“Some, yes.” I'm not offering any more. I need to go.
“Want a job?”
I still. Did he just offer me a job? I’m too startled to speak, so he continues.
“Come on board here at the distillery. Be our sustainability officer. I’m not sure yet what that will involve, other than overseeing the distillery to be completely renewable, but you seem to know what you’re talking about. We’ll work it out as we go. Where did you go to college?”
I let myself feel excited for just a moment. Getting paid to do something I spent years at college studying and have a passion for is what I really want. It’s on the tip of my tongue to say yes, to scream it. But reality crashes down on me in an instant. Sutton watches me closely, and I notice his shoulders slump the moment he knows I'm going to decline.
“I’m sorry. I can’t.” Shaking my head, I brush past them both. “I need to go.” Then I bolt down the hall and back to Rochelle’s van.
This is why I don’t do deliveries.
24
Sutton
“Tell me what I’m missing?” Tanner looks at me, my eyes still glued to the doorway she just fled through. I’m itching to follow her, but I know she needs space, and I need to get back to set in a minute.
“She’s a private person.” I shrug, not telling him a thing. Her secrets are safe with me. She’s safe with me. Hell, just feeling her go rigid the moment Tanner stepped forward had me so on guard, I felt like a pit bull. I know Tanner wouldn’t hurt her; I knew he wasn’t a threat, but my instincts kicked in, and there was no way he was getting closer to her.
“She’s smart, confident, talks like a city girl but hides out in the country…” Tanner trails off, a contemplative look pinching his expression.
“She’s very smart. I could listen to her for hours.”
At that, Tanner looks at me and raises an eyebrow. “Seems like you two are close?”
Shit. If he only knew I came in my jeans last night like a fucking teenager. I thought a little taste of her might have me more settled, but all it did was make me want more. More touching, more kissing, more of her.
“We’re spending time together. I like her.”
“Hmmmm. I bet you are.” Tanner gives me a small grin, one that I can’t stop from forming on my face either.
My brother walks in a moment later, asking, “Hey, what happened with Nikki? I just saw her bolt out of here like she was on fire.” He’s been here all day, watching the shoot. We kicked everything off at five this morning. Grabbed some footage of Tanner and Connor walking through the morning mist, starting their day. I did a photoshoot in the aging rooms before I went in front of the camera just now to shoot the first part of the commercial, in my suit, with a whiskey, acting like the billionaire everyone wants to be.
“Tanner offered her a job.”
“No shit. She declined you too?” Head reared back, Sawyer looks at Tanner, and I watch with interest. Both of these men have had their ego bruised by the woman I can’t stop thinking about. But it does concern me. Sawyer’s job, I could understand. Who the hell wants to work in law? But here at Whiteman’s, a sustainability job? It sounds right up her alley.
“Why? Did she decline you?” Tanner asks.
“Yeah. Something’s going on with her. She must have a record.” Sawyer’s words have my shoulders tightening.
“She doesn’t have a fucking record,” I grit out, wanting him to drop that line of thought.
“How do you know?” Sawyer’s eyes pin me in place.
“I asked her. She said she doesn’t, and I believe her.” She wouldn’t hurt a fly.
“Sure your views on her are not… clouded?” Tanner’s tentative with his words, I’ll give him that, but he still has a big, shit-eating grin on his face. One I match.
With a shake of my head, I dismiss him. “No idea what you’re talking about.”
“Does this have anything to do with the fact I picked you up from her house last night in a delightful pair of overalls?” my brother teases. Those overalls were bad. I looked fucking ridiculous, but it was worth it.
“Overalls?” Tanner looks perplexed before he grins, putting two and two together.
“Fuck the both you.” I can’t help it when my mouth turns up at the sides.
