Page 6 of For the Promise (The Raider Brothers #2)

“Distractions should be avoided at all cost.” ~ Jaxon

Jaxon

I pour the whiskey into the measuring cup. The color reminds me of Blossom’s eyes. How the color changes based on her mood. How her eyes lightened to a deep gold when she was sad.

The sight of Blossom – the woman who’s always laughing and joking – close to tears nearly brought me to my knees. I couldn’t stand to witness this vibrant woman shrouded in sadness.

So, I threw caution to the wind and sipped on those pretty pink lips I’ve been dying to taste since she told me she doesn’t have cooties. When her eyes darkened to a brown sherry color as her passion ignited, I couldn’t stop myself from thrusting my tongue into her mouth to explore.

She tasted of temptation itself, sweet and fiery, causing a rush of warmth to spread to every part of me. It was better than any whiskey I’d ever distilled. My cock hardens at the memory .

My hand feels wet. Shit! I’ve spilled the whiskey all over myself while I was reminiscing about a simple kiss.

It wasn’t a simple kiss.

I try to argue with myself but I don’t lie. There was nothing simple about kissing Blossom. I was ready to rip her clothes off and have my way with her against the wall. The wall in my distillery. Where I should be working.

I’ve never felt such a powerful attraction to any woman before. Not even in my teenage years when I first discovered sex. I scowl. I don’t enjoy not being in control of my emotions.

This won’t do. I can’t allow myself to be distracted. Buccaneer’s Whiskey & Distillery will fail if I don’t give it one hundred percent of my attention.

I dump the whiskey and clean my station. I’m washing my hands when someone knocks on my door. I ignore it. I’ve been distracted enough this morning.

The door opens, and Blossom skips into my office.

I scowl at her. “Why did you knock if you’re going to barge inside anyway?”

She rolls her eyes. “I figured you were concentrating on your whiskey and didn’t hear me.”

“And you decided to disturb me?”

She shakes a Pirates Pastries bag at me. “Don’t you want your cookie?”

“Cookie?”

“I promised you a cookie if you gave me a tour of the distillery yesterday. ”

A tour we never started because we were too caught up in kissing each other. My cock twitches at the memory. It wants me to kiss her again. Lay her down on my table and taste every inch of her skin. Does it taste of cherries the same way she smells of them?

I ignore my cock. It has a mind of its own when it comes to Blossom. But I’m not allowing a woman to distract me.

“We didn’t do the tour.”

She smirks. “I know.”

“I don’t deserve a cookie if we didn’t do the tour.”

She bites her bottom lip. “Trust me. You deserve this cookie.”

Her provocative tone has my cock hardening and lengthening in my jeans. It’s ready to accept what she’s offering. She sashays toward me, but I hold up a hand to stop her.

“I’m busy. I need to get back to work.”

“You can’t take a break?” She bats her eyelashes at me.

I fist my hands before I reach for her and draw her into my arms. It would be so easy. But if I can ignore my brothers setting off rockets in the living room while I’m studying for a physics exam, I can ignore this tempting woman standing in front of me.

“Not now.”

She bites her bottom lip. “But maybe later?”

“I’m extremely busy.”

“You have to take a break sometime,” she sings before skipping out of my office .

As soon as the door closes behind her, I release the breath I was holding. Blossom is entirely too tempting. Her presence plays havoc on my emotions. This won’t do.

I can’t afford any distractions, especially confusing emotional ones. I should avoid her. I nod. Good idea. I’ll avoid her and any distracting emotions I don’t have time for.

My stomach grumbles some time later and I check the time. It’s past two. Lunch has come and gone and I didn’t realize it. I make a few notes regarding where I am in the blending process before making my way to the break room.

I grab a yogurt, an apple, and some water. I’ll eat these in my office while I type up my notes.

“Aha! Found you!” Blossom hollers and I nearly drop my food.

“Um,” I mutter as I fumble with the containers.

“I hadn’t noticed your t-shirt before. It’s cute.”

T-shirt? Why is she talking about my t-shirt?

“Technically, the glass is always full. With air and water.” She giggles. “True.”

“Um.” I inch backwards until my back hits the wall. The door is too far away. I have to pass Blossom to escape.

“Are you trying to make yourself invisible?”

I don’t answer since making myself invisible is exactly what I’m trying to do, but it sounds silly when you actually speak the words out loud. I’m not a silly person. I’m a serious person.

“You do realize I can see you?”

I slam my eyes shut as embarrassment fills me. Social situations make me nervous enough but what am I supposed to do when I’m trying to avoid a person but she won’t let me? I have no experience with this.

“I can still see you even though your eyes are closed.”

Someone – anyone – interrupt us. I’ve never wanted one of my brothers to arrive and be annoying more than in this moment. Usually, I want to throw them in the ocean and dare them to swim to Europe. None of my brothers can resist a dare.

“Are you afraid of me?”

My body shivers at the close proximity of Blossom. I cling to the items in my hands despite wanting to drop them on the floor in order to touch her.

This is utterly ridiculous. I shouldn’t long to touch a woman I barely know. An outgoing, loud woman who is the complete opposite of my quiet persona. A woman who tempts and distracts me.

“What are you afraid I’ll do?” she whispers into my ear and I shiver at the feel of her breath touching my skin. “You didn’t seem afraid when you kissed me. When your tongue delved into my mouth to taste every inch of me. When you pressed me against the wall and shoved your hardness against me.”

My cock is hard and heavy. It wants to accept Blossom’s offer. It doesn’t understand. I can’t be distracted. I don’t have the time for an office fling.

And office flings are stupid anyway. When it ends – and it will since this woman could never be interested in boring me for very long – it’ll be awkward. And awkward is another distraction I can’t afford.

“Fine!” Blossom steps away. “I’m giving up. ”

Relief hits me.

“For now.”

“What’s going on?” Kai asks and I open my eyes. He glances between Blossom and me with his brow furrowed.

I hold up my food. “I was grabbing some lunch.”

“Lunch? Dude. It’s past lunchtime.”

“I thought time was a construct devised by modern society to put the man down,” I say as I inch toward the door.

Blossom’s head rears back. “Time is not a construct devised by modern society.”

“Really,” Kai drawls. “Why are there clocks everywhere if society isn’t trying to shape me into a time following sheep?”

“Time wasn’t devised by modern society,” Blossom argues. “Calendars and thus time have been around for over 4000 years. Maybe even before then, if you consider many ancient historians believe the tally marks in Upper Paleolithic cave paintings represent lunar months.”

Kai’s jaw drops open as he stares at Blossom. “You’re one of them.”

“One of whom?”

“One of the people trying to keep man down with the construct of time.”

I nearly chuckle at the disgust on Blossom’s face.

“Time management is essential to running a business. How do you manage to get all your tasks done if you don’t manage your time properly?

” When Kai goes to answer, she throws up a hand to stop him.

“You know what? Never mind. I don’t want to know. ”

She storms toward the door where I’m lurking and I rush down the hall before she catches sight of me. I make it to my office and slam the door shut behind me. For good measure, I lock it.

The last thing I need is for Blossom to barge inside my office again. She’s entirely too distracting. I don’t want or need any distractions. What I want is to figure out the recipe for this new blended whiskey. I don’t need anything else.