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Marco frowned. “It won’t last. Eventually they’ll get fed up enough to leave. You know Sunset’s reputation among owners already. And now he’s building again? Jerry is too full of himself to know his own limitations.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Speaking from experience?”

I thought Marco would laugh along with me. He was as self-deprecating as anyone and often poked fun of his own reputation. I immediately apologized. “I’m sorry. That was totally a joke. You’re nothing like him.”

“It’s fine,” he said. But clearly it wasn’t. I’d hit a nerve. “Listen Rae. Fuck him. Manage him after the fact. But don’t let him ruin a good thing for you if running a vineyard is what you want.”

“That’s the problem. Is it what I want? Wine, sure. But all of this?” I waved my arms around to the Grado property in despair.

“Shadow me,” he blurted.

I stared at him in surprise. “Shadow you? I think you forgot I’m the competition.”

“We've established this already. You win, we win. It’s that simple. Having Jerry run you out of town is bad for Grado.” He added, “And for me.”

Unlike his usual flirty, suggestive tone, Marco said that like a completely normal, non ultra-playboy type of guy.

“I’ve been in this business from birth. A lot of my time now is in the brewery, but I’m still VP of Grado and have a hand in just about everything. Shadow me for a few days. A week. Whatever. See if the day to day is something you want. And if it is, give Jerry a run for his money. Or buy him out.” He smiled. “Or both.”

I couldn’t buy him out, as much as I’d love to. He’d never go for it.

“You really think this is a good idea?”

In fact, I knew for certain it was a terrible, no good, very bad idea.

“Definitely.”

“What’s a good idea?” Min asked, giving Marco a glare for changing seats and resigning herself to his seat.

“Shadowing your brother to learn the ins and outs. To find out if fighting Jerry tooth and nail, which at this point is pretty apparent I’ll have to do, is what I want.”

Min confirmed what I already knew. Of course it was an awful idea.

“Marco,” she started before he cut her off.

“She needs to know,” he said. “It’s her future on the line. And who better a person to shadow than me?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe...anyone?”

“Cos sits in his office all day looking at numbers, Brooke is focused on marketing, you the Wine Barn and Thayle, the wine club. Neo wakes up and goes to sleep in the vines.”

“Peter?”

“He’s our vineyard manager,” he said to me. “Who is exceptionally knowledgeable.”

“Exactly. And would be more than happy to show Rae the ropes.”

Was I totally stupid to want Marco to find a reason why he, and not Peter, was a better choice?

Don’t answer that, Rae.

“He doesn’t know an owner’s job from top to bottom like one of us.”

“He also won’t hit on Rae.”

Oh my God, she really just said that out loud.

“True,” Marco said. I nearly laughed aloud when he all but admitted it. The guy really had no shame. “But you’re forgetting Rae, who’s sitting right there, is a big girl and can take care of herself. If she wants me to go pound sand, she’ll tell me.”


Tags: Bella Michaels Romance