Paradise Hops (10 page)

She stood. “I’ve watched you and her. I see what’s happening, and I can’t think of a better thing than for you two to be together. You balance each other, but only if you are willing to let go a little. Otherwise, it will never work.”

He frowned. “So, who’s giving her the little pep talk about how swell I am?” He couldn’t help himself.

The woman smiled and patted his shoulder. “Oh, hon, Lori has twenty or so moms and big sisters, and even a few big brothers, in this building. I’m pretty sure somebody has, or is right now.”

“I hate this.”

“But you love her.”

He nodded, not speaking.

She smiled at him. “Well then, that’s really all you need. Trust me. That and patience. She’ll see the light.”

She turned to go as her desk phone started ringing. Then threw out something that Garrett would remember for a long time. “You know, as much as I hate to admit it, it’s as if between you and that horrible man Eli, you brought our Lori back.” She smiled, but he felt his heart sink to his feet. Her next words didn’t help.

“Garrett? I have a Jeanine on line one. She seems pretty intent on talking to you. I tried to tell her,” Garrett held up a hand.

“It’s okay. It’s my ex-wife. Shut the door would you please? This might take a while.” He noted the shocked look on her face. At least he still had the ability to surprise a few people.

“What?” He barked into the phone. “I thought we agreed all conversations occurred between attorneys.”

Lori took a deep breath and walked into the outer office where Mrs. Anderson guarded Garrett like a bulldog. The older woman smiled at her but put her finger to her lips and indicated with a jerk of her chin that Garret was busy behind the closed door. Lori squared her shoulders and marched past the desk, realizing that not that long ago, she would never even have considered such a move.

“She did what?” Garrett’s raised voice behind the door made her stop. “Oh shit, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.” Lori frowned. His tone was strange, something between furious and agonized. Mrs. Anderson shook her head, but Lori put her ear closer to the door.

“Do you need me to come down?” He laughed, and the sound sent a bizarre thrill of something she’d later identify as jealousy through her so sharp she gasped. But she had come here with one thing in mind, and wouldn’t be deterred. “Okay, but listen, tell your mom, I mean, well, let everyone know how truly sorry I am, Jeannie.”

Lori frowned. The name he wouldn’t tell her. She knew it had to be. The beautiful, petite virginal southern belle he’d married. “Okay, bye.” His voice stayed soft. Lori pushed open the door before she lost her nerve.

“Lori!” he looked surprised, rattled, very unlike himself. She gulped. He was so handsome, and he loved her. Why in the hell did she doubt him? She perched on the edge of his desk. All too recent memories of the other—the dark to Garrett’s light, the temptation of wrong instead of right—tore through her as cleanly as a knife. She shut her eyes to Eli, opened them to the man she wanted to love.

“I have an idea.” She spoke, but he kept his face closed. She stood and stuck her head around the corner. “Mrs. Anderson, my dad needed you for something. His assistant is out sick. Can you go? Thanks.” She closed the door, gave herself a few seconds to rally her courage, then turned. “So, about my idea.” She walked to him, put a hand on his face, ran her thumb over his lips. He tried to shift away, but she took his chair and turned it so he faced her. She propped her hands on the chair arms and leaned in to cover his lips, forcing them apart. He returned the kiss after a few seconds of resistance.

Then she stood, flipped the blinds closed on his single window and unzipped her jeans. He watched, arms crossed, staying quiet as she slid them down her hips, wiggling a little more than was probably necessary. But, she caught the spark in his eye and felt encouraged. She glided over, straddled him, pressed down on the increasingly hard bulge under his trousers. Capturing his lips again, she took charge and he let her. She loosened and released his tie, unbuttoned his shirt so she could slide her hand down his skin, flick at his nipples.

He stayed silent, which was unnerving but his body kept responding, speaking for him. Never taking her eyes from his she slid his zipper down, then slipped her body down over him. He clutched her hips and ground against her his eyes darkening, breath coming in gasps. Reaching up to grab her hair, exposing her neck, he leaned into her as she moved up and down his length. The room dimmed and her ears started humming with a slow-moving, intense release.

“Shit.” He grunted, closed his eyes, and shoved into her. He came quick and hard, spilling inside her, warm and satisfying. She clutched his shoulders and joined him, biting her lip to keep from making any more noise. She collapsed onto his chest, felt his hands on her back, his lips on her hair as their breathing calmed. She stood and tugged her jeans back up, zipped him into his trousers and re-buttoned his shirt. They still hadn’t said a word.

She put her hands back on the chair arms. “Come up north with me, Garrett.”

He pulled his tie back into place, wouldn’t meet her eyes. “I thought you had to work.”

“I don’t. I just said that because…” She bit her lip, trying to find words for her knee-jerk lie earlier.

“Huh, well, maybe I’m busy now.” He stood, forcing her to move out of his way. “Thanks for the fuck. Nice touch.”

She panicked. Had she screwed this up needing to resist his constant planning so much she’d finally pushed him away one time too many? She walked over to him, ran her hands across his shoulders and kissed his damp neck, trying to rally.

“Well, I’m leaving in about an hour. Gonna open up the cabin in Manistee. I think you should come too.” He turned, his eyes hard. “Unless you need to go somewhere else that is.” She stepped back, crossed her arms over her chest, line in the sand officially drawn.

“Oh, that. No. My presence isn’t required at my ex-father-in-law’s funeral. But, she, well,” he shrugged, stuck his hands in his trouser pockets. The look of innocent confusion on his face made Lori smile and wrap her arms around him.

“You’re amazing, you know that? I’m sure she needed to hear your voice. I know I would. You are just that kind of guy.” He pressed his lips to her hair.

“And what kind of guy is that?”

“Just about perfect. Now, this is your chance, Hunter. Let go your inner spontaneous beast, drop what you’re doing, and come with me. I promise to make it worth your while,” She palmed his softening cock.

“Fine. I’ll be spontaneous but just this once and only because you asked me so nicely.” He cupped her breast, bit her lower lip and smacked her ass as she turned to go. Lori’s heart swelled with something she didn’t want to identify. Then, just as suddenly, a darkness settled over her brain.

Garrett, Fred Sullivan, Eli with his damning photos and accusations. She shook her head. That’s why she initiated this; came to his office intent on seducing him, making him let go of some of his stuffiness and control. They would have to talk once she got him away from here.

“Pick you up at your place at four. Be ready!” She waved over her shoulder, smiled at Mrs. Anderson who’d returned and had lifted an eyebrow at her boss’ newly disheveled state.

Chapter Nine

Lori tried not to initiate too much conversation at dinner that night. Afraid her tone would betray her pounding heart, she ate, nodded where appropriate, and cleared the table. Garrett stayed seated, his mind obviously elsewhere, sipping wine and pecking at his laptop, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Once the dishes were done and stacked, all possible surfaces wiped down she’d done everything she could think of to stall. She put her elbows on the small counter top and observed him.

 He kept frowning at the screen, typing, reading more as he sipped wine. His jaw clenched a few times; the emerald hue of his eyes got darker. When his shoulders stiffened and he sat back, an incredulous look on his face, her heart stuttered. He was such an incredible man, even when obviously pissed off about something. She stood. “What’s wrong?” She called out, pretending just to have noticed his displeasure. “I told you not to bring that damn laptop.” This was not going how she’d wanted. It had even started badly. Some crisis had emerged late in the day, and they hadn’t gotten away until nearly six which meant bad traffic. They both were snappish and irritable by the time she unlocked the cabin door.

“Nothing.”

Alarm bells started ringing in her head. She forced herself to stay calm as she sat back down at the table. “Really. You look like somebody just ran over your dog. What’s up?”

He glanced up from the screen with a look that sent a spike of fear into her gut. Could he know about her ill-advised encounters with Eli? If he asked her, what in the hell would she say to him?

“Sorry, babe. It’s nothing.” He stood and stretched, tugging her up with him. His strong body next to hers, his familiar touch and smell relaxed her as quickly as if he’d said a secret word. She put her arms around his waist.

“Take me to bed, “she whispered into the clean starchy shirt front. That is what she wanted and what she needed. The connection with him made her feel the safest. She slid her hands down, clutched his firm ass as he lowered his lips to hers, shutting out the worry, the stress, filling her with nothing but pure joy.

Garrett sighed as Lori released him and slid down to nestle in the crook of his arm. He kissed her hair and tried to let go of the roiling tension he’d been nursing for the last week. The orgasm had helped clear his head and for that he was grateful, but words kept popping up behind his eyes.

Eli Buchannan—recruited by Cooperville, one of Brockton’s biggest regional competitors. Eli and Lori—rumors, innuendo and the evidence he’d seen with his own eyes about a week ago when he dropped down to the brewery floor looking to see if he could snag Lori for an early lunch.

That day he’d rounded the corner headed back to the glassed-in office and stopped dead in his tracks. On the surface, nothing was inappropriate. Lori sat at one of the empty desks across from their diva star of a brewmaster, feet up, head thrown back with laughter. Buchanan mirrored her, his feet nearly touching hers on the other side of the workspace. He had his usual, cynical smile fixed in place but his gaze held a look Garrett recognized immediately. He stepped back into the shadow of a fermentation vessel and watched as the man leaned forward and tapped Lori’s foot with his.

Garrett had continued to watch, frozen in place when the man stood to his impressive six foot plus and walked around behind her, put his hand on her shoulders. Garrett recalled balling his hands into fists, jealous rage boiling in his brain. He wasn’t about to stand there and watch that asshole seduce his woman. So he’d stepped into the light, took the final few steps to the open door and entered. Bastard didn’t even have the courtesy to look guilty. He’d merely looked up and met his stare, as Garrett tried to put everything he had into one, hard glare. While Garrett watched, the other man even had the nerve to brush Lori’s cheek with a light kiss.

“Your brave knight approacheth, fair lady.” He’d said.

 She’d jumped, dropped her feet to the floor and stood, something in her eyes Garrett simply did not wish to acknowledge. He had literally pulled her away, out of the other guy’s orbit, grateful that she only had another few weeks to work so closely with him. Garrett knew obsession when he saw it, and Buchanan’s reputation as a bull in a china shop with regard to women, seducing, taking, and leaving even those who were married, preceded him.

Garrett had repeatedly played that scene in his head, berating himself. She had to work with the guy, and he trusted her. He had to now because he’d lost his heart to her months ago. It was trust or go insane with jealousy, and he had no time for that. She ran her hand down his bare chest, drawing a finger through the light hair below his navel then propped herself up on an elbow and turned his face to hers.