Page 59 of Trusting Fate (Hope Falls: Brewed Awakenings 2)

“Are you sure you’re up for this?” Audrey asked as she helped her sister pull up her pants.

No.She wasn’t. But she knew if she didn’t go, then Easton wouldn’t go and spend time with his brothers. This was the least she could do for him after everything he’d done for her.

“Yeah,” she assured her sister.

Within just a few minutes she was dressed, and she slid her feet into her ankle boots, the same ones she’d been wearing the night of the snowstorm. It felt like a year ago, not just a few weeks. The girls left the room and when Grace reached the top of the stairs, she saw that Easton was standing in the front room. He’d still waited even though Audrey was there.

“Wow,” he breathed when he looked up at her.

It was just a simple word, but she felt it like an electrical current through her entire body. Audrey smiled beside her and squeezed her hand.

“It’s the first time he’s seen me clean in weeks,” she joked to her sister, trying to make light of how much his compliment had affected her.

When they got to the bottom of the steps, Easton was waiting with her jacket. He held it out for her. After she slid her arms through the sleeves, he gathered her hair and pulled it out from under her collar. His fingers grazed the back of her neck, and the sensation sent a skittering of tingles down her spine.

“I like your hair like this,” he whispered against her ear.

She closed her eyes as her entire body lit up with desperate need. She blamed it on the weeks of innocent foreplay. Just a simple touch, a whispered compliment had her nearly coming.

“Ladies.” He opened the door for her and Audrey then offered them each an arm as he escorted them across the parking lot to the back of the bar.

Again, it was a little thing, offering her sister an arm to hold onto him as they walked across the gravel lot, but it meant more to her than a two-week trip to the Bahamas from a guy that didn’t even help with her luggage when they got to the hotel.

Easton Bishop might not actually be her boyfriend, but he was showing her how a man should treat her, what the important things were. And no matter what happened after this was all over, for that, she’d be forever grateful.

* * *

Easton couldn’t keephis eyes off of Grace. There was something different about her tonight that was much more intoxicating than the one beer he’d drunk. He wasn’t sure if it was because he’d never seen her in this kind of social environment. She looked so relaxed laughing and talking with her sisters. Or if it was the soft curls in her hair. When she’d stepped out of her room with Audrey, she’d literally taken his breath away. She was always beautiful, there was no denying that. But the curls in her hair made her look ethereal, even more angelic-like than she usually appeared.

Whatever it was, he couldn’t stop staring. The bar was packed with people, but in his mind’s eye she was the only person he saw.

“How’s the writing going?”

Easton turned to see Evan holding his Guinness watching the pool game that was going on in front of them.

“It’s not. I’ve been too busy with the show.” He was going to write, he just put it on hold until after the show.

“What’s really going on with you two?”

He didn’t need any clarification on who his oldest brother was referring to. He’d known this conversation was coming. He was actually surprised that it had taken Evan this long to ask.

“What do you mean?” Easton played dumb.

“You just met her. Now you’re living with her and competing in a reality show together as a couple.”

From Evan’s tone, he could tell that his brother was trying to point out how ridiculous those statements were, but they were mostly true. There was only one point that Easton needed to clarify, “We’re both staying at the B&B, not living together.”

If they were living together, they’d be sharing a bed together and having “pillow talk” as Maura had put it. Easton had the blue balls to prove that wasn’t the case.

It was bad enough that they were right down the hall from each other, but the real kicker was that they were sharing a bathroom. It was torture hearing the water come on and knowing that Grace was naked, water flowing over her generous curves. He’d even resorted to putting on noise cancelling headphones because he’d felt like a perv with all the images that popped up in his head like computer viruses.

Evan just stared at Easton with his trademark broodiness. His oldest brother had always been the quiet type, but he communicated in other ways.

“Mom called. She asked if I knew where you were spending Thanksgiving because she wants you to meet some girl named Jana.”

His mom was like a dog with a bone. She was not giving up on him meeting her. He’d been “missing” his mom’s calls for the past few days because he hadn’t wanted to lie to her about his whereabouts.

“What did you tell her?” Easton took a sip of his beer.

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