Gravity
Brewing Passion #4
Brewing Passion #4
Author: Liz Crowe
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: September 26, 2017
Cover Designer: Emmy Ellis, Totally Bound Publishing
Series Blurb
A unique new romance series set in the trending world of the craft brewery. Meet the owners, employees and friends of Fitzgerald Brewing as they live, love, lust and laugh their way through the ups, downs and sideways shifts of small business ownership.
Blurb
When Brock Fitzgerald is welcomed back into his family thanks to the sympathy of his sister-in-law Evelyn and the tolerance of his twin brother, Austin, he understands that this may be the best he’ll ever get for himself. Years spent partying, drinking, and screwing his way through life have left him drained, exhausted, and accepting of his many weaknesses. He’s grateful for the second chance he’s been offered, even as he continues to battle his demons, including one that leads him back into co-dependency with his oldest girlfriend.
Kayla Hettinger never imagined that once she declared herself clean after several near-overdoses of opiates she’d find herself tending bar for her brother’s fiancée Melody, and enjoying what life she’d managed to build. When she strikes up a friendship with Brock over shared experiences and ginger ale, she discovers something needier and more frightening inside herself—and in Brock—than either of them feels equipped to handle.
Breaking through the clutter of addiction and despair only to find your soulmate waiting on the other side seems like the stuff of fairy tales—until Brock and Kayla accept that being dependent on one another is the only way they’ll survive.
Rated R for language & content
He lurched to the fridge and yanked it open, grabbing the first beer he saw. It was cool and innocuous in his palm. “Drink me,” it urged him. “Just one. You can do it. Don’t listen to all those doctors, therapists and other experts. You can drink me. And then another me. Fuck everybody else. This is your motherfucking life. Go on. Drink me, you god damned pussy!”
He shoved the neck of the bottle into the retro steel opener next to the fridge. The smell hit his lizard brain like the smell of a woman. He sucked in a breath, and put the bottle to his lips.
“I don’t think so,” Austin said, carefully prying the thing out of his hands and pouring it into the sink. Brock shivered in the hyper-cooled interior. His teeth chattered and his skin broke out in goose bumps.
“Fuck you, Mr. Perfect.” He grabbed another bottle, opened it and right when he was about to take his first, glorious gulp of alcohol in years, Austin took it away and dumped it down the drain.
They played this game through four perfectly good beers, Austin pouring them away as if they were nothing more than water. The fifth time he reached for one, Austin grabbed his arm and dragged him away from the fridge. Without even thinking, he swung, connecting in a fairly satisfactory way with his twin brother’s jaw.
To his surprise, Austin simply held on to him, gripping his arms tight to his body, their faces level, their eyes locked. “I won’t let you do it, do you hear me? I will not lose you again.” Austin’s voice was calm. Drops of his spit sprayed Brock’s face. He tensed, struggled, knowing he was stronger, after all his workouts at the hands of his trainer-slash-torturer. But Austin didn’t budge. Brock felt his brother’s legs against his. The soft fabric of his polo shirt against his bare stomach. He reared back and bunched his arm muscles, determined to spring free, grab some beers and hightail it down the beach.
Just a little party. I can handle it.
“Fuck. You,” he spat at Austin’s face.
“I’m not letting you go. I don’t care if we stand here all night.”
“Christ, fine.” He made himself relax. But Austin only tightened his grip.
“I love you, Brock. Stop trying so hard to prove how great you are, okay? Just be you.”
“Be me? Seriously? I suck. We all know that.”
“No, brother, we don’t.” Austin let him go so quickly he stumbled forward, whamming his knees into the kitchen island cabinets. He caught himself, propping his hands on the huge expanse of dark granite countertop. Everything drained from him then—anger, frustration, energy, remorse. The urge to drink until he passed out. Everything … but resignation.
“I’ll never be normal,” he whispered down the counter as if it could answer him.
“Normal is overrated.” Austin patted his back, rubbing between his shoulder blades, calming him. He didn’t fight it for a change, as his mind slowly settled. “Here,” Austin said, handing him his evening pill cocktail and a glass of water. He looked at them both, knowing that they would both help and hurt. They would quell the marching ant army but would also leave him depleted, limp, and with a shitty taste in his mouth.
He shoved the neck of the bottle into the retro steel opener next to the fridge. The smell hit his lizard brain like the smell of a woman. He sucked in a breath, and put the bottle to his lips.
“I don’t think so,” Austin said, carefully prying the thing out of his hands and pouring it into the sink. Brock shivered in the hyper-cooled interior. His teeth chattered and his skin broke out in goose bumps.
“Fuck you, Mr. Perfect.” He grabbed another bottle, opened it and right when he was about to take his first, glorious gulp of alcohol in years, Austin took it away and dumped it down the drain.
They played this game through four perfectly good beers, Austin pouring them away as if they were nothing more than water. The fifth time he reached for one, Austin grabbed his arm and dragged him away from the fridge. Without even thinking, he swung, connecting in a fairly satisfactory way with his twin brother’s jaw.
To his surprise, Austin simply held on to him, gripping his arms tight to his body, their faces level, their eyes locked. “I won’t let you do it, do you hear me? I will not lose you again.” Austin’s voice was calm. Drops of his spit sprayed Brock’s face. He tensed, struggled, knowing he was stronger, after all his workouts at the hands of his trainer-slash-torturer. But Austin didn’t budge. Brock felt his brother’s legs against his. The soft fabric of his polo shirt against his bare stomach. He reared back and bunched his arm muscles, determined to spring free, grab some beers and hightail it down the beach.
Just a little party. I can handle it.
“Fuck. You,” he spat at Austin’s face.
“I’m not letting you go. I don’t care if we stand here all night.”
“Christ, fine.” He made himself relax. But Austin only tightened his grip.
“I love you, Brock. Stop trying so hard to prove how great you are, okay? Just be you.”
“Be me? Seriously? I suck. We all know that.”
“No, brother, we don’t.” Austin let him go so quickly he stumbled forward, whamming his knees into the kitchen island cabinets. He caught himself, propping his hands on the huge expanse of dark granite countertop. Everything drained from him then—anger, frustration, energy, remorse. The urge to drink until he passed out. Everything … but resignation.
“I’ll never be normal,” he whispered down the counter as if it could answer him.
“Normal is overrated.” Austin patted his back, rubbing between his shoulder blades, calming him. He didn’t fight it for a change, as his mind slowly settled. “Here,” Austin said, handing him his evening pill cocktail and a glass of water. He looked at them both, knowing that they would both help and hurt. They would quell the marching ant army but would also leave him depleted, limp, and with a shitty taste in his mouth.
Amazon best-selling author, mom of three, Realtor, beer blogger, brewery marketing expert, and soccer fan, Liz Crowe is a Kentucky native and graduate of the University of Louisville currently living in Ann Arbor. She has decades of experience in sales and fund raising, plus an eight-year stint as a three-continent, ex-pat trailing spouse.Her early forays into the publishing world led to a groundbreaking fiction subgenre, “Romance for Real Life,” which has gained thousands of fans and followers interested less in the “HEA” and more in the “WHA” (“What Happens After?”).
With stories set in the not-so-common worlds of breweries, on the soccer pitch, in successful real estate offices and at times in exotic locales like Istanbul, Turkey, her books are unique and told with a fresh voice. The Liz Crowe backlist has something for any reader seeking complex storylines with humor and complete casts of characters that will delight, frustrate and linger in the imagination long after the book is finished.
Don’t ever ask her for anything “like a Budweiser” or risk bodily injury.
The Liz Crowe voice brings something new and unique, both in settings and characters, that will thrill readers of romance, women’s fiction and chick lit alike.
“If you want a story that will grip your heart and bring all your emotions into play, then do not miss a Liz Crowe story.” ~ International Best Selling Author Desiree Holt
"Liz Crowe is my drug of choice for unconventional romance that pushes the envelope of my comfort zone." ~ Best Selling Author of the Enigma Series, Ditter Kellan
Liz Crowe writes intense true-to-life stories that make you feel. Whether it's anxiety, love, fear, hate, bliss, or loss woven into her plot lines, you will feel it deep down to your very soul. ~ Audrey Carlan, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author
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