Paradise Hops Read Free

to calm her breathing. Thoughts of the handsome man who seemed intent on wooing her made her smile .
    He’d been all over the place his first weeks on the job. Briskly reorganizing the office, charming the ordering department women into letting him change their entire system from semi-antiquated to almost-modern overnight—her father had been ecstatic. “That kid has done more in a week than I could have done in a year. I swear it.”
    Garrett had swept through the warehouse too, hired new staff to clean it up, and already had an automation company drawing up plans to bring Brockton Brewing kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century. At one point she’d “bumped into him,” yet again, as he traversed the back offices where she was completing her last few days of accounting and ordering work. She had put a hand on his suit-covered arm, relishing the easy familiarity of the touch. Then flushed bright red at his captivating smile and at the hand he’d placed on her back as they stood together. She had forced herself to keep her voice light as she spoke. “Better slow down. People are starting to talk.”
    He had given her an eyebrow waggle that made her giggle in spite of her serious message. “Talk about what? Us? I mean, did I miss something?”
    “No, smart ass. About all this automation stuff. I mean, I agree it’s gotta be done, but some of these people have worked here practically their entire lives and they would be the first to get replaced by machines or computers.” She recalled the feel of his hand, warm, non-threatening as he had leaned in to her ear.
    “No one gets let go from Brockton, unless they deserve it. Deal?”
     She’d moved away from him, alarmed at the warning signs her body had sent her. From the tingle in her scalp to the warm glow starting in her belly, it all made her more nervous than she cared to admit. By the end of that day, she’d looked up to find him half sitting on her temporary desk in the ordering department. The entire room watched them. Lori sometimes hated it that the whole damn place knew her story and wished for something resembling a private life. But, she’d grown up in this building, been brought here as a baby, learned to walk among fermenters, and these people were her family.
    “Hey, Lori.”
    She’d tried to avoid his eyes, but his presence sucked up all the oxygen in the room. He simply would not be ignored. “Can I help you?” She attempted to keep it businesslike. Mrs. Anderson, the oldest employee in the place and un-crowned matriarch, had stifled a giggle behind her. Lori had rolled her eyes and was gratified to see his huge, warm smile, yet again.
    “Yes, as a matter of fact you can,” he went on to request a complex sales study that would take her a solid day to complete. She’d frowned, half disappointed, half relieved that he hadn’t been there to ask her out or something. Then he’d winked, and left. Her skin pebbled in the car at the memory of watching his broad, suit-covered shoulders retreat.
    Then, three days ago, he’d plopped down next to her while she ate a salad in the break room. He kept tossing an apple in the air and catching without looking at it, which had unnerved her. He was so comfortable in his skin and so unaware of his effect on her it made her aggravated, and something else—something she had not allowed herself to feel for years. “I have tickets to the hockey game this weekend. Would you like to come with me? Because I’d like it, I mean, that is…. Oh, hell. Do you even like hockey?” He’d blushed and let the apple roll across the floor when he missed. Lori had stayed quiet, looked down at the bowl of lettuce and tomato she’d grabbed on the way out the door this morning. Was this it? The moment she would finally let go of the fear? She looked back into Garrett’s eyes. They were earnest, questioning, and eager.
    “Sure.” She’d said. “I love it. I am from Michigan, after all. What