Page 28 of The Dating Dare

Delight raced across her bare skin. It felt so fantastic to be wanted by him.

TARA:Okay. I need to get dressed, and go to the brewery. Have a good rest of the morning.

The ellipses flickered and stopped. Flickered and stopped.

SETH:You, too.

Tara stepped out of her house with a smile on her face, and it stayed with her as she sped to work on her bike. She was going in early to start a new batch of ale. She’d always loved this part of her job, but sexting with Seth first thing in the morning added to her excellent mood.

Alex was already at the back, pouring the grist bill for their India Pale Ale into the mash tun.

“Hello, brother dear,” she said with a wide smile on her face. “Let me get geared up and join you.”

“Please do.” He shook the bag over the tun, emptying out the last bit, then turned around to pin her with a quizzical look. “Why are you so chipper today? You’re practically glowing.”

“Because it’s our brewing fun day,” she replied, dialing back some of her cheer. She glanced sideways at Alex as she pulled on her rubber boots. She lived and worked with her brothers. They were way too attuned to her moods. Worse yet, they could always sniff out her bullshit.

“Sampling day is your über-happy day. You’re disproportionately cheerful for brewing day.”

“What? Are you telling me to dial down my happiness?” Taraconjured an exaggerated injured look. “What kind of brother are you?”

“Sorry.” Alex eyed her suspiciously but didn’t continue his line of inquiry. “Be sampling day happy on brewing day. It’s a free country.”

She’d always been able to separate her dating life from her real life, but thoughts of Seth were crossing the line. His sweet, considerate side had punched a hole through her armor. What happened to the superficial playboy she’d signed up to date? And that kiss. After only one date, he was getting under her skin. Had she underestimated the effect he could have on her?

“Which grains should I bring?” she asked, scattering her inconvenient thoughts.

“The base malt is already in. We just need to mix our specialty malt.”

“Well, this one’s your recipe, so take the lead. I’ll assist.” They usually helped each other on brewing days—an extra pair of hands were always welcome—but the main brewer of the particular batch manned the helm. “Speaking of assisting, where’s Jack?”

“It’s accounting ‘fun’ day for him,” Alex said, cringing in distaste. “I can’t get used to how much he enjoys that part of the business.”

“If it weren’t for him, the brewery wouldn’t be what it is today.” Tara automatically defended Jack. “We’re lucky to have his brilliant business mind on our side.”

“I know that. But the word ‘number’…” Alex shivered dramatically.

“Was derived from the word ‘numb,’ meaning the bringer of numbness,” she rattled off in monotone. “And we must avoid brain numbness at all costs.”

“You got it.” He beamed at her like she was his star pupil. “Let’s get on with the real fun part of the business.”

They filled the mash tun with various bags of malt, working in companionable silence. And her mind wandered predictably to Seth.I wonder what he’s doing right now.He couldn’t possibly still be naked. But he was in her mind. He was taking photos naked. Building Landon’s website naked. And having lunch naked.

Tara was in trouble. She was troubled. How could she be working with her older brother in the sacred duty of brewing while unsanitarily daydreaming about naked men? Well, in her defense, it was only one man.

Once the mash was lautering, she and Alex took a lunch break. While they ate their roast beef sandwiches on pretzel rolls—the spicy mustard gave it the perfect amount of zing—Tara fidgeted with her phone, turning on the screen every twenty seconds.

“Now you look all sullen. Brewing day really isn’t as fun as sampling day, is it?” Alex said affectionately.

“It’s not that. I… promised Aubrey that I’d help Seth with building Landon’s restaurant website.” Where the hell did that come from? And why hadn’t she thought of it sooner? It gave her the perfect excuse to spend more time with Seth. “But we’ve been so busy lately, I feel like I’ve been neglecting my duties.”

“I can handle the rest of the brewing if you want to go work on that until the pub opens.”

“Really? That would be so great.” Tara squished two bites’ worth of sandwich into her mouth and washed it down with some root beer. “Thanks, Alex. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

“And there she goes like the wind,” he said wryly.

She was full of shit. No one had asked her to help with the website, obviously. It was just an excuse to see Seth sooner than later. She didn’t question why she wanted to see Seth badly enough to fabricatean excuse to do it. Their date had been fun, and she wanted more of it. Girls just wanna have fun and all that. No big deal.

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