Chapter 15
Reese
“What the hell am I doing?”
It certainly wasn’t the first time I’d asked that question in the past fifteen minutes.
Hell, not even in the past few weeks. Ever since one Clay Montgomery had dialed my number.
I’d posed it when I took off my sandals and stuffed my feet in sneakers.
Then again, when I got in my car and started the drive to the winery.
Now I muttered the same damn thing as I walked through the lush vines.
This was one of my favorite times at the winery, the other being the barrenness of winter.
The dichotomy of the seasons here always appealed to me.
Right now, the rows of grape vines were overflowing with leaves.
Workers would be busy leaf-pulling, or removing the upper leaves to allow the sunlight to reach the grapes below.
The small clusters of fruit would eventually give way to the larger bunches that our visitors loved to see and photograph, but those larger grapes were only one step of many needed to produce wine.
Winemaking was a complex procedure, and only someone with the patience of a saint could wait and wait and wait for the exact right second to harvest. That’s why Beck, and not Ever, was the winemaker.
We’d have nothing if left in the hands of my bestie.
The vines and scenery didn’t answer me back.
I should have stayed away, like I had over the past twenty-four hours.
My brother laughed his ass off when I peered my head into the kitchen, like a kid peeking trying to see Santa.
I should have somehow found the fortitude to put Clay Montgomery, with his talented mouth and powerful hands, his ability to handle my sarcasm and snark, out of my head.
Instead, I found myself actively looking for him because I couldn’t figure out how to stay away.
For all my big talk the other day about nothing more happening between us, about forgetting the moments of sheer craziness that occurred in his room, I couldn’t get the man out of my head.
I may have tried to stay away physically, but I hadn’t accounted for the fact I’d be seeing his face, his body, every time I closed my eyes. My dreams that first night, from his voice alone, were nothing compared to them now, after our interlude in his room.
They were everything I thought I’d never have.
They were everything I shouldn’t want with this man. Especially with this man.
I picked my way through the dirt, pretending I was out for a leisurely walk when nothing was further from the truth. Something compelled me to find him. Maybe simply seeing him would feed the hunger that was growing inside me, because doing anything else would be the height of stupidity.
I may want him like I’ve wanted no one else, but that didn’t mean I could have him. Not when having him could ruin what I’d worked so hard to plan out. Despite what Ever suggested, having a fling had to be out of the question.
Then why are you out here? Stalking the man through grape vines?
“I’m not stalking,” I hissed and then pulled up short, ducking behind a large and heavy display stack of wine barrels. “Holy shit.”
Clay stood with Jeremiah, one of our winery employees, at the start of one of the rows of grapes.
I was too far away to hear what they said, but it didn’t matter.
In a suit, he screamed unattainable fantasy and completely out of my league.
At least for a girl like me. But Clay in jeans and a T-shirt, with his hair rumpled, was every high school dream I’d ever had.
What were the goddamn odds?
I told myself I asked him to stay, to work here, to learn about us.
What I didn’t say was that I wanted to prove to myself that he wasn’t like us, that he didn’t belong here.
He was rich and cultured, even snobbish, though he’d done little to exhibit that.
If I could do that, maybe I’d get rid of these feelings.
Now he had the nerve to look like a small-town snack in a pair of jeans. Rude.
With his instructions relayed, Jeremiah strode off, and Clay got to work. I peeked my head out to get a better look. For only two days in the vines, Clay looked sure-handed and confident trimming back the leaves, even if he was a little slow.
“Mr. Clay. Mr. Clay.” Abby’s high-pitched voice rang through the vineyard. “Whatcha doin’?”
Jerking back, I pressed myself against the stack, lucky these were actually secured and not simply lying on top of one another.
“Well, hello there, Ms. Abby. I’m helping remove leaves.”
Dammit. I wanted to stay hidden, but my curiosity got the better of me. Holding the edge of the barrel near my head, I peeked around the side once again. Abby looked adorable kicking at the dirt at her feet, in a sundress that was sure to have streaks of dirt on it.
She peered around on the ground. “I don’t see a lot of leaves, Mr. Clay. My daddy always has a lot on the ground.”
Clay chuckled, the sound both sweet and sexy. “That’s because your daddy has been doing this for a long time. I’m still new at it.”
“Like I’m trying to write my ABCs but I don’t think some of the letters come out good. They don’t look like my Daddy’s when he writes them or Auntie Ever.” Abby hung her head, her small mouth turned down.
Clay squatted, looking Abby right in the eyes. “You know, I bet if you practice a lot, you’ll get better.”
Seriously? Why did the man have to be so nice to her and look so damn good doing it?
I’m not saying that the guys I’d dated in the past few years haven’t paid attention to my niece, but they hadn’t talked to her like she was important.
Like she was her own person, even if she was a child.
Something twisted in my chest watching him.
Something stupid and dangerous and very likely to get me naked and in trouble.
“Will you get better at removing the leaves too, Mr. Clay?”
“I think I will.” Clay ruffled her hair before standing back up and looking around. I quickly ducked back behind the barrels, hopeful he didn’t see me. “What are you doing out here alone?”
“I’m not alone. My daddy’s with me. I can’t drive yet, Mr. Clay,” Abby spoke earnestly, like Clay should have known that.
“You can’t?” Shock tinged Clay’s voice. “But you’re such a big girl.”
Abby held up four fingers, proudly showing her age.
“I’m only four,” she giggled, and my heart melted a little at the way the two of them laughed.
Even though he’d been good with Abby the other day, I convinced myself it was all for my benefit.
I couldn’t say that now, considering he didn’t know I was spying on them.
Excuse me. Watching. Not spying.
Whatever it was, it was sending my hormones into overdrive. I already had enough trouble controlling them around him; I didn’t need anything else to steer me off track.
“We came to find Aunt ReeRee, but then Mr. Jeremiah had a question for my daddy and I saw you, so I ran over.”
Oh shit. I began moving toward the opposite end of the stack, thinking I could sneak to the other side and get away without being caught.
“Your aunt’s not here.”
“Yes, she is. We saw her car.” In my defense I didn’t expect for Beck to be anywhere other than the production barn. “She’s over there. I saw her shoes. Auntie ReeRee,” she called out, “Why are you hiding behind the barrels?”
There wasn’t a whole hell of a lot I could do now. Clay, with Abby’s hand in his, rounded the corner of the stack, catching me red-handed, so to speak. Abby grinned and pointed at me, before looking up at Clay like he hung the moon. “See, Mr. Clay. I told you.”
“You did indeed, Abby.” The way he smiled down at Abby had parts of my body doing things that were not appropriate for this setting, but damn I sort of wished he looked at me like that.
Then he turned my way. Fire and desire lit his eyes and his stupid dimple threatened to make an appearance as his lips tipped up into a smile. “So, Aunt ReeRee, why are you hiding?”
“I wasn’t hiding.” I totally was, but neither of them needed to know that. Maybe if I deflected, they wouldn’t notice. “Why were you looking for me, Abs?”
“Because all of my babysitters flaked on me,” Beck announced as he strode toward us, “and you were next on my list to ask.”
“What’s going on? And you know I’ll watch Abs.” The little girl in question jumped around in delight.
“It’s basketball night.”
I nodded, realizing the male cousins’ biweekly game was tonight. Clay had me in such disarray, I barely knew what day it was anymore.
“Mom and Dad are at something in town, Lainie’s working, Jax is actually playing tonight, and apparently Ever has a date.”
My mouth dropped open. “A what now?”
“A date. I know, it surprised me too that someone would put up with her for a few hours, but it’s what she told me.”
It was a fucking lie, because I would have known if she did. Why the hell would she lie?
“I would be thrilled to watch Abby.” I turned to my niece and asked, “How about a movie and pizza?”
With a nod, she agreed, then added, “And ice cream?”
With a groan, Beck swooped down and lifted Abby into his arms, hugging her tight. He hadn’t known what to do with Abby at the beginning, practically afraid to touch her in case he did something wrong. Seeing them now, it made my heart sing.
“No, no more ice cream. How can you eat that much of it?”
Abby looked at her father as if he were nuts. “Because it’s my favorite.” Turning to me, she cocked her head and asked, “Can I come to your apartment tonight instead?”
Looking at Beck, I shrugged, conveying the decision was all his. “That’s fine. I’m DD anyway, so I’ll pick her up when I drop Logan off. We’ll be over around five.”
They walked off, Abby talking a mile a minute, filling her dad in on something. By the time he got to the end of the row, he stopped and pivoted. “Shit.”
“Daddy.” Abby looked at him in shock. “You can’t say that word. Grammy says it’s a bad word when Grampy says it.”