The woman smiled at him, her lips trembling. He didn’t return it. His unmoving face made her brows pinch together.
“Wait, you think…” Nathan looked back at the woman. “No, you’ve got it all wrong. There’s nothing going on. This is Becca Hartson. One of our distillers. You’ve seen her before on our video conferences.”
Daniel frowned, looking again at the crying woman. She looked nothing like the Becca Hartson he’d seen on his computer screen. That Becca always had her hair in a tight ponytail, and wore the usual G. Scott Carter green polo and loose chinos.
But this Becca? She was damn gorgeous. The kind of woman that would catch his eye no matter where he was.
Yeah, and she’s an employee. We don’t go there, either.
He looked at Nathan and shook his head. “You’re messing with the staff now?” he asked, his voice a low accusing drawl. “Jesus, man, what kind of idiot are you?”
Chapter Two
Three things struck Becca as Daniel Carter stared over his brother’s shoulder at her.
The first was that he was a bit of an asshole.
The second? He had a strange Scottish twang to his American accent.
And the final was that he was incredibly good looking, if you liked assholes with weird accents. Which she didn’t. Especially when they were staring at her as though she was a piece of chewed up gum they’d scraped off their shoe.
Standing to her full height, a fourth thought struck her. One that made her skin want to shrink back off her bones.
He was her new boss. Dear god, could this get any worse? On the plus side, the tears had dried up from her cheeks. On the minus, she was now being accused of sleeping with the management. And everybody knew that’s how rumors started.
“I should go,” she muttered, walking across Nathan’s office. “People will be wondering where I am.”
Her arm brushed against Daniel’s as she walked past him, and he practically jumped to get away from her. “I’ll see you back at the party?” she asked Nathan. He grinned and nodded, completely unperturbed by his brother’s accusation.
Her cheeks flamed as she walked down the corridor. Reaching for the door, she heard Nathan’s voice echo in a low murmur.
“It’s not what you’re thinking. Seriously.”
“I hope not. Because she’s a lawsuit waiting to happen. You know better than to mess with staff. No matter how hot they are.”
Yep, definitely an asshole. She gritted her teeth and walked away, not wanting to hear any more. Nathan wasn’t lying. It had been completely innocent on both of their parts. He’d found her sobbing outside the staff bathroom and led her to his office to give her a chance to get control of herself. And sure, he’d given her a hug. Everybody knew Nathan gave the best hugs. He was like a teddy bear, but bigger and with a better smell.
But she also knew how it looked. And she should have thought about that before it happened. Anybody could have walked in on them. She’d worked way too hard to get a negative reputation in the distillery.
On the plus side, she wasn’t crying anymore. And as she walked into the function room, she heard dance music pumping out of the speakers on the wall, and saw that her co-workers had moved the tables out of the way and were dancing in the center, shaking their booties like there was no tomorrow.
Painting a smile on her face, she walked over to join them, letting the music fill her mind and chase away the stupid thoughts.
She’d worry about the beautifully angry Daniel Carter on Monday morning. Right now? She just wanted to dance.
Nathan took two cut glass whiskey tumblers from the cabinet in his office and poured a fingerful of G. Scott Carter twenty-one year old malt into each, passing a glass to Daniel.
“Cheers.” He held up his glass, and Daniel touched his own against it. “And welcome back.”
Daniel’s smile was wry. “And bon voyage to you. Do you think we’ll ever be in the same country for more than a few days?”
Nathan laughed. “Don’t take it personally. Anyway, you were the one that left first.” He took a slow sip of the aged whiskey. “And I’m grateful that you’ve come back. I wouldn’t be able to leave if you hadn’t.”
It was the truth. Nathan was the only reason Daniel had made himself get on that airplane and leave his quiet, easy life in Scotland behind. The reality of being back was just starting to hit him.
“I figure it’s your turn. I appreciate you holding the fort down while I was in Scotland.” Daniel lifted his glass to his mouth, closing his eyes as the deep, earthy liquor slid down his throat. “Damn, this is good. So what did I miss, apart from your inappropriate relationships with the staff?”
Nathan grinned. He was impossible to rile. “There’s nothing going on with me and Becca. I already told you that.”