Whiskey Reveals
Carrie Ann Ryan
Contents
Praise for Carrie Ann Ryan….
Whiskey Reveals
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Epilogue
A BONUS SCENE
A Note from Carrie Ann
About Carrie Ann
More from Carrie Ann
Fallen Ink
Delicate Ink
Love Restored
Whiskey Reveals
A Whiskey and Lies Novel
By: Carrie Ann Ryan
© 2018 Carrie Ann Ryan
ISBN: 978-1-943123-85-8
* * *
Cover Art by Charity Hendry
Photo by Jenn Leblanc
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person or use proper retail channels to lend a copy. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
All characters in this book are fiction and figments of the author’s imagination.
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Praise for Carrie Ann Ryan….
“Carrie Ann Ryan knows how to pull your heartstrings and make your pulse pound! Her wonderful Redwood Pack series will draw you in and keep you reading long into the night. I can’t wait to see what comes next with the new generation, the Talons. Keep them coming, Carrie Ann!”
–Lara Adrian, New York Times bestselling author of CRAVE THE NIGHT
“Carrie Ann Ryan never fails to draw readers in with passion, raw sensuality, and characters that pop off the page. Any book by Carrie Ann is an absolute treat.”
–New York Times Bestselling Author J. Kenner
“With snarky humor, sizzling love scenes, and brilliant, imaginative worldbuilding, The Dante’s Circle series reads as if Carrie Ann Ryan peeked at my personal wish list!”
–NYT Bestselling Author, Larissa Ione
“Carrie Ann Ryan writes sexy shifters in a world full of passionate happily-ever-afters.”
–New York Times Bestselling Author Vivian Arend
“Carrie Ann’s books are sexy with characters you can’t help but love from page one. They are heat and heart blended to perfection.”
–New York Times Bestselling Author Jayne Rylon
Carrie Ann Ryan’s books are wickedly funny and deliciously hot, with plenty of twists to keep you guessing. They’ll keep you up all night!”
–USA Today Bestselling Author Cari Quinn
“Once again, Carrie Ann Ryan knocks the Dante’s Circle series out of the park. The queen of hot, sexy, enthralling paranormal romance, Carrie Ann is an author not to miss!”
–New York Times bestselling Author Marie Harte
Dedication
To the whiskey lovers who happen to love Whiskey and Lies.
This one is for you.
Whiskey Reveals
One whiskey-saturated night turns into something far more in the second standalone installment of the bestselling Whiskey and Lies series from NYT Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan.
Fox Collins likes his life just the way it is. His siblings are falling in love all around him, but he’d much rather focus on his next story than on a serious relationship. However, when his latest one-night stand returns to Whiskey—this time for good—he’ll need to learn to trust his instincts to figure out if he can live without her in his life.
Former dancer Melody Waters is finally ready to settle down in her grandmother’s small Pennsylvania hometown. Bad decisions and fateful nights have changed her path more than once, but now she’s focused on one thing: opening her new own dance studio. But fate is a funny thing, and once again, she’ll be forced to learn that actions have consequences and some repercussions can not only change your life forever, they can also come back to haunt you…one broken promise at a time.
Chapter 1
Fox Collins never wanted to wake up.
At least not while he was having the best damn dream of his life. He wasn’t necessarily fully asleep at the moment, but rather half dream-like snoozing, where he could wield his subconscious to finish the delicious dream he’d been having. Meaning, any sound could wake him up, and thinking about it too hard could also rip him from sleep.
That meant he quickly shoved those too complicated thoughts out of his head to avoid waking and went back to the delectable blonde currently sucking his cock. Sadly, she was only his dream woman, not real, but he’d take what he could get since this was one damn sexy figment of his imagination. The fact that she was sort of based on a real person was, again, one of those thoughts he wasn’t going to think about since he wanted this part of his morning to continue.
His blonde licked up his shaft, her tongue like magic and warmth and everything that made him want to come right there. But he held himself back—barely. She slowly sucked on the crown, the tip of her tongue playing with his slit, and his eyes mentally rolled to the back of his head, his body shaking both in and out of the dream.
She was so damn sexy, all curves and softness. There was a strength to her, as well. Something that had taken him for a ride the one time they’d had sex out of his dreams, but he wasn’t going to focus on that either. Instead, he would only think about her on her knees on the bed in front of him, as he lay back to let her suck him down. She bobbed her head, her eyes meeting his as she took him whole.
He didn’t reach out to touch her, didn’t let his hands follow the curves of her soft skin. As soon as he did that, he knew he’d wake up. He always did. Because he’d never be able to reach her. It was as if his brain wouldn’t allow him to remember exactly how perfect she felt in his arms—even if those memories were wrapped in a whiskey-laced fog.
His blonde squeezed his dick, and his eyes crossed, his hips bucking off the bed. He shouted her name, but only her first since she’d refused to give him her last, and found himself awake in his bed, his stomach sticky, and his own hand wrapped around the base of his cock.
He was alone, somewhat sated, and as he looked over at the clock on his nightstand…running late.
“Well, Melody, it seems I just can’t quit you.” His voice sounded loud in the emptiness of his room, and he let out a sigh. Apparently, Fox wasn’t the best at one-night stands—even if he’d tried to be. And, now, the blonde from his single night playing with whiskey and fate haunted his dreams and his dick.
He quirked a smile at that. A haunted dick? That could be a fun story to write. He might be the owner and editor of the Whiskey Chronicles, but he could take an afternoon and write a short story just for fun. It would keep his skills sharp, and frankly, he could use a laugh. It had been a long few months with deadline after deadline, and his dream woman continued to seep into his subconscious to the point where he wasn’t sleeping nearly enough.
His second alarm went off o
n his phone, and he sighed. He’d jacked off in his sleep through the first one, and that meant he had no more time to stay wrapped in his sweaty sheets and brood. Plus, he wasn’t the broody brother, he let that title go to Loch—and maybe even Dare before he’d met Kenzie.
And now, he was thinking about his brothers and his future sister-in-law while naked in bed because he didn’t want to get up and go to work.
He’d officially hit rock bottom.
Fox rolled out of bed, careful to keep his dick close to his stomach so he didn’t make more of a mess and went to clean himself up at least slightly. Before he even took a shower, he went back into his bedroom and stripped off his sheets. This was the second time this week he’d woken to a dream like that, and he was already getting tired of doing laundry.
Knowing he needed coffee before he did anything else, he strode naked to his kitchen and made himself a cup while checking his email and looking over the news on his phone. He’d read the physical publications as well since he was in the paper business and tried to keep up with both formats, but for now, he just wanted to check on any headlines. And with the world as it was, it seemed there was almost hourly breaking news these days.
That was one reason he liked living and working in Whiskey. It was not only his hometown where he knew every single person in residence—other than the tourists, of course—but it was also quiet enough most days that he could get to the heart of the town with its news rather than reading horror stories day in and day out. Maybe, at one time in his life, he’d have liked to be the hardcore reporter who worked on terrifying and heartbreaking news until the wee hours of the morning, but he’d learned long ago that he needed balance in his life in order to make his writing mean something. There needed to be substantial pieces of good news amongst the horrors, and finding a way to do that without looking as if they were merely fluff pieces was his juggling act.
“And now I’m getting way too philosophical on half a cup of coffee. Not to mention, talking to myself.” He drained the rest of his mug and set it under the spout for when he got out of the shower and wanted his second cup. He was on a three-cup-a-day rule and would switch to water after his third, but he tended to drink all three at once. Probably not exactly what his doctor wanted, but it wasn’t as if he were going to change his habits anytime soon.
Fox rolled his shoulders and, still naked, made his way back the bathroom so he could shower and finish getting ready for the day. For a man already late, he sure was taking his time. Of course, since he owned the paper, he could come and go as he pleased, but he didn’t like showing up after the rest of his staff. He needed to at least show some responsibility.
Thoughts of his dream blonde filtered into his mind again, and his cock stiffened once more. Defeated, he looked down at his stiffening dick and frowned.
“Traitor.”
He didn’t live by his dick and actually needed to get to work, so it looked as though he’d be finishing up his shower as a cold one. Again.
Damn it.
Chapter 2
“I have eleven inches of copy, but I need to cut it down to ten,” Nancy, his sports writer, said as she frowned down at her work. “They’re a damn good eleven.”
Fox resisted rolling his eyes since this wasn’t the first time Nancy had come into his office wanting more space for her work. He kept his gaze on the balls in front of him, juggling so he could keep his mind on task rather than floating to the million and one things he needed to get done before they got the paper out in the morning, as well as the countless stories that needed to be done during the week for the online editions.
“I’m sure they’re good. But you have room for ten inches, so cut.” He set one ball down on his desk and caught the other two in one hand. It had taken him years to get that trick down, but he couldn’t smile in victory while being the boss. He didn’t usually juggle while his reporters were talking to him, but Nancy had come into his office unannounced, and he hadn’t bothered to stop what he was doing. When he needed to think about his work and couldn’t get in the right mindset, he juggled, and Nancy had interrupted that. Again. But this was his job, so he didn’t grumble like he might have otherwise.
“But I have eleven.” She raised her chin, and he held back a sigh. “At least read it and tell me what you think.”
He nodded. “Send it over.” In all honesty, the eleven inches were probably better than great, but he didn’t have space for that extra inch. They’d make it work if needed, but that wasn’t the point.
Nancy beamed. “Thank you.” She pressed something on her tablet, and his computer beeped, signaling an email. “I’ll be out there working on my next story.” She gave him a nod before leaving him alone in his office. Thankfully, she shut the door behind her so he could get his thoughts in order.
He had two large pieces he was currently working on that would take a couple of days to get done, plus an upcoming editorial that he’d been looking forward to for the past few months. He needed to get his interviews scheduled, look over the next set of stories coming in, and do a few more admin things before he headed out for the day, but he was getting things done—even if he was still exhausted from not sleeping well enough. He could blame his imaginary blonde all he wanted, but he knew it wasn’t only her. Not this time. He was the one dreaming of her, after all. He needed to get her out of his head and away from his dreams.
He’d met her once at his brother’s bar. Had far too much whiskey, and had taken her home where he’d proceeded to have the best sex of his life. She’d been gone the next morning with just a note saying “thank you.” That was it. No number, no promises, just the memory of her taste and her torn panties on his floor.
Of course, now, he was thinking of the fact that she’d left his house in a dress wearing no panties, and he had to force himself to think of hockey stats so he could keep his erection under control. He was at work for hell’s sake.
He looked down at the time on his computer and shook his head. He wasn’t getting work done in his office today, so he’d just take his work to his brother’s place and get the buzz of tourists and the town into his system. If anyone from the office needed him, they knew how to get ahold of him and where to find him. Most of them worked outside the office a couple of times a week since sitting in one place for too long wasn’t always conducive to writing.
He let the others know where he was going, packed up his laptop, tablet, and the other things he needed to get his work done, and headed down the street to the Old Whiskey Bar and Resturant with the Old Whiskey Inn attached to the top levels. He didn’t know how his brother handled all of that on his own. Well, he did since Kenzie managed the inn, and Dare had a whole staff for the restaurant side, but in the end, Dare did most of the work, especially after their parents retired. More often than not, Fox came in and helped out behind the bar on the weekends since that’s what family did, but Dare could have done it without him. His former cop brother was that capable and more. And now that he had Kenzie in his life, Fox had a feeling Dare would get even better at managing all aspects of his life.
Hell, he already handled being a father and working the hours he did. And their other brother, Loch, did the same with his daughter, Misty—and Loch didn’t even have the girl’s mother in the picture like Dare did with Nate’s mom. Their sister, Tabby, was a newlywed out in Denver and managed a whole company as well as her husband Alex’s photography career since she was just that damn good at scheduling. Somehow, Fox felt like the slacker of the bunch without kids and with only one job, but he worked really long hours.
Maybe Fox needed a new hobby or something to make sure he kept up with his siblings. Then he remembered that he was already taking night classes for such a thing and owned the Whiskey Chronicles. He was doing just fine, damn it, and he needed to stop forgetting that. Fox ran a hand over his face, thinking it might not be too early for a drink. Of course, the thought of the last time he’d had a glass of whiskey entered his mind, and he quickly shut it away.
No use getting hard and annoyed in front of his family.
Fox passed the hostess station at the bar and nodded at Claire, Dare’s front of house manager, as he walked into the building. She smiled, and Fox couldn’t help but smile back. Her crisp, white shirt just set off the glow of her dark skin, and every time he came by for dinner, she always took care of him herself. There was no attraction between them, but they were friends who cared about his brother. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kenzie moving fast on her sky-high heels as she went up the stairs. Since the inn was on top of the bar and restaurant, she was forever moving from level to level, and because she seemed to be in work mode—something he needed to get into soon—he didn’t bother her.
Dare was behind the counter, cleaning glasses like any good barkeep when Fox made his way to the left side of the building where the bar was. Each half of the restaurant served food and drinks, but Fox tended to like the left more since it wasn’t as formal and he could hang out with his family. Plus, the other side wasn’t open yet since he was here during that weird time between lunch and dinner when the restaurant was setting up for the latter.
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