Real Men Will. Victoria Dahl

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СКАЧАТЬ was empty and pressed her hand over her eyes.

      “He’s not even here,” she told herself.

      Once her heart had stopped its mad gallop, she set her purse on the counter and washed her hands in cold water. The icy shock made her feel better. “It’s going to be fine,” she whispered, trying to convince herself that she was ready to go back out. But when Beth met her own wide eyes in the mirror and saw just how pale her face was, she knew she’d need a few more minutes.

      She put her hands on the sink and leaned closer. “It’s going to be fine,” she repeated.

      Two minutes, and then she’d walk out with her head high and her heart back in the right place. And she wouldn’t think about Jamie Donovan again tonight.

      GOD SAVE HIM FROM THE sexually liberated.

      Eric Donovan crossed his arms and frowned at his shoes, trying to process what he’d just heard from his brewmaster. “Wallace, I don’t understand. Faron is here with her husband. Her husband. How can you be upset about that? She’s married to the man.”

      “He’s a philandering scoundrel!” Wallace yelled, shaking his fist toward the front room of the brewery as his face flooded red with rage.

      A scoundrel? Eric ran a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand. They have an open marriage. As a matter of fact, you’re dating Faron, so how can her husband be cheating on her?”

      Wallace Hood, a bearded giant of a man who looked like he went home to a log cabin every night, gave Eric a look of prim horror. “I’m not dating her, man. I’m in love with her. And of course her husband can cheat on her. Don’t be an idiot.”

      Eric probably should’ve felt irritated at being called an idiot, but he was too confused by the conversation. He glanced around the tank room of the brewery as if someone else could help. But they were alone amongst the brewing tanks and mash tuns. Eric shrugged and shook his head. “I’m sorry. I don’t get it.”

      The brewmaster sighed and ran an impatient hand over his thick beard. “There are ground rules in open marriages, and her bastard of a husband has stopped even pretending to follow them. He cheats on her. He lies about it. And then he vetoes all the men she wants to see, claiming that he doesn’t like them. That’s what he did to me, despite that I’ve known them both for years. And then tonight he brought her here on purpose.”

      “Why?” Eric asked carefully.

      “He’s taunting me, because he knows I see him for what he is. I tried to tell her a few months ago. Faron is a queen, and he’s not worthy to even kiss her feet. But she’s loyal and sees the best in people. She wants to give him a chance.”

      “She seems really sweet.” And she had, the one time that Eric had met her. In fact, he’d been startled by her quiet voice and shy smile. The tiny girl with gentle brown eyes hadn’t fit Eric’s assumptions about that lifestyle at all.

      “She is sweet.” Wallace sighed. “And she was falling for me. And now that bastard is taking her away to California, and he purposefully arranged this farewell party for her friends at my brewery.”

      Technically, it was Eric’s brewery, but Wallace was as possessive and passionate as any owner, so Eric just rolled his eyes. “You can’t leave right now, Wallace. I need—”

      “Well, I can’t stay here, can I?”

      What was Eric supposed to say to that? He gazed into the kitchen through the glass wall of the tank room. Despite the late hour, there were still workmen out there, laboring overtime to cut a ventilation hole in his wall. Eric grimaced.

      “She’s right there, man,” Wallace grumbled. “I know it’s a bad time, but…she’s right there.”

      It was a bad time. The bottling line was acting up for the third time this month, they were behind on branding for the winter brews, and the kitchen had been invaded by outsiders. Granted, the outsiders had been brought in by Eric’s brother and sister, but still… These changes to the brewery weren’t Eric’s idea, even if he’d approved them, and he wanted nothing to do with them. “I really need you here tonight. You promised to stay late and transfer that small batch of amber to the new oak barrels.”

      Wallace looked so heartbroken at Eric’s words that he wished he could take them back. “But…” Eric finally conceded. “I guess it’s just a few hours.”

      “I’ll be in early tomorrow. I swear.”

      Eric sighed. “Maybe it’s a good thing she’s moving to California.”

      “She’s a good woman,” Wallace said, his voice suspiciously raspy. “She wants to trust the man, and she won’t walk away until she feels it’s really over. But he’s going to break her heart.”

      Eric still couldn’t understand what marriage meant to someone who dated at the same time, but he’d never really understood Wallace’s lifestyle. Despite the man’s intimidating mountain-man looks, Wallace dated men, women and some people who seemed to skate between genders. But this was the first time Eric had seen Wallace in anything other than complete control. Love had hit him hard, it seemed.

      Eric stole another look around the tank room, trying not to feel a sense of greedy anticipation. “All right. I’ll take care of the barrels. You—”

      “Oh, I don’t know if I want you to—”

      “Wallace,” Eric snapped. “We’re already off schedule.”

      Wallace narrowed his eyes. The man was protective of his beer. Almost obsessively so. But it was Eric’s beer, too, and he’d lost enough control over his life this year. He wasn’t going to let Wallace think he could snatch a little more.

      “Fine,” the brewmaster finally said. “Just don’t screw it up.” Wallace tossed his work gloves on the table and stalked out, slamming the door behind him. He paused for a moment, his eyes locked like lasers on the double doors that led to the front room and Faron, but then he shook his head and stalked out the back door.

      “Jesus,” Eric muttered. Everyone around him seemed to be controlled by love and sex these days. His brother and sister were both in serious relationships, and now Wallace, a man who treated dating like a professional sport, was miserably in love with a married woman. Eric felt like the only person untouched by the craziness.

      Not that he didn’t have any experience with it. He’d had his brush with it a few months ago, and even that brief encounter had left him shaken. He couldn’t imagine being faced with that kind of emotional intensity every day. Maybe he could forgive the fact that his siblings seemed to have lost their minds.

      Eric rolled his shoulders, trying to dislodge the weariness that had settled in. He was always tense at work. But the stress usually didn’t bother him, if only because he couldn’t imagine life without it. He ran a business; of course he was stressed. What he didn’t like was the gnawing uncertainty that had taken him over in the last couple of months.

      It had been one nightmare situation after another. Lost deals, theft and fraud, and now this mess in the kitchen. His brother, Jamie, was turning the family brewery into a pizza-serving brewpub, and Eric felt as though he’d lost complete control.

      Grimacing, he watched masonry dust puff from СКАЧАТЬ