The room was almost totally dark now, but their eyes linked together in the little light that was left, and a shimmering veil of emotion wrapped around them.

"Ashlyn...” Zach started, and she put a hand over his mouth. She was afraid of what he was going to say, knowing it was something significant, something that would change things between them. And that scared her. It scared her because she knew that soon, when the truth came out about what she had done, he was going to hate her. She just couldn't let him say it, even though she wanted to hear it, even though she felt it too.

"Shh.” She pulled him up for a long kiss, acknowledging the powerful emotions but preventing him from speaking. He kissed her back but didn't sink into the kiss, instead holding himself back, and she knew he still wanted to talk.

"Please,” she whispered against his mouth. “Don't talk right now. I just want to hold you."


"Maybe next time he'll think before he cheats." Music from the clock radio woke Ashlyn up. It took a while for the sound to penetrate her sleep-fogged brain, and she realized it was Zach's alarm clock. Beside her, Zach was stirring and sitting up.

Painfully forcing her eyes open, she squinted at the clock in the dim room. “Shit!” she gasped. “It's eight o'clock! We ... brewery ... nine!” As usual, her mouth was not cooperative in forming words and complete sentences seconds after she'd woken.

Zach laughed—actually laughed, at this hour of the morning—beside her. “Good morning to you too,” he said, stretching. “Good thing I set the alarm, huh?"

"Mmmm.” She blinked several times, trying to focus her eyes. “But..."

He leaned over and kissed her nose, smiling. “I'll get you some coffee. We'll make it on time."

"But ... home!” she tried to cry. “Change clothes ... shit.” She struggled out of the bed, tangled in the sheets and comforter.

Zach got out of bed easily, gracefully, and she resented his morning composure. Naked, he strode across the room to the small bathroom and shut the door behind him. She pushed her hair back off her face as she managed to untangle the covers and sit up. Sitting there for a minute, she tried to figure out what the hell had happened to her this weekend. Two nights in a row! She hadn't even gone home and once again, her roommates were going to be pissed. This slutty behavior was so unlike her. But then a reluctant smile tugged her mouth as she recalled the things she and Zach had done with each other, the feelings she'd experienced that she never had before. She pressed a hand to her lower belly, where excitement lurched.

She heard the shower running and wondered if she had the nerve and energy to drag herself in there with Zach. But it must have been the shortest shower ever because before she could force her legs to move, the water shut off. Moments later Zach came striding out of the bathroom, a towel around his lean hips and another in his hands, rubbing his hair.

"I'm sorry, Ash,” he said, coming over and kissing her again. “I should have taken you home last night. You probably don't want to go to this meeting wearing the same clothes you did yesterday."

She shook her head, eyeing his gorgeous body, water drops gleaming on his muscular shoulders. His wet hair was wild and spiky, his dark eyes soft. “S'okay,” she muttered, getting out of bed. “Just need coffee."

She staggered into the bathroom. Now it was her turn to have the quickest shower ever, just to wash the smell of Zach and sex off her before she met with her father. She shamelessly borrowed Zach's toothbrush to clean her teeth.

She located her scattered and now-wrinkled clothes, dragged them on, and gave a heavy sigh at the thought of showing up for a business meeting dressed in shorts and a cami.

She found her leather bag near the front door with her rollerblades and dug around for a hairbrush, a tube of mascara and lip gloss. By the time she felt somewhat presentable, Zach had the coffee and some toast waiting for her.

He kissed her again, placing the food and coffee in front of her as she slid onto a stool at the counter. Gratitude swelled inside her. “You are so sweet,” she said, regaining some ability to speak. “Thank you."

He grinned warmly at her, his gaze moving over her, and she was aware that she wasn't looking her best. “I look like hell,” she muttered, lowering her eyes as she sipped her coffee.

"You look gorgeous,” he said softly. “You have a sexy glow—as if you've been well-fucked."

She gasped at his words, and her gaze flew up to meet his. He grinned wickedly.

"That's not exactly how I want to look to go meet my father,” she complained. Zach laughed, but then looked a little uncomfortable.

"He won't punch me or anything, will he?” He picked up his own coffee.

She grimaced. “I don't think so. But maybe we should just kind of play it cool when we get there."

"Going to be hard to explain why we're together."

Yikes. Oh well.

"I'm sorry again, Ash,” he said genuinely. “I shouldn't have put you in this position."

She snorted. “Like I wasn't going along with it. This isn't your fault, Zach."

"I'm just so impulsive sometimes,” he said harshly. “I don't think things through."

She smiled softly. “It's not the end of the world,” she said. “I'm a big girl. I could have gone home if I wanted to. Don't worry, I'll handle it."

She was good at dealing with whatever situations arose, flying by the seat of her pants, improvising. She'd used those skills many times in her job, even with Zach when he kept surprising her by showing up in her life.

Connor had left a note that he'd already left for the brewery, and when they arrived, Ashlyn's dad, Connor, Ralph and John all waited for them. Perfect; they had to make an entrance together in front of everyone.

Ashlyn tugged her wrinkled shorts down as they walked in. The brewery was in an industrial area, an old red-brick building with the Rocky Harbor Brewery sign out front, the smiling face of their dog logo reminding her of Rocky.

"I wanted to build a spanking-new, state-of-the art brewery,” Zach told her as they walked into the building. “But Connor talked me out of it. He knew this building was so cheap and perfect, and even though it's ugly, we were way better off financially. And he was right. We would never have started turning a profit so quickly if we'd done what I wanted."

Ashlyn glanced at him. “Sounds like you two make a good team."

He looked back at her, surprised. “Yeah, you're right. I've got the vision, the crazy dreams; and he keeps me real."

They walked into the office where the men all stood talking, holding cups of coffee.

"Morning,” Connor said. Ashlyn felt her dad's eyes sweeping over her and forced down her feelings of embarrassment and guilt. She was a grown woman, for heaven's sake, there was no need to be ashamed of having sex. Really good, really hot sex.

She smiled and greeted the men. Thankfully, nobody was stupid or bold enough to ask why she and Zach were together.

"I made coffee.” Connor gestured toward the coffeemaker. “Anyone want some?"

"Yes, please,” Ashlyn said fervently, the one cup she'd gulped down at Zach's place not nearly enough to get her going. Zach went over and poured cups for her and himself, even added milk to hers, and when he handed her the cup, their fingers touched and their eyes met and something sizzled between them. She quickly looked away from him and asked her dad, “Did you bring the equipment?"

He nodded and pointed to the computer equipment she would need to copy hard drives.

"We'll take you on a quick tour of the brewery,” Connor said, standing up straight from where he'd been leaning against a desk.

"This is the office, as you can see,” he began. Six cubicles surrounded a central area that contained a table, chairs, a small fridge, microwave, and coffeemaker. He waved a hand. “Those are our offices over there."

Ashlyn peered into each office, noting the computers on the desks in each cubicle. Connor's bare, neat office contrasted Zach's clutter: posters of snowboarders, skateboarders and vintage beer advertisements on the walls, papers and folders strewn over the desk, and an assortment of beer memorabilia on a shelf.

"Let's go into the brewery,” Zach suggested, and they all followed him into a big manufacturing area with huge, gleaming stainless-steel tanks. The size of the space, its cleanliness and industrial appearance all amazed Ashlyn. For some reason she'd pictured a brewery as a small place with people stirring vats of liquid. It was nothing like that.

The moist, steamy air in this part of the building smelled sweet-sour, kind of like beer. She wrinkled her nose.

"Outside there's a silo where we store the barley, which is the grain we use the most.” Zach stopped just inside. “The barley is malted, which means it's allowed to begin germinating, and then dried. Some of the malt is roasted to use in different beers. The malted barley and specialty malts are crushed in the mill and then moved back to the grist case, where we weigh them out for each batch."

He moved over to a large tank. “The grist is mixed with hot water in the mash tun.” He gestured. “The mash is basically like porridge, with a lot of fermentable sugars. Enzymes from the grain become activated and convert the grain's starch into fermentable and non-fermentable sugars."

Ashlyn trailed along behind, taking everything in, now wide-awake and interested. She was also fascinated by Zach. His professional knowledge impressed her, and she was shocked at how his expertise turned her on.