"That was quick,” he said, surprised. She shrugged.

"I don't fuss a lot.” She pressed her lips together.

"You look great. Except...” He reached out and tugged the elastic that held her hair back.

She put a hand to her head, combed her fingers through her hair. The silky stands fell into place around her face, and she looked at him warily.

"I like it down,” he said. “Ready?"

They climbed into his SUV. “Nice vehicle,” she said.

"Thanks.” He took the freeway to his place, although it wasn't that far, and he pulled into the front driveway of his home moments later.

"You live right on the beach.” She looked around. “Lucky."

"Yeah. I just bought this place a few months ago. I'm still having work done."

He unlocked the door and the alarm started beeping. As he punched in a code, Ashlyn heard scrabbling on the wood floor, and a huge golden dog charged at them. She gasped.

"Rocky!” Zach said, as the dog put his front paws on Zach's chest and tried to devour his face. He laughingly dodged the big pink tongue while rubbing the dog's back. “Rocky, buddy, I'm home. Now, down.” Obediently the dog returned to all fours and sat, long tail sweeping the floor behind him and his tongue hanging out of a smiling, panting mouth.

"I have to get him a treat.” Zach reached into a glass container on the table near the door. He tossed the biscuit into the air and Rocky caught it neatly then stood to crunch it, dropping crumbs all over the floor. Ashlyn watched with amusement.

"Do you like dogs?” Zach asked, looking at her hopefully.

She smiled. “I do. I'd love to have a dog. My mom still has the dog we got when I was twelve. She's getting so old, but she's still pretty healthy. What kind of dog is he?” She nodded at Rocky.

"He's part golden retriever, part something else. I'm totally guessing, but I think maybe some kind of terrier. I got him from the shelter a couple of years ago."

"He's beautiful,” Ashlyn said wistfully. “Someday I'll have a dog of my own. Will he let me pet him?"

"Probably. He's pretty much a big sucky baby, and he's protective of me, but he should think you're okay."

Ashlyn held out her hand for Rocky to sniff, and then gently stroked his soft head. “You're so handsome,” she said, and he looked up at her with melting brown eyes and smiled widely.

"Okay, my turn to change,” Zach said. “Go on in and have a seat.” The quiet told him Connor wasn't home.

He quickly changed into jeans and a T-shirt and slid his feet into leather flip-flops. It was a warm spring evening, but he grabbed a hoodie for later.

"You're quick too,” she remarked when he emerged from his bedroom. She was looking at his gleaming new kitchen. Top-of-the-line stainless-steel appliances and sleek maple cabinets lined the walls. Funky metal stools surrounded a large island topped with granite.

"You like my kitchen?” he asked with a proud smile. “It was just finished last week.” He ran a hand over the gleaming granite counter.

"It's gorgeous,” she said. “You must do a lot of cooking."

"Some,” he admitted. “I live alone ... usually ... so I don't cook much for myself. But I like to cook."

She turned to him, and his eyes moved over her. Damn. Just looking at her made him hard.

He picked up his car keys from the table near the front door and reset the alarm.

"I like your house,” she said. “I've always wanted to live on the beach."

"You live near the beach."

"Yeah.” She laughed. “That's all I can afford right now. And I need two roommates to afford that. But I'm almost done with school."

"Yeah?"

"I graduate in less than two months."

"It's been a long haul?"

"Well, sort of. I took a couple of years off after high school and traveled. So I didn't start college till I was twenty."

"How old are you now?” he asked, glancing sideways at her as he drove.

"Twenty-four. You?"

"Just turned thirty."

She nodded thoughtfully. “Tell me how you started your business."

"Well, like I told you, Connor and I spent most of high school drinking beer and playing pool.” He grinned. “And getting into trouble. For some reason, I decided I wanted to try making beer. My mother had a fit when she found out what we were doing in the garage. I told her it was a science project.” He laughed. “She almost bought it. After school I didn't know what I wanted to do, so I went to Europe. I spent some time bumming around, working in pubs in England and breweries in Germany and Denmark. When I got home, I decided I wanted to start my own brewery. I like to drink beer"—he grinned—"why not make it? So I convinced Connor to go into business with me. He was just finishing his business degree. I took some brewing courses at UC Davis. In retrospect, we were two crazy kids and shouldn't have been so successful, but we lucked out."

"It was probably more than luck,” she said. “Luck doesn't get you far in this world."

Zach pulled into a parking lot near Doc McCue's. “Maybe,” he said. “I actually owe a lot to Connor. I have tons of great ideas, but sometimes I'm a little rash. He likes to plan and assess and make decisions based on facts and logic. I get these crazy ideas and I just want to do them.” He shrugged. “And we did work really hard.” She was right. They'd busted their butts making this work.

He led her into the bar, dim and noisy on a Friday evening. This time, instead of going to the bar, he led her over to an empty booth against the far wall. A waitress quickly arrived to take their order.

"Two Gold Coast Pale Ale,” he requested, the same thing they'd been drinking the night they met.

He looked at Ashlyn sitting across from him and couldn't help but smile. Finally! Relief and excitement bubbled up in him.

He grabbed the menu. “Pizza okay?"

"Sure. I like any kind of pizza."

"Their special is good,” he said. “Was last time the first time you've been here?"

"Yeah."

"It's a great place. Connor and I come here a lot. Well,we used to. We've been so damn busy at work lately, we haven't had much time for anything. After we order, you want to play?"

She smiled. “Sure."

They sat there smiling at each other until the waitress bought their drinks. Zach had just ordered the pizza when an older man stopped at their table.

"Zach Montgomery! Haven't seen you here in a dog's age!"

Zach grinned and stood up to shake hands. “Hey, Doc, how are ya?” He turned to Ashlyn. “Ashlyn, this is Doc McCue, the owner of this place. Doc, Ashlyn."

She shook his hand. “Your name can't really be Doc McCue,” she said with a smile.

The man grinned. “No. But I've been doing this so long, that's what everyone calls me.” He turned to Zach. “We need to talk business. I can't keep that Sunshine Brown Ale in stock."

Zach beamed. “We're upping our production. I'll call you."

Doc moved off with a friendly wave.

"We only supply to a few bars and restaurants,” Zach explained. “We're working on a plan for expansion. Demand just keeps growing."

"That's good, right?"

"Hell yeah! Come on, let's play."

Zach's hard-on grew as he watched Ashlyn play. He checked out her ass whenever she bent over and watched her cute little tongue emerge between her lips when she concentrated. She really was sexy as hell.

His jeans felt uncomfortably tight when he took his turn. This time Ashlyn played even better and confirmed his suspicion: she'd been holding out on him.

"Damn,” he muttered as she sank the eight ball in the corner pocket and pumped a fist in the air.

"It's just a game,” she purred, running her hand over his cheek as she passed by him. He grinned like an idiot.

"You're pretty competitive, aren't you?” she asked back in their booth.

"Who, me?” He waited as the server placed their pizza on the table between them. “Maybe a little. But so are you."

She grinned at him and helped herself to a slice.

"Where do you usually play?” he asked.

She swallowed her food. “Sometimes at Double Dan's. My roommates like that place. As a kid, we had a pool table at home. My brothers used to have tournaments all the time."

"What was that like, growing up with three brothers?"

She grimaced. “It was hell. They teased me and beat me up all the time. I was afraid to bring guys home because they'd do the same to them. But I held my own with them. I had to be tough, but my parents tried to make me ‘girly’ by forcing me to take ballet and tap dance and musical theater."

He grinned. “Tap dance? That I'd like to see."

"When hell freezes over,” she said, also with a smile.

"So tell me about your brothers."

She told him about her three older brothers, Tanner, Brett and Liam, all now working for her dad's investigation firm. Then he prompted her to talk about her dad. “That must have been cool as a kid,” he commented. “Having a dad who's a P.I."

"Well, I don't know if I'd say it was cool,” she replied slowly. She took a small sip of beer. “It wasn't very cool watching my parents’ marriage disintegrate because he was never there."

"Oh."

She shrugged. “So many times we'd have plans to do something—a family birthday or a school concert—and at the last minute he'd get a call and have to work. I hated it, actually."

"Being self-employed is like that.” He watched shadows flicker in her eyes.

"Nobody should work that much,” she said firmly. “Actually, he was having an affair. That's what finally ended their marriage."