Page 55 of A Sip of Sherry

“Sure thing.”Without looking up from her phone, she walked out of my office.

I thought about digging into things myself, but I had a wedding to plan, and the entirety of my career depended on it.

***

Outside, I greeted the delivery driver for the dessert table rentals—vintage crates, tiered cake stands, and a donut board.It wasn’t the usual driver I had come to know very well.

“You Sherry?”the driver asked.He was much younger than Murray, tall with an easy smile.Tattoos marked him from wrist to under his black fitted t-shirt.

“I am.”I held my hand out.“I’m assuming you have my goods?”

“Alec.”He took my hand and gave a strong shake before releasing me.“I have all the goods.My boss said, somehow, you will make these crates of mismatched pieces works of art.”

“Murray flatters me, only because he’s trying to sneak some samples out of me.”

“Does it work?”

“Every time.”

“I need to start then.”He winked, lifting a crate like it weighed nothing, and followed me toward the barn.We were halfway there when Ben appeared around the corner, clipboard in hand and a deep furrow between his eyebrows.

He glanced up, eyes locking on mine, then he spotted Alec, and his steps slowed.Alec cracked another joke, something about trading labor for the cupcakes that would go on the stands, and I laughed.

Ben didn’t say a word as he passed, but his eyes glued to me.His jaw tightened, and something sharp flashed in his gaze.Jealousy, maybe.

Too bad he didn’t have the right to that emotion.

“Ben,” I said matter-of-factly, as if his nearness didn’t affect me at all.

“Sherry.”His voice clipped, eyes flicking to Alec before settling back on me.

“Everything okay?”I asked, making sure to put extra sugar in my tone.

“Fine.”But by his tone, he was anything but fine.“Just doing inventory.”

Alec glanced between us, catching onto the tension.“Hey, man.I’m Alec,” he said, shifting the crate onto his shoulder and holding a hand out.

Ben hesitated but accepted the shake.“Ben.”

“I’m just dropping off the rentals.May have been offered free samples in exchange for some flattery.Not that it’s hard to do.”Alec winked at me, and Ben’s knuckles turned white on his clipboard.

I nearly laughed.Alec had no idea he was stoking a powder keg, and I didn’t mind.

“Well,’ I said, stepping between them.“That flattery deserves a treat.I have some samples from The Cakery I think you’ll love.”

A smile curved on Alec’s face.“You’re speaking my love language.”

A noise came from Ben.It wasn’t exactly a growl, but it might as well have been.

“Just place those on the far left, and the samples are in the kitchen.All the way to the back, you’ll see the door,” I said to Alec, who nodded and headed inside.Then I turned to Ben.“If you’re done with inventory, I could use some help inside.Unless you have some more growling to do.”

His gaze snapped to mine, intense but completely unreadable.“I didn’t growl.”

“Do you normally make sounds like that?I never noticed.”

“Do you normally flirt with the delivery men?I never noticed,” he shot back.

A laugh burst from my lips.“Flirting?Is that what you think that was?”

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