seen that look on his face before, and it sent a zing through her.

The tension left the group after that. They all moved over to the dartboard, and Ali suggested they play Nine Lives, a game where each player threw three darts on their turn. If they missed all three shots, they were out.

They took turns ordering rounds, and everyone was laughing as the night wore on.

“How did I not know you were rubbish at throwing?” Wes asked Sera, wrapping his arms around her from behind.

“It’s never come up. Wait... Did you think I was good at it?”

“Yes, you’re good at everything,” he said.

Sera turned in his arms, whispering something that made Wes lift her up and turn his back to the rest of them while they made out.

Merle and Liberty were both good, but Merle—having grown up in an athletic family—was slightly better and kept beating Liberty’s throw each round.

Soon it was just her and Ali standing awkwardly in front of the dartboard.

“Want to get out of here?” he asked. “I’ll walk you home.”

Home and Ali...two things that totally shouldn’t send an illicit thrill through her.

Three

It was late spring; the weather was surprisingly warm, and the sky tonight was clear. The moon was full and lit the entire sky. Looking down on her without judgment. The moon understood. This gorgeous night was a balm after a very chaotic and surprisingly fun evening with Alistair and her friends.

“You’ve changed,” she said, resisting the urge to hold his hand.

“A wise woman told me that I needed to be honest and stop being so full of myself.”

“Sound advice. You took it?”

He barked out a laugh that startled her. “Not at first. You know me. I assholed up, determined to prove that I was always honest. Yeah, that didn’t go well.”

She stopped. Main Street wasn’t that busy for a Friday evening at almost midnight. “What happened?”

“You don’t want to know. Suffice it to say eventually, I had an awakening and started to heed your wisdom.”

“Glad to hear that. How does that correlate to you brewing beer?”

Being buzzed and standing outside under the stars with Alistair was making it really hard to concentrate on anything but the remembered feel of his arms around her and his hot mouth on hers. The way they’d hooked up the first time at her on-campus student accommodation, barely making it into her room before they were on each other.

It felt like this.

He felt new to her.

Not like the ex who had broken her heart and her dreams, burning down everything in her life that she’d always believed. This guy was different; she didn’t know him or what to expect, and he was housed in the body of the sexiest man she’d ever been with. The one that she had never been able to banish from her dreams.

Super bad idea. The worst.

Except it didn’t feel that way.

The thought drifted in and out of her head like a ribbon of steam from a steeping cup of tea as she leaned toward him slightly. Testing the waters.

Their eyes met for a long moment as he shifted toward her. They were next to Pollens Jewelers; the windows were dark and the street was empty.

No one would know but the two of them if anything happened. Well, only the moon, which saw everything. But there was no judgment coming from anyone. Not even her hyper-critical internal voice was loud enough to keep her from closing that gap between the two of them.

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