Page 3 of On The Rocks

Ronan grinned as he swayed with Ella. “We’re going for a home theme this year.” He crouched then came up with two bottles before he did a return trip for the other two. The distinctive linocut owl from the logo had been added to each of the bottles in various poses. It flew over a field with the carved lettering name of Lavender Fields of Honey.

Firefly Honey Cider was a play on the Firefly cider that had become a staple of the taproom and blown up the bottling distribution for Brothers Three Orchard. This new bottle went with an aerial view of the orchard behind the close up of the barn owl. On the end of the title of the cider was a firefly on the r in cider.

Hot Honey Cider was a more playful one with the owl showing off a red pepper in his beak.

And finally, on the light and crisp end, was Lemon-Honey Cider with the barn owl perched in a lemon tree full of fruit.

I stepped forward to lift one of the chilled bottles. “Are we having a tasting today?”

“The guys are heading here for lunch.” Kira patted Amelia’s back as she swayed in the same rhythm as Ronan. “You probably saw them building on the way up.”

“I did. Did I know about that?” I questioned with a grin.

“Beckett and Justin have had it on the plans for a while, but we had a really shitty winter.” Ronan dipped his voice into a whisper over the wordshitty.

Kira rolled her eyes, but she gave him a soft smile. “Once Griffin, Kain, and Bells came back from Hawaii, they started hatching ideas for some of the old buildings that were crumbling. Kain is all about repurposing, so they’re making living spaces for rental properties.”

Griffin.

My heart stuttered a bit.

He was Kain’s biological brother, but our resident chef and billionaire architect didn’t want to have anything to do with getting to know Griffin, last I knew.

“He’s still around?”

“Like a barnacle on a boat.” Ronan grinned. “He’s Laverne’s pet project.”

“Doesn’t Kain hate him?” I set the bottle of Hot Honey cider back down. I was most interested in trying that one, but I didn’t want to be pushy.

“He doesn’t hate me.” The rich, somehow smug voice came from behind me.

Ronan’s lips tipped up in the corner. “Speak of the devil.”

“How long was he behind me?” I narrowed my gaze at Ronan.

He shrugged. “Whole time, pretty much.”

I turned around and my stupid stomach jittered. Griffin wasn’t quite as large as his brother, but where Kain was darker with the Samoan genes dominating his features and skin, Griffin had the more gold tones of someone with a mixed race heritage.

Thick, dark hair held a lot of curl like Kain’s, but Griffin kept his short with some overgrown pieces curling around his ears to flip out from his dirty backwards ball cap. The ever-present toothpick twitched at the corner of his mouth as if he couldn’t leave it alone. Mirrored aviator sunglasses hid his eyes and his beard was thicker and longer, making him look dangerous.

But then a white slash of teeth peeked from his full lips. “Nice to see you, Lenny.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Not that again.”

He grinned. “Been a while.” He stepped into my space and I stilled. He smelled of spring air and leather with something spicy that made my mouth water. But he only reached around me for the Hot Honey cider before stepping back.

My blood rocketed through my veins just like every time he got too close to me.

Which was hella annoying.

I truly didn’t have room in my plans for someone like Griffin St. James.

“Griffin and Justin will be working on the concert series, so you’ll be seeing a lot of him,” Kira said with a little too much laughter in her voice.

“And I’m working with the guys on the remodels too.” Griffin twisted the cap on the bottle and tipped it back, his throat working as he drained half the contents in one go.

I could feel his gaze on me, and quickly, I turned back to the bar. “Got any more of the Hot Honey?”

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