Adjunct Lovers

By Liz Crowe

A brew that brings two lovers full circle.

When Ross and Elisa open their new business in Detroit, they believe they've embarked on a dream life, complete with their beloved, precocious daughter. But owning and running a restaurant is not for the faint of heart and Elle quickly becomes laser-focused and obsessed, while Ross spends his days consulting, or concocting new beers on his pilot system—and wondering why she won't agree to set a date for their wedding. When their restaurant—named Komfort' for its focus on the comfort foods of various cultures—is featured on a nationally televised tour of hot new eateries, its popularity shoots into the stratosphere and Elle's stress level reaches a breaking point.

Faced with a mutual inability to communicate beyond their robust sex life, Ross issues an ill-considered ultimatum—the restaurant or him. Stunned when she refuses to consider such a ridiculous demand, he's forced to come to terms with his own selfish tendencies. Hoping to repair the damage he's done, he concocts a new beer inspired by her, using a recipe for a classic German-style Klch. He crafts the final product using a special ingredient designed to catch Elle's attention. It does. But not necessarily the way he'd planned.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Totally Bound Publishing
• Release date: Jul 18, 2017
• ISBN: 9781786862464

Liz Crowe

Biography Liz Crowe is a Kentucky native and graduate of the University of Louisville living in Central Illinois. She's spent her time as a three-continent expat trailing spouse, mom of three, real estate agent, brewery owner and bar manager, and is currently a social media consultant and humane society development director, in addition to being an award-winning author. With stories set in the not-so-common worlds of breweries, on the soccer pitch, inside fictional television stations and successful real estate offices, and even in exotic locales like Istanbul, Turkey, her books are compelling 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, at times frustrate, and always linger in the imagination long after the book is finished.

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Adjunct Lovers

ISBN # 978-1-78686-246-4

©Copyright Liz Crowe 2017

Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright June 2017

Edited by Sue Meadows

Totally Bound Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Totally Bound Publishing.

Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Totally Bound Publishing. Unauthorized or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

Published in 2017 by Totally Bound Publishing, Think Tank, Ruston Way, Lincoln, LN6 7FL, UK

Totally Bound Publishing is a subsidiary of Totally Entwined Group Limited.

Warning:

This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has a heat rating of Totally Simmering and a Sexometer of 2.

ADJUNCT LOVERS

Liz Crowe

A Brewing Passion Novella

A brew that brings two lovers full circle.

When Ross and Elisa open their new business in Detroit, they believe they’ve embarked on a dream life, complete with their beloved, precocious daughter. But owning and running a restaurant is not for the faint of heart and Elle quickly becomes laser-focused and obsessed, while Ross spends his days consulting, or concocting new beers on his pilot system—and wondering why she won’t agree to set a date for their wedding. When their restaurant—named ‘Komfort’ for its focus on the comfort foods of various cultures—is featured on a nationally televised tour of hot new eateries, its popularity shoots into the stratosphere and Elle’s stress level reaches a breaking point.

Faced with a mutual inability to communicate beyond their robust sex life, Ross issues an ill-considered ultimatum—the restaurant or him. Stunned when she refuses to consider such a ridiculous demand, he’s forced to come to terms with his own selfish tendencies. Hoping to repair the damage he’s done, he concocts a new beer inspired by her, using a recipe for a classic German-style Kölch. He crafts the final product using a special ingredient designed to catch Elle’s attention. It does. But not necessarily the way he’d planned.

Dedication

This novella is dedicated to Christa and Ryan Kilpatrick

Adjunct Lovers is a novella inspired by the brewing of an actual Kölsch with guava at Fiction Beer Company, in Denver, Colorado. It will be available in limited quantities at the brewery’s tap room at 7101 East Colfax Avenue, Denver, CO during the summer of 2017. More information available at www.fictionbeer.com.

An Adjunct is a thing added to something else as a supplementary rather than an essential part.

Within the language of brewing, the term adjunct has come to imply inferiority, as in American adjunct lager and adjunct-laden macro-brew. But adjuncts have long held an important role in brewing, and some of today’s most sought-after beers (e.g., Pliny the Elder and Westvleteren 12) include adjuncts. — Beer and Brewing Magazine

Reinheitsgebot: Also known as the German purity law for beer that states beer is only beer if it includes water, barley and hops.

Trademarks Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

Star Wars: The Walt Disney Company

Yelp: Yelp

Netflix: Netflix, Inc.

Disney Channel: The Walt Disney Company

Montessori: American Montessori Society

Food Network: Scripps Networks Interactive and Tribune (FN) Cable Ventures Inc.

Comerica Park: Olympia Entertainment

EpiPen: Mylan Speciality L.P.

Chapter One

So help me, Ross muttered under his breath as Elle stomped away from him, the set of her slight shoulders and the sight of her clenched fists a reminder of why he loved her—but at the same time how she’d made him put his own fist through the drywall of their modest Detroit loft that very morning. His shoulders tensed when he averted his gaze from her retreating back. He forced himself to relax by focusing on the pilot system he’d bought, where he’d been busy and content a few minutes ago, working through a new recipe he hoped Austin would let him try on their larger system the following month.

But his brain was boiling with rage and he gave up after a few minutes spent tinkering with the ingredients. He sat and stared at the three-vessel Brew Magic that he’d treated himself to with his last giant consulting payment. His vision wavered and wobbled then finally settled as his pulse calmed along with his heartbeat. When he reached out to touch one of the stainless steel vessels, it felt cool under his hand. That calmed him further.

The old theater that he and his fiancé had converted to house the restaurant that he’d dreamed up and she’d agreed to, included a bit of warehouse-style space in back for him to call his brewery, where he would utilize this shiny new toy he’d bought and the mini distilling one he’d ordered. Ross loved it back here. It kept him in tune with the restaurant and yet allowed him plenty of space and quiet where he could concoct to his heart’s content. He spent the days he wasn’t running around the country trying to help hapless breweries get their relative shit together for embarrassingly large sums of money, here—so he could be close to Elle and yet on his own at the same time.

But lately, he’d begun to doubt the advisability of this arrangement.

When he checked the time on his phone, still keeping a hand on one of the metal tanks that had been delivered and set up, he heard the sound that never failed to lift his heart and his spirits no matter how shitty his day.

Papa! Where are you? What is that? Can I touch it?

A small form raced past him, her wild blonde curls barely contained by a pink hair tie. Even with her Star Wars backpack still strapped to her shoulders, the girl shimmied up to the metal platform and stood with her hands braced on two of the vessels, grinning at him. He grinned back, unable to stop himself as the cool breeze of happiness that never failed to suffuse his entire being at the sight of his almost three-year-old daughter went further toward lifting his mood.

My sweet, he said, speaking to her in German, even though she’d begun the conversation in English. This is Papa’s new pilot brewing system. He crossed his