Feisty Red (Three Chicks Brewery #2) - Stacey Kennedy Page 0,2

was because he was suspended for causing a bar fight, Clara didn’t expect much had changed. She felt more protective of Mason than ever. Wanting to run from this conversation, she turned to head down the porch steps, when a sudden bang echoed across the air. She whirled back to Maisie. “You heard that, right?”

“I heard that,” Maisie said, eyes wide.

Hoping to hell the brewery wasn’t about to explode, Clara took off, running toward the barn and what she assumed was a broken keg. On the weekends, the parking lot was full of cars from the brewery tours. Today, the only person in the barn was the middle Carter sister, Amelia, the Brewmaster, who’d spent the night brewing a new batch of their top beer, Foxy Diva.

“Amelia,” Clara called, running through the double doors of the barn.

She skidded to a halt as she spotted her sister standing on the ladder next to a metal keg. Amelia’s blue eyes looked as concerned as Clara felt. She had her long ginger-colored hair pulled up into a messy bun. Her freckle-covered nose was scrunched. “Clara,” she yelled, hands extended in front of her.

Another loud crash followed by a whooshing sound had Clara instantly regretting entering the barn. A keg was tipping over, and the contents of spent barley were heading straight for her.

The gunk hit her like a brick wall. She felt the goop begin to slide down her face and land on the ground with a splat.

“Oh, my God, Clara…” Amelia slapped a hand over her mouth.

“I’m going to…” Clara spit the disgusting stuff out of her mouth. She looked down and surveyed the damage. Head to toe, sludge that smelled slightly sour covered her. She glanced back to Amelia and promised, “Kill you.”

Amelia’s hand slowly lowered, and her mouth quivered.

“Don’t you even think about it,” Clara warned.

Behind her shoulder, Maisie snickered.

“Don’t,” Clara snapped to her too.

A beat. Then both of her traitorous sisters burst into a fit of laughter.

Until a smooth voice said, “I see some things haven’t changed at all.”

Clara cursed her life. Even if she didn’t want to, she glanced behind her and faced the very reason her lungs could barely get air today. Six foot two and a wall of hard muscle greeted her. A dark-haired hottie, professional baseball player, and baby daddy who didn’t know about said baby, Sullivan Keene watched her with devastating, warm green eyes.

For all of her stress and worry about this moment, the panic and anger didn’t come. No, something worse happened. Something unthinkable. Her heart fluttered.

2

Sullivan Keene did two things well.

One, play baseball. The Red Sox had scouted him in college. His fast-pitch had a 100.6 mile per hour average with a velocity of 2,530 average spin rate. Over the last season, his cutter earned him an insane run of 124 strikeouts.

The second thing he did well? Fuck up epically. His last disastrous decision had been a bar fight that ended up on the cover of a tabloid magazine and earned him a month-long suspension. That night had been the breaking point when Sullivan knew his life had to change. The last time he’d gotten into a blackout rage and fought in a bar was before he left River Rock. He had no doubt the recent death of his father a few months back was the root cause for this latest fight. So, when he’d been handed the suspension, instead of staying in Boston, or sticking close to Fort Myer where the team trained, he came back in River Rock in hopes of facing the trauma of his past. Trauma he hadn’t thought about in a long time. Trauma that had stayed buried until the passing of his father.

But the greatest thing he’d ever fucked up was staring at him with captivating deep-blue eyes and pink pouty lips. Seven years ago, he’d been full of demons he didn’t want touching her. Now, all that was left was regret. After Sullivan landed at the airport, he passed through Denver to see his uncle Ronnie before coming to River Rock and the apartment he rented for the month. When he heard from his uncle that Clara was coming into Denver for a meeting, Sullivan invited himself to join. Because he knew, to move on for good, he didn’t only need to make peace with the tumultuous relationship he’d had with his father, but with Clara too.

He had thought of her often over the years, and he’d done his best to push her from his