Page 21 of Single Malt

Bruises on my hips where he’d held me tight. Brush burns on the insides of my thighs from his stubble when he’d gone down on me. Throbbing on one of my breasts where he’d bitten me hard enough to leave a mark. The force with which we’d come together left the entire area between my legs aching. My bra chafed my nipples.

“Dammit!”

I smacked my steering wheel, surprising myself. I liked to think I was self-aware, understanding both my positive and negative qualities, but that caught me off-guard. I wasn’t laid-back by any stretch of the imagination, but I wasn’t a person who lost control either. I kept a tight rein on my emotions, prided myself on my self-control. Every reaction was careful. Deliberate.

I’d spent my entire life building this professional person who never lost her cool. I could work with the most frustrating people, put up with the most boring conversations, receive the best or worst news, all with minimal response. While I enjoyed sex and could be enthused when it was good, even then, I held back parts of me from every man I’d ever been with.

And then I’d let a good-looking man with a cocky attitude kiss me at midnight, and nothing had felt right since.

Plenty had feltgood. Great, even. And most of that had come from Brody.

Maybe that was why I was so unsettled.

I’d always counted on myself. Independent for as long as I could remember, with every year I aged, I took care of myself more and more. It didn’t come from neglect or being ignored or unloved. I had enough basic understanding of psychology and sociology to know that everyone’s personalities came from a combination of nature and nurture, and I’d never felt the need to take a more analytical approach. I just was who I was.

And being with Brody had messed with that, made me feel as if I couldn’t count on myself.

“Dammit.” The word came out as a sigh this time.

I’d hoped to sneak into the apartment before Aline woke up so I could shower and get some coffee in me, but as soon as I walked into the apartment, I smelled coffee and bacon. She was already up. On the positive side, though, that meant I didn’t have to wait for the coffee to brew.

“Hey!” Aline said brightly from the kitchen. “Help yourself. I made plenty.”

“Thanks.” I kicked off my shoes, set down my purse, and then went straight for the delicious caffeine.

“You stayed at Dr. Ipres’s house in that?” Aline asked as she glanced my way. “I thought you kept a change of clothes in your car so you weren’t relegated to sleeping in a dress.”

Right. I’d forgotten about that when I’d gotten to the hotel last night. I’d been more concerned with getting Brody naked than I had been about bringing in something to wear home.

I shrugged. “I forgot.”

I’d let her decide if I’d forgotten about the clothes or if I’d forgotten to put new ones in the car. If I was really lucky, maybe she’d just let it go completely.

I didn’t want to flat-out lie to her, but I also wasn’t going to discuss my sex life with my baby sister. It was the one thing I kept for myself.

Fourteen

Brody

Makingalcohol for a living wasn’t easy, regardless of the type. Wine, beer, whiskey, tequila…all of it required work.

Grapes needed certain growing conditions. A single night of frost could ruin an entire vineyard. One particular vineyard my parents had always liked had, in the course of a year or so, experienced a string of disasters from fire to vandalism.

Corn, rye, wheat, barley, and hops all had specific needs to grow properly. Water. Sun. Fertilizer. Then there were all sorts of things that could destroy crops. Insects. Drought. Storms.

Nature playing nice didn’t guarantee success, though. Everything had to be harvested and processed, procedures that took manpower and machinery. Distilling came next, and that had its own unique difficulties, especially for those looking to make quality products and build a brand.

I loved what I did, but I hated that a lot of people assumed I was just some bored rich kid who liked to party and drink. Granted, I did enjoy a good drink – I was a Scot, after all – but I hadn’t simply hired a bunch of people who did all the work while I threw money around and looked pretty. I’d studied and experimented with beer as well as whiskey, using different bases, different processes. I’d taken advice from the best and learned what not to do from the worst.

I knew my shit, and I worked my ass off.

Some people might’ve delegated things like inspections and management to the point where they were able to spend all their time in an office. That was okay for those who preferred to spend their time that way. I respected people who knew their weak areas and then hired people who had the skills to do the work. I tried to do that too, which was why I’d hired the woman next to me.

Adela Rucker and I had been together from the beginning.

When I’d put together a business plan for Shannon’s, I’d discovered that I actually hated having to make business plans. I could do it and come up with something competent, but competent wasn’t good enough for me then, and it still wasn’t good enough now. I also despised the paperwork part of the business, as well as the bookkeeping and organization.

I’d never done well with computer work, especially the typing part of things, so I’d known that I’d need someone to do that for me. With me, actually. I didn’t need investors, and I wasn’t looking for a partner to go into business with, but I needed someone I could trust.