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As they packed up to head home, I stood and stretched. Carl had gone into the other room with Brent, so I turned to Lana. “I’m going to go look in the storeroom to see if I get any inspiration.” Before I walked by her, I made a quick decision. “Want to come and help?”
I wasn’t ready for the evening to be over, not with her seeming so happy and lighthearted.
To my surprise, she slipped off the stool.
“Sure,” she said, then she walked with me to the elevator that took us to the basement level.
We went into one of the stockrooms with a collection of dark liquors and a random assortment of lagers and stouts.
“Stout Embers,” she said, holding up a bottle of stout and a bottle of single-malt whiskey, still as playful as she’d been all evening. “Stout, whiskey, tequila, and malt liquor! It puts hair on your chest and the soles of your feet or your money back!”
“That would be a hell of an ad campaign,” I said with a laugh.
We continued bouncingflavor combinationsoff each other, unaware of how much time had passed. Being with her like this felt...natural. Easy. Right.
Our bodies would touch as we joked about the drinks and sometimes looked at them seriously, trying to figure out what would be a good addition.
Then she turned to face me when we were between two shelves set close together.
Lana’s back was against the shelf, her arms behind her.
“If we can’t come up with a good dark liquor cocktail, I still think what we have so far is fantastic. Unless I screw something up, I’m sure they’re going to go for it.”
Our bodies were only a couple of inches apart, but she stood there, unflinching, when I moved closer.
“You’re not going to screw anything up, Lana. You’re obviously very good at your job. I’ve had a front row seat for that over these last few weeks. I ought to know.”
She smiled shyly at me and looked down. When I moved closer, she lifted her face again.
“I wasn’t sure this was going to work. But Dylan, I’m glad you showed up at Berman. This is a really great opportunity for me, and I feel like I haven’t really thanked you for that.”
Oh, those blue eyes. The way she stood there, staring up at me. It would have been so easy to kiss her.
“You don’t have to thank me, Lana.”
“I know. I’ll thank you by doing the best job I can. But still. Thanks.”
I reached up and brushed my knuckles under her jaw.
Was this my chance? Or was I taking advantage of her good mood and pushing my luck?
“Lana,” I said softly.
When she didn’t move away, she just kept staring up at me, I leaned closer.
The stockroom lights went out. Lana gasped.
“Did the electricity go out?” she asked, looking around.
What timing. What terrible God damn timing.
“I’ll bet Carl just left and turned on the automatic shut-off. I’ll go reset it.”
The room was dimly lit by the moonlight through the small windows near the ceiling.
She followed me to the door. I turned the handle, but it was stuck in place. I jiggled it, then I put all my might into twisting it before I realized what had happened.
Carl must've assumed we all left and locked up for the night already. I patted my pockets to call Carl, but my phone was on the table in the taproom. I’d had it out looking up liquor varieties.
