Page 20 of Pitcher Perfect

“Yeah. We’ll figure it out.” He turned back to his computer.

I finished pulling on the costume.

“Looking good.” Dom’s lips twitched.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” I snapped when he pulled out his cell phone. It was difficult to manage dignity in the costume, but I gathered the tattered shreds of mine and marched to my humiliation. The only silver lining was the end of my torture meant seeing Caleb again.

I flipped Ty and Ethan off as I grabbed the stack of fliers from Ty’s outstretched hand.

“Hey! Why are you flipping me off?” Ethan asked.

“Accessory to the crime.”

I groaned when I heard a cell phone’s camera sound. Our customers were as bad as Ty.

The next two hours were a whirlwind of concerned looks, gawking, teasing, confused stares from townies, a teen who tried—and failed—to get me to do a TikTok dance with them, and real smiles when people complimented me on our beer. A few people even thanked me for opening Tap That and adding something special to the town. That made wearing the fugly costume a skosh less humiliating.

“You didn’t have to dress up on my account.”

I groaned before turning toward Caleb.

He covered his mouth and gave me a slow once-over that had me squirming with heat and humiliation as I remembered how hard I came when thinking about him while showering. And the next morning before I got out of bed. I admired how his snug white T-shirt accentuated his toned body.

I spread my arms wide and did a little spin. “Enjoy it while it lasts.”

Even the hand over his mouth couldn’t hold back his laughter. “The lederhosen suits you, but the giant beer stein you’re wearing like you’re the teakettle inBeauty and the Beast? Spectacular. Is that an Oktoberfest scene on it?”

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I sighed. “It is.”

“Do I even want to know?”

“Tyler is my mortal enemy. My kin has betrayed me.”

Caleb bit his lip, looking both charmed and charming as hell.

I’m so screwed.

“You lost a bet, didn’t you?”

“That I did. Care to go in?” I opened the door for him.

I followed his laughter into the brewery. Caleb walked right up to the bar to greet the guys who were, of course, all gathered there watching us. He set a paper bag on the counter in front of him.

“He dressed up for your meeting. Isn’t that sweet?” Dom asked Caleb, leaning his hip against the bar. He winked at me.

“I’m honored.” Caleb turned his attention to me and gave me a teasing smirk. “Though, I wish you’d have told me. I would’ve worn the ketchup bottle costume I have in storage somewhere.”

I bit my lips to stop the smile threatening to burst through.

Caleb looked at the rest of the guys. “You got three more of those? It would make quite the impression at Portland Pairing. Maybe we could find someone to embroider your logo on the stein or something.” Caleb poked at a building on the stein scene that was perilously close to my nipple. “Right there.” His tongue darted out to wet his lip as he stared at me.

I cleared my throat. “Unfortunately, we only have one. It’s used in the rarest of occasions.”

“Like when people bet against their family. Theirfamily!” Tyler exclaimed as he gestured toward me.

“What was the bet about?”

Dom gave him a quick rundown of how Tyler had scored a trial in Abdul’s restaurant with one of our beers while Tyler added colorful commentary about his keen persuasion skills.

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