Whiskey Secrets

by Carrie Ann Ryan

  The restaurant was short-staffed but managing, and he was grateful he had Claire working long hours like he did. He oversaw it all, but he knew he couldn’t have done it without her. After making sure she didn’t need anything, he headed back to the bar to relieve Fox. The rush was finally dying down now, and his brother could just sit back and enjoy a beer since Dare knew he’d already worked a long day at the paper.

  By the time the restaurant closed and the bar only held a few dwindling costumers, Dare was ready to go to bed and forget the whole lagging day. Of course, he still had to close out the two businesses and talk to both Fox and Loch since his older brother had shown up a few moments ago. Maybe he’d get them to help him close out so he wouldn’t be here until midnight. He must be tired if the thought of closing out was too much for him.

  “So, Rick didn’t show, huh?” Loch asked as he stood up from his stool. His older brother started cleaning up beside Fox, and Dare held back a smile. He’d have to repay them in something other than beer, but he knew they were working alongside him because they were family and had the time; they weren’t doing it for rewards.

  “Nope. Shelly and Kayla didn’t show up either.” Dare resisted the urge to grind his teeth at that. “Thanks for helping. I’m exhausted and wasn’t in the mood to deal with this all alone.”

  “That’s what we’re here for,” Loch said with a shrug.

  “By the way, you have any idea what this seven a.m. meeting tomorrow is about?” Fox asked after a moment. “They’re putting Tabby on speaker phone for it and everything.”

  Dare let out a sigh. “I’m not in the mood to deal with any meeting that early. I have no idea what it’s going to be about, but I have a bad feeling.”

  “Seems like they have an announcement.” Loch sat back down on his stool and scrolled through his phone. He was constantly working or checking on his daughter, so his phone was strapped to him at all times. Misty had to be with Loch’s best friend, Ainsley, since his brother worked that night. Ainsley helped out when Loch needed a night to work or see Dare. Loch had full custody of Misty, and being a single father wasn’t easy.

  Dare had a feeling no matter what his parents had to say, things were going to be rocky after the morning meeting. His parents were caring, helpful, and always wanted the best for their family. That also meant they tended to be slightly overbearing in the most loving way possible.

  “Well, shit.”

  It looked like he’d go without whiskey or a woman tonight.

  Of course, an image of the woman with gorgeous hair and that look of disdain filled his mind, and he held back a sigh. Once again, Dare was a glutton for punishment, even in his thoughts.

  The next morning, he cupped his mug of coffee in his hands and prayed his eyes would stay open. He’d stupidly gotten caught up on paperwork the night before and was now running on about three hours of sleep.

  Loch sat in one of the booths with Misty, watching as she colored in her coloring book. She was the same age as Nathan, which Dare always appreciated since the cousins could grow up like siblings—on weekends when Dare had Nathan that was. The two kids got along great, and he hoped that continued throughout the cootie phases kids seemed to get sporadically.

  Fox sat next to Dare at one of the tables with his laptop open. Since his brother owned the town paper, he was always up-to-date on current events and was even now typing up something.

  They had Dare’s phone between them with Tabby on the other line, though she wasn’t saying anything. Her fiancé, Alex, was probably near as well since those two seemed to be attached at the hip. Considering his future brother-in-law adored Tabby, Dare didn’t mind that as much as he probably should have as a big brother.

  The elder Collinses stood at the bar, smiles on their faces, yet Dare saw nervousness in their stances. He’d been a cop too long to miss it. They were up to something, and he had a feeling he wasn’t going to like it.

  “Just get it over with,” Dare said, keeping his language decent—not only for Misty but also because his mother would still take him by the ear if he cursed in front of her.

  But because his tone had bordered on rude, his mother still raised a brow, and he sighed. Yep, he had a really bad feeling about this.

  “Good morning to you, too, Dare,” Bob Collins said with a snort and shook his head. “Well, since you’re all here, even our baby girl, Tabby—”

  “Not a baby, Dad!” Tabby called out from the phone, and the rest of them laughed, breaking the tension slightly.

  “Yeah, we’re not babies,” Misty put in, causing everyone to laugh even harder.

  “Anyway,” Barbara Collins said with a twinkle in her eye. “We have an announcement to make.” She rolled her shoulders back, and Dare narrowed his eyes. “As you know, your father and I have been nearing the age of retirement for a while now, but we still wanted to run our inn as innkeepers rather that merely owners.”

  “Finally taking a vacation?” Dare asked. His parents worked far too hard and wouldn’t let their kids help them. He’d done what he could by buying the bar from them when he retired from the force and then built the restaurant himself.

  “If you’d let me finish, young man, I’d let you know,” his mother said coolly, though there was still warmth in her eyes. That was his mother in a nutshell. She’d reprimand, but soothe the sting, too.

  “Sorry,” he mumbled, and Fox coughed to cover up a laugh. If Dare looked behind him, he figured he’d see Loch hiding a smile of his own.

  Tabby laughed outright.

  Damn little sisters.

  “So, as I was saying, we’ve worked hard. But, lately, it seems like we’ve worked too hard.” She looked over at his dad and smiled softly, taking her husband’s hand. “It’s time to make some changes around here.”

  Dare sat up straighter.

  “We’re retiring. Somewhat. The inn hasn’t been doing as well as it did back when it was with your grandparents, and part of that is on the economy. But part of that is on us. What we want to do is renovate more and update the existing rooms and service. In order to do that and step back as innkeepers, we’ve hired a new person.”

  “You’re kidding me, right?” Dare asked, frowning. “You can’t just hire someone to take over and work in our building without even talking to us. And it’s not like I have time to help her run it when she doesn’t know how you like things.”

  “You won’t be running it,” Bob said calmly. “Not yet, anyway. Your mom and I haven’t fully retired, and you know it. We’ve been running the inn for years, but now we want to step away. Something you’ve told us we should do. So, we hired someone. One who knows how to handle this kind of transition and will work with the construction crew and us. She has a lot of experience from working in Philly and New York and will be an asset.”

  Dare fisted his hands by his sides and blew out a breath. They had to be fucking kidding. “It sounds like you’ve done your research and already made your decision. Without asking us. Without asking me.”

  His mother gave him a sad look. “We’ve always wanted to do this, Dare, you know that.”

  “Yes. But you should have talked to us. And renovating like this? I didn’t know you wanted to. We could have helped.” He didn’t know why he was so angry, but being kept out of the loop was probably most of it.

  His father signed. “We’ve been looking into this for years, even before you came back to Whiskey and bought the bar from us. And while it may seem like this is out of the blue, we’ve been doing the research for a while. Yes, we should have told you, but everything came up all at once recently, and we wanted to show you the plans when we had details rather than get your hopes up and end up not doing it.”

  Dare just blinked. There was so much in that statement—in all of those statements—that he couldn’t quite process it. And though he could have yelled about any of it just then, his mind fixed on the one thing that annoyed him the most.

  “So, you’re going to have some city girl come int
o my place and order me around? I don’t think so.”

  “And why not? Have a problem with listening to women?”

  Dare stiffened because that last part hadn’t come from his family. No. He turned toward the voice. It had come from the woman he’d seen the night before in the green dress.

  And because fate liked to fuck with him, he had a feeling he knew exactly who this person was.

  Their newly hired innkeeper.

  And new thorn in his side.

  Chapter 2

  “And why not? Have a problem with listening to women?”

  Kenzie Owens raised her chin and did her best not to show her nerves. She used to be better at that, but then life had happened. Now, however, she would not display her fear in front of her new employers.

  And since she had a new bout of rage filling her veins because of this guy, she found standing her ground a little easier to do than before. She was used to people not giving her a chance and looking at her if she were too pretty to have a brain cell in her head, but right then, she wanted to kick this little bartender’s ass.

  Not that there was anything little about Dare Collins. His wide shoulders filled out his black T-shirt fully, so the fabric strained around his muscles. His dark hair was cut short but still somehow made the blue of his eyes stand out. She’d seen him work the night before and knew he was good with his hands, and with his customers. He was taller than she was by a few inches if she didn’t wear her heels, and moved with a prowling grace that she’d have admired if she didn’t know who he was. He’d also smiled last night instead of scowling or looking broody—unlike he was doing now.

  But, honestly, she couldn’t quite blame him for the scowl, considering he’d had no idea what his parents were up to with their part of the building. But the brooding? Well, that would just have to go because there was no way she was going to deal with that while she worked at the Old Whiskey Inn. She needed this job and new chance at life, and there was no way she’d let this man ruin it for her.

  She’d had enough of men standing in her way, thank you very much.

  Dare mumbled under his breath in answer but didn’t drop his gaze. Well, then.

  “Kenzie,” Barbara Collins said with a smile as she turned. “I’m glad you could make it this early.”

  As Kenzie currently resided in one of the small rooms upstairs, it hadn’t been that much of a commute for her. After all, Barb and Bob had been the ones to move her into the place the day before so she could be close to her work and, eventually, turn her room into the innkeeper’s apartment.

  “It wasn’t that far of a walk,” Kenzie said with a smile. She looked around the room at the Collins family and nodded. “I can go back out if you need a moment to talk. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

  “Don’t leave,” Barb said as she walked up to Kenzie and took her hand. Kenzie did her best not to stiffen at the touch. This woman wouldn’t hurt her, and Kenzie needed to get over her aversion to contact if she was going to keep this job. “Let me introduce you to the family at least, and then we can all talk logistics.” She pointed over at the largest man of the three Collins brothers. “That’s Lochlan, or Loch if you want to go with that, and his daughter, Misty.”

  The large man stood next to one of the booths in the bar and gave her a slight nod. He looked a little dangerous and like he wasn’t a man of many words. But for some reason, even though he probably should have scared her, he didn’t. It was most likely because of the little girl on her knees in the seat of the booth pressed against his side. Misty gave Kenzie a small wave before turning her face into Loch’s hip and giggling.

  Shy, Kenzie thought. She could relate.

  “And this is Fox,” Barb continued. “Tabby’s on the phone next to his elbow.”

  “Hi!” a woman’s voice said from the phone. “Sorry I can’t shake your hand or anything.”

  Fox snorted and stood up, holding out his hand. “This is for Tabby I suppose.” He winked and then leaned down to kiss her knuckles. “And that’s from me.”

  Kenzie blinked then raised her brow as she pulled her hand away from him. “Thanks,” she said dryly.

  Loch let out a low chuckle as Fox shrugged and went back to his seat.

  “What’s happening?” Tabby asked. “Is Fox being a dork again?”

  “As always,” Dare replied.

  “And this is Dare,” Barb said, narrowing her eyes at her son. “And he’s going to apologize for that remark he made as you walked into the room.”

  Kenzie held up her hand and shook her head. “No need. He didn’t realize I was there, and all of this was thrown on him at the last minute, yes?” She looked directly at Dare and raised her chin again. “Since you own this part of the building, that means you and I will be working alongside each other for the time being. Let’s not start off on the wrong foot, shall we?”

  Dare stared at her for a long minute before letting out a breath. “We’ll see.” He turned to his parents as he stood up from his seat. “I need to go get some paperwork done. After you’re through with this meeting, come find me in my office and show me what you have since it seems I have no say in this.”

  “Dare…” his mother began.

  Dare held up his hand. “No. I need to think, and if I don’t leave now, I’m going to say something I’ll regret.” He blew out a breath. “I know this is good for you, and I’m happy you’re finally taking time for yourselves, but doing it behind our backs? Well, I just need to go. Okay?” And with that, he walked out without giving anyone another glance. The others watched him leave, mixed looks of disappointment and that familiar broodiness on their faces before they started up their conversations again. Kenzie watched as Loch kissed the top of his daughter’s head before showing her a game on his tablet.

  These people were a family, and they seemed beyond close, and now Kenzie was here to stand in the middle of that. Okay, maybe not the actual middle, but close enough, it seemed.

  Before the others could ask her questions and bring her into their talk, she quietly walked out of the bar and toward the back of the building to the inn. There was an outdoor entrance as well, but since she was already inside, she stayed and went to the staircase.

  “I’d apologize like my mother wants, but I’m not sure what I’d say.”

  She turned at the sound of Dare’s voice, doing her best not to jump out of her skin. She hadn’t been aware he was in the hall, and she was surprised that she hadn’t screamed.

  “First off, I’m not just some city girl, Mr. Collins. I have ten years of experience in hotels and inns, as well as five of those in management. I have a degree in hotel management, and another in business. I know what I’m doing, and I don’t care to be called names simply because I’m not from this small town.”

  Dare tilted his head as he studied her. “You’re from the city, hence…city girl. And you might know what you’re doing when it comes to hotels and other inns, but here in Whiskey? I don’t know you, and I don’t know what the plans are for the Old Whiskey Inn. But since I happen to own the other part of this building and run both of my businesses here, forgive me if I’m a little pissed off that I didn’t know what was happening with the other third of the building.”

  And this was why she hadn’t agreed with Barb and Bob’s decision to not tell their children right away about the changes they wanted to make to the inn. They’d wanted to go to others with plans and details so no one would have to worry about the what-ifs, and while Kenzie somewhat understood that stance, she’d seen the other side, as well. What Barb and Bob wanted to do might have worked if this family weren’t so close. They’d wanted to ease the burden on their children but, instead, they had only caused anxiety and whatever else was to come.

  “I understand that,” she said after a moment. “And, frankly, I agree with you.” She must have surprised him, because his eyes widened.

  “You agree?”

  She nodded. “I think your parents should have told you. This is a business,
and you’re family. The reasons they didn’t are their own, and I’m sure once you give them a chance they’ll try to explain it to you, but you have every right to be mad.”

  He opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off.

  “What you do not have the right to do is blame me for this. You also do not have a right to treat me like anything less than my position here dictates because you’re throwing a tantrum. I might be new to Whiskey, and my job here may have surprised you, but you need to get over whatever attitude you have toward me.”

  Dare snorted. “Attitude? Who exactly are you talking about? Me, or you? Because I said one damn thing, and now I apparently have an attitude problem when it comes to you. But, lady? You’re the one who walked in here with a stick up your ass and your chin raised like you were looking for a fight.”

  “Call me lady again and see what happens.”

  Something flashed in his eyes. “I just might.”

  Unnerved, she took a step back and immediately regretted it. She’d told herself she would never back down again, yet here she was, doing it once more because a man dared to look at her with heat in his gaze. Whether that flash was from anger or something else, she didn’t know. All she knew was that she needed to get a handle on herself and get back to talking about work and not whatever the hell was going on just then.

  “When you’re ready to talk about what we have planned for the inn, let me know. Until then, I’ll be up in my room, unpacking.”

  Dare frowned. “You’re living here now?”

  She nodded. “I moved in last night thanks to your parents. Eventually, I’ll be making that room into the innkeeper’s suite for myself or anyone who comes after me, but that won’t be for a while since we’re planning on making that the last of the construction so I can live here while working on the business side of things with your parents.”