Page 14 of Hammer and Hops

“Oh, Everett.” I shook my head. I wanted to comfort him with a giant hug and maybe never let him go. “You are somebody just like you are.”

He shrugged it off. “Anyway. These are fantastic.” He held his taco up and took another bite.

After that conversation, I knew Operation Relax was in full throttle, but now it had a secondary purpose. Get Everett to realize how much he’s worth.

Chapter nine

End of First Date – Everett

After we ate the surprisingly delicious food, we stretched out side by side and looked at the stars. I still didn’t know why I didn’t think food from a truck could be good, but I’d been proven wrong. That was the best I’d ever eaten from anywhere. Not that I was a foodie or anything.

Talking and hanging out with someone nice was the perfect dessert for the meal. Cameron was friendly and interested in what I had to say, and the conversation didn’t get dominated by the brewery. I hadn’t known how much I needed that. I’d lived and breathed the business long before I even opened the doors. It was my life’s work, and it had to succeed, but getting it from a scrappy start-up to a successful business took a lot. I probably overshared about that, but it didn’t seem to scare him away.

Feeling his eyes on me, I turned my head to see him staring at me. “What?”

“You’re something special. I’m sure you’ve heard that before, but I mean it. It’s not a line.”

“I believe you, and thanks, but I don’t think so. At least you have a good reputation in town. I’m only known as the new guy who makes beer.”

“Don’t sell yourself short.” He reached over and pushed my hair behind my ear. I hoped he wasn’t just being polite because of what I’d said earlier about living up to my parents’ expectations.

I hadn’t had a guy interested in me in a long time, certainly not since I left Sacramento. Really, before then even. Not since my two fuck ups, Donny and that other guy, Mr. One-And-Done. Probably because I became so engrossed in making beer. But now I was on the verge of success. And well…What could it hurt to have this hot guy looking my way? It couldn’t.

Plus, everyone in town seemed to know and genuinely like Cameron. He seemed amazing, at least on the surface. I wanted to get to know him better. I wanted things I had no business wanting already.

I leaned in and pressed my lips to his.

He pressed back, then looked at me. “This is a long way from our first meeting.”

“Forget about that. Never happened.”

“Forgotten, but what about this?” He kissed me again. This time, he slipped his tongue between my lips and along mine. He tasted zesty like the tacos he ate, and he smelled the same, with a hint of honey behind it. And better yet, he had my toes curling in a way that I’d never experienced. Not even with Donny—not that I was comparing.

I moved in closer, our legs touching and twining together, and I was rapidly getting hard. He ran his hands over my shoulders and down my back, and I stretched into it like a cat. My move was my hand up his T-shirt, skating across his hard stomach. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to move that fast, though. He had me lowering my defenses entirely too quickly, setting off all kinds of alarms. Ones that I hadn’t listened to in the past, and they had gotten me into trouble.

“Maybe we slow this down a bit?” I gently nudged his shoulder to give me some space.

“That’s fine, Everett. It’s getting late anyway, and I have an early day tomorrow, but I’d really like to do this again.”

“Me too. Maybe we can do something different next time?”

“Definitely.”

He took me back to the brewery and waited until I unlocked my car and got in. He waved as I drove away. That night left me happier than I’d been in a long time, and I still wanted more. I had hope that this could grow into something more between us, so I didn’t want to fuck it up. It would be good, right? As long as he didn’t rush me.

Cameron could be seriously dangerous for several reasons. Ultimately, he could be a distraction when I needed to focus on the brewery. Or that was my excuse because I feared he might break my heart. I didn’t know anything for sure, so slow and easy would have to work.

Chapter ten

What Are We Doing? Cameron

I went out of my way to drive by the brewery before work and tuck a sweet note behind Everett’s windshield wiper that said Thinking of you. He needed to know I wasn’t only after a hookup or something. I genuinely wanted to get to know him, but he’d put the brakes on pretty quickly the night before, so maybe he thought I was playing him, but that was far from the case. If I just wanted sex, I could go to Sacramento. I was already invested in him and his well-being, a lot more than I probably should have been, having only known him for about a week or so.

At lunchtime, I shot him a text.

Then I went back to work. We were finishing up the framing for an addition, and I didn’t want to lag behind any of the others.

“Cam, dude. Can you come over here and help me with this beam?” My uncle, who was also the boss for this job, waved me over. It didn’t take long, and the rest of the afternoon went by fast. We wrapped up and cleaned the jobsite, then I checked my messages before cranking up my truck. There weren’t any. Huh.