Make Me Exhale

Make Me Exhale OIL BARRONS BOOK 5 MARIE JOHNSTON LE PUBLISHING Copyright © 2023 by Marie Johnston Editing by Evident Ink Proofing by MBE, Judy’s Proofreading, and Deaton Author Services Cover by Shanoff Designs Photographer: Wander Aguiar Model: Kaio Q. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. The characters, places, and events in this story are fictional. Any similarities to real people, places, or events are coincidental and unintentional. Created with Vellum Trust fund? Check. Plans to restore an old train foundry into a brewery? Check. Grumpy project manager? Sigh . . . check. If I wanted to deal with a man just like my uptight dad, I would’ve told my parents what my brewery plans were. Only I didn’t tell anyone. I waited for my trust fund to deliver once I turned twenty-five, and I bought the old train foundry I’d been eyeing for years. Then McCoy Cunningham shows up. I’m told he’s the best. He’s older than me and knows both sides of the business—the restoration and the brewing. But all I’ve gotten from him are scowls and dismissive grunts. McCoy might think he’s the expert, he might look at me like I should be in diapers with pigtails, but he’s wrong if he thinks he can bulldoze me. All it takes is one look. One time I catch him eyeing me with something other than disdain. One conversation where we’re geeking out over yeast strains and hops. One kiss that leads to more. I promised myself I’d never settle for a guarded man who thinks he knows everything, especially one who won’t put me before business. And after what McCoy's been through, he’s all about work. No personal entanglements. The last thing I need is to be left with flat beer and a broken heart. Contents 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 About the Author Also by Marie Johnston One Isla It wasn’t every day a girl got a trust fund and bought an old train foundry. And it wasn’t every day that a twenty-five-year-old got to drive to her old building and picture the brewery and event center it was going to turn into. Okay, that part was every day. I’d been here daily since I closed on the property a few weeks ago. My family didn’t know yet. Only my real estate agent, my lawyer, and the contractors I’d hired to restore the building and build the brewery. Really, it was a miracle the deal was kept quiet, but I had insisted on discretion. No one else needed to be involved in my business unless I invited them in. I learned that lesson from my family. No one was allowed in a Barron’s business—not even other Barrons. I kept my gaze on the highway and called my brother using Bluetooth. “Can I use the zero turn tomorrow?” “Dad’s mower’s not working?” Stetson asked. “No. It’s for the old foundry outside of town.” I bit my lower lip and went for it, my hand tightening around the wheel. My stomach roiled. I couldn’t believe I’d kept my plans to myself for this long. Now it was time to face my family, and I’d start with the easiest first. “I bought it.” I would’ve told Lyric first, my best friend and new sister-in-law, but she was a new mom who’d gone back to work full-time. She had enough going on, and I was in the foreign territory of not knowing when I was bothering her. An odd feeling. I’d never withheld parts of my life from her. In my family, secrets were best left unspoken—even if the whole town knew about them anyway. Lyric was who I turned to, and now she was in a different stage of her life, while I still lived with my parents to save my trust fund for my building plans. “You did what?” he asked almost absentmindedly, like he couldn’t possibly have heard me right. “Used my trust fund money to buy the old foundry off 200. It’ll be an event center and brewery.” I chewed my lip through his silence. Stetson was my doting older brother, but sometimes I wondered if he did so much for me because he didn’t think I could handle the work or responsibility myself. I was afraid to ask. I guessed I would find out now. His tone was almost neutral, but he couldn’t suppress his astonishment. “Serious?” “Dead.” “Mom and Dad don’t know?” “Not yet. I’ll talk to them tonight, but the project manager is arriving soon, and I want to tame the weeds around the place.” “You’ve already . . . shit, Isla.” He didn’t sound disappointed, but he’d be shocked for the rest of the day. Hurt dimmed my sunny mood. Did he think the foundry was an impulsive purchase? That I hadn’t thought it through? “I’ve been planning it for a while. All I needed was the money to make it happen.” “Yeah, okay.” I could picture him taking his ball cap off and wiping the back of his wrist across his forehead with a stunned look on his face. “Sure. You, uh, need me to bring it by?” And there was the rub—other than his disbelief. I owned the place, but that was about all. I didn’t have a pickup, lawn care equipment, or even a simple push mower. “No, I can meet you any time that’s good for you.” “Not a problem. Lyric works tomorrow, so I’ll have Rina with me, but I can bring it—” “I’ll do it.” Stetson had a big heart. He’d take over, and I’d let