Chapter 11

"It's goingto be the biggest party this county has seen in a very long time," Lincoln says as I meet Griz's eyes, and he rolls them at me. Lincoln likes to showboat. He's like Griz in that way.

"You picked a good time to show up, Laney," Ace chimes in from the head of the table. "You'll get a taste of what a real Kentucky summer feels like, and then at the end of it, we celebrate." Then he fucking winks at her. And it pisses me off way more than it should.

"Isn't that what you're doing?" I chime in. "Asking one of your..." I pause. I know I'm being a dick right now. "... friends to stick around."

Ace's eyes move over to Laney's, and they exchange a look that says something's there. And that makes my stomach sink. My brothers have plenty they keep close to the vest. Ace keeps things about the business from me. He and Lincoln have plenty of dealings that I haven't been privy to. At first, it was because I was the youngest, but then it was because I was a cop. We agreed to keep me away from anything that I wouldn't approve of or would have to turn a blind eye to. They're good men, and I knew they didn't want to put me in a position that would jeopardize my moral compass. But right now, whatever exchange Ace and Laney just had has my leg bouncing. I'm more annoyed than I should be.

"Is there going to be a carnival too, Dad?" Lark asks Lincoln, waiting for another pancake from the griddle.

"What about animals?"

Lincoln turns, wearing his ‘Grill Daddy' apron. Ridiculous, but it was a Father's Day present from the girls a couple of years ago and he won't grill without it. "No animals, Lily. But there will be carnival rides during the day, and then we'll have a movie projected on a big screen on the great lawn of the distillery."

"Sounds like fun," Laney adds with a wistful smile. "I used to watch movies in the park every summer. Wednesday nights with a blanket and some wine. And there was always the most delicious food. My favorite was when Taiyaki would do a pop-up." She smiles at Lark and starts using her hands to describe it. She's frustratingly captivating. "They do soft serve ice cream, but in a fish-shaped, soft waffle cone."

"Yum," Lark says back with her chin resting on her fist.

"So much yum."

"Dad, can we get Taiyaki to come here for our festival?"

Lincoln gets cut off by Griz when he says, "Lark, the important piece is the anniversary batch we'll be releasing." Griz sits back in his chair from the head of the table, opposite Ace. "The whole point of it is to release some barrels that haven't been sampled since my grandpa started this place."

"Griz, of course, we know the most important part is the bourbon, but you do realize that if we don't make a big-ass deal, nobody else will. Also, Taiyaki sounds delicious, Laney." Now, he's winking at her.

Laney clears her throat, her eyes shifting to me briefly, as she plays with a braid underneath her hair that still has wildflowers woven into it. "What about fireworks?"

Her eyes meet mine again. Yeah, there're fireworks. I can't help but study the way she interacts with my family. She's fucking beautiful, but there's something not right here. I can feel it in my gut, and I refuse to ignore it. Maybe it's that she has no problem with eye contact. I don't intimidate her, which is new for me. Not many people have balls enough to keep looking or to follow it up with a smile. She just keeps looking. And dammit, I like that about her.

"The Fourth of July jamboree is coming up. There're fireworks then," Ace interrupts. "Laney, you'll have a chance to go to the largest fair in all of Kentucky's 120 counties. Craft tables as far as the eye can see. There's tractor pulls, fireworks, and—" He looks at Lincoln. "What bands are coming?"

Lincoln shrugs.

"Not sure who the bands are this year, but there'll be some dancing, too."

"Save me a dance, Laney?" Lincoln says from his seat.

A growl escapes my throat as I watch her smile at him with a nod. I wipe my mouth and throw my napkin on my plate to play off the noise.

Lincoln looks at me with his brow furrowed, like what the fuck?

I don't know what the hell is wrong with me.

"Me too, Dad?" Lily says.

"Always, Lily. You too, Lark? You'll save one for me too?"

With my eyes trained on my brother, I ask, "You still planning on being here by the 4th?" But the question is aimed at Laney. I turn my head, focusing on her, just realizing I've shifted my attention. "Or are you planning to be gone by then?"

She shifts another quick glance at Ace.

Everyone at the table halts their side conversations, rolling out a nice stretch of silence for her to answer. She looks immediately uncomfortable. I watch her rub the tips of her fingers on the arm of her wicker chair, funneling some of that nervous energy. She's working hard to keep her facial expressions neutral. But then she clears her throat. And I may have just discovered her tell. The nervous energy moves quickly, though, as she raises her chin and keeps her eyes on mine. "I'll be here for a while."

My mouth ticks up on the right side, challenging her to keep going. "You know, I never got your story, Laney."

With seven pairs of Foxx eyes on her, she stalls by taking a bite of my bacon.

Griz interrupts, "Laney, can you pass me that plate of biscuits in front of you?"

She passes the biscuits down, but I have another question. "Where was it you were living before here?"

"Colorado," she clips out, clearing her throat. Again.

I push for more. "Whereabouts? I've got a few friends who run a winter sports business out there."

"Laney, that bowl of sausage gravy too, if you wouldn't mind," Griz interrupts again. She gives him a tight-lipped smile, passing the bowl down. He's trying to keep this less awkward, but I thrive in these moments. Truths always trickle out one way or another when someone is on the spot.

I sit back, taking a sip from my cup as I wait for her to answer. She plays with that piece of braided hair and some of the small white flowers drop as she does. That's when she lets out a small yelp. Julep barks in response from her spot on the patio, just adding to the attention. Laney pulls her phone from her back pocket. Whoever it is, she's not happy about it, because while she may be able to school some of her features, the way she's staring at her phone makes it obvious that she wasn't expecting whatever is waiting for her on that screen.

"Laney?"

She looks up at me, confused and surprised. Who the fuck is texting her? It's one thing for me to push her, but I'm not a fan of someone else shaking her up. "I'm sorry, what did you ask?"

"How'd you make a living in Colorado?"

Lark chimes in, "She was a florist. That was her high school job."

Lily adds, "Plus, she was fired."

She sips her sweet tea and takes a quick, shallow breath, looking around the table, and then starts talking. "I don't have a job right now. I didn't think I'd be a career girl. I liked jobs that you could go to and leave. But then, after college, that was...not reliable. I was good at planning details for parties for our neighbors growing up. Like baby showers and retirement parties." Pausing, she waves at the air in front of her.

"Anyway, I liked planning events and found an internship with a prestigious company that did weddings and some larger-scale parties. But I've done lots of things. That was the last. The one I worked hardest for. And it made me the most money. But waiting tables and bartending were the main earners for a while before that. I was also a concierge at a hotel."

She looks down at the table and away from me, but then smiles at Lincoln and Ace. "That one was awful," she says more quietly. "There was the short stint as a hairdresser, but I was young and had a bad semester at school, so I thought I'd try a trade. I ended up washing a lot of people"s hair. Botched a few bangs and almost threw up when I was giving someone a perm. I was good at hot shaves, though." She puts a strawberry in her mouth, and it bulges out her right cheek. She's rambling. If she didn't look so anxious, she'd be cute. I want to see her fumble over her words, but at the same time, I can't help but notice how enticing that mouth of hers looks filled with the juice from her strawberry threatening to escape.

I shift in my chair.

"The event planning was a lot of fun, but it took me a while to build up a reputation and client trust. Let"s just say, I didn't have much mad money."

Lily pipes in, asking, "What's mad money?"

The fans are still oscillating above the long patio table, but Laney's sweating. And she keeps talking. "I thought I'd end up doing what my dad did, but that didn't pan out. I'm not always the best with patriarchal authority." Looking around the table of men, she snort-laughs. "Go figure." With a shrug, she tosses another too-big strawberry in her mouth and talks around it. "But I had a knack for people liking me."

I understood that. Felt it no matter how much I didn't want to.

"And I can pair things together well. Linens with signature cocktails. Colors that complimented moods or an aesthetic. That sort of thing. My boss liked that I was good at keeping brides entertained."

Under my breath, I can't help but mutter, "This is entertaining."

She squints a glare at me, and it's impossible to hide my smirk in response.

Then she continues talking with her hands, animated and keeping this conversation far from boring or forgettable. "I booked burlesque dancers for an event once and I really loved it. So I tried that for a while—I didn't sing or anything, but I loved dancing. I looked good doing it too. That was the job before I decided on weddings and events. When I started interning for the events company, I worked with a few headliners who had done private parties, but then one of the wedding clients thought they recognized me, and I had to make a decision."

At the thought of her dancing, or dancing for me, my dick slaps me like a distracted buddy, asking, If I heard that! Jesus, this is going the wrong way fast. I'm not supposed to be the one getting shaken up by my own question.

Lincoln's eyebrows are practically at his hairline. Next to him, Hadley is smiling, borderline laughing. Laney must see it too, because she starts to backtrack. "Not like those kinds of private parties. It wasn't stripping. Those girls made good money in the city, but that was a different category of entertainment. My body is curvier, which is ideal for burlesque. Plus, I'm good at reading a crowd, and"—she slows her sentence, but instead of stopping, she decides to look right at me when she finishes—"I was a good tease."

I stare at her pretty lips still stained from her red lipstick that she wore over here, mixed with the juice from those fucking strawberries. My mind reels, thinking about her teasing someone else with that pretty mouth and her perfect tits. Fuck. This is a shit-show. I shift again, rubbing the back of my neck.

Glancing around the table, I'm met with a wide smile from Griz, as amused as can be. Ace rests his hand on his chin, probably trying to figure out what he's gotten himself into, or he's pissed I couldn't just keep the questions to myself. There's a dumbstruck look still plastered on Lincoln's face. Lily is drawing on her iPad, and Lark must have left the table.

"I've got some spots behind the tasting bar that I think would be a great place for you to learn a little more about our brand. My bartenders are troves of knowledge, not just about Foxx Bourbon, but just about every rule bourbon has and what we do to make sure we follow them."

I can see her smiling from my periphery. My focus, however, is on my brother and why he'd consider that resume ramble acceptable.

He shifts his attention to me, and then to Lincoln, before he adds, "I'd like you to help with our events as well. We have a Women in Whiskey dinner at the distillery next week that needs some last-minute support if you're up for it."

The sound of her phone buzzing has her standing from the table. "Absolutely. I'd really love that." She glances down again at her phone before she says, "I'm sorry, my aunt just asked me to call her." The sound of the chair dragging disrupts everyone and has them looking. "Ace, would you mind if I just take this inside?"

He gives her a nod to go ahead.

"I'm here," she says as she closes the sliding door behind her.

"The fuck was all of that?" Lincoln asks, pulling my attention from Laney back to the table.

I sit up and take a bite of the piece of bacon left on my plate. "What was what?"

Griz barks out another laugh. "You just turned back into Officer Foxx, that's what."

I shrug. "You want to keep me out of the loop, that's fine. But then I'm going to get answers to things"—I look back at her pacing inside—"or from people who don't sit right with me."

I look down at the other end of the table to Ace. "You've got nothing to add?"

"I haven't seen you get worked up like this in a while."

I shove out of my seat and stand. "You enjoying the show?"

He smiles. Dick. But before I can say anything else, I catch a glimpse of how Laney stops her pacing and sits on the couch, like she's being served a heaping dose of shit news. I'm not going to overthink why that bothers me, but I'm moving inside before it registers how much of a contradiction this is. Checking to see if she's okay, even though I just interrogated her over pancakes.

She's so wrapped up that she doesn't see me. It's why when I hold a rocks glass with two fingers of bourbon in front of her, she sucks in an audible breath.

As she takes the glass from my hands, my fingers brush hers, and I watch as she swallows down the emotions that her conversation was causing.

She mumbles, "I really loved that apartment." And then, clearing her throat, thinking of only one other thing, she adds, "The things from my storage unit. Are they…"

"Thanks again," she says in a lighter tone. "Appreciate the heads up."

Hanging up, she pushes the phone into my back pocket before taking another sip of the bourbon. I wait as her throat works it down until the glass is empty.

She holds up the glass. "Thanks for this."

I don't know what else to say to her, so I keep it simple with a nod and a tight-lipped smile. The annoyance from dinner is gone, but my curiosity is spiked as I hold contact with those blue eyes. Staring any more at her isn't going to do me any favors, so I push off the arm of the couch I was leaning on just as Hadley and Ace come inside.

"You trying to scare off my new friend, Grant?"

"A little quick to be adding someone to your friend list, Hads."

She stops next to me with a leveling glare, and I already know I'm going to hear it. "Just as fast as you've been to add her to your suspect list," she whispers.

I ignore her, but everytime I try to move back outside, more of my family filters in. I keep my mouth shut as I hear Ace talking with her about what time she should get to the distillery on Sunday. I do my best to ignore the way my nieces vie for Laney's attention. When she finally says her thank yous and goodbyes, she turns to me and says, "Don't worry, Grant, I'll stay out of your way."

Don't. It was the first word that came to mind when she said it. But I kept that to myself.

Ace is staring at me when I finally look back from watching her leave. I clear my throat. "You planning on telling me why a girl, who is clearly hiding something, who you had a sleepover with last week, is just welcome now to Friday night dinner with us?" I don't let him answer just yet. "And is living in our guest house as my neighbor?"

My brother gives me a side-eye without a lick of amusement on his face. "Aren't you the one who invited her to dinner?"

"That was the girls." I rub the back of my neck.

"Grant, this isn't me trying to be rude, but it's really none of your business what she's doing here. We have an agreement, baby brother. I don't overshare. You don't ask too many questions. It's always worked." He's focused on his phone when he says, "She's here. Deal with it. You were a bit of an asshole to her at dinner, which was unnecessary."

I know when someone is lying. We're not Fiasco's welcoming committee. If Fiasco had one, at least. Most locals barely tolerate the tourists. Never mind unexpected freeloaders with a pretty face and a tight ass. She had every single tell there was with her vague answers followed up by nervous rambling. She cleared her throat more times than I could count. She was uncomfortable, and she's somehow folded herself into our lives without any questions. "Since when are you okay with having women you slept with stick around like this?"

I'm pissed. Ace knows it. I've always hated how he makes big decisions about all our lives.

He flicks his eyes up and gives me that fucking parent glare. The one he's always done when I'm being an asshole. For the record, he's always the asshole and there's nobody there to glare at him. Griz always seems to egg it on. "Like I said, not your business." He finally puts the damn phone down. "Why are you pushing? Linc is usually the one with too many questions."

He's right. This isn't me to be so interested in someone. I'm frustrated by my attraction to this woman.

"She's harmless."

We both know there is no such thing as a harmless woman. Not one who spoke the way she did, her Yankee accent evident. Or the way she's so effortlessly charming and how it made my family instantly like her. Harmless doesn't look like that. Harmless doesn't linger like this.

I pick up pieces of white and purple flowers that must have fallen from her hair and twirl them in my fingers. "You know she was making flower crowns with Lark and Lily today?"

He laughs. "That's…creative."

"Unsupervised."

He looks at me like what I'm saying is boring him. "If Lincoln didn't have a problem with it, then I'm not sure why you do."

"Ace. Come on. It's a weird fucking situation. Unless you were sneaking into her place without my knowledge, the girl didn't leave that one-room cottage all week long. And it doesn"t look like you two are into each other." I rest one hand on my hip and drag the other across the scruff on my jaw. "Unless I'm losing my edge and totally misread?—"

"You like her."

"I don't know her. And the whole point is, aside from fucking her, neither do you."

"So what?"

I give him a deadpan glare.

"I didn't, by the way." He clears his throat. "Nothing happened between us if that's what has you so pissed off." Then he gives me a knowing smile.

I exhale and try my best to school the relief I feel at hearing that. "Then why help her? Who is she?" My brother doesn't open his door to people. He isn't the nicest guy. He's good to his family. But other people? Not so much. We've had plenty of disagreements over the years about the lines he calls gray and the ones I referred to as the law.

I know when he shrugs one shoulder that it's all I'm going to get. And quite frankly, I don't want to unpack my feelings with him as my audience any longer.

I walk out the side door and down the pathway to my place. It only takes a few feet before I hear Julep shooting out the dog door behind me to catch up. I make up my mind before I even make it past the front porch that it doesn't matter if she was involved with my brother or not.

The only interest I have in Laney Young is keeping my distance.