Bitter Rival: an enemies to lovers romance

by J. Sterling

  “James, I was just asking.” He pulled my hand from his shoulder. “You don’t have to compete year after year in order to have a successful winery, and we both know it. These competitions are just an added bonus, a feather in your cap really, a little extra publicity that you don’t even need. You’re already running one of the most lucrative wineries in the state, with or without this shit.” He waved a hand around the crowded space.

  He wasn’t wrong. I didn’t have to do these sorts of things. But I wanted to. It was the only way I got close to her. I knew exactly why I kept entering every single one of them, and Dane did, too. If I didn’t, then I’d never see Julia La Bella in this capacity. Especially not since she had moved out of the main house and had a separate bungalow built where I could no longer see her from any window on my property. I always suspected she’d done that on purpose.

  “Should I go try the she-devil’s wine? See what we’re working against?” he suggested with a sly grin, and my skin prickled.

  “You know better than to call her that,” I said between clenched teeth.

  The first time he’d called Julia a she-devil, she’d overheard him and started to cry. I punched him right in the stomach because of it. Our third grade teacher forced him to apologize in front of the entire classroom, and I had to apologize as well. I had done it, but my fingers had been crossed behind my back because I wasn’t sorry. I wasn’t sorry at all.

  “Anyone ever told you that you’re delusional?” he asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

  “Just you,” I said in response because Dane was the only one I’d ever willingly admitted anything to.

  From the outside looking in, I hated Julia the same way she hated me. I acted cocky, arrogant, and sometimes a little mean. It was my defense mechanism; bad attention was still attention, right?

  “You can’t keep doing this to yourself, man.”

  “Doing what exactly?”

  “Waiting,” he said, diagnosing me like some sort of love expert.

  I raised my brows and cocked my head. “I’m not waiting. I’ve had two serious relationships in the last two years. I’m just taking a break from women right now until the right one comes along. Women are exhausting.”

  He lowered the bottle of wine he was holding to the table before clasping his hands together in prayer pose. “Okay. I’m going there. Neither one of those relationships was ‘serious.’” His hands unclasped as he did finger quotes in the air.

  “How was Rebecca not serious? We were together for a year,” I argued.

  “Seattle Rebecca was a joke. You never saw her. It only lasted that long because she kept thinking you’d change. Once she realized you never would, she bowed out. And, ever since her, you’ve been burying yourself in the winery, pretending to be overworked, but I know it’s because you’re waiting for her. Waiting for what exactly, I have no idea. But you’re still waiting. And it’s painful to watch, man.”

  When had my idiot best friend become so observant?

  I exhaled as all of my thoughts and emotions warred against each other. “I think a part of me has always assumed she’ll stop with the hate and admit what we’ve always known.”

  “Which is what exactly?”

  “That there’s something between us. I know it. She knows it. It’s undeniable.”

  I held my breath as I waited for that day to come. I was clearly still holding it.

  “It is. Everyone can see it. But you should really tell her how you feel,” he urged. “Before someone else goes after her and you lose your chance.” He gave a nod toward Todd Lestare, current marketing director of Lestare Winery and my former basketball teammate in high school.

  Jealousy reared her ugly head with a vengeance. I never trusted Todd when it came to Julia and for good reason. He always lingered around her booth a little too long, always staring at her a little too hard. Not to mention the fact that he’d wanted Julia since high school, and I’d made him walk away from her then. There was no way that I had that kind of control now that we were grown men. I hated watching him with her—the way he made her laugh, the way he touched her arm like he had every right to it. If I lost Julia to him, of all people, I’d never forgive myself.

  Sucking in a long breath, I nodded to myself before focusing on Dane, a newfound confidence coursing through my veins. “I think you might be right.”

  Dane’s body language suddenly changed, and his face turned completely animated. “Really? You’ll tell her? You’ll actually tell her?”

  “If I don’t, someone else is going to, and it’s going to destroy me to sit back and watch, knowing I did nothing to stop it.”

  His eyes widened. “Okay. So, Operation Julia is officially back on?”

  I laughed at the name we’d come up with in the seventh grade after we convinced ourselves that we could get Julia to kiss me before school let out for the summer. We’d failed, and the operation had been canceled—or at least, paused indefinitely.

  “Looks that way. And, this time, it’s going to work.”

  Dane didn’t look convinced. “Wanna bet on it?”

  “Do you?” I countered.

  “Betting doesn’t end well in your family,” he said as he gripped my hand and shook it hard, “so I’d be a fool not to.”

  FIRST PLACE

  Julia

  Five hours of schmoozing, people-pleasing, and smiling were finally nearing an end. It wasn’t that I didn’t love this part of my job, but I was exhausted. Being forced to be on in that way took a lot out of a person. It sounded stupid, I knew that, but it didn’t make it any less true.

  “How are you holding up?” Jeanine whispered as the last few glasses of our wine disappeared.

  I smiled at her before answering, “Good. Tired.”

  “I know. This shit’s exhausting.” She shook her head and rubbed at the back of her neck. “And I don’t even do half the entertaining that you do.”

  “All part of the job.” I faked a curtsy and wished like hell I could take off my heels. As soon as the winner was announced, I’d slip them off and tuck them into my bag.

  “Todd Lestare is going to ask you out again. I overheard some girls talking in the restroom about him and James.”

  I groaned and rolled my eyes. Todd wasn’t my type, not even in high school, but he never seemed to take no for an answer. To be fair, every time he asked me out and I turned him down, my reasons were flimsy, my excuses weak. I told him things like I had too much going on at the winery to get away or it was harvest season or I was in the middle of a launch or rebrand. Instead of figuring out that I wasn’t interested in him, he took my rejections as temporary setbacks. I should be honest and straightforward, but I had no idea how to do that without hurting his feelings and feeling like a jerk in return. The only person whose feelings I never cared about hurting was James. I thought I got a sick joy out of being mean to him. I decided to psychoanalyze that part of myself later.

  “You could do me a solid and take him off my hands, you know.” I nudged Jeanine with my shoulder.

  “I would, but I like to date guys who are actually interested in me and not my best friend.” She threw her hands up in surrender. “Unfortunately, that narrows down my choices.”

  “So selfish.” I shook my head in mock disappointment.

  “I know.” She played along. “It’s a super-rude requirement of mine.”

  We both laughed.

  It wasn’t that there was anything really wrong with Todd. I just felt nothing for him. There was no attraction or chemistry. He was a good-looking guy, if you were into blond hair and the clean-cut type, which I wasn’t.

  I cast a quick glance over toward James, who was staring at me, and my heart jumped into my throat before I looked away just as quickly. Apparently, I was into the more forbidden type with dark hair and a perfectly trimmed beard. The kind of guy who made my heart feel like it was going to break out of my chest with just a look. My inner bad girl liked guys who could ruin my life and make my parents
disown me with just one kiss.

  “They’re about to announce the winners,” Jeanine said.

  We both focused our attention toward the stage as the mic clicked on, and the speakers crackled to life. Nerves flooded my entire body as I waited for them to read through their long-winded script and get to the good stuff.

  “And the winner of this year’s Limited Production Wine is”—the announcer sucked in a long, deep breath and paused for what felt like half an hour—“La Bella with their fantastic Chianti cinnamon blend. Honorable mention goes to Russo Wines with their delicious orange-flavored cab. We hope you had a chance to try both of them this afternoon. Congratulations.”

  The tiredness I’d felt only moments ago immediately disappeared as energy zipped in to replace it. A huge smile spread across my face that I couldn’t wipe away if I tried. But then again, why would I? Winning wasn’t something I took for granted or assumed would be handed to me even though it might have looked that way from the outside. I’d worked hard to create this blend, just like I had every year, but I had to admit that I was getting sort of used to coming in first place.

  What would happen when the time came and I eventually lost out to someone? And what if I lost to James?

  Shuddering at the thought, I shook my head, refusing to think about that sort of thing as people swarmed the booth and doled out their congratulations. I gracefully accepted them all, and when I was presented with the award-winning medal, blue ribbon, official certificate, and emblem, I found myself anxious.

  Most wineries had a sticker printed up that they either slapped onto the bottle or had them incorporated into the original label for their award-winning wine. But not La Bella. I had the emblem forged into a metal stamp that I would dip into hot wax and hand-stamp onto each bottle. Each of our award winners had a different emblem and color near the neck. This year’s would be dark blue. To be honest, I was running out of color options.

  “You did it.” Jeanine pulled me toward her and squeezed me. “Never a doubt in my mind.”

  “That makes one of us,” I said, the grin still firmly plastered across my face as I removed my painful heels and stepped into a pair of well-worn UGG boots. They didn’t go with my outfit in the slightest, but my screaming feet thanked me the moment the fur surrounded them. My personal comfort was far more important at this point in the day than looking the part.

  “Congratulations”—James appeared in front of my booth as I set about dismantling it—“again.”

  My smile faltered. “Thanks,” I said without looking up. The last thing I wanted to do was give James a reason to hang around longer.

  “Don’t you get tired of winning?”

  Standing straight up, I leveled him with my gaze. “Don’t you get tired of losing?”

  “Not particularly,” he answered with a shrug, and I wondered what his angle was.

  “Ugh, Russo, what do you want?” I feigned annoyance at Mr. Honorable Mention.

  “I want to take you out to dinner to celebrate,” he said, sounding so sincere that I almost believed that he had no ulterior motive.

  “Yeah, right. You probably want to steal my grapes.”

  “How the hell would I steal your grapes?” He looked at me like I was half-crazy.

  I waved a hand in the air. “I don’t know. Distract me with dinner while your minions pull my vines out of the ground? I have no idea.”

  “The only thing I ever wanted to steal from you was your virginity,” he whispered as he leaned toward me.

  I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. “Ha-ha. Very funny. You already told everyone that you did that back in high school. Thanks for that, by the way. Such a gentleman.”

  A surprised sound escaped his lips. “You really don’t know, do you?”

  “Know what?” I propped my hip out and rested my hand there.

  “Come with me to dinner, and I’ll tell you.”

  He flashed a grin that was so damn charming that I was sure it worked on every female he’d ever given it to. It was definitely starting to work on me. I glanced over at Jeanine for help, but she pretended not to be listening.

  “Jeanine can come, too,” he added.

  Oh, James Russo was good.

  “What? Me?” Jeanine started to stutter on her response. “I can’t go with you two. I, uh … have plans.”

  “You do not!” I practically shouted because I knew for a fact that she had absolutely zero plans.

  “Well, I still can’t go. Leave me out of whatever this is.” She gave us both a quick frown before disappearing to God knows where.

  “Great. You scared my best friend away.”

  I disapprovingly shook my head before James took a step toward me, closing the space between us. My body should have moved away from his in response, but it stayed deathly still, enjoying the cat-and-mouse game we played. Desire sprang to life inside me even though it knew it didn’t stand a chance. Giving in to James wasn’t something I could do, but I was tempted. The smell of his cologne surrounded me, and it took everything in me to not close my eyes and breathe it in. I wanted him even closer, and I practically dared him to make the small distance between us evaporate. I hated how attracted I was to him; it made me weak.

  “Dinner, Julia. Say yes. I won’t stop asking.”

  “No,” I managed to get out.

  A quick guffaw escaped his lips. “Yes.”

  “No,” I said once more, but if he asked again, I was definitely going to cave.

  “Julia, say yes.”

  My mouth opened to do exactly that when Todd Lestare interrupted us, “Are you almost ready to go, Julia?”

  I stared at him in shock, my mouth still open.

  “Um, almost,” I stumbled over the lie.

  James’s expression turned downright murderous. “What is this?” He turned his head and focused on Todd, his jaw tense.

  I couldn’t remember a time I’d ever seen him look so angry. Why was he so mad?

  “I’m taking Julia to dinner to celebrate her win. She finally said yes. Only had to ask about ten times.” Todd winked, and I died a little inside. Getting me out of going to dinner with James was one thing, but piling more lies on top was more than I needed or wanted.

  “Is that so?” James looked fiercely into my eyes and waited for me to come clean. He knew I was lying. He dared me to admit it, to say it out loud, but I couldn’t.

  I offered him a weak nod instead.

  He leaned in close, his lips nearing my ear. “Don’t go out with him,” he whispered, and I had to catch my breath. “Anyone but him.”

  My mouth opened to respond, to tell him that I’d do whatever the heck he asked, but Todd stepped in again.

  “Not sure what game you’re playing at, Russo, but we’ve got reservations to make. And I know that you, of all people, can understand that.”

  It was a low blow, but it worked. James had made quite the reputation for himself in our small town. If you made a private tasting reservation and didn’t show up or cancel with him in advance, he wouldn’t let you make another reservation again. Ever. And it didn’t matter who you were, what family you belonged to, or how famous you might be. I used to think that made him more of an arrogant jerk, but once it started happening to me during tourist season, too, I understood his reasoning.

  James stalked away, mumbling profanities, looking more pissed off than ever.

  I turned toward Todd. “Thanks for the save, but you didn’t have to say that to him.”

  “I knew it would piss him off.” Todd sounded smug, and it made me want to punch him in the face for being so cruel.

  Once again, I was clearly the only one who was allowed to mistreat James.

  “It was still unnecessary.”

  I started to finish packing up, assuming that Todd would walk away and do the same.

  “I meant it, you know,” he said, and I turned to find that he hadn’t moved an inch.

  “Meant what?” I wasn’t sure if he was referring to the dinne
r or the stuff about James.

  “Dinner. Come on. You can’t avoid me forever.”

  “Oh, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” I started to get uncomfortable as I searched my brain for excuses that he would buy.

  “Give me one good reason why not.”

  “Uh, because we’re friends,” I offered even though we technically weren’t friends. Acquaintances was more like it.

  “Friends eat dinner together,” he said with a lopsided grin.

  “Friends do. But I’m not sure that’s really your angle,” I said directly, hoping to dissuade him.

  “Well”—he paused—“friends who become more than friends start with dinner.”

  “Todd”—I sucked in a quick breath—“I’m not looking to date anyone right now. I don’t want any complications or distractions. And I don’t see that changing anytime soon. My focus is on the winery, and that’s all I have time for.”

  The truth was that if I were genuinely interested in Todd, I would have served him up a different speech altogether, one that included me saying yes, and I would have fit him into my life at the winery the way I had with the few guys I briefly dated in the past. But I wasn’t interested in Todd. And I never would be.

  He laughed out loud, and I had no idea what was even so funny.

  “It’s just dinner, Julia. Come on. What could possibly go wrong?”

  Famous last words, I thought to myself before reluctantly agreeing to go strictly as friends.

  My skin prickled with the thought that I should know better. I should know that absolutely everything could go wrong. And would.

  JEALOUSY FUELS THE FIRE

  James

  “Motherfucker.” I kicked an empty box and watched it fly across the room, narrowly missing hitting someone in the back.

  “What the hell happened?” Dane asked, his brow furrowed.

  “Todd Lestare happened.”

  “What does that even mean?”

  I rubbed at my eyes with the palms of my hands, willing the image of Todd and Julia to erase itself, but it was no use. Too pissed off to explain this to my best friend, I simply filled him in. “She’s apparently going to dinner with him,” I practically growled.