Page 106 of Love Is Brewing

Her chin lifted, a slight fire jumped into her eyes. “You let me?”

He tapped her nose and pushed her curly hair behind her ear. “Are you getting ready to fight? See, we can do it?”

She shook her head. “You set me up,” she said, crossing her arms.

“No,” he said. “Just pointing out that fighting means nothing. Talking prevented it, didn’t it? Just like you got annoyed when I called you my woman. The same when you were upset I hadn’t told my mother about you. Or when you found out West told me to bring you to the wedding and you thought that was the only reason you were invited.”

“That makes it sound like it’s always my problem,” she said, frowning.

“No,” he said. “I’m only saying that things come up when one of us is annoyed and we don’t get to the fighting part. That’s not a bad thing.”

She crossed her eyes at him. “Got it. Did you talk to Mason about everything that is going on?”

“I did,” he said. “Mind if I get a coffee? It’s been a long day and if I have a beer I’ll fall right to sleep.”

“I’ll get it for you,” she said. “A fancy one or basic?”

“You’re the fancy one of us. Basic works.”

She laughed and moved to her machine that he still got nervous touching half the time while he worried coffee would spew out the top and sides if he hit the wrong button.

She brought him the coffee quickly and he took a long sip.

“I don’t think you’re as basic as you say. You’re still processing that you had to admit to Mason what was going on, aren’t you?”

He moved to the couch and sat, the mug in his lap. Phoebe sat next to him.

“Yeah,” he said. “I can’t keep it from him. It wouldn’t be right. I’m putting a lot of my business and reputation into his hands as he is into mine. I’d want to know if something was going wrong there too.”

“What did he say?” she asked.

“Until I can get things figured out here, we won’t start on the next collaboration brewing in my plant. I understand completely and would have done the same thing in his shoes.”

There was too much on the line to risk it.

“That hurt, didn’t it?” she asked.

“Like a bee sting on an open blister,” he said. “But it’s the right thing. I talked with Travis. He’s going to come in this week and look my setup over. Foster is giving him access to what we’ve got and he thinks he can add to it. I know that will go a long way with Mason.”

They couldn’t prove everything happened on purpose, but he wasn’t buying the coincidence.

He just couldn’t.

“Whether it did or not,” she said, “it has to matter to you. Are you okay with monitoring things this closely in your business? Some employees are going to feel as if it’s big brother watching over them. That they aren’t trusted.”

“I thought of all of that, but if one person is causing issues, it fucks it for everyone if I lose business.”

“Completely agree,” she said. “I didn’t ask if you were hungry.”

It was seven now. “I ate a big lunch around three there.”

“But I’ll grab you some snacks now. Are you staying tonight or just want to stop and talk?”

“I’d like to stay,” he said. “If you’re okay with it?”

“It’s always okay with me,” she said.

“Good,” he said. “I’ve got mixed feelings about what is going on. I don’t know if someone is causing problems. If they are, then why? If they aren’t, then it’s a run of bad luck. Am I overreacting by adding more security?”

---