“What am I not looking at?”
“The most gorgeous guy on the face of the earth. And he’s turned toward us.”
I may have been able to resist, but the lure of seeing the most gorgeous guy on the face of the earth was just too tempting. Even if Alanna and I had different tastes in men.
“You looked!”
Boy, did I ever. Alanna wasn’t kidding. One of the bartenders was staring straight at me, not even pretending to look away. I broke eye contact and turned back to my friend.
“Holy shit,” I whispered.
“Exactly.”
With thick, dark hair and day-old scruff, there were literally zero things wrong with him. But what had my heart racing was the way he looked at me.
“Seems like the Finger Lakes might not be so bad after all,” Alanna said. “And...he’s coming.”
So of course, I turned back around.
And sure enough, the Greek god was making his way toward us like a man on a mission.
And his mission was me.
THREE
marco
I noticed her immediately.
Growing up in a small town with two brothers equally as good-looking me (or almost equally) meant slim pickings in Kitchi Falls. Heading to a nearby town was sometimes more lucrative, and I’d even met a few women who had come through the wineries too. In general, though, I tried not to mix business and pleasure.
Not that I was opposed to it by any means.
Before our parents retired, leaving Grado to my siblings and I, Mom and Dad called the shots. And one of the tenets Dad had made abundantly clear was that “our wineries do not exist for the pleasure of finding you dates.”
Of course, we broke that particular rule fairly often, and it nearly never bit us in the ass. Most of the women that came through were on girls’ trips or divorcee trips or some other weekend excursions with friends, and very few of the girl groups were local.
When they were, I’d either dated them already, or one of my brothers had, which automatically meant off-limits. Even with my parents now retired, I still stayed mostly away from the clientele. But sometimes, that was impossible.
Like today.
When she’d turned toward the bar, I immediately decided to approach. The woman was sexy as hell. She wasn’t cute. Or pretty. She was sexy, and there was a difference.
Please don’t let her be married.
“Afternoon, ladies,” I said, standing closer to the brunette than her friend. She smelled like a mix between coconut and vanilla. Sweet enough to eat. Or lick. Or both. “How are you enjoying Grado Valley Brewery so far?”
Her friend spoke first.
“It’s great. The beer’s great.”
With effort, I tore my gaze away from the woman’s full lips and peeked at her friend. There was something about her tone that I couldn’t place. Almost as if she was nervous.
“Glad you think so. What are you drinking?”
The friend answered again. “The pale ale for me and apple cider beer for my friend.”
The opening I needed. “What do you think of the cider?”