Chapter Thirteen

Alex

“Good night, ladies.” Harlan stuck his head into the new office and tipped his hat like cowboy about to ride off into the sunset. “Damian.”

“See you tomorrow.” I leaned back in my chair and stretched my arms over my head. Sitting in an office chair most of the day was horrendous on my back, but it was pain I’d gladly take. I’d spent the entire afternoon poring through Damian’s new sales program. He had everything streamlined in a way that would make onboarding the new sales manager ten times easier.

“I’m going to head out, too. Anthony is picking up pizza, and this girl is starving.” Melissa stood up and gathered her purse. “Hug warning.”

She walked up behind Damian and wrapped his shoulders in a bear hug. His mouth pulled into a tight smile, but he didn’t push her off. Not the way he jerked away from me whenever I so much as made contact with my pinkie finger.

“You don’t have to keep thanking me,” Damian told her, spinning around in his chair when she released her hold.

“Um...I got more work done today than I would normally finish in a week, so I’m pretty sure I’m nowhere near finished thanking you.”

She squeezed his shoulder, and the muscles in my stomach clenched. Why was it okay for Melissa to touch him, but not me? I thought we had a moment last night, eating popcorn and watching movies. But I had no clue.

Reading people was where I excelled. I could always read a situation and know where the cards fell. It was why my Hollywood-famous parents used me to handle all their most sensitive PR work instead of the expensive publicists the studios insisted they hire. But with Damian? It was like trying to get a read on a cold fish.

“Right, Alex?”

I jerked to attention to find both Damian and Melissa staring at me.

“Sorry.” I tugged at a loose piece of hair. “I spaced out there for a bit.”

Melissa shot me a quick look as if she knew what I’d been thinking about instead of paying attention to the conversation. “Maybe you should head home, too. You’ve been a little distracted all day.” She glanced down quickly at Damian and then winked at me.

Who knew getting some on the regular would make Melissa so sassy?

“Soon,” I said. “I need to write up this job posting so I can at least have a few good candidates by the time Lake gets back. Maybe Damian can walk you out.”

“I’ve actually got a lot to do, too,” Damian added quickly. “Eric was planning to do all the staff scheduling on notecards. I’m creating some basic templates to start him off for scheduled changes and vacation requests.” He looked at me for a second before turning back to his computer. “Maybe we could order a pizza?”

Melissa took advantage of his back being turned to us and shot me a double thumbs up. “Okay, well you crazy kids have fun.”

A thunderous crash sounded from downstairs, followed by a loud string of curse words.

I froze in my seat. The three of us were the only ones left in the brewery, but someone was definitely in the tasting bar. Damian jumped up and silently shut the door of the office, moving faster than a cheetah.

“Are either of you expecting anyone?” His voice came out as a harsh whisper that sent goosebumps up my arms.

Melissa shook her head, her eyes as wide as one of her precious collector’s tea cups. I swallowed a lump growing in my throat and shook my head as well.

“Where’s your bat?” he asked me.

I nodded at the corner where an old wooden bat leaned against the wall. I’d threatened to take Damian’s head off with it yesterday, but somehow, that was different. He leaned across me, his chest brushing against mine, and grabbed the long bat. Even with potential danger on the other side of the door, the light touch lit my body on fire. Good god, I was a mess.

“Stay here.” Damian slid out of the office door before I could even tell him to be careful.

Melissa grabbed my hand, and we stood in the middle of the office, staring at the door Damian just walked out of. I held my breath, waiting for the sounds of shouts or a baseball bat taking someone down, but I couldn’t hear anything.

The door flew open, and Melissa and I took a collective jump back.

“Hey there, gorgeous,” a familiar voice said. Two men filled the doorway, one a complete surprise.

“Vincent? What are you doing here?” I stared back and forth between Damian with the bat propped on his shoulder and Vincent Becker, the guy from Denver that I was maybe, kinda sometimes dating. What was he doing here? We weren’t serious enough that I wanted him to meet my friends. They’d make a big deal about meeting him, when that wasn’t the kind of relationship we had. We were all about convenience and physical release, nothing else.

The two of them were a study in contrast. Damian was impeccably dressed, but the way he always turned his face to the side and slouched his shoulders made him look like a guy trying to disappear. Vincent almost always wore jeans and a flannel, making him look more like a lumberjack than a businessman, but the gray at his temples and the way he held himself gave him the air of a man completely comfortable with who he was.

With both of them in the same room, I was ready to crawl out of my skin.

Vincent took two long strides into the room and gripped me by the shoulders, planting a hard kiss on my cheek. “Surprise. I felt bad that I couldn’t go with you to the wedding last weekend, so I moved around a few meetings to get down here for the night.”

I’d invited him to the wedding in a moment of madness when I’d been feeling pathetic around all my friends who were in love, but it had been a relief that he couldn’t make it.

“Ahem.” Melissa coughed next to me in the most non-casual way possible.

“Right. Sorry...uh.” If I had an easy button that could open a hole in the floor for me to fall into, I would have pushed it already. “Melissa, this is Vincent. We’ve gone out a few times when he comes into town for business.”

Melissa flashed her eyes at Damian, but not fast enough that it wasn’t obvious she was checking for his reaction. I wanted to check, too, but I couldn’t do it. I kept my gaze focused on Vincent who had showed up at the worst moment possible.

“It’s nice to meet you.” Melissa nodded her head but didn’t offer him a hand.

Vincent turned toward Damian, and the room dropped into silence for an uncomfortable moment. Awkward. Just so much awkward. “And this is Damian.”

Damian only tightened the grip on his bat.

“Nice to meet you both.” Vincent grabbed my hand and rubbed his thumb in a quick circle over my palm. “Anyway, I’m only in town for the night, but I thought we could go grab some dinner and catch up.” He winked at me, which only made things worse.

Vincent and I had a bit of an understanding. He worked in Denver but traveled to Aspenridge about once a month. Whenever he came to town, we got together and...scratched our mutual itches. It was simple, no strings attached. The perfect type of relationship for me. The only time I heard from him was a text to let me know he was coming to town, and I liked it that way.

Until Damian had showed up. Now it felt all sorts of wrong. I’d have to take time to examine why that was...later. When I could think clearly again. When both men weren’t in the room watching me expectantly. This was all kinds of awkward, and I didn’t do awkward.

Not that I owed Damian anything. Except there was definitely some chemistry going on there even if neither of us would admit it. And last night was...comfortable. Which was normally a feeling that had me running in the opposite direction. Except I wasn’t running yet. Why wasn’t I running?

“We were actually just about to order a—”

“You should go.” Damian leaned the bat against the wall and walked past me to his desk and sat down. “I can close up here.”

My heart clutched. Damian wanted me to go with Vincent? I didn’t want to go with Vincent. I wanted...

“Perfect.” Vincent didn’t wait for me to say another word. He reached over and threaded his arm through mine. “Again, nice to meet you both.”

Vincent led us out of the office and through the newly renovated tasting room. I marched next to him in silence, wondering when my uncomplicated life became so damn complex.