“I’d like an IPA.”
“An IPA,” he said. “Wow.”
“Do you have a commentary on my choice of beer?” she asked as Laz turned and retrieved a bottle for her.
“I made my commentary.” He turned his attention to the bartender. “I’ll have whatever you’ve got on tap that isn’t an IPA.”
“I imagine you have opinions on the masculinity of that beer?”
“Not particularly. I didn’t ever figure beer had a gender.”
“You know what I mean,” she said.
“I just think it’s bad beer. And if I wanted to lick a pine tree I would.”
“I would almost pay good money to watch you do a wine tasting.”
“Why is that?”
“Because I imagine that your palate is as unsophisticated as the rest of you.”
He chuckled. “And I imagine you think that’s an insult. But, in order for me to feel insulted by that I would have to care.”
“Thank you,” she said to Laz, ignoring him completely.
“You can put her terrible drink on my tab too,” Wyatt said, turning away from the bar.
“Don’t put my drink on your tab,” Lindy said. “Don’t put my drink on his tab,” she said to Laz.
“Put the drink on my tab,” Wyatt reiterated.
“I’ll pay for the drink if you don’t knock it off,” Laz said.
“I can pay for the drink,” Lindy said, through gritted teeth. “Put his drink on my tab.”
“This isn’t a contest,” he said.
“I’m not a charity case,” Lindy said. “We are in a business partnership.”
“I wasn’t treating you like a charity case. I was just going to pay for your drink.”
She lifted her chin, her expression defiant. “And I don’t need you to.”
“I’m not really sure why you’re intent on making all of this a battle. We’re working together, remember?”
“I know,” she said, but she sounded slightly more subdued than she had a moment ago.
“I swear, I enjoy getting on your nerves, but I’m not actively trying to start a fight with you.”
She looked skeptical. “Is there a difference?”
“Yes. I like to tease you. I don’t actually want to make it so the two of us can’t have a conversation.”
“I don’t like to be teased,” she said, looking at him from beneath blond lashes.
She looked younger right then. He didn’t know why. It made him want to be nicer. To try to be a little bit more sincere.
“That’s going to be a problem,” he said. “Because I am what I am.”
“I didn’t sign on to be teased,” she said. “I just want to make this work.”
The two of them stepped away from the bar, but didn’t head back to the tables. “So let me ask you this,” he said, a thought occurring to him for the first time. “Did you approach me to make this partnership to get back at Damien?”
Her expression turned mulish. “Why would you think that?”
“Because. He’s my friend. You’re his ex-wife.”
“Do you really consider him a friend?”
Wyatt shrugged. “I’ll be honest with you, I haven’t talked to him in a couple of months. I’m not part of the rodeo circuit anymore, so we’re not really running in the same circles. Some people you hang out with mostly because of the proximity. Not because you choose to. And I’d be lying if I said his behavior during the end of your marriage didn’t impact my opinion of him.”
She blinked. “Really?”
“Yes. What he did was a jerk move.”
She frowned. “I wouldn’t have thought you would care much either way.”
“Turns out I do.” He let out slow breath. “Fact of the matter is, I’ve never done commitment. But hey, maybe that’s because I know myself well enough to know I’m not cut out for it. I figure if a man makes vows he ought to keep them.”
“So, you think he’s a jerk?” she asked, her fingers shifting over the bottle of beer, making him think of what it would be like to have those fingers on him.
“Oh, honey, I know he’s a jerk,” Wyatt said.
“Well, that’s mildly placating, I have to say.”
“I’m a lot of things, Lindy,” he said, not using her full name, seeking as much of a truce as they could continue to have. “But I’m a man of my word. That means I don’t give it very often. But a man only has his word, as far as I’m concerned, when all is said and done. If I can’t promise something, I don’t. That means I have no respect for a man who can’t do the same.”
She narrowed her eyes, her blue gaze roaming over his face as if she was seeing him for the first time. “I value that in a business partner. It has to be said.”
“Good. I can’t promise that I’m not going to irritate you after this, you understand that, right?”
“Now you’re forcing me to respect that. Since you’re refusing to say something just to placate me, and you’re standing by that honesty thing.” She sighed, as if she was intensely aggrieved. “But, I guess I have to accept that, don’t I?”
“You don’t have to. But it would make things easier.”
“Fine. Anyway, thank you for your comments on the brochures.”
“I still don’t really care about the brochures.”
“If you want then I can go ahead without asking you for your opinion on things like design.”
“I’d kind of like that,” he said, then he frowned. “But I don’t want you to feel like it’s all on you either.”
The crease between her brows relaxed, and he realized this might be the first time he had ever seen her without it. “Really?”
“You’re doing a hell of a lot, Lindy. It doesn’t seem right to put it all on you.”
“You’re the one basically reopening his business right now. The winery has been slowly expanding, but I’ve never had to do a full relaunch. I think right now your plate is probably a little bit fuller than mine.”
“Okay.
