Chapter 5 #2
Which was why she had to bite her lip to hold back a groan of disappointment when he lifted his head and slowly took a step back.
“It’s not that I don’t love kissing you, but if we don’t stop now, we’ll end up in bed, and I don’t want to rush things,” he said, his voice husky, his gaze scorching as he gazed down at her.
“So, I’m going to say goodnight and that I’ll see you in the morning.
Because I, for one, am looking forward to seeing what our second date holds in store for us. ”
Katrina found herself smiling even as the adjoining door between their rooms slowly closed. She didn’t miss the fact that he didn’t lock it from his side. Neither did she. Instead, she turned her back to the door, leaning against it and thinking about that awesome kiss.
She was looking forward to tomorrow as well. Being with Darwin was almost enough to make her forget she’d have to spend more time with her family.
* * * * *
“Do you recognize those two men sitting with your father?” Darwin asked Katrina the next morning.
They’d come down to the Chardonnay Ballroom thirty minutes ago to have breakfast with Khloe and Asher before going on the vineyard tour. Khloe’s maid-of-honor and best friend, Lakelyn Fox, was there, too, as well as Asher’s buddy and best man, Eli Berenger.
While the vineyard tour was supposed to be for close friends and family of the bride and groom, half a dozen business types showed up a little while ago to join Jameson, including the two men Darwin thought looked familiar last night.
“I don’t,” Katrina said, sipping her coffee.
“Me, either.” Khloe glanced that way, then shrugged. “But to be honest, people are always hanging around hoping to talk to Dad. I don’t pay much attention to them.”
Katrina set down her cup to give him a curious look. “Why do you ask?”
“I thought I recognized them from somewhere,” he said.
“The dark-haired man is Silas Forbes, and the guy with the graying hair is Harold Thompson. And the one who just sat down is Arthur Davis. I’ve never met any of them, but I heard Jameson mention them.
They’re involved in one of his special projects,” Asher said.
“The hush-hush ones that are only open to a limited number of investors.”
Darwin nodded and went back to his bacon and eggs, even as he continued to study the men talking to Jameson.
From the dark looks on their faces, they clearly seemed to be upset about something.
He still couldn’t shake the idea that he’d seen them somewhere before.
The way it was digging at him was irritating as hell.
A few moments later, Jameson shot to his feet and stormed out of the ballroom. Silas and Harold immediately started arguing with each other. Unfortunately, they were too good at keeping their voices down, so Darwin couldn’t hear what they were saying.
While he ate, Darwin scanned the rest of the ballroom. It was smaller than the Sauvignon, and decorated in cream and pale gold instead of green and silver. There were also only about fifty people, too, so compared to last night’s party, it looked almost empty.
Beside him, Katrina was talking to Khloe about where she and Asher were going for their honeymoon.
Bali, apparently, from the sounds of it.
As he sat there listening to them, he was once again mesmerized by how beautiful Katrina was.
All at once, his gaze was drawn to those luscious lips, and he replayed their amazing kiss from last night.
He’d thought he might actually have to take another shower before going to bed just to cool off.
Darwin had spent some time traveling around Indonesia in the SEALs, so he suggested some fun things they could do while on the island, including hiking on Mount Batur, which was an active volcano, and visiting the monkey sanctuary, which he’d personally thought was exceptionally cool.
“Katrina told me you’re in the Navy, but she never said what kind of stuff you do,” Khloe said.
Darwin looked at Katrina in surprise. “You didn’t tell her I’m a SEAL?”
Katrina gave him a sheepish look. “I thought it might be classified or something. Well, I did until you mentioned it to Dad last night anyway.”
Lakelyn’s eyes went wide, her face filled with undisguised awe. “You’re a SEAL?”
Darwin chuckled. He still wasn’t sure why people reacted that way when he told them what he did for a living. “Yeah. But it’s not so different than any other job. I just never know where my office will be when I go to work.”
That earned him a laugh from everyone.
“If you say so,” Asher said. “Though I’m pretty sure my job will never have me jumping out of a plane or risking my life in any way.”
“You never know.” Darwin grinned before leaning in with a conspiratorial look left and right. “I’ve heard that finance can be a dangerous business.”
They all laughed again, with Khloe adding she hoped it wasn’t too dangerous.
Since he’d never been to a vineyard before, Darwin started to ask about the tour they’d be going on that morning, but before he could, several resort employees walked into the ballroom, calling for everyone’s attention.
“The trailers for today’s hayride tour are waiting for you outside the door at the back of the ballroom, so if you’ll all head that way, we’ll get started,” a petite red-haired girl announced.
Darwin finished his coffee before pushing back his chair and holding out his hand to Katrina so they could join the rest of the guests heading toward the door.
Having gone on hayrides when he was a kid back in Pennsylvania farm country, he was familiar with what the trailers looked like, so he was surprised to see the fancy vehicles waiting for them outside.
Painted bright colors, they had plush leather seats, canopies to protect them from the sun, and there wasn’t a piece of hay in sight.
The tractors that pulled each trailer were sparkling clean and so quiet he could barely hear them running, which meant they must be electric.
They all grabbed seats on the second trailer, and for a moment, Darwin thought they might have the transport to themselves, but then Rhett climbed into the vehicle, followed by Silas, Harold, and Arthur.
Katrina’s brother didn’t so much as give them a nod as he led the way to the last row of seats.
Rhett clearly seemed pissed about something.
The trailer was just starting to move away from the back of the resort when a man jumped on board at the last second.
“Oh, you gotta be kidding me,” Darwin muttered as Upton skidded across the bed of the trailer, his arms flailing a bit as he fought to maintain his balance on the moving platform.
“Katrina!” the man said, moving toward them carefully. “I would have missed this morning’s tour if Grace hadn’t mentioned it. Thank goodness I caught up with you!”
Yeah, thank goodness, Darwin thought dryly. Whatever would they do without Upton on the tour with them?
Katrina gave Upton a cool smile, scooting a little closer to Darwin on the bench seat. He knew it wasn’t Upton’s fault that her mother kept throwing the guy at Katrina, but man, what Darwin wouldn’t give right then to throw him right back.
“I need to talk to Rhett about something,” Upton said, slowing to lean down at Katrina’s side and almost falling over in the process. “I’ll just be a moment.”
“Feel free to talk to Rhett as long as you want,” she said. “I’ll be here with Darwin. You know, my boyfriend?”
The sarcasm was lost on Upton, who patted Katrina on the shoulder with another condescending smile before heading to the back of the trailer and almost tumbling into a seat on the bench next to Rhett.
Darwin kind of hoped Katrina’s brother might toss the doofus over the side, but unfortunately, Rhett seemed interested in talking to him. So did the other three men.
Ignoring them, Darwin settled back beside Katrina, slipping an arm around her as the tour guide’s voice came through the speaker mounted at the front of the trailer, recounting the story of how the Weber family had founded the vineyard decades ago.
“Sorry for not mentioning to anyone that you’re a SEAL,” Katrina said softly, leaning against him as the tractor took them along a narrow lane that ran through the vineyard, trellises of grape vines on either side.
“Talia is always careful about what she says about what Lennox is doing, so I thought I should do the same.”
Over the radio, the tour guide was telling them about the different kinds of grapes grown at the vineyard, where they had originated from, and the wines that could be made from those grapes. Even if he wasn’t a fan of wine, Darwin had to admit it was interesting.
“There will be times when I’ll want you to keep what I tell you to yourself,” Darwin said.
“Like if I have to leave the country at the exact moment that something big is going on in some other part of the world. In situations like that, the information may not be classified, but we still don’t want people to know about it.
We call this operational security, or OPSEC.
And in those situations, I’ll need you to be discreet.
But telling people I’m a SEAL? That’s not a big deal. ”
They were deep in the vineyard now, driving between rows after rows of grape trellises, the tour guide telling them about soil conditions and how much water it took to cover the entire area. That part wasn’t really scintillating stuff, but it was fun listening to it anyway.