Chapter 26
Sherry
An hour had never felt so long in my life. I looked at the clock and sighed. It hadn’t even been an hour. It had only been fifteen minutes. I shifted my ass on the seat, desire and need growing inside of me, thighs tingling, desperate for attention.
Ben gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles white, jaw clenched. He muttered a curse, sharp and low, then veered down a dark, quiet back road and pulled over beneath a cluster of trees. Gravel crunched beneath the tires as we came to a stop.
Before I could ask what he was doing, he threw the truck in park and turned toward me, eyes blazing with the same desire I couldn’t contain.
“I can’t do this,” he said.
“Do what?” For a moment, my heart stuttered in fear that he was going to put an end to this heat and tension like he’d done the last time we went to dinner, but he swallowed, eyes darting to my thighs and back to me.
“Watch you shifting in that seat, your eyes on me, thighs rubbing together, just begging for my fingers to delve deep. You know what you’re doing to me.”
My breath caught. “What am I doing?”
He leaned in, breath caressing my cheek with his exhale. “Driving me fucking insane.”
Then his mouth was on mine, fast and hungry, staking his claim and following through with his promise. My fingers thrust into his hair, pulling him near, needing to be as close to him as possible, never wanting to let him go again.
“I’ve missed this so much,” I said against his mouth. “I’ve missed you,” I added as his lips pulled from mine and dragged down the column of my neck. His hands moved over my arms, toward my hips. His fingers gripped my sides and hoisted me onto his lap.
My hands fumbled, reaching for his pants and yanking at the button and zipper before returning to his face and urging his mouth to mine.
His fingers popped my shirt buttons, shoving the material off my shoulders, and leaving me in my red lace bra.
I silently sent up a prayer, thanking the universe for guiding me toward this choice today.
His gaze dropped to the lace. He groaned low and deep, and his lips captured mine, rougher this time, like his control had completely snapped. Goosebumps spread through my spine as his hands roamed across my body, caressing and squeezing. I arched into his touch.
Fog coated the windows, time blurred, and it didn’t matter that we were parked off some backroad.
All that mattered was him. His hands on me, his body beneath me, the press of his cock against my needy center, the desperate brush of his lips on mine, the way he murmured how beautiful I was near my ear as he swiped his tongue across my lobe, then nipped it.
He shoved his pants down, and somehow, I managed to shimmy out of mine. He gripped his rock-hard shaft, and I lowered myself onto him. A cry tore from my lips as he thrust into me.
“God, you feel so good,” he said before yanking my bra down and taking my nipple between his teeth. My body arched into him, cries rumbling up my throat with each swipe of his tongue over the taut bead.
His fingers brushed between us, his thumb finding my swollen nub and rubbing tight circles. My nails dug into his shoulder. Waves of pleasure shot through me, curling up and branching out until it completely consumed me.
The world around me narrowed. White lights exploded in my vision. Life came back into focus, but all I could see was Ben.
His jaw was tight as he continued to pump into me, his grip on my hips brutal as he helped me ride out my orgasm and milk it for every mind-numbing tremor. My pace slowed, each rock of my body sending jolts of pleasure so strong, so powerful, they were almost too much to take.
His thumb pressed on my clit, and the world exploded again. My body jerked, unable to handle the overwhelming sensations. Ben chuckled, his mouth coming down on mine. He slowed his movements, his arms tightening around my waist and holding me close as I recovered.
He didn’t have to. He could have kept going, could have raced for his own pleasure to take, but he didn’t. He held me like I was precious, like the moment meant more than the release. His lips brushed my shoulder, and my heart stuttered.
This was so much more than lust. More than chemistry. It was love. I felt it in the way he held me. In the way he looked at me like I was the only thing that made sense in his world.
“Ben?” I breathed.
His forehead rested against mine, and his hand cupped my face. His lips were swollen, chest rising and falling with each ragged breath. “Yeah?” His fingers ran up my ear, cupping the back of my head.
“I don’t just want you. I need you. In my life. Every day. I love you.”
He closed his eyes tightly, lines cutting into his skin. “You don’t know how long I’ve been wanting to hear those words from you.”
“I waited until we were ripping each other’s clothes off in a van.”
“I don’t care where we are. We could be in a dumpster, but if I were with you, it’d be special.”
“Don’t push it.” I laughed.
“I’m not.” His mouth found mine again, but this time slower, deeper, and less frantic. It was passion and longing, second chances and promises kept.
“I love you, too,” he said against my lips. His kiss was slow, as if he had all the time in the world to lavish in this moment, and I let him, because I wanted to lavish in it, too.
***
Two hours later, we made it to my house. Ben put the truck in park and turned to me. His hair was sex-tussled, and he looked devilishly handsome.
“Aren’t you coming in?” I asked as I opened the door.
“I wasn’t sure if that was a one-time thing back there or if—”
“Ben, get out of the truck and take me to bed.”
He turned the engine off and hopped out of the truck without hesitating. He came around to the passenger side just as I was about to jump out, and swooped me into his arms.
“Have you lost your mind?” I asked.
“I lost my mind the moment I met you.” He bent his head and captured my lips. “It was never mine, anyway. My father controlled it. When I say you’re the best thing that ever happened to me, I mean it.”
My eyes locked on his, his words sinking deep and marking my heart. The sound of a car pulling into my driveway echoed through the night, but my gaze stayed locked on the man who I had completely and utterly fallen in love with.
A car door slamming broke through the air. “Am I interrupting something?” Rose’s voice came from behind us.
Another door slammed. “You think?” Wyatt said.
Ben closed his eyes, shook his head, then slowly lowered me to the ground.
“You have my donuts?” Wyatt called out.
“You drove here for donuts?” Ben asked.
Rose sighed. “You and those damn donuts. It’s all he’s been talking about.”
“They’re good donuts.”
Ben laughed and went to the truck, retrieving the box and handing it to Wyatt.
Wyatt let out a very enthusiastic, “Yes!”
“We’re not here about the donuts,” Rose said. “We’re here about the canceled rental.”
“What about it?” Ben asked before I could.
“I called Murray and had him send me the email. It looked official and was signed by Laurent, except look at this.”
Rose turned her tablet to us, and I looked closely at the email that was exactly that—a cancelation. But then my eyes drifted to Laurent's signature.
“Laurent never signs his emails, L. Grasso. He always just signs them Laurent .”
“Exactly,” Rose said, then turned the tablet back to her and tapped the screen a few times.
“I thought that was weird, too, so I did some digging and was able to locate the IP address. It didn’t come from Laurent’s office.
It didn’t even come from the vineyard.” She paused for what I assume was dramatic effect, as if we didn’t already know, then pointed to a highlighted line on the screen.
“It came from an address registered to Gold Crest Holdings.”
Ben leaned in, the muscle in his jaw ticking. “My father.”
Rose nodded. “The IP is linked to his corporate server. Either he sent it himself or someone that works for him sent it. Either way, it was deliberate.”
“Your dad’s a real dick,” Wyatt said around a vanilla glaze.
“That’s not all,” Rose said. “The email was a confirmation. Someone called to cancel the order. Murray sent me the recording.” Rose angled toward me, her expression tightening. “It was your voice, Sher.”
Confusion slammed into me. “I didn’t call. How is that even possible?”
“I think someone used your old voicemails and clipped them together, or ran them through AI to mimic your voice. Either is possible.”
My heart stuttered in my chest. “They faked my voice?” A chill rolled down my spine. I felt… violated. They used my own voice, the one thing that was uniquely mine, as a weapon against me and my family.
Ben swore under his breath, his shoulders stiff with tension.
I rested my hand on his bicep. “Your father knows how big this wedding coming up is,” I said. “Domenique had met with them and chose us. I bet that was a real blow to his ego. He wants us to fail. If things start going wrong now—”
“He’s planting seeds,” Ben said.
“Yeah.” I squeezed his arm, wanting him to know I didn’t hold this against him. He wasn’t his father, and he had no control over what that man did.
Ben dragged his fingers over his mouth, then let them fall to his side. “He’s trying to destroy you and your family’s legacy… and me.”
Rose folded her arms over her chest. “Well, he crossed the wrong Grasso. I have proof of what he did and can present it in front of the board at the next town hall meeting.”
“My father doesn’t leave a trail,” Ben said.
“He did this time. He might have invented the game, but he’s old and out of touch with new technology.”
“And we have a genius on our side.” Wyatt wrapped his arm around Rose and pulled her close. She shook her head with a laugh before using her finger to wipe the frosting off his face.
“We have evidence on our side, is what we have,” Rose said.
“So, what’s the plan? Because no offense, Ben, I want to watch your father burn.” Wyatt said. “No one fucks with the Grassos and gets away with it.”
Rose lifted on her toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Damn right.”
“No offense taken. I’ll light the match, if that’s what it takes.”
I stepped between the three of them. “We need to be smart about this. He’s powerful, well-connected, and if we go in guns blazing without a plan, he’ll find a crack. We can’t let him find a crack.”
“That’s why I already sent all this to Char, so she can incorporate this evidence into her presentation.”
“She’s going to dismantle him piece by piece,” I said.
“She’ll make it public. Not just the board, but the whole damn town. She’ll let everyone see who he really is. Even if the mayor is on his side, if the town and the board aren’t, he’ll never be allowed to build anything in Vine Valley.”
Ben looked at me, resolve hardening his features. “He came here thinking he could ruin everything. But your family? This town? He underestimated you all.”
I took Ben’s hand and squeezed. “He underestimated you, too, and this is the last time he ever will.”