Chapter 9
Ben
It was hard to work when Sherry was giving a tour of the vineyard, dressed in tan pants that hugged her hips just enough to be distracting, paired with a white blouse tucked in neatly and opened at the collar.
She looked like a woman who gave tours to millionaires on the daily.
She stopped, pointing toward the vines that would be turning green and filling in more and more as the warmer days lingered.
The sun lit her up, hair in a loose twist, delicate gold hoop earrings catching the light as she moved.
My eyes followed her as she spun toward the barn.
“What are you looking at?” Wyatt asked, smacking a hand onto my shoulder with a little more umph than I thought he was capable of.
“Nothing,” I muttered, not thrilled I was caught gawking at the woman who was practically a sister to him.
“You’re a terrible liar,” he said. “But I can’t fault you for looking. Those Grasso women are special. Take my Rose, for example. Fiery, brilliant, hilarious yet terrifying when provoked, and somehow the only person on earth I want to spend every waking moment with.”
The pride he said it with made me almost jealous. The love he had was a once-in-a-lifetime type of thing, and here I was, unable to get Sherry to do anything but sleep with me and blow me off.
I imagined having someone like Sherry in my corner.
To wake up to her in my bed every morning, and to fall asleep beside her every night.
. To have her in my life, period. I turned to the clipboard in my hands, trying to remember what the hell I was even supposed to be checking. “You’re a lucky bastard, Wyatt.”
His smile was as big as his sense of humor. “Trust me. I know.” He nodded toward the warehouse. “I came by to check in with you, make sure everything is running smoothly.”
“So what you’re saying is you missed the real work and wanted to step down from your cozy new office?”
“It is quite cozy. Though Chardonnay vetoed me putting a fireplace in the corner. Something about having to reconfigure the entire heating system and not wanting me to burn the place down. He shrugged, completely unfazed. “I think she was jealous she didn’t think of it first.”
“You do strike me as the leather armchair and a decanter of whiskey kind of guy. A fireplace fits the image.”
“Thank you! Next time you see Char, tell her that.”
“That is a line I will not cross.” Chardonnay was a good boss, a great human, but she scared the shit out of me.
“Understood. She doesn’t just have bark… She bites. It hurts. The more it hurts, the happier she is.”
I shook my head. “I’ll take your word for it. But to answer your question, everything’s good down here. Orders are packed, inventory’s logged, and I haven’t set anything on fire. Yet.”
“That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.” He gave me a satisfied nod, then his gaze wandered toward the vines where Sherry’s laugh carried on a breeze. “You sure you’re not going to make a move?”
“I’ve tried. She doesn’t date people she works with.”
“And you believe her?”
“Yes, I tend to believe what woman tell me are their boundaries.”
“Yes, respect boundaries, of course. But the only reason she even follows that stupid rule is because Nero couldn’t keep it in his pants, and because of that, there were times when the women would not let bygones be bygones.
” Wyatt leaned against the warehouse door like he didn’t have a never-ending workload waiting for him.
“Sherry doesn’t like drama, especially when that drama affects the family name or the business.
And especially not when their grandfather built all of this from a single vine back in the seventies.
She will always put that legacy above everything else.
If you can accept that, then you’re already better than any of the guys she’s dated. ”
A knot twisted in my stomach, thinking about the guys that came before me.
I wanted to ask him to elaborate, tell me what exactly they did to mess up so badly that they lost someone as special as Shery, so I could avoid making those same mistakes.
But I shouldn’t have to ask. Sherry deserved a guy who didn’t need a roadmap of her past to secure her in his future.
She needed a guy who would respect her, appreciate her, and who could bring out that laugh as often as possible.
The sound was a warm calm to my eardrums.
“I don’t want to be a mistake.”
Wyatt pushed off the door. “Then don’t be.” He patted my shoulder and headed to his cozy new office.
If it were only that easy.
Sherry shook the clients’ hands, and as they turned and walked away, Sherry pulled her elbow into her side in victory before dropping her arm and acting as if it never happened. She was good at that. The people slipped into an Aston Martin and pulled out of the parking lot.
With her head held high, Sherry strutted toward the path that would force her to walk right past me.
I could have ducked into the building and avoided her, but she was going to have to at least get used to the fact that I worked here, and she would have to see me from time to time even if we didn’t have a meeting on the calendar.
“Good news?” I asked, as she was about to pass.
Her entire body jolted, and she grabbed her chest. “Oh my God, Ben. I didn’t see you there.”
It’s not like I was hidden, but she did seem to be in her own head. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“It’s all right, and yes, it’s more than great news. It’s amazing news. That was Domenique Carmichael. Her father owns Green Mountain Resorts.”
“Big money,” I said, failing to mention I knew Domenique from my time in California. “And big influence.”
“Yes.” Her excitement practically exuded out of her. “She wants to have her wedding here! At Vine Valley Vineyards. She wants me to plan it! Me . Can you believe that? It doesn’t seem real. This is huge.”
“Believe it,” I said. “Domenique is the type of person who knows what she wants and has the money to make it happen. She chose you for a reason.”
“How do you know that about her?”
Words rose to my lips, and I swallowed them down. “She got in an Aston Martin Vantage. It’s not hard to figure out.”
Her eyes narrowed, and I waited for her to call me out, but she let out a breathless laugh and shook her head.
“This could change everything. Exposure like this, the press, the influencers, the wedding blogs, maybe a spread in Vineyard and Vows…” She trailed off, but I could see the possibilities running through her head.
“You deserve it.”
Her eyes snapped to mine, and I offered her a genuine smile.
“All of it.”
She looked at me as if she was waiting for me to flash that signature smirk of mine or add some teasing afterthought, but I meant it. Every damn word.
She might have been avoiding me since our two nights together, but I had watched her bust her ass day in and day out as she planned, arranged, and set up event after event.
As she met with potential brides for summer and fall weddings.
Always offering her siblings help, even though her own schedule was jam-packed.
I was lucky enough to have a front-row seat, and now it was time the world got to see her brilliance.
“Thank you,” she said, her tone laced with sweetness and sincerity. Then she bounced slightly on her feet. “I need to start planning.”
“Already? When’s the wedding?”
“Fourth of July weekend. It’s the only time all her family and friends could make it.”
“That’s in three months.”
“I know! Which is why I have to start planning like yesterday. Last week.”
“You got this, and you know it. Let me know if you need my help.”
“With planning a wedding?”
“I was going to say with anything you need in the warehouse, or inventory, but if you want me picking flower arrangements and cake flavors, I can clear my schedule.”
“I’ll keep that in mind when I get to the wine pairings and the heavy lifting.”
“You do that.”
“Okay. I need to make a list. Several lists. Oh God, I sound like Chardonnay.”
“There’s a reason she’s so efficient.”
“Exactly. Lists it is. Oh, and maybe a vision board.”
“I don’t see Chardonnay making a vision board.”
“Oh, definitely not her thing. That’s more of Rose’s thing. Both approaches are effective.”
“Go plan the wedding of the century.”
She bit her lip, eyes that were full of sin and unspoken words meeting mine.
A smile spread wide across her pretty face.
Just like that, she was gone, leaving the scent of fresh-cut flowers, and the undeniable desire of wanting more than just another night of sex.
When it came to Sherry, I wanted it all.
Unfortunately, I’d never be able to have it all… not if Sherry wanted a drama-free life and to protect the family legacy.
Giovanni Grasso, Sherry’s grandfather, was a good man, so I understood her convictions. I knew that even as an eleven-year-old kid who had lunch with him during one of my father’s many family lunches that turned into business meetings.
It had been the first time an adult had looked at me without expectation, without disappointment, without regret in their eyes. It was the moment that made me want to make my dad as proud of me as Mr. Grasso was of his grandkids. I’d been striving for that moment ever since.
I thought I had finally gotten there. Thought I’d done something that made the old man proud to call me his son, but like everything else, it crashed and burned. No matter how hard I tried, I always proved him right. I was a disappointment who constantly messed up.
It was the very reason I was here. I needed to prove to my old man I wasn’t the fuck up he always said I was. That I could succeed at something and not ruin every damn thing I touched.
Though I wasn’t sure if I was trying to prove it to him or myself.
After meeting Sherry, I realized I didn’t just want a job or a second chance. I wanted a life that didn’t feel like another mistake my father could add to his list.
But falling for Sherry, wanting her as much as I did? It was the biggest mistake of all.