Good Girls Don't (Donovan Brothers Brewery 1)

“Is it working?”

He sighed loudly enough that she heard him over the background music and the baseball game. “You’re not half-bad at it,” he said.

“Thanks. You want a beer?”

Luke narrowed his eyes as if he was trying to discern her motive, and boy, did he have a great suspicious look. It was dark and penetrating. Tessa felt the hair rise on her arms. Her nipples tightened. Luke had the whole cop thing down to an erotic art.

“Sure,” he finally said. “I’ll have a beer.”

“You want a menu?”

The creases at the corners of his eyes tightened. “Why don’t you choose for me?”

Oh, a challenge. Tessa cocked her head and let her eyes wander down as much of him as she could see. She took a step back, and returned his narrowed look. “Hmm.”

His left eyebrow rose like a dare.

“All right,” she murmured, and went to draw his beer. When she slid it across the bar toward him, he didn’t look impressed, but he raised it to his mouth.

“India Pale Ale,” Tessa said. “Looks nice enough, but it’s got a bitter kick to it.”

He swallowed and set the glass down hard. His eyes didn’t yield even a glimmer of humor. “Has a bite despite its innocent appearance? I think you accidentally gave me your glass.”

Tessa bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling. “No, mine is the amber ale. Smooth, sweet and pretty. The perfect taste for any occasion.”

His mouth finally softened, and Luke raised his glass. “I’ll drink to that.”

Tessa tossed her ponytail and left him to nurse his drink while she collected Fred’s bill and gave the other tables another quick look.

“So,” she said as she came back around the bar. “What are you doing here?”

“I’ve got a small update. We picked up a guy who had the keg in the trunk of his car. Right now, we don’t think he was one of the people who broke in, but we’re following up on some other details.” Luke reached into the pocket of his coat. “Do you recognize him?”

She looked closely at the picture of the thin boy who stared sullenly at the camera. “No, I don’t recognize him. And he’s young enough to stand out around here.”

“Are your brothers here?”

“No, it’s just me and Wallace.”

“That’s the brewmaster?”

“Yep. Do you want to ask him? He’s usually not here so late, but he has a couple of small batches going. He gets pretty caught up in his experiments.” She leaned close to whisper, “Spicy chocolate stout,” but she was really just looking for an excuse to catch his scent. Mmm. Man, he turned her on.

Luke cleared his throat before edging back to take another drink of his beer. Either he liked it when she leaned close, or he was desperate to get away from her. But considering that he’d willingly accepted a drink and a seat, Tessa decided to go with the former.

“Come on,” she said softly, giving him a secret smile. “Let’s go in back.”

His eyes widened.

“You can have Wallace look at the photo.”

“Oh, right. Sure.” He rose and followed her through the swinging doors. The office hallway to the left was dark, but the kitchen was more than bright enough to see Wallace leaning down to whisper into a girl’s ear.

“Oh,” Tessa said, drawing up short. Luke ended up flush against her back for a second before he stepped away.

Wallace looked up with his standard grouchy scowl. “I’m on my way out,” he grumbled. The girl at his side smiled as if she were looking forward to a treat, at which point Tessa realized the girl was actually a delicate young man whose hair was styled into a straight, dark fall down his back.

Nothing unusual for Wallace.