What was it about dogs that made people talk like that?
The animals were eating it up, too, tails whipping like chopper blades.
They shocked the hell out of Julian by bounding over to him next, reacting with—dare he say—triple the enthusiasm they’d displayed for Natalie? He was oddly pleased by that. Did he have an undiscovered way with animals? He always assumed pets were for other people. People who chose to devote hours of their lives to caring for an animal instead of useful endeavors. Now, looking down at the guileless eyes of Todd, he wondered if being loved unconditionally wasn’t useful after all. “Hello,” he greeted them in a normal voice, patting them each on the head. They weren’t satisfied with that, however, weaving through his legs until he scratched them behind the ears. “Yes, okay, you’re very good boys.”
“They are slobbering on your socks, Julian,” Natalie said, looking at him curiously. “Hey, you . . . forgot to put shoes on? You?”
“Did I?” he murmured, looking down with a pinch of alarm. He’d never gone outside without his shoes before. There was a process to going outdoors, and he’d forgone it completely. The dogs were indeed getting strings of saliva all over the no-nonsense white cotton tube socks, and he would need to change them, but that delay didn’t gut him like it might have before.
How odd.
He looked up to find Hallie watching him with a curious expression. “Evening,” she said, bringing the dogs tangling back in her direction.
“Good evening, Hallie,” he said, his tone deep and formal. And he had no idea why. Only that he wanted to reestablish their footing somehow. Everything between them felt off-kilter, and he was getting really tired of analyzing why their being in balance was so important to him.
Natalie, however, was only getting started.
She split a gleeful look between Julian and Hallie, rocking side to side on the balls of her feet, as if waiting for the starting gun of a race. “So, Hallie. I didn’t put it together last night, but we went to St. Helena High together.” She narrowed an eye. “You were the cool new kid for a while. At least until someone else’s parents decided to move here and open a vineyard.”
Hallie tore her eyes from Julian and beamed at his sister, and his chest crunched like cans in a trash compactor. Jealousy brewed inside of him like a pot of dark roast.
Damn, did he want that smile directed at him, instead.
“That was me. Although I challenge your assessment that I was cool.” Absently, she scratched the General under his chin, still smiling that delighted smile. If she could just glance at him once while it was on her face . . . “You were the one throwing the parties. I had the pleasure of attending one or two.”
“So you’ve seen me topless,” Natalie said conversationally, producing a withering sigh from her brother. “Good to know.”
“They still hold up,” Hallie commented, giving her chest an impressed nod.
“Thank you,” Natalie returned, pressing a hand to her throat.
Julian, for his part, was dumbfounded. “For all intents and purposes, you’ve just met and you’re already discussing your . . .”
“Oh boy, do you think he’s going to say it out loud?” Hallie murmured out of the corner of her mouth. “Ten bucks says he doesn’t.”
“I can’t bet against you. I’d lose and I’m too broke to pay up.” She faced Hallie fully. “You wouldn’t happen to need a firmly titted assistant by any chance?”
Julian slashed a hand through the air. “You are not working together.”
Both female heads swiveled in his direction. One startled. One looking like a cat who was on her way to snuff out the family canary. “Why not?” Natalie drawled. “Are you worried we’d talk about you?” She propped her chin on her wrist. “What could there possibly be to discuss?”
Silence ticked by along with the pulse in his temple.
Hallie looked at him.
In reality, only three seconds passed while he tried to come up with the right words for his inconvenient fixation on Hallie, but it was long enough.
“Nothing to discuss,” Hallie answered for him. For them. With color in her cheeks, she slid her attention back to Natalie. “And, sorry. You’re overqualified, Cornell.”
His sister shook a fist at the sky. “Dammit. Foiled once again by my sharp intellect.”
They shared a fond laugh, visibly considering each other. “Listen, there is a rebound in this town that still needs to be bounded, and he has my name on him. Would you want to attend a tasting with me on Tuesday night? Wine crafted by a former Navy SEAL,” she cajoled, waggling her eyebrows. “I’m sure he’s got a friend. Or two, if you’re into that sort of thing. Or maybe you already have a boyfriend you can bring? I don’t mind being the third wheel—”