by Reina Torres
“Dear god-”
His tongue followed next, laving the swollen peak with a languid sweep that had her shaking with need. He continued the exquisite torture and he slid his hand down her spine until his fingers found a way under the scalloped edge of her white panties.
She arched her back, helping Teo take her deeper into his mouth.
His hand slid over the lush curve of her backside, his fingers skimming along the taut swell until his fingertips brushed against her slick heat.
“Baby,” he lowered his head back, his lips brushing against her swollen flesh as he spoke, “you're so wet.”
She wanted him to do more than talk, but instead of trying to find the words, she rocked back and felt the tips of his fingers slip into her folds. Beneath her, Teo cursed and begged at the same time.
“Yes,” Mira moaned slightly as his fingers caressed her, “I need you inside me too.”
His eyes fixed on her face, searching for the truth. “Are you sure?”
She felt a cool breeze blow over her breasts, the chill tightening her skin further as her inner walls stretched around his fingers, drawing him in deeper.
She wasn't sure she'd be able to utter a single coherent word if she tried to speak, so she gave him the best answer she could. She lifted the condom wrapper and ripped off the edge with her teeth before dropping the open packet on his stomach.
It took a second to draw the waistband of his boxers down so he could roll the condom over his length, but Mira felt like it was an eternity, her breath panting from her lips. “Teo, please-”
He'd hooked his fingers in the elastic leg of her panties. “We need to get these off-”
“I need you… now.”
Elastic and cotton pulled aside, his knuckles pressed into her thigh, as she stretched around him. She slid down the length of his erection, enjoying the thickness of it and the friction his size created. His hands settled on her hips, shifting his body beneath her. He set his heels into the mattress, nudging her forward. Mira leaned her head back tipping her dark waves back over her shoulders, enjoying the moan of appreciation from his lips. She settled her hands on his, looking down at him, to meet his hungry gaze as he started to move beneath her. She didn't want to fight this anymore, couldn't conceive of trying to stop what seemed like the pull of magnets or gravity, so she rose to meet his rhythm and held on with everything she had.
Chapter Eleven
It had been hard to leave St. Helena for a few days, but Teo had to travel to San Francisco to talk to their attorneys, suppliers, and bankers looking for ways to make a second mill work in a town as small as St. Helena. It helped that Mira was up to her elbows in tours, some from nearby schools and others booked through the Chamber of Commerce for visiting tourist groups with a healthy dose of help from Harper's hints on marketing.
They'd both been busy, but they'd found time for a few phone calls, and Teo had plans for a romantic dinner that weekend. Now that Mira had decided to take a chance on him he was going to make the best of every moment they had together.
He'd barely parked the Wrangler in his driveway when his phone rang. The distinctive ring told him that his brother had impeccable timing. Before Teo could even offer a greeting, Lorenzo started in.
"Well?" Lorenzo was certainly in a good mood.
Teo wasn’t in a rush, and had always enjoyed 'nudging' his brother's temper, just because. "Hello, Lorenzo, I'm fine, and you, big brother?"
He could almost hear his brother's lip curling back in frustration.
"You move back home and then I have to chase you down just to talk. What’s going on?" Teo heard the sharp note of distaste in Lorenzo's voice.
Teo leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. "I just got back from San Francisco and I haven’t even made it inside the house. Are you tracking my phone?”
“I didn’t know I needed to,” Lorenzo hissed at him. “Why were you there?”
“We had a few things come up during the harvest, and I think there’s a solution that will help out the smaller growers. The mill here is pushing them aside for the larger growers. I think we can put together our own facility and help a lot of people. It’s a lot to go over, so I’ll send you the notes from my meeting with the attorneys.”
“Fine, send it over when you can.”
“Sure, let me get inside, and I’ll send it over.”
“I’ve got time this afternoon and I’ll have notes for you before I go home,” Lorenzo sighed, "there's work enough for two."
“Miss me?” Teodoro ignored the muttered curses on the other end. “Well I’m happy where I am. Nonna would have your room ready in a heartbeat.”
“Yeah, no.” Lorenzo’s voice was set and just as stubborn as he’d always been. “I can’t live in a retirement community. Old and stuffy doesn’t work for me.”
"If that’s what you think, you’re in for a surprise," Teo rubbed at the back of his neck, "things around here have changed. A bunch of the DeLucas and the Baudouins are married. Gabe has two kids, Marc's got one, I think. Frankie's pregnant-"
Something loud dropped on the other end of the phone call, followed closely by a curse. "Francesca? Frankie's expecting?" Lorenzo chuckled. "Now that, I have to see."
Teo cringed at the thought of that meeting. "Just don't say anything stupid to her. She can still kick your ass. Or did you forget that school camping trip when you tried to steal a kiss?" The phone went silent, and Teo continued. "When she knocked you flat into poison ivy, and you were only wearing your swim trunks."
"Shut up while you're ahead, bro."
He held his hands up in surrender even though he knew his brother couldn’t see it. “Fine, but really you should come back and see what you’re missing. I’m glad I did.”
“What about that girl you wouldn’t tell me about?”
“Woman.” Teo couldn’t help the words that burst from his lips. “Mira’s no girl.”
“Wow, that says something.” There was a little bit of laughter in his voice, but there was also more than a touch of caution. “Maybe I do need to come up.”
Teo relaxed into the seat. “Sounds good, while you’re here I can tell you more about my idea. I've met with some machine companies and worked out some tentative deals. Jack gave me some estimates on putting up a mill building on the property. Or if we want to go offsite, his wife Abby-"
"Abby DeLuca?"
Teo gave Lorenzo a moment to process the information. "Abby DeLuca Martin Tanner. You really need to come for a visit at least. She's a designer and knows some buildings that might be a good remodel project. We just have to look around."
"Send me the information, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here."
Teo looked up and smiled as he saw his barefooted nonna step off the front porch and move around to his window. He turned the key in the ignition enough to lower the window, mouthing 'LORENZO' to her as he switched the call to speaker. "Nonna's here."
"Polpetto,” Teodoro could almost see Lorenzo’s expression in his head. While she called him her ‘little potato,’ Velia called Enzo ‘little meatball.’ Needless to say, he hated the endearment. “have you found my granddaughter-to-be yet?" She shared a comical smile with Teo as Lorenzo audibly struggled to come up with the right words. "Try harder, dear."
"Yes, Nonna." His tone was more than a little resigned, but it was also full of tender affection for the woman that was the heart of their family. "Teo and I were talking about the mill situation, what do you think?"
Velia shared a loving smile with her youngest grandson. The boys had always benefitted from her counsel throughout their lives, and when they'd begun their business they'd made it into a partnership with a portion of the funds dedicated in an account for her. She'd rarely touched the money, but it meant the world to her that they considered her an equal. "I think this would mean more to the others," she explained, "my oil is like Ryo Wines. I sell to a few stores, specialty foods and cooking stores. Only Marilee and Bill carry it here in St. He
lena. But with the bigger growers putting in more trees and buying up more land in the valley, it's only going to get harder for the little growers like the Pedroni and Vincenzo families. If you could diversify the crops you can process in the mill," she added with a sage nod of her silvering hair, "It would be good for business and for our community."
She leaned toward the open window and Teo leaned into her kiss. "Now, you boys finish up your little chat. Teodoro has a few things he needs to help me with before he can run off and pick up Mirella for supper at the house."
She walked away with a little twinkle in her eyes and a mischievous twist of a smile on her lips, laughing as Lorenzo caught onto her meaning.
"Wait,” Lorenzo sputtered through the phone, “she's having dinner at the house." He sounded a bit like he was strangling. "Is this a usual thing?"
“I hope so... but sorry, brother, I have to go and get ready.” He turned off the ringer and ignored the next call as Lorenzo tried to call back. Teodoro dropped the phone in his back pocket and headed inside.
It wasn't until the middle of supper that night that the subject of Lorenzo came up. "We might have a visitor soon," Velia's tone was full of the indulgent tones that only a grandmother could produce. “We spoke with Lorenzo today and I’m sure he’ll be coming up."
Mira's smile stilled on her face, a slight pinch at the corners of her eyes as she looked to Teo for confirmation. "Your brother?"
He gave her a nod as he took her glass to add more wine. "My older brother, as he used to remind me."
"Used to," Velia interjected, "because now that they're in their prime, heading toward dreaded things like 'mid life,' Lorenzo doesn't want to remember that he's the older brother, by a whole year." She gasped and clasped her hands over her heart, winking her diamond ring in the light over the table.
"He lives in Los Angeles." Mira winced at the dull tone of her voice.
"Close enough that he'll drive up," Velia predicted, "beside the business we have to discuss, I’m sure he’ll want to meet you."
Mira forced herself to brighten up at the thought, even as her stomach twisted in her gut. "That would be wonderful, Velia."
“Teodoro’s happy here,” Velia took a sip of her wine, “but I’m not sure this is where Lorenzo would want to settle. But as long as they are happy, that’s all that matters.”
Teo heard the half-sigh in her voice. Lorenzo had never shown much interest in agriculture, but when they'd started the brewery he'd grown up overnight from a frat boy hosting keg parties to a savvy businessman making payroll and helming a business that won awards left and right. They created Sunset Brew using their wits and thousands of hours of hard work. It had been hard for Teo to leave, but Sunset was Lorenzo’s baby. “He might not like the pace of life here in St. Helena.”
“Everything moves so much faster in Los Angeles, but you know that,” Velia touched Mira’s arm. “Every time I check that Face-thing online, there’s another picture of him with a new woman.” She sighed. “I guess I'm used to that by now. What would really surprise me is if he decided to pick one.” Velia waggled her pointer finger in her grandson’s direction with a great deal of precision. “I don’t even have to look at you, to know you’re rolling your eyes, piccolo.” She gave Mira a knowing look. “Why don't you look him up online.”
Mira nearly choked on her wine.
“She’ll meet him soon enough.”
Velia shrugged off Teo’s comment and leaned back to look at them both. “You never know, they might have a friend or two in common. It would help break the ice.”
Mira was studying her glass. “I don't use social media all that much, so I’ll just wait for him to come for a visit.” She took a drink from her glass, closer to a gulp than a sip.
“And, while we’re waiting,” Teo leaned toward Mira with a killer grin, “I have something to ask you.”
Chapter Twelve
The Firebreak Foliage Festival had developed quite a following since it first began nearly twenty years earlier and Mira was excited to attend for her first time. When she'd arrived in St. Helena the year before, she’d been buried in moving boxes, most of them filled with fabric that she'd stocked up on from the Fabric District in downtown Los Angeles, and with deadlines for a wedding dress and a fairytale Quinceanera dress looming over her shoulder, she didn't have the time to attend.
That wasn't to say that Velia and the other ladies didn't try to twist her arm, but there had also been a part of her that didn't want to go because the Festival was a huge tourist attraction and the last thing she’d wanted was to be in the center of a bunch of people that might just take one look at her and start to glare, or worse… laugh.
Now as she stood in her kitchen, dressed for the crisp fall air, Mr. Peabody toddling around her feet, she felt something flutter in her stomach. She was going to do this. She’d been so careful since she’d come to St. Helena, so quick to put up walls and so very slow to take them down. In fact, most of the holes in those walls weren’t of her making. Most of them had been chiseled away with each kind word or deed that she had been given by her new friends and neighbors. Tours at the Heritage Garden had been going on for months and no one had recognized her from the old 'news' stories. So rather than sit at home, hunker down and wait for the world to pass her by... this event, with this man, was a gift that she was giving to herself.
She knew there was someone in the garden when Mr. Peabody’s head snapped up at attention and his curly tail bristled like the back of an angry cat. Mira started to walk around his sleek and inky body, but he jumped and waddled to the door. Mrs. Fiorello’s old dachshund had used a doggy door and now, Mr. Peabody had claimed it.
“Mr. Peabody?” Mira swung the kitchen door open in time to see the duck leap into the air, flapping his wings at Teodoro. “Peabody, down!”
His hands held up to ward off the duck, Teo backed up across the grass and cobbles, pursued by the irate fowl. Mira shouted a warning and Teo managed to avoid tripping over the concrete base. The duck followed him around the perimeter of the fountain, jumping up to waddle around the edge. Mr. Peabody lowered his glossy, green head, ready to charge.
“Mr. Peabody, stop it right now!”
The duck swung his head around and stared at her where she stood on the back patio. His wings lowered to tuck in against his sides, and he gave her a plaintive quack in reply.
Mira folded her arms over her chest and shook her head at the drake. “You know better.”
Lifting his head in a haughty salute, the duck plopped into the water and slipped beneath the surface. When he broke through again he swam around the base of the fountain, expertly avoiding the water lilies and lily pads. When he passed by Teodoro, the duck rose up with his wings and kicked the water with his webbed feet, sending several spattering blasts at Teodoro, wetting the leg of his trousers.
While he stared down at his dampened front in disbelief, Mira sighed. “Sorry about that.”
Teo made his way up the steps and took her in his arms, sealing their lips in a kiss as she rose up on her booted feet. There was no way to ignore the indignant quacking from the garden and Teodoro resisted the urge to turn slightly so that the jealous fowl could see who stood where in the pecking order of Mira’s life.
The woman in question leaned back, lifting her gaze to his. “Shay had a feeling there would be a problem between you two. I,” Mira brushed her palm over his chest and felt his muscles flex at her touch, “told her she was crazy if she thought you'd be threatened by a little black duck.”
“I'm not threatened,” he explained, “he came after me.”
“I know it's only been a week since I adopted him,” she sighed, “but I was hoping that the two of you would've come to an understanding by now.”
He brushed a kiss against her lips, “I’ll ask Shay to find him a lady friend to give him something else to focus on.”
“Besides dousing you with water, or biting your butt?”
His lopsided grimace tipped th
e scales and Mira dissolved into breathy giggles.
Her laughter affected him. He saw the spark of laughter in her eyes and heard the soft indrawn breaths between her parted lips and it didn't matter if she was laughing at him. What mattered was that she was laughing and in his arms.
Teo pulled her against his body, his hands sliding over the soft fabric of her sweater and over the jeans-clad swell of her backside, pressing her hips firmly against his. Maybe it was the sudden flush of color in her cheeks, or the scent of her skin, but as she shifted in his embrace, his body reacted to the gentle curves of the woman in his arms. The heavy press of his arousal was nestled against her belly and Mira slid her hands into his back pockets as she leaned her cheek against his chest.
“If I wasn't so excited to go to the festival,” she sighed when he managed to find a way to get even closer to her warmth and she felt his muscles contract under the worn denim of his jeans, “I'd say let’s go inside and cuddle up.”
Her hands were a complete distraction, and as much as he hated to do it, he reached behind and took her hands out of his pockets. “Later,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to the top of her head before he stepped back with her hands in his, “but I want to hold you in my arms on the hayride. Maybe find a nice big tree to stand under and kiss you senseless surrounded by all those colors.”
“I like that idea even better.” She answered as he led her towards his car. “Besides,” she grinned, “spending all day out in the cold weather, we’ll need to warm up when you bring me home.
“Let's go.”
Firebreak Road was a wide, dirt expanse in the middle of the main agricultural area of St. Helena, separating a few of the larger farms and groves. Ignoring the name of the road, a developer in the early 50’s had planted trees along the road in an effort to beautify the area, creating a wide lane of leafy trees that became a decadent canopy of fiery foliage in the fall.
