“And you’ll listen?”
Their relationship was adorable. Too bad I didn’t have popcorn for the show.
“So maybe we should let Rae decide?” Min said.
Oh shit.
Min’s face said it all. It was the worst idea ever.
On the other hand, Marco’s plan wasn’t actually a bad one. My future was at stake. And as he said, no one knew the vineyard business as well as he and his siblings.
Also, a little voice whispered, having a reason to see him every day, while not exactly healthy, was admittedly exciting as hell.
“I...” Min looked at me as if to say, ‘Don’t do it. Don’t do it.’¶
The answer should be no.
Instead I said, “It’s not the worst idea in the world, I guess.”
Marco’s smile made me instantly regret my decision. And the look of horror on Min’s face didn’t help matters.
What did I just do?
NINETEEN
marco
She was early.
I’d been heading to the Wine Barn when I saw her walking toward the courtyard. Stopping, I waited for Rae as she made her way toward me. As always, she looked smoking hot. Last night, every time she re-crossed her legs in that chair I imagined us alone, myself between her legs. Spreading them apart. Taking advantage of the fact that she wore a sundress.
Using my tongue to make her scream, wiping that frown from her face. She’d hid it well, but after being with her Saturday, there was no doubt in my mind Rae’s visit with Jerry bothered her. Rae just...wasn’t herself.
“You caught me off guard,” I said as she re-adjusted her purse. “I was just heading into the barn to drop these off.” I lifted up the bag from Devine Bakery.
“I’m always early,” she said. “What’s in there?”
“Min didn’t tell you about Devine’s cinnamon donuts yet?”
Rae shook her head. “No?”
She was all business today. Unlike Saturday after a bottle and a half of wine, when Rae told me more about her parents and their messy divorce and her “failure” that was a law career, this Rae had no doubts. She looked ready to tackle the world.
But I just really wanted her to tackle me.
Despite the fact she made it clear we would not happen, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. And now she was mine for the next week. Well, not exactly mine. But I’d taken what I could get.
“Come on,” I said heading to the barn.
She eyed the building up and down. “Min told me all about the fire. That must have been devastating.”
“It was. For her, especially. Min adores this place. It’s like some shrine to all things women,” I said as we walked through the doors. “And female power. Etcetera, etcetera.”
Min was behind the tasting bar on her laptop.
“You see,” she looked up. “This is exactly why I told you not to do this. To him, it’s all fun and games. But to the rest of us, and any male who actually cares, the fact that this barn is named for our great-grandmother—”
“Nineteen forty-two,” I said at Rae’s confusion. “Wine Barn is the full name. That’s the year our great grandmother came to the US from Sicily.”