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“Sweet thing.”
I glared at him. “I had a fucking mental breakdown, okay? I had a high-pressure corporate marketing job, and I failed so spectacularly that Avery had to physically pull me out of my bed. I don’t want to go through that again.”
It was pissing me off that no one seemed to get why I didn’t want this job. Why it terrified me so much to fail Declan and Nolan. Avery saw the hell I went through, and she was pressuring me, too. Anxiety wound tight around my throat at the thought of that happening again.
Felix reached out and squeezed my hand. “Gem—”
“Can we stop talking about work?” I cut him off, interrupting whatever inspirational platitude he was about to say. “Let’s go to the next brewery. You still owe me that pretzel.”
I stormed off before he could say anything else, striking the conversation dead. That was rude of me, but I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. I leaned up against Felix’s car as I waited for him. He was taking his sweet time, but I didn’t blame him. I left him with the check like a dick.
I checked my phone again and stared in confusion when I noticed someone had logged me out of the brewery’s accounts. Shit, I hoped someone hadn’t gotten our password. I was going to do a ‘forgot password’ when a text popped up.
DEC: If you’re gonna work on your vacation, just take the job, Gem!
I scowled and typed back.
ME: I don’t WANT it.
DEC: Take the fricking job, Gem!
I was typing back a nasty reply when a dark shadow came across my vision. I looked up and saw Felix standing in front of me. He tilted up my chin, and I forgot what I was doing when he slanted his mouth on mine.
I moaned into his mouth as he kissed me softly in the parking lot. He kissed me like he wanted to savor the sensation of his lips on mine. Like he didn’t want to let go.
His dark brown eyes sparkled underneath the bright summer sunshine when he pulled away. “Am I being pushy, or are you being stubborn?” he asked.
“Yes.”
He laughed and cupped my jaw in his rough hands. “Think about it, Gem. You’re so good at what you do. It’s perfect for you.”
“Can we please stop talking about this?” I whined and slid my phone back into my pocket. I couldn’t believe Declan had changed all the passwords on me. What a controlling asshat.
“Okay, but you’re hangry, so let’s eat at the next brewery.”
A grin spread across my face. “I still want a big pretzel!”
He smiled as he walked around to the driver’s side of the car. I slid into the passenger seat, and we went on our way. He surprised me when he grabbed my hand in his when we got on the road. He brought my hand up to his lips and kissed it. It was a sweet gesture, but something you did when you were in a relationship. Not a summer fling. My heart was doing backflips inside my chest, and I tried to tell it not to get excited. It was only for this week. Then Felix would go back to being the single-dad martyr he felt he needed to be.
It was a short drive to the next brewery, which was hopping because it was the height of summer, and it was lunchtime. I was kinda hungry. We sat at the bar, and I perused the menu before a bartender came over to us.
“Want to split the pretzel?” I asked after Felix ordered a flight for us to share. “I need to eat an actual lunch.”
“I’m down for that. The burger looks good.”
“I kinda want to get wings. But don’t laugh when I make a mess of it.”
He leaned into me, his lips on my ear. “I love when you make a mess.”
I bit my lip to keep in the whimper. “Fe,” I whined.
He kissed my neck and then moved away.
Such an asshole!
We ordered food, and I scanned the menu. “Oh, this one has guest lines, too. Hmmm.”
He laughed into his beer glass. “You’re thinking about it for our brewery, aren’t you?”
