Page 11 of Summer Brew

“Were you really expecting something more complicated?” Her cheeks heat slightly with my question. “I hate to disappoint you.”

“I’m not disappointed,” she waves a hand, “and it doesn’t need to be complicated. I’m not even sure what I was expecting your reason to be.”

“There’s nothing secretive going on.”

“I guess not,” Gemma grumbles slightly, as if she was hoping for something more.

When she gets up, she claps her hands together. I get up after she motions for me to join her.

“We should get the show on the road.”

As she leads me to her brew area, she starts talking and walking me through everything, starting with the standard beer she made to begin with. Her set-up reminds me of where I was a few years ago. It’s not top of the line, but it’s respectable.

I look over everything and we walk through it slowly. The entire time, I keep my face neutral while asking a few questions. What I don’t do is give any feedback. Not yet.

And I sure as hell don’t compare the two of us. The last thing I want is for Gemma to feel like I’m judging her.

Her fingernail taps the cover of a notebook while she looks at me with tired eyes. “Do you want to see everything I have when it comes to the cannabis-hops ratio? That’s the next step as long as you don’t see anything glaringly wrong with the basics here.”

I look around one more time to make sure I haven’t missed anything. My words are measured, “Everything looks good. It’s clear you’ve done all your research on what you need.”

She cuts in, “I know I’m not using top of the line items, but I couldn’t invest that much. Not yet at least.”

I hold a hand up, my voice softening, “I totally understand. My words were not meant to ridicule you.”

My eyes stray down to her neck as she swallows hard. It takes everything in me to force myself to look away. I desperately want to kiss her skin there.

It looks so damn soft.

My cock goes rock hard and I can only hope she doesn’t notice the bulge in my pants. “You don’t need to have the best things when you first get started. Upgrading later is the smart thing to do.”

Her shoulders drop slightly, as if my words have soothed something inside her. It shouldn’t make me feel the kind of satisfaction I’m feeling right now. But it does.

When her nail taps the notebook again, my cock throbs and I know I need to get the fuck away from her. If I don’t, I’m not sure I’ll be able to control myself.

“I think I should do some research to better understand why you’re getting the results you’re getting.” My voice is far more strained than it should be when she blinks up at me innocently, “You can tell me what kind of result you want? Is there a certain percentage you’re targeting? Is there one you can’t go over or under?”

Gemma bites her bottom lip and my gaze locks onto the little indent left behind by her teeth after she releases it. I’m barely able to stifle the low groan rumbling in my chest. My palms itch with the need to reach for her and pull her against me.

I’m barely able to pay attention as she starts to talk to me about percentage points and the goal she has for her brew. I can’t look away from her lips as they form every word. My body leans closer to her without me realizing it.

Before I even realize what I’m doing, my arm hooks around Gemma’s waist while my other hand comes up and cups her face.

“What are you doing?” Gemma’s barely able to squeak out the question. She sounds nervous, but when I look down into her eyes, her pupils are dilated with desire, and I can see the need and the hunger there.

“I don’t know,” I rasp out the truth.

Then my mouth slams down on hers. The gasp that comes from her is fucking delicious. Her lips are so damn soft and the way her body melts against me is everything. Somehow, I manage to pull her even tighter against me.

I get lost in the feeling of her in my arms. When my tongue slides into her mouth, something shatters inside me. My restraint? The last of the lies I’ve been telling myself about Gemma for years?

Her hands find my shirt and twist in the fabric, pulling me impossibly closer to her. The way she opens for me has my heart pounding in my chest.

When everything rushes back in, I pull away from her so completely that she sways. Thankfully, she rights herself before I need to hold her up.

“I’m sorry,” words start to tumble from my lips, “I shouldn’t have done that.”

Gemma’s mouth falls open and she looks at me with hurt in her aqua eyes. I feel like I’m making a mistake in real time, but there’s nothing I can do to stop it.