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I quirk one suggestive brow at her. She turns on her heel to walk away. More like storm. She storms away, fists curled tight at her sides.
“Uh, Claire?” She swivels back, that strawberry ponytail spinning out in one wild wave. I don’t miss the way she sucks in a breath that I’m sure is meant to steel her nerves. I hold up her pen. “Forgot something.”
Her shoulders sag on a heavy exhale. “Right. Thanks.” She plucks it out of my hand, careful not to touch me in any way, shape, or form, and stalks off to the far end of the table. She sinks into her chair and opens her laptop, disappearing behind the screen.
The spot to her right is open and she glances up at me at the exact moment my eyes land on it. Her emerald gaze darts to it, then back to me. Her mouth drops. She looks, quite literally, ready to throw herself over the damn chair.
I make it there in three long strides, plopping down next to her. Tilting my head over my shoulder, I flash her my best grin. Her cheeks burn bright and she averts her gaze to her keyboard, flexing her fingers over it.
Dex leans over, whispering something in her ear. She smiles up at him and nods. His answering grin is huge, and his eyes stay on her face a little longer than I’d like.
He glances around the room and claps his hands. “Alright boys and lady.” He looks pointedly at Claire, and that’s when I realize she’s the only female in the room. “Are we ready to get started?” he asks before swiping Claire’s iced coffee off the table, guzzling down a long sip. What the fuck is going on there?
Moving to the front of the room, Dex keys up his laptop, turning on the projector screen behind him. He waves a hand through the air. “Drinks are coming around. Have whatever you like.”
As if on cue, a pretty, leggy brunette appears in the room, towing in a cart of bottles and tall cans. Her eyes meet mine and linger, coy smile playing on her scarlet lips. Claire’s eyes dart between us and her knee starts bouncing beneath the table. I slip my hand under it and rest it on her knee. It stills immediately as she swallows, fixing her gaze on the pen in her hands.
The woman with the beer winks at Claire. “I know what you want.”
Claire laughs softly. “Am I that predictable?”
“Nope, you just know what you like, and so do the rest of us.” She opens a tall red can and pours the beer into a wide, round glass with a short stem, handing it to Claire. It’s an interesting shade of amber, almost pink, or coral, maybe. The woman looks back to me, fluttering her lashes. “What can I get for you, handsome?”
I gesture to Claire’s drink. “I’ll have whatever she’s having.”
Claire blinks at me. “You don’t even know what I’m drinking. What if you don’t like it?”
Ah, there’s that sass. I swipe her glass and take a sip before she can stop me. Her fingers tighten around her pen. With a loud smacking noise, I swallow the fruity, mildly sour beer. “I like it. I’ll have what she’s having.”
Wyatt chuckles beside me, Dex watching the curiosity. The woman makes her way around the table, twisting caps off, popping tabs, pouring beers for everyone.
I grab a piece of cheese and a grape off the spread that’s set up down the middle of the table. That’s when I notice that the table matches the secretary’s desk in the main office and the bar top downstairs, the same dark walnut, the cherry red epoxy river that runs in waves down the center of it.
“I love these,” I admire out loud, rapping my knuckles on the wood.
“Claire’s dad and brother made them,” Dex pipes up. “She can hook you up.”
Beside me, Claire groans and sinks lower into her chair, muttering something I can’t hear. I throw her a look. She’s really doing her damnedest to pretend I’m not here. So, to remind her, I slip one finger underneath the front hem of her skirt, which was fallen off the side of her legs, and trail a slow path up her silky thigh.
A sharp gasp bursts past her lips and her hand shoots under the table, gripping mine, forcing it to a stop. She doesn’t look at me, just clenches her jaw and shoves my hand back to my own lap. I smother a chuckle, because this is fun. Does she forget how well-acquainted my hands got with her body on Friday?
Dex launches into the meeting at full force, talking about his plans to turn the second floor into a restaurant, building a second-deck patio, and expanding on the one downstairs. It’s a good plan, one Wyatt and I have reviewed multiple times. We’ve already decided we’re going to back the investment at our firm, so the meeting is really a formality, but Dex insisted he wanted to do it the right way, which I can appreciate. It puts some of our accountants at ease because they can’t understand why we’d be interested in something so small.
If it wasn’t Dex, we’d probably pass on it. Not because we don’t think it’ll succeed—it will—but because it really is so far off from our normal investments. We’d suggest a smaller firm, maybe one just starting out. It’d be a great project for a starter company and would turn them a decent profit, get them valuable experience and their foot in the door. But Dex is our friend and we know what type of businessman he is, so we agreed to take him on in a heartbeat.
That’s why I let my mind wander to the beautiful redhead beside me. That’s what I tell myself, at least. The way she’s staring at her laptop leads me to believe it’s the most riveting thing in the world, so I look over her shoulder to see what she’s doing. Her breath catches in her throat. I can smell her shampoo, juicy citrus, and I want to devour her.
She’s also doing absolutely nothing on her laptop.
She turns her head just a fraction of an inch to glare at me.
“Working hard?” I whisper with a cheeky smile.
“No harder than you,” she retorts.
“Hmm.” I drop my palm to her knee and shift back in my chair, rocking in it. “Hey Dex? What about selling merchandise?” I point to the Cherry Lane tee one of the guys is wearing. “Bet people would love those. Tees, hoodies, drinkware…” I shrug. “Simple, easy, and could bring in a pretty penny.” I stand and stroll to the wall of windows that overlooks a beautiful stone patio, surrounded by a garden that’s just recently started to come to life in the middle of May. “And big events. Weddings, engagement parties, work functions…People love doing that shit at wineries. Breweries are the new wineries.”
Dex’s smile is instantaneous and huge when I turn back to the room. “This is why I called you.”
