Page 1 of Crewe
Chapter One
Crewe Nelson stared at the sandwich he was making especially for her. He’d been working on finding exactly the right type of bread and which slice of the cheese to make Ryanne a perfect mozzarella grilled cheese sandwich. He checked the toasting on the last side and deemed it perfect.
He placed it on the plate, sliced it diagonally, and then lifted the crispy thin homemade potato chips he had made her out of the fryer. He dumped them on the parchment paper to allow most of theoil to drip off, grabbed the salt and pepper mix, dusting the chips before arranging them on the tray. He picked up the plate, cutlery, and a napkin and walked it out of the kitchen.
The noise level immediately increased once he was in the main bar and not in his little haven of a kitchen. He spotted the woman he couldn’t get off his mind. Her thick hair, with strands running the gamut of colors from brown to golden brown, was pulled up in a ponytail. His cousin Whiskey’s wife, Vivi, called Ryanne’s hair mahogany, but Crewe just knew it was gorgeous.
Ryanne turned away from him and bent over. Her freaking lush ass was cupped by her jeans. He refrained from adjusting himself but barely. He honestly felt like he was semi-hard all the time now. If she wasn’t right there, where all he could see was her, then he was thinking about all the things he wanted to do with her.
He walked over and placed the items on the counter behind the bar. Ryanne gifted him with one of her smiles, and he felt like those cartooncharacters when their hearts pounded outside their chests.
“Let me know what you think,” Crewe said, planning on running back to his safe haven.
“Oh, hold on,” Ryanne said, picking up one half of the sandwich and taking a bite. Her lush lips wrapping around the sandwich had Crewe fighting not to groan. How much was a guy supposed to take? It’s like the universe was trying to teach him patience. He’d been patient for the last nine months.
“Ummm,” she moaned. “This is perfect. You need this on the menu.”
Crewe nodded and smiled because there wasn’t enough spit in his mouth to be able to form words. He turned and walked back into the kitchen. His brother McClure and cousin Hennessy followed him in. Though the way they’d all grown up, it was just easier sometimes to say brothers and to call the women sisters-in-law because they were one big family.
“Dude, when are you going to make a move? This is getting painful to watch,” McClure said.
“Whiskey said if you groan her name any louder while you’re spanking the monkey or playing pocket pinball, he’s going to need to add a white noise machine to block you,” Hennessy said.
“Oh, so she is getting to you if you’ve been jerkin’ the gherkin. Why don’t you just ask her out? It’s not like there aren’t a huge amount of people who could babysit the kids,” McClure said.
Crewe turned to his family to tell them to mind their own business, but then the swinging door to the kitchen opened.
Ryanne walked in carrying her plate. “I don’t want you to think I’m a pig, but those homemade potato chips were to die for. Do you have any more?” she asked.
He smiled at the woman he wanted to throw on the counter and explore every inch of while she screamed his name.
“Sure,” he said, grasping the tongs and placing the rest of the chips he’d made on her plate.
“Thanks,” she said, leaning up and kissing his cheek. “This was the best grilled cheese sandwichI’ve ever had, and not having to make it for myself made it even more special.”
Crewe watched Ryanne’s butt jiggle as she walked away from him and back out into the bar.
He stared after her until McClure started waving his hand in front of Crewe’s face.
“This is so fucking painful to watch. It’s like watching the nerd in middle school pine for the girl but never have the courage to ask her out,” McClure said.
“Hey, I agree it’s painful, but it’s because I have to listen to Ellie talk aboutoh, Crewe and Ryanne would be perfect together. What can we do to help it along?” Hennessy said, in a girlish voice.
Hennessy and McClure’s laughter had Crewe wanting to punch them both in the face. He loved his family, but sometimes, he didn’t like them very well.
He’d thought months ago that he could spend more time with Ryanne and the kids when they were losing their rental. Her parents’ house was too small, and he was going to offer to have her live in the apartment above the bar that he, Whiskey,and his family, along with Hennessy and his family, and his cousin Schaefer lived in. But before he could get the words out, his cousin Quinton, who managed their family’s real estate properties, offered her one of the empty apartments across the street. Ryanne had immediately said yes, and Crewe’s opportunity to be in close proximity to Ryanne was gone.
If he had to listen to his siblings and cousins tease him about Ryanne, he might have to do something about them.
When she’d first come to work for them, she’d been sassy, and he’d been datingthat womanas Vivi referred to her. He’d been taken, but he’d known it wouldn’t last. She didn’t get along with Vivi and didn’t want him hanging with his family. He’d quit dating her, but by then, he and Ryanne had a great friendship.
He was more than happy to have them take it to the next level, but Ryanne seemed not to understand when he was trying to ask her out. She thought he was asking her and her kids out, which he adored her kids, but he wanted her to himselfon a date. He pictured himself as their dad, but for that to happen, Ryanne would have to see him as someone other than a co-worker slash boss.
It irked him when she treated him the same as his cousins and brothers when he wanted to be so much more for her.
“Y’all better shut it, or the next time I make brownies or chocolate cookies, you can wonder with each bite if it’s okay to eat or if it has enough laxative to make you wish you were dead.”
Hennessy rolled his eyes. “You’re no fun. I’m going to go see what my wife is doing. She appreciates my sense of humor,” Hennessy said, walking off.
