image she held onto of him in her mind.
It had been over three years now. Three years, but a part of her still expected to see him striding in that brewery door with the unconditionally doting smile he’d always had on reserve just for her.
She missed having someone love her like that.
The sudden burst of applause trickling down from the terrace had Dani silently cursing and ducking out from the bar—and her memories. She raced up the stairs to the rooftop deck she’d built a few summers ago, bobbing and weaving through the cram-packed sea of weekend Romeos on the prowl, trendy nine-to-fivers partying their hard week away, and co-ed clusters blithely kicking off the start of their winter break with a bang.
Thankfully, the musicians had thrown in an adlib bit to give her time to hop on stage and snag the mic. “ Let’s hear it again for Rylan Grey and his band, everyone !” she hollered, drawing forth a fresh wave of raucous hoots from the crowd. “Okay, it’s time for me to feed these guys, so until they start their next set, the band break power hour starts right now: half price on tonight’s food specials and BOGO on all your beers!”
Another round of merriment echoed into the night just as Rylan swallowed her up in his customary post-set bear hug. She planted a laughing kiss on his cheek and high-fived the rest of his guys, Vanna-Whiting her smartphone screen proudly for the single ones. “Tweets from girls wanting to jump you all right here on my deck? I’d say your fan base is evolving very nicely.”
Rylan’s drummer put his drumsticks up to his heart. “God bless higher education.”
With a chuckling headshake, Dani waited for Aidan to tuck his never-leaves-his-sight drumsticks in his back pocket before walking the group over to the table she kept blocked off for them each week, already piled high with a hodgepodge of their usual dinner favorites.
Rylan pulled a chair out for her and flipped the one beside it around for himself before taking a swig from the mug of rye ale she’d eagerly slid before him.
And then she waited.
His brows shot up midway through his first gulp, before drifting back slowly as his eyelids slid down to an appreciative half-mast. Nearly half the beer was gone before he finally set the mug back down with a satisfied whistle. “Wow. That’s one hell of a beer, sweets. You making this the official winter brew?”
Dani beamed. “Thanks to you. After what you said about the last trial batch, I added ginger to enhance the malty milk sugar and honey.” She kissed her fingertips. “Voila, the Rylan Red was born. I’m the only one who calls it that but still, feel free to be completely honored.”
“Well call me Rumplestiltskin; I done taught you to spin straw into gold.” He kissed her hand with a drizzle of country charm. “Now that you’ve named one of your babies after me, what say you change your last name to Grey as well, love? Make an honest man outta me.”
“Goofball.” She swatted his hand away. “And risk the wrath of your rabid female fans?”
A teasing voice called out, “I’d be more worried about the male ones. Shoot, they’ll yank your hair right out at the roots.” When Xoey popped her head around the corner, the guys cheered and fist-bumped her in welcome while Aidan quickly snaked her onto his lap.
Cartoon waves of steam were sizzling off the pair within seconds, Aidan’s drumsticks no longer the attention-gathering focal point where his rocker jeans were concerned.
“ Aaand , that’s our cue to go.” Dani promptly hopped up to drag Xoey over to the safe end of the table by her belt loops, editorializing on behalf of them all drily. “You know, Xo, if you’d just seal the deal with the guy already, the rest of us wouldn’t need a cold shower just from seeing you two say hello.”
A chorus of ‘ amen’ sounded from the entire band.
Aidan’s sounding the most reverent of them all.
“Tempting.” Xoey hummed over the
It had been over three years now. Three years, but a part of her still expected to see him striding in that brewery door with the unconditionally doting smile he’d always had on reserve just for her.
She missed having someone love her like that.
The sudden burst of applause trickling down from the terrace had Dani silently cursing and ducking out from the bar—and her memories. She raced up the stairs to the rooftop deck she’d built a few summers ago, bobbing and weaving through the cram-packed sea of weekend Romeos on the prowl, trendy nine-to-fivers partying their hard week away, and co-ed clusters blithely kicking off the start of their winter break with a bang.
Thankfully, the musicians had thrown in an adlib bit to give her time to hop on stage and snag the mic. “ Let’s hear it again for Rylan Grey and his band, everyone !” she hollered, drawing forth a fresh wave of raucous hoots from the crowd. “Okay, it’s time for me to feed these guys, so until they start their next set, the band break power hour starts right now: half price on tonight’s food specials and BOGO on all your beers!”
Another round of merriment echoed into the night just as Rylan swallowed her up in his customary post-set bear hug. She planted a laughing kiss on his cheek and high-fived the rest of his guys, Vanna-Whiting her smartphone screen proudly for the single ones. “Tweets from girls wanting to jump you all right here on my deck? I’d say your fan base is evolving very nicely.”
Rylan’s drummer put his drumsticks up to his heart. “God bless higher education.”
With a chuckling headshake, Dani waited for Aidan to tuck his never-leaves-his-sight drumsticks in his back pocket before walking the group over to the table she kept blocked off for them each week, already piled high with a hodgepodge of their usual dinner favorites.
Rylan pulled a chair out for her and flipped the one beside it around for himself before taking a swig from the mug of rye ale she’d eagerly slid before him.
And then she waited.
His brows shot up midway through his first gulp, before drifting back slowly as his eyelids slid down to an appreciative half-mast. Nearly half the beer was gone before he finally set the mug back down with a satisfied whistle. “Wow. That’s one hell of a beer, sweets. You making this the official winter brew?”
Dani beamed. “Thanks to you. After what you said about the last trial batch, I added ginger to enhance the malty milk sugar and honey.” She kissed her fingertips. “Voila, the Rylan Red was born. I’m the only one who calls it that but still, feel free to be completely honored.”
“Well call me Rumplestiltskin; I done taught you to spin straw into gold.” He kissed her hand with a drizzle of country charm. “Now that you’ve named one of your babies after me, what say you change your last name to Grey as well, love? Make an honest man outta me.”
“Goofball.” She swatted his hand away. “And risk the wrath of your rabid female fans?”
A teasing voice called out, “I’d be more worried about the male ones. Shoot, they’ll yank your hair right out at the roots.” When Xoey popped her head around the corner, the guys cheered and fist-bumped her in welcome while Aidan quickly snaked her onto his lap.
Cartoon waves of steam were sizzling off the pair within seconds, Aidan’s drumsticks no longer the attention-gathering focal point where his rocker jeans were concerned.
“ Aaand , that’s our cue to go.” Dani promptly hopped up to drag Xoey over to the safe end of the table by her belt loops, editorializing on behalf of them all drily. “You know, Xo, if you’d just seal the deal with the guy already, the rest of us wouldn’t need a cold shower just from seeing you two say hello.”
A chorus of ‘ amen’ sounded from the entire band.
Aidan’s sounding the most reverent of them all.
“Tempting.” Xoey hummed over the
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