Passionate Brew: An Enemies-to-Lovers Beach Town Brewery Romance
When a control-freak brewery owner is forced to partner with a prickly master brewer, their business and their hearts will never be the same.
Salty Dog Brewery is Ryan Lee’s pride and joy, but he can’t run it alone. When his head brewer retires on short notice, Ryan needs a replacement ASAP. Enter sultry, sharp-tongued Lilo, the brewer’s daughter and protegee. She’s smart, talented, and oh so tempting, but her weird niche beers are the last thing Salty Dog needs.
For the love of her dad, Lilo Eisinger reluctantly puts her ambitions on hold to help Ryan, the smug, handsome jerk she’s loathed since middle school. This new partnership could spark medal-winning opportunities for both of them, but her success depends on opening his narrow mind—and resisting the temptation to seduce the boss.
Working side by side ignites sizzling desire. But when a high-stakes craft beer competition arouses their fierce rivalry, can new love survive this battle of wills?
Excerpt:
Her eyebrows rose, then scrunched. She licked her lips, then clamped them tight. What the hell was going on in that hard head of hers?
Finally, she set down her fork and folded her hands on the table. “I’m gonna be straight with you, Ryan. I’m attracted to you.”
Yesss! He schooled his features into a blasé expression. “Is that so?”
“But I’m not the casual hookup type. I have to at least like a guy before getting intimate. And I’m not sure I like you.”
His jaw fell. “What the hell did I do?”
She gave a slow, feline blink. “Besides being a schmoozer who doesn’t have faith in my skills as a brewer?”
“I never said—”
“Your actions say otherwise, always watching me to make sure I don’t screw up.”
Okay then, time to meet boldness with boldness. “Did it ever occur to you I just like looking at you?”
Her eyes flashed as she scraped back her chair. “Is that why you asked me here? To butter me up then hit on me?”
“No, I—”
She stabbed a finger toward his chest. “Gemma didn’t finish her lesson on Scorpios. She didn’t tell you we hate feeling manipulated.” She crumpled her napkin, threw it onto her plate, then tossed a wad of bills onto the table.
He pushed to his feet. “For fuck’s sake, Lilo.”
The room went silent. He felt the prickly weight of two dozen stares.
Shit on a flaming stick.
He lowered his voice. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t do backflips when Robert told me you were taking over. I was in shock, okay?”
She blew out a long breath and dropped her gaze to her lap. “Me too.”
He sat again and leaned toward her, smearing his sleeve with jelly. “Please, Lilo, explain what I did to make you so dead set against me?”
