Chapter Thirty-One
NOAH
T urning away from the small crowd at the bar, I let my smile slip. The winery’s first Christmas has been nothing short of a success, and the dinner guests are lingering as they enjoy their Christmas puddings and dessert wines. Many wines, which business me doesn’t mind at all. My social battery is waning though, and I can’t wait to call last round so we can begin herding everyone away.
Hopefully they all had the foresight to pre-book taxis or decide on a designated driver.
Kylie’s long braid tickles my arm as she turns for the bar and steps toward me. “All good?” she asks with a nudge.
I nod, painting the customer service smile back on my face. “Just getting tired, but this is good.”
“I wish you’d stop doing that.”
Throwing the towel I was holding over my shoulder, I cross my arms and turn to her. My face morphs, mouth straightening and brow furrowing. “Doing what?”
“You’re allowed to complain. Just because we are busy—which is good—doesn’t mean you can’t be tired after working all day. The rest of us got half a day off before we came in. The lunch crew left when we arrived. But you’ve spent your entire Christmas Day here. Feeling exhausted is to be expected, really.” She reaches into one of the low-lying bar fridges and pulls out a bottle of sparkling water. “Take this, go sit down for ten minutes.”
“I can’t—”
“You can. And you will. Even the boss is allowed to take a breather.” Shoving the bottle into my hands, she twists me by my shoulders and begins guiding me towards my office. “Anyway,” she adds when we are nearly there, “your cousin wants to talk to you. I’ll send her in.”
I sit down behind the desk, stretching my legs out in front of me as I hold the cool bottle against my forehead. My eyes close, and I don’t even notice Cassidy enter the room until she raps her knuckles on the desk and clears her throat.
By the time I pry my eyes open again, she’s already seated in one of the armchairs. A near empty glass of Rosé dangles from her fingertips.
“Thought you were asleep,” she says before tipping her glass towards me. “I came in to say congratulations before we head home.”
As she sips down the dregs of her drink, I open the glass bottle from Kylie. The bubbles tickle my throat, but the cool water hydrates me. I keep drinking until I have to stop to breathe.
“It’s been a busy day. Merry Christmas, Cass.”
“Not just for today though, for the whole year. All of this”—she waves the now empty glass around by the stem—“it’s really something special. Alma would be proud.”
The tips of my ears begin to tingle, but I do my best not to let my suspicion show. She’s probably just making a general comment based on the winery’s name. There’s no way she knows my grandfather named the place after my grandmother. No dots she could have connected to lead her to the conclusion that I inherited the place from that grandmother … right?
Even trying to reason away my irrational fear I know how ridiculous I’m being. There are more than enough clues for her to put together the pieces.
“You know you didn’t have to come.” I choke out.
Cassidy frowns, placing the wine glass on the table and folding her arms over her chest.
“I know, but we wanted to. I’m proud of you, Noah. For all of this.”
“You know, don’t you?” It would be better if she did, although embarrassing for a moment at least then I’d be all out of secrets to keep.
She nods, an all-knowing smirk slipping across her face. “You’re almost as bad at lying as Amira is.”
“Since when?”
“You let your grandmother’s name slip a while back. Then a few weekends ago a young woman introduced herself to me as the event coordinator. Callum confirmed it when I told him it was weird.”
I should have known not to trust him. Love is like that. There are no secrets between couples, at least not for long.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Leaning back in the chair, Cassidy hooks her legs up underneath her and rests her knees on the armrest. The heel of her boot looks like it’s cutting off the circulation to her thigh, but she settles into the position.
“It’s really dumb. I was … worried.”
She presses her lips together and gives a sharp nod. “I get that.”
“Noah?” My heart flips at the sound of Amira’s voice. She ducks around the doorway, pulling the sparkly fabric of her sleeve away from her arm.
“We should probably get Maisie home to bed,” Cassidy chirps, standing. “She’s done well for a five-year-old, but I’m surprised she hasn’t fallen asleep on Callum’s lap by now.”
Amira enters the room but stands off to the side.
“Thank you for coming,” I tell Cassidy after I’ve come around the front of the desk. We share a sibling-rivalry style hug, and she turns to leave. Pausing before walking out, she leans in to whisper something to Amira.
Once Cassidy has left, pulling the sliding door closed behind her, Amira steps tentatively towards me.
“Hi,” she whispers, lifting her hand in an awkward wave.
We’ve kept in touch, multiple times a day, but after our date I gave her the space she said she needed. My skin crawls with the need to touch her, hold her. To tell her how I feel. But I hold back, leaning the backs of my thighs against my desk. I can’t stay still though, wringing my hands in front of me and shuffling my feet.
“Hey,” I say, trying to give off an impression of ease instead of the bursting with energy feeling that’s currently powering through me.
“I missed you.”
God, I missed her, too. So much that my whole body feels drawn towards her. I’m forcing my hips back onto my desk, away from her pull. Amira seems drawn to me, too. Inching forward until she has to sidestep around the armchairs. She stands before me, pinching her fingers in front of her chest.
The v neck of her top is subtle, nothing extravagant or overly revealing, but on her it’s everything and more. Her clothing has shifted away from the modest styles she used to wear, and with every tiny sliver of skin she feels safe enough to share I fall more and more in love with her confidence. Seeing it grow, knowing maybe I had a role to play in that somehow, is invigorating. Being with Amira has changed my life, and hopefully, I’ve changed hers, too.
Amira lets out a short puff of laughter, looking between her chest, and my eyes—still fixated on the golden skin of her neck. “You like it?”
I close my eyes, opening them again only once I know I’ve shifted them high enough to look her in the eye. I see her tongue dart out to wet her lower lip and imitate the movement. My cock begins to twitch, and I shift my legs to hide the swelling in my groin. She’s jaw-dropping even in her oversized jumpers and long skirts. But like this, she’s remarkable. I will never grow tired of this view, and I will never forget the view underneath her clothes. “Like would be an understatement.”
“How was today?” She gestures with her head back towards the dining room. Even through the large double doors, I can hear the sounds of patrons cheering goodbyes, chairs scraping as the waiting staff begin to tidy up.
The thought of the day makes me yawn, and I do my best to stifle it and hide it behind the back of my hand. “Tiring,” I admit. “Yours?”
In the back of my mind, I’m so aware we’re making small talk. Hyper-focused on how mundane it is to talk about our days when all I want to do is wrap my arms around her and hold her close. But even though we’ve spoken every day since, I haven’t seen her since our date. Kissing her surrounded by the Christmas lights was incredible, but if anything, it only blurred the lines of our new relationship even more. What would she do if I pulled her close and tucked her new long fringe behind her ears? How would she react if I dared to run my thumb along her lip before claiming her mouth with my own?
The room is spinning with anticipation and need, and I’m drowning in the unknown. Before, we didn’t know where the lines were because we blurred them together. Now, I don’t know where it is because I let her draw it in the sand as I left her building for the last time.
“I’m sorry,” she says, stepping forward. Her foot nudges my ankle, and I uncross my legs so she can step between them.
“You don’t have to be sorry for knowing your own boundaries. For doing what you needed to clear your head. I’ll never let you apologise when you’ve done nothing wrong.”
Looking up at me through her lashes, Amira flattens her mouth into a straight line and exhales through her nose. “I was wrong though. I thought being apart was what I needed, but it wasn’t. Or maybe it was, but I don’t think I need it anymore.”
And just like that, my heart ceases to beat. It deflates a little inside my chest, smothered by the hope I’d tried to keep locked away underneath it.
Warmth and fuck it, love , spreads out of me like sunlight.
“What do you need?” I practically choke on the words.
Wrapping her arms around me, Amira closes the gap between us. She pushes up onto her tiptoes, and I bow my head so she can rest her forehead against mine.
“You,” she whispers, and before I can even think to respond, she seals the word with a kiss.
The kind that melts every troublesome thought away. The kind that feels like rainbows and snowflakes and rose petals. There’s a sweetness on her tongue that matches the fruity smell in her hair, and I savour it. I let her dictate everything about this kiss, following her lead as she tilts her head and deepens the kiss, parting my lips when she runs her tongue along them. I’m putty in her fingers, under her mouth. Starved for her, by her, but taking my time as she explores the intensity between us.
“I don’t want to go home alone,” she admits when we break for air. Her mouth still hovers close to mine and I feel the warm breath of her words on my wet lips. “I don’t want to spend another night in that bed, hugging a damn pillow and wishing it were you.”
My hands are wrapped around her middle, and I tighten my grip to hoist her up and spin us around. I place her on the desk and part her legs to wrap them around my waist.
“There’s nothing fake about how I feel Noah,” she says as she pulls me closer than I thought physically possible. “I’m sorry it took me so long to realise that.”
“Cupcake, I thought I told you not to apologise. This was a lot for you, I’m glad you took the time you needed.” I trace the length of her spine with my hands before twisting my fingers into the hair that falls down her back. “I’m fucking glad you’re back though.”
“I was always going to come back.”
“I know.”
We’re kissing again, full of passion and longing, when a quick knock interrupts us. I turn over my shoulder to see a small scrap of receipt paper slide under the door. Leaving Amira on the desk, I stride across the room to pick it up.
All done out here. Locked everything up except the side door and the alarm.
Merry Christmas boss.
Kylie’s scrawled note makes me chuckle, but I scrunch it up as I walk back towards the desk, towards Amira, and throw it in the bin in the corner.
“Everything okay?” she giggles when I step back between her legs.
“We’ve been caught like naughty school children.”
Amira hums. “Like, university student and professor? Because I could get behind that.”
With a growl, I grab her ass and haul her into me. My cock grinds against her pussy, and there are too many layers between us but it still feels too good.
“Would you be a good student or a bad one?”
She reaches between us, grasping my growing length through my pants. “I think I could be taught a lesson or two.”
The sound that escapes through my chest is near animalistic. My eyes roll back and I see visions of Amira, bent over this desk, pussy glistening as she waits for me.
“Hey Noah,” she whispers. Her timid tone changes the mood and I snap out of the vision.
“Yeah, Cupcake?”
“I don’t want to ruin the mood …”
“But?” I lean back and cup her cheek in my hand. Her cheeks are flushed with the bright pink blush I’ve come to love, and I’d do anything for her right now.
“Can the role-playing wait a day? I just want you tonight.”
Instead of answering, I kiss her again. Over and over because it will never be enough.