Chapter Seventeen

Alex

“Have you called Lake?” Detective Murdock rested both hands on the old metal desk. After almost six hours of talking to every employee in the brewery, he looked as tired as I felt.

“No, and I’m not going to.” What would be the point? Lake was half the world away in Ireland. Ruining her honeymoon wouldn’t change the outcome. The detective had pretty much admitted he didn’t have any leads, and this would likely be added to the case file as one more mysterious occurrence. “We don’t even know if was intentional.”

He looked up at me like I’d just suggested water didn’t cause drowning.

“Fine.” I threw my hands up and stood from the old chair. “It was totally intentional. I know it. You know it. Every guy in here today knows it. It still doesn’t change that we aren’t any closer to figuring out who is responsible. Dragging Lake back across the ocean in the middle of her honeymoon isn’t going to change that.”

“You’re right.” The detective stood and gathered up the pages of notes spread over the desk. “I wish I had more to tell you, but this leaves us where we’ve been for the past several months. Scratching our heads.”

I rubbed at the headache growing at my temples. It had been one hell of a day, and I still had at least two more hours of work waiting for me in the office upstairs. “The brewery is open to you if you think of anything else you need.”

We walked out through the tasting bar area to the renovated entrance. Detective Murdock paused at the door. “I hope you’ll think about what I said earlier. These attacks aren’t stopping, and that puts all of you in danger.” He glanced at the darkened brewery behind me. “You aren’t the only one left, are you?”

I stuck my head into the entrance room. A brand new mountain bike leaned against the wall. As tired as I was, a zing of excitement flashed across my chest. “No, Damian is here.”

Murdock nodded. “Until this is over, you should keep him close.”

Zing. Zing. Zing.

“Noted. Good night, detective.”

He gave me a grim smile and headed to his car in the dark parking lot.

The brewery felt emptier than I’d ever seen. Almost all the lights were out except for the new office space upstairs. Blinds covered the glass walls overlooking the tasting bar, but a warm yellow glow shown behind them. Damian was up there somewhere.

What the hell was I going to do with him?

The last thing I had time for was anything at all romantic. The Brew Pub would be opening in no time, we needed to get a new bottling system in here before we fell off schedule, I still had to hire a new sales manager, and someone was trying to take down the whole brewery. Sexy times with the wounded but handsome Damian didn’t fit into the schedule.

But there was no denying the something between us.

That was hot.

I could still feel his hot breath against my ear as he whispered those words to me. My lips tingled from the memory of last night’s kiss. It might have started as a way to end his nightmare, but it wasn’t exactly a hardship.

Every part of getting involved with Damian was a bad idea. He might be getting more comfortable around me, but the man still struggled with some serious anxiety. And as soon as Lake and Walsh got back, that anxiety would drive him right back to his recluse hole in Denver.

Shit.

A short-term hook-up with a guy guaranteed to leave had always been exactly what I looked for. So why did knowing Damian was going to leave make me even more hesitant to continue where our steamy kiss left off?

That was a question for another day. For now, the questions were... How fast could we get back to bottling? Was anyone in Aspenridge qualified to be our new sales manager? Could I still pull off the pub opening by July Fourth? And...how long could I hold out before I kissed Damian again?

Fuck. I was so screwed.

I marched up to the offices, intent on getting my work done and getting out of here. The less time I had to spend alone with Damian, the less chance there was for me to jump him and strip off his clothes.

Pushing through the door, the scent of hot cheese, pepperoni, and perfectly-seasoned sauce hit my nose. Damian sat in Melissa’s chair, a slice of deep dish poised halfway to his open mouth.

“Pizza? You ordered pizza?”

Damian set his slice down and jumped up from his seat. “Yeah. I realized we never got to eat lunch because of the explosion and then the investigation. I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I may have over-ordered.”

I glanced around the room. At least five pizza boxes covered the new desks. My lips parted to throw out a sarcastic remark, but I bit the words back. This was...sweet. I swallowed the lump growing in my throat. “Any chance you got a Hawaiian?”

He smiled at me, and for the first time since we met, the smile went all the way to his eyes. The damned butterflies flew back into gear, dancing around my empty stomach.

Damian grabbed a box from the top of a filing cabinet and presented it to me, lifting the cover to display a still-hot pizza covered with ham and pineapple. “M’lady.”

I leaned down and inhaled the scent of my favorite pizza in the whole world. Today had sucked huge donkey balls, but pizza with Damian sounded like the perfect way to turn it around.

Grabbing the box, I practically danced over to my desk and scooped up a slice, shaking my head at the paper plate Damian offered. “It won’t be here long enough to need a plate.” I took a giant bite and sank down into my chair, groaning in appreciation. True to my words, the first piece was gone in a few minutes.

I wiped my fingers on a stray paper towel and fired up my computer. “Okay, starvation averted. Time to read some resumes while I polish off the rest of this pie. If you want any ham and pineapple, speak now or miss out.”

Damian perched on the edge of the desk and tilted his head to the side. “Resumes for what?”

“For the new sales manager.” I opened up the application manager and groaned. Eighty-six applicants, most of whom had never even seen the inside of a brewery. I faced Damian again and focused on keeping my expression neutral. “Eventually, you’re going back to Denver, and I’ll need someone here who can work with our distributors, keep an eye on the production schedule, and bring me pizza so I don’t starve.”

Damian smiled, but this one fell short of lighting up his eyes again. “I’ll let you get to it then.” He returned to Melissa’s desk and ducked his head down to study the screen.

I grabbed another slice of pizza more for something to do than because I was hungry. Twelve more days until the Brew Pub opening. Twelve more days until Damian retreated back to Denver. Suddenly, I didn’t have much of an appetite anymore.