“Yeah, I know,” he snapped. “But I’ll never get that. Nobody wants to deal with .…” His voice trailed off. Nobody wanted to deal withwhat? Ollie was amazing. Okay, so he had a bit of a stick up his arse, but I was so sure that if he was loved by the right person, he’d come out of his shell.
“Anyway, I was going to ask you if you were working the pub night?”
“Oh.” I’d hoped to spend the evening with Noah.
“Ariah and Perla offered to take over the bar.”
“Yeah, cool. I won’t be working, then. That’s good.”
“Okay.” Ollie made a little note on his clipboard. “Good. I’ll see you at lunch. I’ve got to go grab SweetPea’s list so I can order whatever he needs.” He contemplated me for a moment. “Thanks, Lew. You look relaxed, by the way. Did you have a good weekend?”
Yeah, it’s all the orgasms your brother gives me that make me glow.
“Cheers. Yeah, it was fine. See you later. I think Noah will be joining us for lunch, too.”
“Yeah, he said so. He came to see me a few minutes ago.” Ollie hesitated. “I wonder if it’s a good thing that he works for Lone Fox. You know how flighty he is.”
“Well, Maddie knows it’s just for a couple of months. She’s happy to have him on the team. He’s excellent at what he does.”
“You think so?” Ollie didn’t sound convinced.
I raised an eyebrow at my best friend. “Yes, I do.”
“Yeah, well. It’ll be good for him to have something to do.”
“What the fuck?” I bristled. “He’s been working his ass off.”
“How do you know that? I mean he takes pictures for his social media, doesn’t he? How hard can that—”
“Don’t be an arsehole, Ollie.” My best mate’s mouth clamped shut. “It’s not just taking pictures. He has to come up with new ideas, do all the paperwork, find and secure brand deals—that’s a shit ton of work. It only looks easy because he’s so good at it.” I sniffed. “We’ve been hanging out a bit.”
And we’re fucking, and I love him.
“Thanks, Lew. I’ve been so busy I haven’t…”
“I know. And I’m not doing this to do you a favour. I like Noah.”
“Good,” he said with his eyes back on the clipboard. “Okay, I’ll go find SweetPea. See you later.”
“Yeah, I should be in the brewery, anyway.”
Mads, Noah, and even Fitz joined us for lunch. Fitz, whose chronic mobility issues got worse with the snow and the cold, seemed to have a good day. His green eyes sparkled as he leaned on his walking stick and crossed the staff room to join us at the table.
It was the most enjoyable lunch I’d had in all the time I’d worked for Lone Fox Distillery.
I took Noah back to my apartment after lunch.
“Will you stay here with me?” I asked him as I pulled him into my arms.
“I can’t. Mr Pickles is waiting.” Noah broke off and I kissed him.
He’s not ready.
Give him time, Sinclair.
Chapter 25
Noah
