Chapter 14 Holly
HOLLY
Umm . . . with the thoughts I’ve been having lately,
I think I might just end up on the naughty list after all.
—Holly’s Secret Thoughts
Holly
Anyone around this afternoon?
Rainey
For what?
Ryleigh
We burying a body?
Hadley
Umm . . . hello. If we are, you only text me.
Rainey
Why?
Hadley
Because you’re a mom, and Ryleigh’s too soft to deal with prison.
Rainey
And you’re not?
Ryleigh
Pretty sure Hades would be running the prison gang by day two.
Hadley
Exactly. I knew you were my favorite.
Briggs
I’m hurt. I thought I was your favorite?
Hadley
You are when you’re here.
Briggs
Dude. You’re punishing me for taking winter classes?
Rainey
You bet your ass we are. We could have used your help.
Holly
And now I feel bad.
Luke
Don’t feel bad. It’s not your job to keep the vineyard running. Dad can hire more people if he needs to.
Rainey
You’re a real ass when you want to be, Lucas.
Luke
And you’re the only person I know who uses commas in text messages Rainey.
Ryleigh
Now. Now. Children. Fight nice.
Holly
Or just don’t fight.
Hadley
LOL. That’s funny.
Luke
Everything okay Holls?
Holly
I’m bringing Camden and Sophie to pick out a tree this afternoon. Just thought it would be fun and wanted to see if anyone was around for dinner.
Briggs
Who are Camden and Sophie? Are you in a throuple you failed to mention or something?
Rainey
A what?
Ryleigh
Throuple. Like a permanent threesome.
Rainey
Why the hell would anyone want that? It sounds like so much work.
Briggs
Don’t knock it till you try it. I mean you need to get creative, but it can work.
Holly
Eww. I don’t want to know.
Briggs
You asked.
Holly
I didn’t. And no. I’m not in a throuple. I’m nannying for a friend of Luke’s. Sophie is his daughter.
Hadley
Besides, if she had Camden Monroe in her bed, she wouldn’t be sharing him with anyone.
Luke
What the fuck Hades?
Ryleigh
He’s hot.
Hadley
So hot.
Rainey
I’m not the only one using commas in this text chain!
Briggs
Wait. Is Holly fucking Luke’s quarterback?
Rainey
Watch it, baby brother.
Briggs
Sorry. Is Luke’s quarterback making slow sweet love to my big sister?
Hadley
I think I just threw up in my mouth.
Holly
Oh. My. God. NO!
Hadley
Can someone tell me what’s wrong with fucking?
Ryleigh
You’ve thought about it though, Holls.
Luke
You have?
Holly
Of course I have. Have you seen Camden Monroe?
Luke
Jesus Christ.
Hadley
Yeah. Bet she’d be calling him that after a good fucking.
Briggs
How come she can say it?
Holly
Please. PLEASE. Just stop. We’ll be over after four, and I don’t want to hear anything about slow or sweet or screwing. Got it?
Hadley
Fucking.
Briggs
Again. Unfair.
Ryleigh
That’s why she’s Hades.
Holly
I’m out. See you later.
Pulling tights up pudgy baby legs should be an Olympic sport.
It’s definitely a test of endurance. And it’s one I’m failing at miserably.
Sophie squirms every which way, giggling, before I finally have them on and can slip her sweet romper over her head.
Her chubby pink cheeks dimpled as she laughs some more.
“Just you wait, sugar plum. We’re going to get your very first Christmas tree today.
Do you know what that means?” I ask her as I scoop her into my arms.
Sophie smooshes my face between her hands and tries to swallow my nose.
“How’s she taste, Soph?” Camden’s velvety voice asks as he walks into Sophie’s room, and I can confirm my knees weaken with the thought of this man tasting me.
Did it just get hot in here?
He takes her from my arms and gives her a teeny, tiny toss into the air until she’s belly laughing and unimaginably happy before he tucks her against his chest and she lays her head on his shoulder.
This right here . . . the two of them together and happy. This does things to me.
Makes me think things I shouldn’t.
“Are you ready to go?” Camden asks, and I nod, words failing me as I take my first good look at him.
My God, he looks delicious. Dark jeans and dark boots, a gray sweater and a dark-blue peacoat.
Yes, please. This man should be a walking advertisement.
Women would jump at the chance to buy clothes for their husbands and boyfriends with the promise they’d look like him.
I know I would if I had either. “Holly?”
“Yes . . . Right. I’m good. I just need to grab my jacket.” I pick up a bag I packed earlier for Sophie. “I’ve got bottles, diapers, a change of clothes, and pajamas in here, in case we stay for dinner and she crashes on the way home. Her jacket and hat are downstairs.”
Camden looks me over from the top of my head to the tips of my black riding-booted feet and smiles. “No sarcastic holiday shirt today, vixen?”
I look down at my long, cream-colored, cable-knit sweater and black tights. I thought I looked cute when I put this on, but maybe not. “Nope. No funny saying today, Grinch. But my coat is crimson red just for Christmas.”
“You look pretty in red,” he murmurs as he reaches out and takes the bag from me. “I’ll meet you downstairs.”
And with that, my grumpy grinch walks away like he didn’t just call me pretty.
Umm . . . what?
“Ihad no idea this place was so big,” Camden muses as he unbuckles Sophie from her car seat and looks around, his eyes wide as he takes in the Christmas chaos of Cherry Creek Vineyards. “I guess I never thought about a winery having anything other than wine.”
“Oh yeah. We’ve got Petal & Vine,” I point toward the ten-bedroom bed and breakfast. “Rainey and her kids live there.” We turn slightly, and I motion toward the actual winery.
“The tasting room you were in the last time you were here is over there. And The Barn at Cherry Creek is the luxury event facility Ryleigh opened last year.”
“And the Village?” he asks, motioning toward the Christmas Village and tree farm to the right of the parking lot. “Have you guys always had this?”
“No,” I whisper, my heart feeling a little heavier.
“This was Mom’s baby. She loved the holidays.
Dad and she had the tree farm as a way to make use of this chunk of land that wasn’t great for growing grapes, and she eventually turned that into all this after Briggs was born. It grew a little bit more each year.”
I motion up the hill. “That’s the main house at the top of the hill.”
Camden smiles and gently presses a hand to the small of my back, and even through my coat and all my clothes, I swear I feel that single touch all the way down to the depths of my soul.
What the actual fuck?
“Come on, vixen. Show me your world.”
I look into Camden’s golden green eyes and wonder if I’m imagining the emotion I see reflecting back at me.