“Kind of the same thing.”
“Is my wine not to your liking?”
It is good, really good, but I am no wine connoisseur. I didn’t drink much growing up. A glass of red with dinner during my last year in Italy. The wine I’ve had the past few days was delicious. I won’t stroke his ego by telling him so.
“It’s fine.”
We finish our lunches in silence, then Stone pushes his plate away and turns to me. “We’ll be married on Saturday.”
“Saturday?” I choke, and wine spits out of my mouth, hitting him in the face.
With elegance and grace, he dabs his cheek with his napkin. “Saturday.”
“That’s in three days.”
“Do you have pressing matters to attend to?”
Yeah. I want to see my mother. “I figured I could leach an engagement party out of this. Maybe a bachelorette party.”
“Make a wish list and I’ll see it gets met.”
“Seriously?” I move my plate out of the way and rest my elbow on the butcher block counter.
“Within reason.”
“What exactly is out of reason?”
“It’s too soon to see your mother.”
Yeah. I’m an open book. “What about a party?”
“Is that what you want?”
“What if it is?”
If Stone was the eye rolling type, his eyes would be bugging out of his head. The vein started to make its presence known.
“An engagement party would mean people would see us together. Happy.” He leans in, his breath only a whisper away. “Touching.”
He cups my knee with his palm, stretching his fingers up my thigh. I tense as my heart races.
“Kissing,” he whispers in my ear. “Unable to keep our hands off each other.”
I swallow the lump forming in my throat and shoot out of my seat. “Fine. A party’s not a great idea. I don’t know anyone here anyway.”
Stone follows me to the wall of windows. I notice one is actually a door that leads to a patio. I unlock it and step outside. Other than my balcony, it’s the first time I’ve been outside since he abducted me in the park.
I have a better view of the grounds. The vineyards go on for miles. The estate sits atop a hill as if overlooking the entire island or peninsula, or whatever piece of land we are on.
“In order for this to work, you need to act the part.”
“Excuse me?” I whirl around, annoyed at how cool and calm Stone is. The blue sky and the stone mansion make the perfect backdrop as if he’s Gatsby introducing himself to Nick. “Act my part? I signed your papers. No questions asked.”
“You asked questions.”
“No answers given.”
“You need to make our marriage believable.”