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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Natalie Caña
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April 18 - April 22, 2023
“So you want me to paint a diagram showing the steps of the distilling process on that wall.” She gave a one-shoulder shrug. “It’s just an idea.” It was a good idea. They would be closed next week while Granda underwent his procedure and began the recovery process. In theory Liam could do it then.
“Don’t just interrupt,” he grumbled. “You’ll make me lose my train of thought.” “You’d better get used to it. People are always going to interrupt with questions, comments, smart-ass jokes, and demands to know when the tasting is. You can’t let it throw you off your game, even if they’re being rude and disruptive. Feel them out.” “Yeah,” Liam drawled. “I’m not very good at reading people I don’t know.”
“So if someone starts to make wisecracks, assume they are bored or don’t get it?” “Right. What should you do in that case?” Usually he got annoyed and probably condescending, but he could see why that wasn’t the right trail to go down. “Uh, maybe explain things better?” “That’s an option, but what does that even mean? How will you know? There’s a lot of gray area there. I’d suggest that if you can tell someone or more than one person is getting bored, crack a joke or tell a funny anecdote and then just move on.” “But what if I’m not done explaining?” “Then paraphrase the shit out of it and
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“You are Liam Alexander Kane, and you are your own man. A man who is incredibly smart, talented, creative, and more than capable. Own it. And run this shit like the badass you are.” Liam experienced something unlike anything he’d ever felt before. It wasn’t a sexual desire. It wasn’t solely sexual desire. It was the need to just be close to her. A need he couldn’t resist. He stepped in close so their hands were sandwiched in between their chests. Then he bent his head until their foreheads touched. He saw her eyes widen and her mouth open in surprise, but he didn’t answer. He closed his eyes
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Kamilah had always been the only person who never tried to change him. She’d seen him and accepted him exactly as he was. When they were little, she would defend him to anyone who dared criticize him, like a warrior princess. After the accident, she never tried to make him feel bad for his pain, anger, or depression. He was the one who hadn’t been able to handle the idea of continually disappointing her like he did everyone else, so he’d pushed her away. Even after that she didn’t try to change him. She let him be.
“I really missed you.” Kamilah nuzzled into his neck. “I didn’t realize how much until now.” At her whispered confession, Liam tightened his arms. He’d always been aware of how much he missed her. Like missing your own bed after traveling or fresh water while marooned on a desert island made up of nothing but rocks and sand. “I’ve missed you too,” he said, thinking of all the times she tried to reach out to him and he’d rebuffed her.
“I knew my Liam was still in there. It’s nice to see you, old friend.” My Liam. Holy shit, did he like the sound of that! As if he were something special she’d been waiting to see. He wanted to kiss her again. He wanted to do more than kiss her. But she’d also said “old friend.” They were starting to rebuild their friendship. She’d just forgiven him. He didn’t want to ruin all that like he had on her prom night, by rushing something that didn’t need to happen. Her friendship was going to have to be enough.
With her, the whole thing seemed so much easier and, dare he say, fun. He didn’t struggle through trying to determine how much he should share or which words he should use. Hell, he even managed to make a joke or two.
She glanced up at him with her nose still in the glass, and Liam’s heart paused before it started pounding. She was so damn beautiful. One day those eyes of hers would kill him.
“So who made this one?” She gestured to the bottle in his hand. “I did.” He held it up. “This is the first whiskey I created on my own. Almost twelve years ago.” “Where’s the label?” “It doesn’t have one. I don’t sell this one.” “Why not?” “I can’t think of a name for it.” That wasn’t exactly true. The whiskey definitely had a name. It wasn’t a name he wanted to share with the world or with anyone, really.
“I love Killian, you know I do, but this distillery would not exist if it weren’t for you. He’s the visionary, but you’re the mastermind. Never forget that.”
whAT IF I TOLD YOU IM A MASTERMIND <33
“Well...” Sofi popped another piece of pineapple in her mouth. “I hate Leo, so if I go up there, I’ll probably end up pushing him over the side.”
oh theyre so gonna fall in love
She’d been feeling inspired ever since Liam had given her the tour of the distillery and the whiskey tasting. That may have explained why every dish she’d made had whiskey in it somehow: from the Thai chili lime shrimp she was serving with the trifongo to the grilled pineapple slaw she was putting on top of her lechón sandwiches. Of course, there was also the flan de coco with the whiskey sauce.
Ever since their day in the distillery, Liam had become much more relaxed and even affectionate with her. He no longer froze when she touched him, and he would touch her as well. There were brushes of his hand when he walked past or quick squeezes here or there. At night she no longer had to chase him across the mattress. He met her right in the middle of the bed, sans pillow wall, and they would cuddle. She wasn’t exactly sure what was happening between them, but there was something. It was as if they were two statues that had spent years standing only a few feet apart, but then a thick vine
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Whatever. She knew she was getting too attached to Liam. One didn’t have to be a genius to know this wasn’t going to end well for her, but Kamilah had never been one to let things like common sense stop her. She wanted to hug, touch, and care for him, so she would. As soon as he gave her more of a hint about what he was feeling, she would probably do a lot more. No. She would definitely do a lot more.
There was too much desire, too much connection, in that kiss for it to have been only for show. If only she could work up the nerve to ask him.
“I mean, there is no doubt the food is amazing.” Titi Elsa came and put a hand on Kamilah’s shoulder. “You have always been incredibly talented, but it’s not real Puerto Rican food anymore.” Kamilah sucked in a gasp. That one hurt.
“You’re all acting like El Coquí isn’t in the exact same situation.” Her cousin was barely five and a half feet tall, but Kamilah had seen Alex own men double her size. “If it’s adapt or leave, then why not adapt?” “I know that, as a white man running an incredibly hipsteresque business, I should just sit here and eat my food.” Liam put his empty plate on the counter next to her and stood tall at her side. “But Kamilah is not to blame for the changes happening to Humboldt Park. Capitalism is to blame for that.” He looked around at her family. “You are all looking at this from an ideological
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No one, not even Sofi, had ever understood her like Liam. For better or worse, he always knew exactly what she was thinking or feeling. It seemed years of distance hadn’t broken that bond. Kamilah couldn’t hold back.
“You string together too many words,” Sofi said to Leo. “You need to learn that shutting the fuck up is free, but constantly talking out of your neck can cost you.”
LMFAO
“We will do this,” he eventually said. “We’ll make the changes and do the tour. But if this doesn’t work, if this doesn’t drum up enough business to make and keep us profitable, then we’re finally going to discuss closing and selling.” He looked at Abuelo then, and Abuelo nodded. It had just become more important than ever to make sure everything went off without a hitch.
Dinnertime. It was the only time he saw her anymore. He felt like he’d been living with an absent roommate since she and her family began remodeling El Coquí. She’d been up super early every day and knocked out by the time he went to bed. He was forced to start spooning her when she slept just to feel close to her. Sad, really.
He loved when she wore her hair that way. There was something so fundamentally Kamilah about it. She too wouldn’t be contained.
Liam wanted to pull her in for a real kiss, but she was unpacking the tray. He settled for placing a kiss on the back of her neck instead. Her breath stopped for a second and she paused in pulling out something brick-sized and wrapped in aluminum foil. There was a speculative sound from his side, and Liam looked up to find both Ben and Dev eyeing him. One with a look of contemplation (Dev), the other with one that fell just short of eyebrow-waggling (Ben).
“Are you sure I can do this?” He felt a hand on his cheek. Kamilah pulled his face around. “Listen to me, Liam Kane.” She waited until he looked her in the eye. “There is no one on this earth who can do this better than you. You are Kane Distillery, and you’ve got this.” She put her other palm on his cheek. “Do you understand me?” He nodded as best as he could with his face sandwiched between her hands. She placed a quick but hard kiss on his lips. “I believe in you, and I’ve got your back.” Then she dropped her hands, spun on her heels, and called to Dev and Ben. “You two, come with me.”
They worked perfectly together, just like the flavors of whiskey and the food.
She was absolutely right. Liam worried about how they could manage Kane if they grew. He’d especially been thinking about it since Granda got sick. There was no way they could do it, just the two of them. It would be impossible for him to do it on his own. “Unfortunately, knowledgeable benefactors who don’t want to take control aren’t easy to come by.” “I know someone,” she said. “She has been looking for a young, ambitious, talented, and capable entrepreneur to mentor, but she’s not going to take just anyone. However, she would definitely consider the winner of Best Craft Whiskey Distillery
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“I need a distraction.” She lifted her head and looked at him. Her eyes were large and dark in the shadowy space. He swallowed hard and thought that maybe he could hold back, but then she said the words that would completely derail his good intentions. “Distract me. Please. I need you, Liam.”
“You want me to distract you?” he asked in a low, rough voice. His gaze tracked from her lips down to her chest and back up. Unable to speak, Kamilah nodded her head. “Don’t say yes when you don’t know what I’m talking about.” She opened her mouth to say that she didn’t care what he was talking about, but he lifted his hand and held a finger to her lips. “Listen first.” He waited until it was clear that she wasn’t going to say anything, and then he dropped his hand and palmed her ass again. Her skin was on fire under his touch. “I want to strip you bare,” he whispered. “And once you’re naked,
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He met her stroke for stroke, and while she was still a bit shocked that she and Liam were making out in his distillery, she wasn’t at all surprised by how good it was. Despite their differences, they’d always complemented each other perfectly. Like honey and sriracha, salt and watermelon, chilis and chocolate.
“No,” he bit out. “I do that. Not you.” “But—” He nipped her earlobe and then gave it a suck. “I have been waiting to undress you for fifteen years.”
“Fuck. You’re better than I ever imagined. My dreams don’t even come close.”
He straightened, his face blank. “Is that what this is for you, casual sex?” Kamilah’s head jerked back. “Fuck, no. There’s nothing casual about this.” She was having a difficult time with the thought that this was Liam, the same Liam who’d once hidden her in one of his father’s empty whiskey barrels in an attempt to get her parents to forget her at his house so she could sleep over. Then again, he wasn’t that Liam at all. He was completely different in body and in temperament. This Liam was large and hard and dark. The only people he showed his soft underbelly to were his grandfather and her.
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Liam was unable to deny her anything she asked for, especially when she asked him like that: breathy, needy, and naked.
He pulled a few curls away from her eyes and let them fall back. The eyes he revealed glared at him. God, he adored her.
She thought he was going to push her away like he had when they were young. As if that were possible. He was more willing and capable of chopping off his own hands with a rusty saw than he was of pushing her away now. Not after he’d felt her soft skin. Not after he’d tasted her.
“Don’t you get it?” He lifted a finger and drew it lightly from her hairline down her nose. “Everything about you delights me.” He outlined her lips. “I’ve spent so long acting like it doesn’t.” He trailed the finger to her chin and along her jaw. “But I don’t have to do that anymore.” His finger swooped down the side of her neck and stopped at the thrum of her pulse. “The freedom is making me a bit giddy.”
He needed her. He needed her so much it scared the ever-living shit out of him. He didn’t tell her that, though.
He tried his very best to ignore the part of him telling him that their hearts were also joining.
Kamilah awoke late the next morning to fingers playing in her hair. She loved that feeling so much. It was one of the greatest sensations in the world. It made her feel pampered and cherished. Now it also made her want to purr like a cat. She opened her eyes and watched Liam twirl one of her curls around his fingers.
“Buenos días,” Liam murmured, and Kamilah felt her body warm. God, she loved when he spoke Spanish. It made her glow like a lightning bug. “Buenos días,” she whispered, feeling shy. She’d come to the realization that she loved him last night. She couldn’t even pinpoint when she’d fallen. She didn’t think there was an exact moment. It had happened slowly and over time, like one of those extravagant domed desserts that you pour a warm sauce over until the dome disintegrates and reveals a rich and luxurious treat. She wanted to tell him. She wanted to just blurt it out, but for once in her life
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She loved kissing Liam. He kissed like he was trying to commit every single second of it to memory. Like he gloried in her lips, worshipped at her tongue, and savored the intricacies of her flavor. Liam kissed her like she was sustenance, like he needed her kisses to live.
He pulled a hot-pink silk scrunchie off his wrist and over her bushel of curls. He didn’t loop it around another time, just like she didn’t. Kamilah practically melted. He paid such close attention to her that he’d picked up how she handled her hair.
“I’m sore as hell,” she told him. His weight was gone off of her in an instant. He dropped on the bed next to her. “You’re sore?” She turned her head to look at him. His forehead was furrowed. He was greatly displeased by this information. “I don’t know what else I could be,” she grumbled. “You worked me over like a double batch of sourdough.” The furrow deepened, and his shoulders tightened. “Did I hurt you?” He radiated concern. Everything in her went soft and mushy. “No,” she said, reaching up for him and pulling his head down until it was flat on the mattress right next to hers. She stared
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Also, you’re basic too, because whose flannels do you think I’ve been wearing?” “You’ve been wearing my clothes?” Liam gave her a thorough once-over, before jerking his gaze away and putting it back on the road where it belonged. “Are you wearing my shirt right now?” She was. It was a green, blue, and black flannel she’d seen him wear numerous times. She loved seeing it on him because it highlighted his pecs. But she couldn’t tell how he felt about her borrowing his stuff. She replied hesitantly. “Yes?” She rushed to explain. “Your shirts are longer and thus better for wearing with leggings.
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