Page 30 of Hammer and Hops

“I’m not.” He couldn’t keep those lips from quirking up on the side.

Chapter twenty-four

Figure it out – Cameron

I sat back on Everett’s couch and brainstormed while he slept in the big chair. I took the day off to help him out, and when he woke up, I heated up that soup for him. After he ate, we sat at the table together, and I grabbed his hand. “Besides telling Sheriff Clay about the rest of what’s been happening. What else can we do?”

“Alfred already put extra security in, so we need to check the footage. Even if the back camera was destroyed, we should be able to download what it recorded up to that point. Right?”

“Maybe. Do you have some paper to write this down?”

“In the kitchen, drawer by the fridge.” I went and opened a drawer full of silverware. “No, that next one.”

“Ah…hmm…” It was a typical junk drawer and took me a minute of rummaging to come up with paper and pen. Then I sat at the table and jotted down what we had so far. “What else?”

“Not sure if the insurance company is going to pay for all the damages. I’m probably going to need a loan or refinance my house or something.”

“Okay, reviewing finances…” I added that to the list. “But you can make it up faster and pay it off faster if you sell more beer. Maybe you need a marketing promotion of some kind?”

“I was hoping to get that book to help with that anyway.”

“Do you have anything specific in mind yet?”

“I don’t know. But I could hire some college girls to go into some of our bars and promote it.”

“Wearing skimpy clothes? Or maybe dressed up like a bottle of beer?”

“Those are both out.” When he laughed, my heart felt lighter than it had since I met him. He made me crazy, and I swear if I were a cartoon, I’d have big hearts for eyeballs that popped out at him all the time. When he caught me staring at him, he blushed and looked down at the table.

“Don’t be embarrassed. You’re gorgeous and I’m gonna look.”

“Look all you want.” He sucked his bottom lip between his teeth, making me want to launch myself over the table to kiss that lip, but he was still recovering. Instead, we went through some other marketing ideas, some of which were not great, and some were downright weird. But I made a list of those with potential.

I had one more suggestion for him. “Well, we could do a GoFundMe.”

“A what?”

“You know. That website to collect donations.”

“Oh, no. I don’t like that. I’m not a charity. I want to earn my way.”

“What you don’t understand, Ever, is that this is a small town. We’re all like family. Some closer than others, but we have each other’s back.”

“I’m not family. I just moved here.”

“Don’t underestimate yourself. Or our town.” I squeezed his hand.

“Still. I don’t think so.” He took the pen and scratched a line through my note. “You’re being so nice. I, um, I’m sorry. Again. About thinking badly about you. It’s just that we started seeing each other at the same time this shit started happening.”

“I know. I was there. I got blamed. Don’t worry about it.” I picked up his hand and kissed his knuckles. “I might have thought the same thing in your place.”

He stood and tugged on my hand. “Come here.” When I went, he embraced me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders, and I pulled him closer. I shoved my fingers into his hair and tilted his head up so I could kiss him. I started out gently, a mere press of lips, but quickly deepened the kiss, using my tongue to glide against his in a sensual caress.

He leaned into me, pushing his hips against my body. I hugged him, feeling his heat seeping through his thin shirt. “Ever…I want to make you feel good. Taste you. Make you come. Are you okay with that?”

“Yes…” His breathy tone made my pulse race.

“Let’s go to your room.”