Dream Girl Read Online Free Page B

her.
    That's why she wasn't looking for any kind of relationship in the near future.
    But Zach didn't look like a guy whose marriage had just disintegrated, however happy or unhappy it might have been. He looked genuinely happy to see her, interested ... attracted. Damn.
    "You look so different tonight.” His eyes moved warmly over her. “Very sophisticated."
    "Thank you,” she replied, and then asked flirtatiously, “Which look do you prefer?"
    He grinned and studied her more intently, sending delicious chills over her body. “I have a feeling the other night was closer to the real Ashlyn than this,” he said thoughtfully. “Although you are incredibly gorgeous tonight, I kind of like beer-drinking, pool-playing Ashlyn. But then, that's just me."
    She smiled. He was actually right. Although she'd never acquired a taste for beer, hanging out with the guys and playing pool was one of her favorite things to do. It had come in very handy the other night.
    "What about your date the other night? Did you find out why she stood you up?” Ashlyn asked.
    "No, no! I was waiting for my brother . Not a date."
    "Oh."
    He frowned. “Is that why you took off? Did you think I was seeing someone else?"
    "I wondered."
    He shook his head. “No way. I would never do that."
    Yeah, right. Scum. Too bad he was sooooo hot. She was getting warm just standing near him.
    "So tonight, I'm getting your last name and phone number,” he said, smiling winningly at her.
    "Okay,” she agreed. “So how is the beer business going?"
    "I've had better weeks,” he admitted. “We're in the middle of trying to finance an expansion so we can increase production. Demand has grown so much we can't keep up with the facility we have. So we've been busy doing research for a business plan to present to the bank, or other investors. And we've had a few internal problems lately. I won't bore you with the details."
    "That's okay.” To her own surprise, she was genuinely interested in listening to him talk about his business. “Tell me more."
    "Well ... we got an offer from one of the big breweries—Steinbrau. A really sweet deal,” he said with fervor. “But after we thought and talked about it, we just couldn't sell out to Big Beer."
    "Big Beer?"
    "Yeah, that's what we call the big three breweries...” He named them. “Together they have about ninety percent of the beer market in America. The stuff they mass produce is barely beer...” He stopped and grinned. “You've probably heard the saying ... their beer is like making love in a canoe.” He lifted a brow, waited.
    She shook her head, couldn't help but smile. “How is their beer like making love in a canoe?"
    "It's too damn close to water."
    She burst out laughing and couldn't stop herself from putting her hand on his arm and leaning into him as her body softened with mirth. Their eyes met as they laughed together.
    "Their beer may be like water, but they have unbelievable distribution networks and of course massive marketing machines,” he continued, still smiling. “As part of the deal, we'd get to tap into that, which is huge. But we just couldn't do it.” He sighed. “Anyway, we're back to finding other investors. It won't be a problem, there's lots of interest. But then this week we had another problem."
    He sipped his drink and Ashlyn looked up at him, impressed with his business knowledge. She really did want to know about his problems, strangely enough. This wasn't just putting on an act to hook him and reel him in.
    "We heard a rumor this same brewery is putting out a new ‘craft beer.’ Something that's apparently going to be just like our California Blonde Ale."
    She frowned. “They're copying you?"
    "Yeah, but we don't know how they did it.” He sighed again. “And to top all that off, my brother's having some personal problems right now.” The corners of his mouth tightened, and Ashlyn found she really didn't like that expression on him. Something fluttered deep inside