by Claire Raye
I burst out laughing, glancing around as though I half expect to find her out here watching me.
Me: I’m mortally offended by your suggestion that I’m some sort of bad boy…and at the idea that you don’t like bad boys???
Lu: I never said I didn’t like them…
I shake my head now, grinning as I abandon the rest of my run.
Me: is that right???
Lu:
I chuckle, sliding my phone into my pocket as I jog the rest of the way back home.
At one minute past seven, I’m knocking on Lu’s door. When she opens it, she’s dressed in a long black dress, bare feet with her hair loose and hanging around her shoulders and fuck me if she isn’t the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
“Hey,” she says, a shy smile on her face. “Let me just grab some shoes.”
“No need,” I say, grabbing her hand. I pull her toward me, my other hand sliding onto her cheek as I press a soft kiss to her mouth. “You ready?”
She swallows hard, a flustered look on her face as she nods, grabs her phone and keys and follows me down the steps and across the lawn to my place. Taking her hand, I lead her around the side of the house to the back lawn, which overlooks fields of grape vines and large tress in the distance.
In the middle of the grass is a blanket, surrounded by lanterns. To the side is a basket of food that I had the restaurant arrange for me, along with a couple of bottles of wine.
“Dinner,” I say, indicating to the blanket.
Lu looks at me, then back at the blanket, before looking back at me again.
I chuckle. “Not what you were expecting?” I ask.
She shrugs. “I don’t know what I was expecting,” she admits.
I grin. “Come on,” I say, pulling her toward the set up.
I hand her a bottle to open while I pull the food from the basket. The chef has put together a huge platter of meats and cheeses, fruit and chocolate, all perfect accompaniments to the wine I’ve brought.
“Another one of yours?” Lu asks as she hands me a glass.
“Yep.”
She takes a smell, swirling the red liquid in her glass before lifting it to her lips. I watch as she sips the wine, moving it around her mouth before swallowing. The whole thing is fucking mesmerizing and it’s taking every bit of self-control I have to not just say fuck it and pull her down onto the blanket so I can kiss her entire body.
“Shit, Jack,” she murmurs. “This is really good.”
“Thanks,” I say, taking a sip of my wine.
“You should seriously be doing this for your own place,” she says. “Not other vineyards.”
I shrug. “Maybe,” I say. “But I choose who I work with too, I don’t make wine for just anyone.”
Lu takes another sip, her eyes closing as she swallows and savors the flavor. God, it’s almost impossible to keep my eyes off her as she sits beside me, her whole body practically glowing in the slowly disappearing sunlight.
“I could make some for you, if you want,” I say.
She turns to me, her eyes wide as she meets my stare. “Really?”
I shrug, trying to act casual. “Sure,” I tell her. “This is a great winery, a great brand, I’d be proud to have my name associated with it.”
Her eyes lock with mine as she takes in everything I’ve just said. “We, ah…we have all our fruit locked in for this year,” she says quietly, biting her bottom lip.
I shrug, trying for casual as I say, “Maybe next season then?” before looking away, reaching for some cheese.
Lu says nothing at my suggestion and I wonder if I’ve said too much, pushed too far. What she doesn’t know is that I’m already doing something for her, something with the grapes she thought she’d lose when the crusher failed.
When I turn back to her, she’s staring at me still. “You’d come back?” she asks, her words barely audible.
I nod. “Sure,” I tell her, smiling a little. “I love it here.”
What I don’t say, what I find myself wanting to say, is that I don’t want to leave here. That if she asked me to stay right now, I think I would. I have no idea where this is all suddenly coming from. I’ve only been here a week and it’s not as though anything serious is happening between us that could give me reason to stay.
But regardless of how quick this all feels, I find myself wanting to know what could happen. When I left Oz, my brain was a mess, my heart broken at what I’d discovered had been happening behind my back for god knows how long.
Coming over here hadn’t just felt like an escape though, it’s had felt like coming back home, to something familiar, to memories I had never let go of despite how many years had passed.
And of course there was Lu.
The girl I’d never stopped thinking about, the girl who was always there in the back of my mind, regardless of what girl was right in front of me.
We eat in silence now, as though my admission has left us both unsure about what to say. I refill our wine glasses and watch as Lu curls her legs beneath her, her eyes on the fields in the distance.
“Do you remember,” she eventually says, smiling to herself, “when you tricked me into eating that disgusting vegemite stuff?”
I chuckle. “Oh yeah.”
Lu turns to look at me now, a small smile on her face. “You told me it was chocolate flavored.”
I grin, shrugging as I say, “You were being stubborn. I had to get you to try it somehow.”
“Yeah, but it was disgusting,” she says, laughing a little.
“But you never would have known that until you tried it.”
Lu shakes her head, still smiling as she says, “And then you smeared it all over my face because you were pissed I didn’t like it.”
I laugh. “Mmmm, maybe.”
“Maybe?” she asks, confused.
I stare back at her, her deep blue eyes now pools of blackness in the rapidly fading light. “Maybe I did that for other reasons,” I admit, my words a whisper.
Lu swallows hard as she stares back at me. “What reasons?”
I put my wine down, take hers from her hand and do the same. “This,” I say, pulling her toward me as I fall backward onto the blanket.
Lu’s body falls onto mine, her long hair falling around us as she looks down at me. I slide my hands up her back, one hand slipping into her hair, gathering it in my hand and winding it around my fingers at the base of her neck.
Slowly, with our eyes still locked together, I urge her closer until her lips are brushing against mine, the barest of touches. Lu exhales against me, her breath sweet like the wine she’s just been drinking. I feel her hands as they slide up the sides of my body, slipping under my t-shirt so her fingers are brushing against my skin. I groan at the touch as a thousand goose bumps ripple over my skin.
“God, Lu,” I murmur, pulling her closer as I kiss her now, my tongue slipping between her parted lips.
All around us, the air hums with electricity, the quietness of the night broken by our low moans and deep breaths. Still holding her hair in one hand, I slide my other around her waist, pulling her closer so her body now lies flush against mine, my leg slipping between hers.
She groans in response, pressing closer as her nails dig into my skin.
“God, fuck I want you, Lu,” I whisper, my mouth at her jaw, her ear, her neck, kissing and nipping at her skin.
“Jack,” she breathes out, finding my mouth again.
My hand at her back grabs at her dress, pulling the material higher. Just as I’m about to suggest we go inside, the moment is shattered by the sound of her phone ringing.
“Shit,” she mutters, her mouth leaving mine as she turns to glare at her phone. She slips a hand from my t-shirt, silencing the noise before turning back to me, a small smile tugging at her mouth as she lowers it back to mine.
Her phone rings out again, the loud noise killing the moment.
“Sounds like someone’s trying to get hold of you,” I
say, my fingers loosening against her dress.
“Sorry,” she says, sliding off me. “Let me just see who it is.”
She reaches for her phone, lying on her stomach. I roll onto my side, prop myself up on an elbow beside her.
“Hello?” she says.
Someone speaks, but the words aren’t loud enough for me to make out. I feel Lu’s body stiffen beside me, a strange look on her face as she looks up at me.
“Shit, okay, thanks, I’m on my way,” she says before hanging up the call.
“What’s wrong, is everything okay?”
Lu shakes her head, standing now as she brushes her hands down the front of her dress, not looking at me.
“Lu, what is it?”
She exhales hard, finally lifting her eyes to mine. “One of the security alarms is going off,” she says. “It’s coming from the offices. I need to go check it out.”
I nod, standing. “I’ll come with you.”
She shakes her head. “It’s okay, Jack,” she says. “I’ll…”
“Lu,” I say, reaching for her hand and squeezing it. “I’ll come with you.”
Chapter Fourteen
Lauren
My hand is still in Jack’s when I reach my office, the sound of the alarm blaring through the quiet of the night, and this is one of those times that I’m grateful no one lives nearby. The sound is practically deafening and we haven’t even entered the building.
The keys are in my hand and before I can slip the key into the lock, Jack reaches for them.
“I’ll do it,” he says, his tone firm and I smile a little at his sudden need to protect me.
“The alarm goes off from time to time,” I respond, shaking my head and attempting to sound unconcerned, but that doesn’t mean my heart isn’t hammering against my chest like a jackhammer.
It has nothing to do with the alarm and everything to do with Jack and his words and his lips and his hot body and this insane desire to hop in the sack with him.
“I don’t want you going in there on your own.”
I’m about to roll my eyes, but I catch myself. It’s been a long time since I’ve had someone worry about me, and I realize I shouldn’t dismiss it.
“Thanks, Jack,” I say, but my sentiment is lost in the sound of the alarm as he opens the door.
I follow him in; punching the code in, the alarm falls silent, yet it still rings in my ears.
Jack moves through every one of the small offices and then heads into the tasting room that’s adjacent to my office. I’m certain he won’t find anything, but I indulge his need to be sure.
He comes back, a hand running through his hair as he announces that all is safe and clear.
“Does it go off frequently?” Jack questions. “Your alarm system seems a little outdated.”
He’s right, it is, but rewiring the place is a huge expense and an even bigger undertaking. We added cameras a couple of years back and it’s been working out all right.
“Every couple of months or so,” I tell him shrugging my shoulders. “We can watch the video from the cameras if you want to see if you can figure out why it went off.”
“I feel a little better knowing you have cameras, but…”
“Jack,” I say, interrupting him, because I don’t think I want to hear where’s he’s going to go with this conversation. It’s weird having someone interested in my safety, in addition to taking an active interest in the winery. “It was probably just a bobcat or a fat raccoon. The motion detectors are a little sensitive. They pick up things through the windows sometimes.”
“If you say so,” he replies conceding, but I don’t see this being the last of the conversation.
We walk back to the cottages in silence, neither one of us wanting to bring up what was about to happen between us. We both know had we not been interrupted we’d be in Jack’s bed right now.
I’m not one to believe in signs or fate or anything else like that, but it’s hard to push it from my mind. Jack showing up here after all these years, still harboring those unrequited feelings he admitted to, and me, while not admitting it out loud, completely agreeing that there was something between us fourteen years ago.
Looking back on it now, I may have claimed to hate Jack and all his teasing, but I remember finding myself strangely jealous as girls threw themselves at him at our school dance. That feeling tightening deep in my stomach and pushing its way into my chest as my heart clenched in response.
We were just kids and at fifteen years old neither one of us knew what it was we were feeling or even how to act on something like that. Jack teased me mercilessly and in response, I claimed to despise him.
I did hate it then, and I looked at him as immature and childish, but I was no better. Stomping around, huffing and puffing, rolling my eyes at everything he said and did. Not wanting him around and being far more dramatic than necessary when I was asked to entertain him.
The thing is, when he finally left, I missed the hell out of him. Whenever friends from school would bring him up, a lump would form in my throat, strangling my words and I’d dismiss their conversations. I couldn’t bring myself to talk about him.
I moped around the vineyard for weeks after he left and my mom even suggested I write to him. That was also the first time I met Will when Ellen brought him home to me our family. He agreed with my mom and suggested the same thing. But that would mean I had to admit my feelings for Jack.
At fifteen, having that conversation with your mother is mortifying and there was no possible way I was going to give up on the ruse I had stuck with.
Jack was annoying back then, and actually still is, but as always, there was something endearing and sweet about him, and that was the part I missed.
We stop just between our two cottages, and while we both know the moment has passed, that spark between us is still lingering. It’s something I imagine won’t ever be extinguished, because if it can last fourteen years, it can last a lifetime.
“It’s late,” I say, breaking the silence. “I should be getting to bed. I have to be up early tomorrow.”
“Me too,” Jack replies, but he’s smirking at me. “My boss is a real hard ass and I don’t want to ruin this good thing we’ve got going on. She might fire me.”
“You’re ridiculous.” I give Jack a little shove and let my hand slide down his arm, giving his hand a squeeze before I walk away. “Good night, Jack,” I call, looking over my shoulder at him, a smile on my face that just won’t seem to fade.
“Night, Lu.”
I’m up with the sun and spend most of the morning clarifying and transferring wine into barrels with Tommy’s help. It’s a long and tedious process, but something that is necessary if we want our wine to taste well. After about five hours, both Tommy and I call it quits, getting in our cardio for the day, moving barrels and climbing ladders, driving forklifts and walking the length of the massive storage building.
I haven’t seen Jack yet, but I know he’s up and working his ass off too. I heard the sound of a nail gun echoing across the vast openness, so I know he’s fixing the loose boards on the side of one of the sheds. I’m guessing he’s working his way through the list I gave him the other day and there’s something about that that I find comforting.
I wash up and head to my office, needing to finish up a few things in there. After my evening with Jack there’s an email that needs to be answered. It’s been sitting in my inbox for a few days and I’ve been avoiding it. But my time with Jack has given me the clarity I need to get back into things.
I need to stop putting my past ahead of what is best for the business, and this newfound happiness I have with Jack around has made me want to move on more than ever.
I flop down in my desk chair and pull up the email. I’m not sure why this woman’s inquiry is any different than the ones I’ve received in the past, but something is different.
Something about me is different, and I owe it to Jack.
I send off the email, a smile
still lingering on my face when Ellen walks through the door.
“I booked a wedding for August,” I announce, proud of myself for finally getting past the hurdle and the association of weddings with the collapse of my own. I give Ellen a curt nod of my head, but she doesn’t say anything.
I thought she’d be thrilled knowing this is a huge moneymaker for us, but instead of responding with excitement she says, “I ran into Nate today.”
And maybe what I thought the universe was trying to tell me was wrong. Maybe it’s reminding me that I’m a damn fool.
I close my eyes and scrub my hands over my face. Not entirely certain how to respond to Ellen’s words.
“Boy, you know how to start a conversation, don’t you?” I say, my tone clipped and any happiness I had has now faded like the logo of an old t-shirt.
“Did you want me not to tell you?” Ellen responds back, her hands on her hips. “He asked about you.”
“I’m sure he did.” I roll my eyes, wondering when this fucking game with Nate will ever end. It’s like he has this radar on me, and just when I start to feel settled, it alerts him and he resurfaces like black mold, disgusting, clingy and hazardous to my health.
“If it’s any consolation, Olivia hissed at him when she saw him,” Ellen adds smiling at me a little.
“That helps,” I mutter, feeling this weight pressing down on my chest. “What did he say?” I ask the question even though I know I shouldn’t. He gave up the right to ask questions about my life when he bailed on our wedding.
“He asked if you were seeing anyone.”
“Why would he ask that?” I practically scream at Ellen, an annoyed look blanketing my face. I’m standing now, rage burning inside of me over the fact that just the mention of his name can ruin my day.
“Because he heard you were. News travels fast in the wine world,” she says, trying to lighten the mood.
“He’s not even involved in the wine world,” I say, air quoting the words wine world back to her. “And I’m not seeing anyone.”
“You are if you ask anyone who’s seen you with Jack.”
I want to argue with Ellen, insist that I’m not seeing Jack, but even I know it’s a fruitless argument.
