Chapter 16 Daphne
DAPHNE
Ihad no idea what Cru and his uncle had discussed after I got on the plane when we left álamos, and he didn’t say.
I also didn’t understand the significance of Tryst taking me to the temple or what happened once I was inside.
All I knew was with each passing day, I felt more and more like I belonged here—by Cru’s side.
We’d been back in California close to a month when, on our morning walk amongst the vines, I saw the first sign of life by way of bud break. I raced over to check, and sure enough, I could clearly see green peeking through the gnarly, brown branches.
“Looks like it’s time to get to work,” Cru said as we inspected section after section and found the majority showing the same thing.
Timing now started becoming crucial. Once the vines came out of dormancy, we’d have to eliminate suckers springing up near the base and anything else we found that might compromise hardiness.
As we cut and pruned, I noticed Cru following my lead, leaving everything on the ground, where it fell. Later, we’d return, shred, and till, turning the waste into what I believed was the most beneficial organic matter.
At night, we’d go to the house with barely enough energy to get out of our work clothes and eat. Yet once we’d showered and gotten in bed, it was as though, when our naked bodies touched, our stamina renewed, and we’d spent hours making love.
By May, flowering and fruit set were well underway, and by June, deep-green grapes were in abundance.
Every day was full of excitement and discovery, which would continue well into October, when the last of the ripened fruit was harvested.
I thanked Cru almost daily for giving me the opportunity to work at Los Cab and, thus, fulfilling a dream I almost didn’t know I had.
“I love seeing you so happy,” he’d say as often as I thanked him.
Cru had gradually convinced Trevino that he was needed in the vineyard, which was vastly different than offering him a job. While I was the second-label winemaker, he’d made Bit, as almost everyone called him now, vice chief of operations.
As I’d suspected all along, Bit knew a lot more about his family’s vineyards than he’d ever let on.
He’d also made great progress fixing up the original winery building.
It was far too small to handle anything more than the experimental varietals, but that made it almost perfect.
Rather than installing modern equipment, the original presses, and even the fermentation tanks, were rehabbed and made ready for the harvest that would begin in September and October.
Mid-July marked one of the most beautiful times in the vineyard—known as Veraison. It was a fancy word for berry ripening, when the color of the fruit transitioned from green to translucent, then golden, or in the case of the red varietals, turned shades varying from pink to purple.
Along with the change in color came the intense heat the valley was known for. Temperatures could reach well into the hundreds by ten in the morning.
“Ready for a break?” Cru said on one such day when he pulled up at the end of the row on an ATV. I’d been out less than two hours, but my shirt was already drenched with sweat.
“I’d love one.”
“Hop on, then.”
“Where are we going?” I asked when he sped past the house and up a hillside trail I hadn’t been on before.
“It’s a surprise,” he said over his shoulder.
Once we entered the wooded area, the temperature dropped so significantly, and I groaned in appreciation. At the same time, I tightened my hold around his waist with one hand and reached between his legs with the other, relieved to find he was as aroused as I was.
“You’re insatiable,” he teased.
“Only with you, my love.”
He turned his head far enough that, when I leaned forward, I could bring my lips to his. It was typically all it took to send my need for him skyrocketing.
Truthfully, just watching him walk toward me triggered the same desire I felt blazing in his eyes and made me want to jump into his arms, wrap my legs around him, and feel his hardness press against my pussy.
There’d been several days when getting in a cold, rather than warm, shower had been waylaid by our need to strip each other naked and make love, regardless of how sweaty we were.
When I saw the sun shining brighter ahead of us, I almost moaned in disappointment. However, when Cru pulled over and cut the ATV’s engine, my eyes opened wide and I smiled in delight.
To our left was a pond fed by a waterfall that looked as though it sprung from the hillside. Beneath it was slate, which I knew without touching would be cold.
We jumped off the vehicle and stripped our clothes on our way into the water. I stuck my foot in its iciness at the same time Cru came up behind me, pressed his hardness into the cheeks of my arse, and snaked one hand down to my pussy.
“I’ve been waiting all month for there to be enough water to bring you here. Do you know how long I’ve imagined your legs wrapped around me as I held you in my arms, fucking you senseless as the stream cascaded over us?”
His words alone might’ve made me come, but the pressure of his fingers stroking me made it happen quicker.
“Cru!” I yelled out his name as he held my quivering body tight, not easing the assault of his fingers on my clit until I was convulsing. “God, what you do to me,” I groaned, feeling my knees give out.
He lifted me in his arms and carried me the rest of the way. Once we were close, he lowered me so my feet were on the slate, then picked me up a second time, this time facing him. At the same moment I linked my ankles behind his back, Cru slid into me, then moved us under the cool current.
“Hold on tight, Daphne.”
I shuddered, knowing precisely what was coming.
Cru’s powerful thighs made it easy for him to piston into me.
He pressed my back against the moss-covered stone at my back, increasing his tempo and deepening his thrusts.
I came at least twice before he pushed inside me one last time and pulsed his release.
We remained under the water, holding each other and kissing passionately.
We’d made love every day since that first night, and each time felt better than the one before.
Cru knew exactly how to coax my body into multiple orgasms with his hands, mouth, and cock, and I did the same for him.
Two people couldn’t possibly have been made more perfect for each other.
He eased himself from inside me, lowered me so my feet were on the slate, then took my hand and led me into the pond via the steps nature had carved out for us.
Once in the coolness of the spring-fed pond, he picked me up again when he realized how high the water level was. He could stand on the bottom and it reached his pecs. For me, I would’ve had to struggle to keep my head above the surface.
“I should call you Bit,” he teased, kissing the tip of my nose. “But I have a better idea.”
I trailed my tongue up the side of his neck. “What’s that?”
He shuddered. “Don’t distract me.”
“Is this a distraction?” I asked, breathing warm air into his ear, followed by my tongue.
“If you don’t stop, I won’t be able to.”
“Who says I want you to?”
He pretended as though he was about to drop me, and I squealed and clung to him. He gathered me back where I was and stared into my eyes.
“Daphne?”
“Yes, Enzo?”
“What would you think about me calling you Mrs. Avila?”
My gaze didn’t waiver from his. “I would love it.”
“You do know I’m asking you to marry me, right?”
“You’d better be since I’m already saying yes.”
He turned while still holding me and walked toward the ATV.
As he did, the pond grew shallower to the point where he could step out of it as if we were at the beach.
He grabbed the shirt he’d draped on the handlebars and put it on the seat before resting me on it.
Then he reached inside a storage box affixed to the back of the vehicle and pulled out two towels, along with dry clothes.
“If I didn’t already love you more than I dreamed possible, it would increase exponentially right now.”
He leaned forward and kissed me. “It grows deeper every day for me too.”
After we both dressed, I thought we’d leave to return to the vineyards. Instead, Cru pulled out a cooler bag, spread the towels out on a grassy area, and we shared a picnic, complete with an unmarked bottle of wine.
“Is this what I think it is?” I asked, hoping it was the blend I’d first had at Stave.
“You’ll have to taste it and find out.”
I smiled and rubbed my hands together, watching as he poured into the two crystal glasses that had been inside the wine bag.
“It’s even more intense than I remembered,” I said after swirling and inhaling deeply.
“Go ahead,” he said, waiting for me to taste first.
I savored the liquid that flowed over my tongue, experiencing every nuance and focusing on the mouthfeel, the dryness, as well as the acidity.
I took a second sip, concentrating more on each flavor and when I experienced it.
Its herbaceousness was more like red currant rather than true cherry but with a bold underlying menthol note, followed quickly by boysenberry and blackberry compote.
Finally, black licorice led into the long finish that had a tug of earth amid a generally velvety feel.
I looked up at him. “It’s perfect.”
While I watched him swirl, sniff, and taste, I thought about him saying that maybe someday he’d tell me what he’d named it.
“So?” I asked. “Do you agree?”
“I do. It’s exactly what I wanted it to be.”
“Does that mean you’re ready to divulge the name?”
“Close.” He winked.
I folded my arms and pretended to pout.
“There’s one more thing I need to know first.”
When he stood and held his hand out to me, I left the sandwich I was unwrapping on the towel.
“Look out,” I warned when he took a knee almost directly on top of it.
The smile left my face as I watched him pull a small box from his pocket, then take my left hand in his right.
“Daphne Cullen, let’s make this official. Will you marry me?”
“Of course I will. Yes, yes, yes!”
When I fell to my knees too and wrapped my arms around his neck, Cru hurriedly moved the sandwich aside, or I would’ve landed on it too.
He eased the ring on my finger, and I stared at it. “It’s so beautiful.”
“Do you like it?”
I shook my head. “I love it.” There were five pear-shaped diamonds set on a platinum-colored band. The largest was in the center, and depending on the way the light hit it, it looked green or blue. The next largest flanked it, and the two on the outside were smaller but not by much.
“The first thing I thought when I saw the center stone was how much it reminded me of your eyes,” he said, reaching into his pocket again. “This will be the wedding band.”
The baguette stones in the second ring were the same color as the center diamond, and the two fit so perfectly it was hard to tell they were separate pieces.
As we sat on the towels near the pond, finally eating our picnic lunch, all I could think was how I’d never dreamed my life could be so perfect.
I was engaged to a man I loved with all my heart and doing my dream job.
So why wouldn’t the dread I felt deep inside since the day we left Tryst’s ranch go away?