“These are for a free muffin or cupcake,” Elodie tells the customers. “Our special this weekend is sour cream almond poppy seed with a Foster House whiskey glaze, but I’ll have more options if that’s not your thing.”
“Thank you so much.” The girl with the near wardrobe malfunction stuffs the card into her purse. “I love your shoes.”
I fucking do too.
Elodie’s smile is serene and a touch vapid. It’s disarming and endearing. No wonder men bought her whatever she wanted. “You’re so welcome. I really hope you stop in. I’ll even get a load of Foster House whiskey–glazed apricot bread ready.”
Appreciation simmers in the other girl’s gaze. “That sounds delicious. Everyone in town has been so nice.”
“Well, you make it easy.” Elodie gives them an alluring pout. “It’s easy to see how much you enjoy the place we love. I hope the rest of your trip goes well. If you have any questions, just ask these guys—or me. I’m happy to help.”
The other women blush and nod at Elodie’s gushing compliments. I’m not a gambling man, but I would put money down that these flirty customers would buy Elodie drinks if she slid onto a stool next to them.
“If you two need to go talk, I’ll cover for you,” Lane offers, running the wiping rag through his hands.
“Thank you.” I say it with enough inflection that he knows I’m thanking him for so much more. I take Elodie’s hand and lead her out of the tasting room.
In the main distillery, by a rack of Foster House ball caps, I pull her into my arms again. “I’ve got to thank you too.”
“You’re welcome. Lane made it sound like you were going to have a breakdown.”
“I was. They were bold. What if word got to you and you didn’t trust me?”
She frowns and runs her hands down my shoulders. “I do trust you.”
“Not with everything.”
She opens her mouth. Shuts it. “There are some things that aren’t important enough to drag you into.”
“Everything about you is important.”
She feathers her hands up my arms and cradles my face again. “I promise I won’t think the worst of you.” She winces. “I don’t like people telling me they promise something and here I am doing it.”
“Would you have been upset? If they’d come in talking about how much fun they had with the guys working in the distillery, and you knew one of them had been me?”
Her white teeth dig into her ripe lower lip. “I would’ve been upset at first, but I hope I’d realize that it’s you. You flirt, but it’s your way of making everyone feel good.” She runs a fingertip down my nose. “You get a special look when you’re talking to me. It’s all mine.”
It’ll always be hers. “Just don’t throw me away.”
Understanding fills her eyes. “Cruz. You’re definitely worth keeping, and you always were. If anyone tosses you aside, they’re the problem. Not you.” She gives me another kiss.
I delve deep into her mouth with my tongue and she meets it with hers stroke for stroke. With her body in my arms andthat vision of her entering the distillery like sex on a cloud in my head, I’m hard as a rock and aching so bad I might come in my pants.
“I need to get you to my office.” It’s up a flight of stairs. One wrong wobble and her ankle is toast in those shoes. I pick her up.
She laughs. “I can walk, Cruz.”
“The way you walk in those shoes is obscene, and I can’t risk fucking you right on the stairs.”
I take the steps two at a time, reaching my office faster than I ever have from the ground floor. When I get inside, I kick the door shut behind me. The only windows I have in my space face the parking lot.
She looks around. “It’s nice. Very clean.” There’s not even a notepad on my desk. A box of alcohol samples is under my desk, and the laptop is closed and in the middle. I’d probably store that somewhere else too, if I could. “It’s the size of my bathroom.”
“I didn’t want a big office.” I set her ass on the edge of my desk. “If I’m spending too much of my day in here, then it’s time to find a different career.”
She leans back. I can’t see the swells of her breasts, but her shirt teases them. I skim my fingers along the hemline. “If you wore this all the time, I’d be your biggest champion, but I’d also have a million heart attacks.”
“I’ll wear it just for you.”
