12. Bas
BAS
“What’s going on with you and Gemma?” Kick asked.
“Nothing’s going on.”
“That’s not what it looks like from across the sitting room.”
“Then, quit looking.”
“Izzy’s going to have an opinion about this.”
“She always does,” I muttered.
“That’s why I married her.” He kicked a clod of dirt out of the row. “She likes her, Bas. I like her too.”
“I know you do.”
“Be careful. She’s not someone you can—”
“Watch it, Kick. You’re out of line here.”
“Okay, I’ll drop it, but I’m going on record, saying that if you hurt her, you’ll face Izzy’s wrath, which is way worse than mine.”
What if Gemma hurt me? Would she face Izzy’s wrath too?
That was far more likely how this scenario would go.
She was the one who’d included a clause in her employment contract saying neither party would pursue a romantic relationship.
Or whatever the hell it said before she crossed it out and we both initialed it.
Just because it didn’t end up in the final draft, it didn’t change the fact that she’d originally put it in for a reason.
Every minute I was around her, it was nearly impossible not to touch her, kiss her, carry her caveman-style to the nearest bed, and fuck her until the only man she’d ever remember being with was me.
I’d make her feel so damn good that no one else could come close.
Not only from her past, but her future too.
And maybe then she’d look at me as someone she wanted to be with in that future.
Fat chance. I knew it was. It didn’t stop me from wanting it.
When the vintners’ association met again at the end of the month, Gemma sat beside me and was as polite to me as she was to everyone else at the table.
Hal asked me questions about bud break, then Ray Myers asked about bottling and waited for the answer. At least, they were trying to include me, and I appreciated it. Whether it was because Gemma was with me or that I’d been consistently showing up, it didn’t matter.
I took a break between the steaks and dessert, and when I was about to round the corner after using the men’s room, I froze when I heard two people talking.
“I heard the other Whitmore siblings might be interested in selling.”
“Where’d you hear that?”
“Where do you think? Word is the oldest one’s in over his head, and the siblings are worried if they don’t act now, they’ll end up in bankruptcy.”
“Lemme guess,” said the second man. “You heard this from Desmond Gannon?”
I knew the name well. My dad ran the guy off our property once, right after my mom passed away. Then, not a week after my father died, the sonuvabitch showed up again. He stood on our porch and handed me a folded piece of paper.
“What’s this?” I’d asked him.
“The best offer you’re gonna get, kid.”
I told him to get the fuck off my property.
“It isn’t yours alone,” he’d muttered before climbing into his fresh-off-the-lot, high-end SUV.
Once the two men’s voices drifted farther away, I returned to our table.
I glanced around, trying to figure out who I’d heard talking.
Table after table, those seated facing me leaned to the person beside them and whispered something.
Either the rumor about Whitmore selling was being circulated amongst the attendees, or I was fucking paranoid.
Somehow, I managed to sit through the speaker’s remarks, dessert, and after-dinner drink service. I’d only stuck around to see if anyone would have the balls to come and ask me. No one did.
Gemma was quiet on the drive to Whitmore.
She’d been quiet since the night when we organized my dad’s study.
We both had been. I didn’t know what to do about it, though.
The only way I could keep myself from kissing her again was to maintain my distance, both physically and emotionally. Maybe that was what she was doing too.
“Good night, Bas,” she said when I pulled up in front of her cottage. She was out the door and up the steps before I’d even gotten around the truck to help her out. She hadn’t done that since our first fake date.
I didn’t go up to the house. I went down to the cellar and stood in front of the two blank barrels.
In over his head. That was what they were saying. Whitmore didn’t need fixing. It needed me to keep doing what my father had done and not change a thing. These two barrels were the only thing on the property I’d done that he hadn’t. If those men knew about them, that would be what they’d point to.
I topped them and went up to bed.
Over the next couple of days, my phone lit up with messages from my siblings, saying they’d be at the First Pour event and were looking forward to it.
Rather than ask in the group chat whether any of them had heard from Desmond Gannon, I decided to wait until they were here. I couldn’t imagine they’d respond to him, but if that was the case, I’d rather they tell me to my face.
Zeke called before midnight in the second week of March.
“We’re gonna drop below freezing before dawn,” he said. “There’s no moisture in the air. It’ll fall fast.”
“Which blocks are most vulnerable?” I asked.
“Chardonnay buds are open. The Pinot won’t be long after that.”
The two varietals together represented over eighty percent of the grapes we grew. That was the part that mattered. Once a bud opened and the green came out of it, cold killed it. While it stayed closed, it could take a hard night and come through fine.
“I’m on my way.” I was already up and pulling on my jeans, a hoodie, and a rain jacket. “Call everybody,” I said as I grabbed my gloves and ran out the door.
“I already did. We don’t have time to waste.”
Zeke had the fans on the hill running and the pumps that pulled water from the ponds at our highest ground going when I got to the vineyards. Once the pumps did their job, the sprinklers, which were mounted on pipes higher than the vines, would spray water across the tops of the plants.
While it sounded wrong, the truth was water gave off heat when it froze.
As long as more kept coming, the ice held the vine right at the freezing mark and no colder, and it could live through that.
The water from the sprinklers had to run constantly, though.
If it stopped, what was on the vine would go below freezing and kill the buds.
It was the job of every person on our crew to walk the rows, making sure every sprinkler kept turning.
If it didn’t, the head would have to be replaced.
It took a minimum of fifteen people to cover the seven-hundred-plus rows that were in danger.
Divided into teams, they could cover fifty rows each, one full pass every hour or so.
“Bas!” hollered Zeke, pointing up the hill to Gemma walking in my direction. She was wearing a rain jacket, boots, and gloves like she’d done this a hundred times.
“I heard the fans,” she said when she reached me.
“So did Sonoma County.”
“Where do you want me?” she asked.
“In bed.”
“Try again.”
“Take the row opposite me. Your job is to shine your light on every sprinkler you pass. If it’s spinning, keep going. If it’s still, tell me.”
We both went to the end of the row, turned, and kept going.
At quarter to seven, Zeke’s voice came through the radio in my pocket. “We’re at thirty-six, and the temperature is still climbing. The ice is coming off on its own now, so I’m shutting the water down. Go home and get some sleep. You all did good work tonight. Thank you.”
The sprinklers stopped, and the only sound was from the water running off the wires.
Gemma came around the end of the row. There was dirt on her face, her hair was loose, her jacket was soaked, and there was mud to her knees. And I’d never wanted anyone the way I did right then.
“Are we done?” she asked.
“We are,” I said. “You need to get out of those clothes, into a hot shower, then to bed.”
“What about you?”
“I need that too.”
When we got to the bottom of the porch steps, she stopped. “Bas?”
“Yeah?”
“Will you come inside with me?”
“Is that what you want, Gemma? If I do—”
While her hands were ice cold when she put them on either side of my face, her mouth was hot when it crashed into mine. In that moment, I didn’t care about any agreements we’d made or the year I’d made her promise me.
“I need you, Gem.” I rested my forehead against hers.
“I know. Come on.” She took my hand and led me through the door she’d left unlocked.
“We’re going to make a mess,” I said once we were inside. “We should leave this stuff here.”
While she peeled off her jacket and tossed it on the floor, I did the same with mine. After we removed our boots and muddy jeans and left them on the pile, I spun her around, kissed her again, then lifted her into my arms.
When she wrapped her legs around my waist, all that was between us were my boxer briefs and her pink panties.
“I don’t think I can wait for a shower.” I lowered her onto the bed.
“Me either. Get the rest of your clothes off, Bas.”
I closed my hands around her wrists when she reached for the hem of her sweatshirt. “I’ve imagined undressing you too many times to let you do it yourself.”
“Then, hurry,” she said through clenched teeth.
“Sorry, darlin’. I can’t rush this.”
“Once we’re both naked, you can take all the time in the world.”
“I’m gonna hold you to that when you’re begging me—”
“Shut up and get these off.” She reached for me and cupped my hardness. Her lips met mine, and she pushed her tongue in my mouth.
I lifted her top off over her head, so all she had on were her panties and a matching bra.
“No, you don’t,” I said when she reached behind her to unfasten it. “The rest is mine to take off as I please.”
“Does that mean I get to do the same to you?”
I stepped away. “Have at me, Gem.”
She grabbed my hoodie, pulled it over my head, then her hands settled on my waist. When she sank to her knees in front of me, I almost came from the sight alone.
“You’re killing me,” I groaned as she eased my briefs down. My cock sprang free, and she leaned forward to lick the tip. “As much as I want to feel your pouty lips around me, there are things I need to do first.”
Her eyes opened wide when I lifted her off her knees and onto the bed.
“Lie back for me.” I spread her legs wide and knelt between them.
“I want you to let go, relax, and let me explore this body I’ve spent so much time thinking about.
Can you do that for me?” I didn’t wait for an answer before I kissed her lips, then trailed my tongue down her neck to her breasts.
While my mouth sucked her nipple through the pink lace, I worked my thumb under the other cup and rolled the opposite one.
Her sharp intake of breath and the way she reached for me when I bit one and pinched the other had me ready to thrust inside her, but I couldn’t. Not yet.
“Gemma?”
She opened one eye a crack.
“I don’t have a condom.”
“Nightstand drawer.”
I smiled. “Which one?”
“Both. I was optimistic.”
“God, I—” I bit my tongue to stop myself from saying words neither of us were ready for and reached for the closest drawer. I grabbed a handful and set them on the bed. “I’m optimistic too, baby.”
“Bas,” she whined.
“Tell me what you want.”
“You.”
“Which part? My mouth, my tongue, my fingers, my cock?”
“All of the above.”
“Where?”
Rather than answer, she grabbed my hand and put it between her legs. I moved down her body and pulled her panties to the side. “Fuck, you’re so wet. I can’t wait. I need a taste.” I slid a finger inside her, then brought it to my lips. I groaned as I licked it clean, then went in for more.
I ripped her panties off with my free hand, and was rewarded when she drenched my palm.
“Gemma?”
“What?” Her neck arched when I put my thumb on her clit.
“While I fuck you with my fingers, I’m going to tell you all the things I wanted to learn about you.”
“You could do them instead.”
I grinned and shook my head. “You told me I could take all the time in the world, remember?”
“I take it back.”
“Too late. Look at me.”
When her eyes met mine, I removed my fingers from her pussy and brought both to my mouth. “Now, I know how you taste, and it’s even better than I imagined. I also know how hot and wet your pussy gets. But what I don’t know yet is how it’ll feel when my thick cock is inside you.”
“Oh, God,” she moaned when I thrust my fingers again and brought my lips to her clit. I crooked them and sucked hard on her bundle of nerves. “I’m going to…” She arched when I quickened my pace, going deeper, and sucked her clit harder.
“I want you to come now, Gem. Can you do that for me?”
“Bas, oh God.” Her pussy clamped down on my hand, and her thighs quivered when her release drenched my tongue.
I wanted to wait, to make her come again and again, but I couldn’t.
I reached for a condom, opened the packet with my teeth, and rolled it on.
“I have to fuck you now,” I said, positioning myself at her entrance.
“Are you ready for me?” She answered by reaching around me, sinking her fingernails into the flesh of my ass, then lifting her hips to take me inside her.
I moved us so her head was on the pillows, grabbed the headboard with one hand, slid almost all the way out, then slowly in again.
She reached up and put her hand on my chest as I drove into her again and again, slow and deep.
“Bas, please.”
“Tell me what you want.”
“Harder,” she cried out. “God, don’t stop.”
When I felt her come again, my head fell forward and I buried my face in her neck, gritting my teeth as I exploded my release, shouting her name.
“I want to stay right here forever,” I whispered. “Inside you, our bodies joined together.”
“That would be heaven,” she responded.
It was all I could do to not ask if she really meant that. If she wanted me in her life as I wanted her in mine. Instead, I kissed her hard and deep like I’d fucked her.