Real Men Will (Donovan Brothers Brewery 3)

“I’m sorry,” Eric said quietly. “I’m really sorry that I hit you.”

Jamie sighed. “I know you are.”

“I don’t know what came over me.”

“I was being rude.”

“You’ve been rude before, and I always managed to behave like a sane person.”

Jamie shrugged and leaned back in the seat, so Eric started the car and pulled out of the garage. Jamie’s place was only a few miles away. If it hadn’t been raining, he probably would’ve walked home as soon as Tessa had locked him out.

They were halfway there when Jamie spoke. “I can handle it, you know.”

“You can handle what?” Eric asked.

“All of it. All my duties at the brewery. I can handle them. So don’t worry.”

“I’m not worried that you can’t handle it. I was honestly trying to help. You’ve got Olivia now, plus all the planning with the restaurant side…. That’s all I was thinking. That I wanted to help. That’s all I’m ever thinking.”

Jamie didn’t respond, but a few seconds later, he nodded.

And that was that. Everything was fine. Eric pulled up to Jamie’s house and Jamie said, “Thanks for the ride,” and opened the door. But he paused just before he got out. “Hey,” he said. “Everything else aside? She was totally hot.”

“Who was?”

“That woman who came to the bar. I would’ve been damned impressed if I hadn’t been so pissed. Way out of your league, man.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“I didn’t even know you had a league, frankly.”

“Get out,” Eric ordered, but he was trying hard not to smile. Beth was hot. She was out of his league. And he was damned impressed with himself for even approaching her in the first place.

He felt marginally better when he drove away. Back to his normal amount of tension instead of this new level of anger and regret. He’d made up with Jamie, and Beth was…well, she’d seemed fine when he’d left her on Monday. Though he couldn’t quite figure out how he’d ended up kissing her. And why she’d let him.

Who the hell cared? He was smiling as he drove home, so if he could just avoid worrying about anything else until the morning, he’d take that and be happy.

His phone rang, and Eric dug it out of his jacket, knowing exactly who it was. “We made up,” he said.

“Yea!” Tessa squealed.

“Good night.” He hung up, still smiling as he slowed to a stop at a red light. Tessa was a piece of work, but she always knew exactly the right thing to do. Maybe he should just turn his share of the brewery over to her and let her run with it.

The phone rang again. “Everything’s great,” Eric said. “So just drop it while you’re ahead.”

“Oh,” a female voice said. Then, “Drop what?”

That wasn’t Tessa. Eric tipped the phone down to look at the display. Yep, the voice matched up with the name. “Beth?”

“Hi.”

“I’m sorry. I thought you were someone else.”

“That’s a relief.”

The light turned green, but Eric turned the corner and pulled over to the curb instead of driving on. He couldn’t drive and talk to Beth at the same time. She was way too distracting. “So. Beth Cantrell.”

“That’s me.”