Love In Secrets (Love Distilled #3) - Scarlett Cole Page 0,66
to persuade her to stay. Waking up to go to the distillery on Saturdays and Sundays was starting to chafe. What he wouldn’t give for one day to sleep in.
“I wouldn’t ask you to keep going if it wasn’t important. But with the extra volumes, we’ll be able to do everything we need to get the distillery back on her feet and be debt free sooner.”
One more quarter of it being this intense. He could do it. He’d made it this far. “Of course I’ll do it. I’ll keep doing it for as long as we can. It’s not sustainable, though. It’s nearly October, and I haven’t missed a single day in fifteen months. I think Dad’s funeral might be the last day I took off.”
“I know,” Emerson sighed. “Listen. I just went on vacation. It’s easy for me to try and peptalk you into it. You know what’s at stake. But I don’t want what happened to Liv to happen to you. I can’t live through that again.”
Jake stood and went around the desk to put his hand on Emerson’s shoulder. “I’m fine, Em. Nothing a soak in the hot tub won’t cure.”
She patted his hand. “Promise?”
“Promise. Do you need a ride?”
Emerson glanced at her phone. “No, I’m good. Connor is swinging by on his way home in half an hour.”
“See you tomorrow, then.”
As Jake drove home, the impact of their conversation struck him. They were in a much better place than they’d thought they’d be by now. Affording a fourth still, building a modern distillery building, increasing production through additional shifts, and finding new customers. It was all really good fucking news.
As he pulled into the driveway, the last of the light was ebbing from the sky. Beer, food, and Cassie. That was what he wanted. A perfect fucking evening.
“Cass,” he yelled as he opened the door. The lights were on, so she was definitely home. “Cass?”
The screen door to the garden was closed and the lights were on outside. He slid it open and stepped out to the rear deck. The cover was off the hot tub and Cassie was submerged to her neck, all her hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun. Her eyes were closed, her lips pink. Tiny strands of a purple bikini were tied around her neck. He guessed she couldn’t hear him over the bubbles of the tub.
His garden was completely private, one of the joys of living on the outskirts of town. Silently, he tugged his T-shirt over his head and placed it over a chair. He slid his feet out of his sneakers, unbuttoned his jeans, and removed them along with his underwear and socks.
In a wholly presumptive move, he pulled his wallet from his jeans and grabbed the condom he kept in there and placed it on the side of the tub.
As he stepped in, Cassie opened her eyes, screamed briefly and then gasped. “Jesus Christ.” She flattened her hand over her heart.
“Hey, love.” He placed a chaste kiss on her lips and dropped into the seat next to her, groaning in relief as the warm water and high pressure pummeled his aching lower back.
“Don’t scare me like that.”
He slipped his arm around her. “You’ve been living in the city too long. Nobody’s prowling around the edge of Morrison waiting for you to get in the hot tub.”
“I think I was close to dozing off in here. It’s probably a good thing you came home.”
Jake closed his eyes and stretched his other arm along the back of the tub. “Yeah. It’s easy to do. And definitely not the safest.”
“How was your day?”
“Unexpectedly good. We’ve made some increases to production that are really paying off. For once, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”
“That’s great news. How do you feel about it?”
Jake opened his eyes and found her watching him. He ran his thumb over her lip and kissed her, savoring her sweetness. “This time last year, the news was all so bleak. Dad had died, there was no insurance. Then there was the loan he took out to compensate the affected wedding parties. Liv’s depression. So, to be here now, with the reno underway, and more good things happening—it almost feels too good to be true. Like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
“What makes you think something bad is going to happen?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps it’s because the past year seemed to be one thing after another.”