Chapter 12
Like a fucking creeper, I watched Lainey walk to her car and get in. She looked good. Too damn good. Did she have any idea how those jeans molded to her ass, or how that shirt made her impossibly blue eyes even more blue? Or how it dipped just enough to reveal that creamy bit of cleavage that made my dick hard?
I wanted to tell her I didn’t take that brunette home. I wouldn’t. Not after I knew what it was like to have Lainey in my bed. I never wanted anyone else there.
Yet I ruined any chance we had.
So instead of running after her, I watched her get in her car and shut her door.
“Want to talk about it?” Albert asked as Lainey pulled out of the parking lot.
“No.” I stacked the box I was holding on top of another. I’d been helping Albert out since the spring when he realized his knees were fucked and he needed replacement surgery. He still hadn’t scheduled the surgery. He wanted to wait until the season was over.
“Good because I didn’t want to hear it.”
I shot him a confused glance. “Then why’d you ask?”
“I was being polite.” He opened the box and started placing apples in a more desirable basket. Though I was surprised he didn’t open the boxes and say fuck it.
“I don’t think you’ve ever been polite a single day in your life.”
The old bastard shrugged. “Fine. I guess you could say I’m worried about you.”
“I’m flattered.”
“Ugh,” he grumbled. “Don’t be a jackass.”
“It’s kind of my MO.” And I was really living up to it. Lainey would agree, I was sure. Hell, she’d probably vote me king of the jackasses. She had every right.
“What happened with Blondie?”
“I thought you didn’t want to hear it.”
“I don’t, but I think you need to talk about it.” This was exactly why I didn’t let emotions into sex. It made everything confusing and complicated as all hell.
“I’d rather not.” Not like Albert could give me any advice. The man had been single his whole life. The longest relationship he had was fighting with Odette at whatever town event they were at.
“Fine, be a stubborn ass. See if I care.” He shuffled away.
“Albert,” I called out.
“What?”
“Thanks.”
“Yeah, yeah. Those boxes aren’t going to stack themselves.” The slightest hint of a smile appeared beneath his mustache before he turned and continued on his way.
I finished stacking the boxes of apples and helping Albert unload them into baskets. We worked in silence and though I wanted to drown out my thoughts, I knew I lost my window to talk. Though, I’m sure Albert would still listen even if he bitched and moaned for ten minutes before I could speak.
Silence was my enemy right now, but it was a punishment I earned. I was stuck with my own thoughts and there was no one harsher on me than myself.
Franc’s words kept echoing through my head, and I wanted to punch him in the fucking face for that, but at the same time I wanted to kick my own ass for not listening to him. He loved to tell me he was older and wiser. Hell, he’d been saying it since the day we were able to communicate to each other. What pissed me off most was he was usually right. I hated him for that. He was always right. Always better at everything than me.
The only thing that I excelled at over him was getting girls. I wore that like a badge of honor, and now after Lainey, it felt more like a badge of shame.
“I’ll catch you later,” I said to Albert as I headed out.
“A bunch of us will be at the VFW tonight,” he said. Albert was amongst a group of five war vets who spent their nights, sipping on cans of beer and playing cards. Gramps had been a part of the group up until he died. Now I was kind of the unexpected replacement. Something most in town didn’t know. They wouldn’t understand. I had never been to war, but I knew what it felt like to be lost. Being equipped for one thing, but having to assimilate to something totally different.
“Maybe,” I said. “I might work in the shop.”
“How’s it coming along?” he asked, and I smiled.
Albert had finally approved the sketches, and I’d been in my garage every free second since. “Looks fucking awesome.”
It was sure to be talk of the town, and my family would find out about my best kept secret… other than Lainey, and just like Lainey, I wasn’t exactly sure how I felt about it.
Scratch that.
I knew exactly how I felt about Lainey. I just didn’t know how to live with those feelings.
“You’re running out of time. Sure you can finish it?”
“It’ll be done and ready to go with more than enough time to spare.”
Albert nodded, then without another word, went to work. I headed to my car and made my way to the winery. I had to get the tasting room set up and ready to go before we opened.
Luckily, it was not even a ten-minute drive from Albert’s. I scanned the parking lot to make sure Sherry wasn’t hiding in the bushes, ready to pounce on me. Her car was here, but she was parked by the barn, probably preparing it for the event later today. Good. That would keep her busy.
“Hey,” a familiar voice said, and I turned to see Wyatt walk over from the warehouse. He’d been with Rose for so long, he was as much a part of the family as Lainey was.
“Hey, man.”
He ran a hand through his wavy dark brown hair that he kept short. “Heard Sherry wants to kill you.”
“Can anyone in this family keep their fucking mouth shut?”
“No,” Wyatt deadpanned. “So what’d you do?”
That was good. If he didn’t know, then at least Sherry was keeping it to herself. “What didn’t I do? Sherry always wants to kill me.”
Wyatt crossed his arms over his chest. “Yes, but this time there seems to be more rage. She’s usually the cool and collected one, and she’s giving Chardonnay vibes right now. The guys in the warehouse have been hiding when she walks by.”
A laugh rumbled in my throat, imagining the men who moved heavy cases of wine all day, scared of my five-three, buck-twenty sister.
“I jumped into a bush,” Wyatt said, and he nodded vigorously when I glared at him. “No joke. I choose assault by branches over Scary Sherry.”
“You’re being ridicu—” Wyatt shoved me behind my car and grabbed my shoulder, yanking me down. “Dude, what the fuck?”
He held his finger to his mouth and shushed me. “She’s on the prowl.”
“You do realize we’re adults. I’m thirty-six for Christ’s sake. This is stupid.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
I stood, spotted Sherry stomping across the path connecting the warehouse to the barn, and I dropped back down beside Wyatt.
“What’s the matter? Thought you were a thirty-six-year-old man.”
“Even I know not to walk into a lion’s den when the lion is angry.”
“I fucking told you, man. You must have really messed up. I’ve never seen Sherry out for blood. She’s the nice one.”
“Does Rose know you think this?”
Wyatt tilted his head. “Your little sister is the devil incarnate once a month. I throw chocolate at her before I enter a room.”
I laughed and buried my mouth in the crook of my elbow, so it wouldn’t carry to Sherry. “Does that work for you?”
“Sometimes. Other times I get the ‘why are you giving me chocolate? You know I feel fat.’” Wyatt rolled his eyes. “I’m still working on my mind reading skills. I haven’t mastered them yet.”
I shook my head and laughed again. Wyatt loved Rose with his whole being, and my baby sister couldn’t have found herself a better man. They never married, but their relationship was one that many who knew them were envious of. They were just in sync and balanced each other out.
My mind drifted to Lainey as it had done every chance it got since our first kiss. Maybe she was the balance I needed.
“What are you two idiots doing?” Laurent’s voice broke me out of my thoughts.
Wyatt jolted, peeked over the car, then stood. He shoved his hands into his jeans. “Nothing, just checking out the parking lot for glass.”
“You’re hiding from Sherry,” Laurent stated.
I pushed up with my knees and faced my older brother. “How do you know?”
“Chardonnay and I were having a meeting in the barn, and she tore through there like she was on a warpath. Do you know what’s up with her? Char said she hadn’t asked.”
“I pissed her off,” I admitted.
“This doesn’t have anything to do with you and Lainey in Philly, does it?”
“I plead the fifth.”
Laurent nodded, disappointment flashing quickly across his stoic face. “You fucked up.”
“Oh shit!” Realization widened Wyatt’s eyes. He barked out an obnoxious laugh then smacked a hand over his mouth. “She’s going to kill you,” he whispered.
“Let her do it soon. I swear to God, if your drama comes anywhere near my wedding, I will kill you, and I will make it a thousand times worse than Sherry ever could.”
“Wait,” I said. “No lecture? No telling me how I’m a piece of shit and Lainey deserves better?”
“That’s harsh,” Wyatt said.
Laurent met my gaze. “Why say the words when you already know it? Besides, I don’t have time for this shit. Fix it.” He started walking, stopped, and turned around. “And keep your dick in your fucking pants.” He continued on his way.
“I’d say that went well,” Wyatt said, patting me on the back.
“Fucking perfect.”
“There you are,” Sherry’s voice boomed across the parking lot. I took one hit, why not take another? The longer I dragged this out, the longer I’d be hiding behind cars with Wyatt like two idiots. Might as well just end this now.
“Uh oh.” Wyatt’s head snapped between me and Sherry, who stormed toward us. “I think I hear Rose calling me.”
“Coward,” I mumbled as he hurried away.
“Hi Sherry! You look lovely today,” he said in passing, not even attempting to make eye contact. Smart.
“Shut it, Wyatt.”
“You got it,” he said, chancing a glance at me before taking off.
“What do you want, Sher?” I feigned indifference, which only made her face mottle more.
The natural pink hue of her cheeks turned a violent red. “I want to kick your ass.”
I held my arms out. “Take your best shot.”
She clenched her fists. “Don’t tempt me.”
I stayed in position, waiting… even hoping she’d take her best shot. I deserved it.
“You hurt her,” she said, and the pain for her best friend was so evident in those three words that it made me hate myself more. “Not only that… You gave me no warning about what I was walking into. I showed up with a change of clothes when she really needed coffee and a punching bag.” She poked my chest hard… but not hard enough. “You hurt her. Why?”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“You never mean to.”
“You know what, Sher? There is nothing you can say to me that will make me feel worse than I already do. Okay? So save your breath. You’re wasting your time. I fucked up. I know I fucked up. I should have stayed.”
“Should have stayed? You never should have slept with her.”
I shook my head. “I’ll never regret that.”
Her light brown eyes widened. “You can’t be serious.”
“I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life. Pinky swear it.”
I held up my pinky and she didn’t even acknowledge the lone digit. I dropped my hand to my side.
“Okay, let’s think this through,” she said. “Say you did stay, then what?”
I had thought about it over and over. If I would have just held Lainey tighter and went back to sleep, she could have woken in my arms. We could have gone for round three, showered together… I could have got us coffee while she did her hair and makeup, then watched her while she finished up. We could have gone to the mechanic together and driven back like we were supposed to.
“We could have had a nice morning,” I said.
“And after that? After you two got back to Vine Valley, huh? Were you thinking you would go your separate ways amicably and go on like nothing happened, or do you think you’d start seeing each other? We both know you are incapable of relationships, and you would hurt her, anyway. So by staying, you would have prolonged the inevitable.”
My lips parted, the argument at the ready, but what the hell did I have to argue? Sherry was right. I wasn’t boyfriend material, that was damn sure. So where did that leave Lainey and me? Friends with benefits? That’s not something Lainey would go for, and she shouldn’t. She deserved better than that. She deserved someone who could love her.
So why did the thought of her meeting someone who could give her everything she deserved feel like I’d been sucker-punched by one of my brothers?
I didn’t want a relationship, but I didn’t want anyone else to have her. What kind of fucked up shit was that? I swept my hand over my hair, trying to find stability in a world that felt like it was knocking me on my ass.
“That’s what I thought,” Sherry said before turning away. She didn’t even look to see if I had something to add. She knew I didn’t.
I wanted to run after her and make her realize what Lainey and I shared was special to me, but Sherry wasn’t the one who needed to hear that.
The only person who needed to hear anything was Lainey.
I hurried my ass into the tasting room and went about my day. It was relatively quiet, which gave me time to think about Arthur’s scarecrow display and how I was going to make it all come together.
As the weather cooled and summer officially shifted into fall, the leaf peeping crowd donning their flannel shirts and desire for that fall fun day would ascend on our town. The tasting room would boom even on a random Wednesday.
Unfortunately, those crowds were still a week or two away, and I was stuck with my own thoughts. Arthur’s project was a nice distraction, but even my creative process wasn’t strong enough to block my night with Lainey out of my mind.
Every caress of her curves, every touch of her lips, every moan that had drifted to my ear was etched into my memories. There wasn’t a single detail of my night with Lanes that was blurry. It was as crisp as the Sauvignon Blanc she loved so much.
Footsteps approached the bar, but my mind was still stuck on the memories, replaying every thrust into Lainey’s sweet, silky heat.
“Excuse me?”
The visions snapped away, along with my attention. “How can I help you?” I asked the brunette who had a pretty face, but there were lots of pretty faces in this place, including the woman with black hair beside her.
“We’d like to do a tasting,” the brunette answered.
I grabbed the tasting menu and placed it in front of them. “This is our red flight, or white flight, and then we have a combo flight that will give you two whites along with a tasting of our dessert wine.”
“I like the pink ones,” the black-haired woman said.
“I can easily swap out one of the reds for a rosé.”
I worked with Franc to come up with the tasting menus. We kept it at five wines per tasting so people wouldn’t experience palette fatigue. I figured most people wanted to drink wine and find one they thought tasted best, but Franc was all about the product, and rightfully so. He dedicated his life to turning grapes into the wine we served.
My appreciation for people who wanted to learn about wine was high, but I could always tell the difference. These women just wanted to drink. And there was nothing wrong with that, but anyone could help them.
“You don’t remember me, do you?” the brunette said.
Fuck me. “Am I supposed to?” I flashed my Grasso charm, so the question came across as flirty and not insulting. Mainly because I didn’t want to hurt this woman’s feelings if I had at one point slept with her and didn’t remember.
“We had a pretty wild night a couple of years ago,” she said.
Laurent was right. I needed to keep my dick in my pants.