by Jane Graves
Kari opened her mouth, but she couldn’t speak. Didn’t want to speak. Didn’t want to verbalize just how awful her father had been to her. All she could do was cry. It was as if every lost, lonely moment of her childhood had built up inside of her, and now every one of them was being released in a torrent of tears.
“Get in my truck,” Marc said.
“The Bomb—”
“Leave it. I’ll bring you back in the morning.”
“I can’t. I have to close out. My checks. I have to—”
“Stay here.”
He sat her down on one of the outdoor chairs, handed her Brandy’s leash, and went back into the café. Looking through the window, she saw a tear-clouded image of him talking to Rosie. Rosie nodded, and Marc came back outside.
“Let’s go,” he said.
Marc helped her to her feet. He put his arm around her shoulders and led her to his truck. All the way there, the terrible words her father had spoken to her circled around and around in her mind until she thought she’d go insane with misery.
When they got into Marc’s truck and Kari told him what her father had said, Marc decided Stuart Worthington was one lucky son of a bitch not to be within his reach right now. If he had been, Marc would have ripped him to shreds.
“It’s been this way all my life,” Kari said. “Once—just once—I wanted to see something from him. Something that said he gave a damn.”
Now Marc knew. Now he knew the full extent of why she’d let herself get caught up in an engagement she didn’t want with a man who would have only made her life miserable. She was dying for love from a father there was no way to please.
“I miss my mother,” she went on. “God, I’m twenty-eight years old, and I’m telling you I miss my mother. She died when I was eight. I’m supposed to be over that by now. I’m supposed to be over it.”
But how do you get over that? Marc thought. When in anyone’s life do they stop looking for love?
“Tell me about her,” he said.
“I barely remember her, really. When I think about her, all I see in my mind is green eyes like mine and a soft smile. I was eight when she died. It’s hard to remember stuff from when you’re eight.” She paused. “No, I do remember something. I remember how that smile went away any time my father came into the room.”
“Why did she marry him?”
“She came from a broken home. Parents divorced. Her mother sweated blood just to keep their heads above water. It must have felt like such a relief for her to marry a man with money. But she traded a lot in return for that. My father likes controlling people, and my mother was no exception. But I think she would have done anything to keep from having such a hard life.” She let out a heavy sigh. “Maybe I’m a lot like my mother. I’ve always settled for somebody else running my life.”
“No,” Marc said. “Not anymore. You’re doing the right thing, Kari. No matter what your father says, there’s honor in good, honest work, and what you’re doing is just that. Don’t listen to him. What kind of father tells his daughter she’s a fool for trying to stand on her own two feet?”
“I know. But he’s still my father. The only family I have. Yeah, a few distant relatives, but essentially, he’s it. Do you know what it feels like to have no one?”
Marc wanted to say, You don’t have no one! You have me! But did she really? He was leaving soon. Was he supposed to tell her she could count on him when he might be hundreds of miles away?
“Do you like living in Rainbow Valley?” he asked her.
“Yes.”
“Are you going to stay?”
“Yeah,” she said. “I think I am.”
“This is a good town. Good people. You’re going to be just fine.”
Kari nodded, but he could tell she didn’t quite believe it. Suddenly that day he was going to ride off into the sunset seemed more like a curse than a blessing.
Wait a minute. Ride?
He didn’t have a clue how to help Kari forget all this crap with her father, but he did know something that would make her feel better.
“Let’s go to Rick’s Automotive,” he said.
Kari blinked. “What?”
He started his truck. “I promised you a ride on my motorcycle. He’ll have a spare helmet you can borrow. How about it? When is your next day off?”
“Friday.”
“Have you covered shifts for anybody who could return the favor on Saturday so you could be off then, too?”
“I can ask. Why?”
“Because then we can go to Fredericksburg. We can leave Friday. Stay over until Sunday. Visit some vineyards there. I have a few friends who’d be happy to see us. How does that sound?”
“What about the vineyard?”
“Daniel is there. He’s supposed to be handling things, so I’m going to let him do it.”
“Wait. Luke and Shannon’s wedding is Sunday.”
“We’ll be back in plenty of time. Their wedding isn’t until four o’clock.”
“I have to be back early enough to cook. Nina, Daniel, and Angela are coming to dinner after the wedding, remember?”
“Don’t worry. We’ll come back as early as you need to.”
A tiny smile came to Kari’s lips. “Then let’s go.”
Kari had forgotten how much fun it was to feel the landscape whizzing by and the roar of the engine, and all her thoughts about her altercation with her father seemed to melt away. But the best thing of all was being able to circle her arms around Marc’s waist and just hang on for the ride.
Then about thirty minutes away from their destination, the strangest thing happened. Her stomach began to swirl with nausea, and her head felt light and dizzy. At first she thought maybe she’d eaten something that hadn’t agreed with her, but she couldn’t imagine what that might be.
Unfortunately, it felt like motion sickness.
This couldn’t be happening. She’d never had that problem when she’d ridden a motorcycle before, but there was no doubt it was happening now. As long as she looked at the horizon it wasn’t bad, but if she closed her eyes the dizziness overtook her again. By the time they got to Fredericksburg and pulled into the parking lot of the motel, it was all she could do to get off the bike and stand up straight. She put her hand to her stomach.
“You okay?” Marc asked.
“Yeah. Just a little motion sickness, I think. It’s been a while since I’ve been on a motorcycle. I’m fine.”
She forced a smile and followed him into the motel office, where a grandmotherly woman greeted them and gave them keys to their room. The moment Marc closed the door behind them, he took her in his arms and kissed her. Then he swept her up in his arms and laid her on the bed, his eyes blazing with the kind of sexual desire that made her feel like the most beautiful woman on earth. He made love to her slowly and leisurely, as if they had the rest of their lives to do it.
Before they left Rainbow Valley, Marc had called two vineyard owners he knew to tell them they were going to be in Fredericksburg, and they set aside time for private tastings. Marc and Kari spent the afternoon sipping the different wines in beautiful surroundings, and she loved it. But mostly she loved hearing Marc talk about the industry with the other vintners. Mold and pests and bottling processes and harvest timing were fairly mundane things, but their conversation was filled with enthusiasm and passion and laughter. She could see the respect other vintners had for Marc, and watching the light in his eyes when he talked about Cordero Vineyards absolutely mesmerized her. She was glad she’d learned as much as she had about wine making in the past several weeks, and a few times she actually asked well-informed questions the other vintners were happy to answer.
And as Marc talked, his hand would stray over and rest on her thigh, and then he’d turn and look at her with that smile that said he was in his element and having a good time, but also that he was glad she was there with him. Kari’s mind grew a little fuzzy from the few glasses of wine she had, but all her sickness earlier h
ad passed, and it made her feel warm and wonderful. And by the time they headed back to the motel, she knew for a fact it had been one of the best days of her life.
The next morning when Marc woke, morning light filtered through the blinds, casting stripes of warm sunshine across the bed. Kari lay on her side, her fist curled beneath her chin. Soon she stirred and shifted to her back. The covers fell away, exposing her soft, heavy breasts. Marc watched them rise and fall with every breath she took. Had he ever seen anything more beautiful?
After a moment, he reached up to stroke one fingertip softly across her nipple. Back and forth, back and forth. She was still asleep, but as her nipple rose and puckered, she began to stir beneath his touch. He rose on one elbow, closed his hand around the base of her breast, and squeezed gently. Her nipple rose enticingly. He dipped his head and flicked his tongue across it. She squirmed left and right, a soft whimper rising in the back of her throat, a tiny, plaintive cry that made his cock leap and harden.
Half-awake now, she threaded her fingers through his hair and flexed her fingertips against his scalp. He closed his mouth around her nipple, applying suction at the same time he flicked his tongue. She squirmed beneath him as if it was too much, but at the same time she held him in place and arched her back, asking for more. She kicked off the covers, pulled one knee up and let it fall to the side, her breath coming faster. He stroked his hand along her inner thigh, and her escalating breaths became hot and heavy, her moans beginning to sound like pleas.
“Now,” she said.
“Now what?”
“Inside me,” she murmured. “Now.”
Impossible. He’d woken her from a sound sleep less than two minutes ago, and she was already ready for him? Just like that?
Finding that hard to believe, he slid his fingers between her open thighs. She was hot, swollen, and wet. If he’d been hard before, he was granite now. He’d never been the kind of man who needed frequent ego boosts, but he had to say he was enjoying this one.
“Marc. Now!”
Yes, ma’am.
He fumbled across the nightstand, snagged a condom, ripped it open, put it in place. Seconds later he plunged inside her. Her groan of satisfaction almost made him come right there.
Easing in and out of her, slowly, deliberately, then plunging in again. She lifted her hips with every stroke, pushing against him, taking him as deeply as she could, begging for all he could give her and then some. He pushed her right to the edge, and as she fell, he fell along with her.
Afterward, they lay together in satisfied silence. Marc thought back to the years when he was so overworked and stretched so thin he nearly snapped, and he wondered what it would have been like if he’d had somebody to share things with the way he did with Kari. Just somebody he could talk to at the end of the day to share the good and the bad. He didn’t need anybody to fix anything. But if he’d just been able to talk, to open a valve and let off a little of the pressure, things wouldn’t have felt so insurmountable. And if that somebody had been a woman like Kari, whose ever-present smile and gentle touch soothed him in other ways, how different might his life have been?
He told himself it could have been any woman who’d wandered along at this point in his life and he’d have felt the same, but it wasn’t true. It was Kari. She was the one he couldn’t wait to be with.
He traced his fingertip along her cheek, then pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “Crazy idea,” he said.
“You can’t have a crazy idea,” she said. “You’re not a crazy person.”
“You made me a crazy person. So come with me.”
“Not a problem,” she said with a smile. “I’ll follow you anywhere. To the sofa, to the shower—”
“How about from Los Angeles to Chicago?”
Kari froze. “What?”
“You like to ride,” Marc said. “How about coming with me when I leave Rainbow Valley?”
“That’s crazy.”
“Didn’t I just say that?”
Kari was stunned. “I thought this was just a casual thing. You know. No strings.”
“What could be more strings-free than a road trip on a motorcycle?”
Her first thought was, Oh, thank God. I’m not going to have to say good-bye to him. But that didn’t mean any of this was forever. It was precisely because she was asking nothing of him that he wanted her around. If she asked for more, she had the terrible feeling she’d end up with nothing at all, because the last thing he wanted was to be tied down. But how many times in the past several days had she looked at him with longing, wishing for that moment he’d suddenly turn around, realize he belonged at Cordero Vineyards, and want to stay there forever with her?
“I grabbed this from the lobby,” Marc said. “Look here.”
He opened the nightstand drawer and pulled out a map of the United States. He opened it and pointed out the highway from Los Angeles to Chicago.
“This is old Route 66. That’s how you see the country. Not on the interstates. On the back roads. So here’s what I’m thinking. First we head to Los Angeles. Maybe hang out at the beach for a week or so. Then we hit Route 66. We can ride the whole distance to Chicago. We can do it as fast or as slow as we feel like it, and stop anywhere along the way we want to.”
“But that’ll take weeks.”
“I have three years. What’s a few weeks?”
“What about my job? I don’t have any money unless I work.”
“It’s barely more expensive for two to travel instead of one. I’ll pay for everything. Believe me—Rosie has a hard time finding good help. You’ll always have a job there later if you want it. Let me do this, Kari. I’d love it if you came along.”
“What about Boo?” she asked.
“Daniel will take care of him. What’s one more animal around there? Of course, the house will be chewed to pieces when we get back, but what the hell?”
Kari smiled, even though she didn’t feel happy. He wanted her to be with him, which was a dream come true. But in that dream, they weren’t on his motorcycle. They were living at Cordero Vineyards. That was the scenario she played in her head when she was in the shower, driving to work, falling asleep in his arms at night. In the end, though, it didn’t matter.
Wherever Marc was, that was where she wanted to be.
Then she had a terrible thought. She’d gotten so sick when she’d been on his bike yesterday. What if she couldn’t ride long distances without that sickness coming back again?
No. She wasn’t going to worry about that. There were remedies for motion sickness. She simply wasn’t going to accept the thought of not being able to leave Rainbow Valley with Marc. She was not going to accept it.
“Or maybe you want to stay in Rainbow Valley,” Marc asked. “I know you’ve gotten to know people, and you do have your job. You’ve worked hard for that. So if you don’t want to go—”
“Come on, Marc. Like you don’t know I’m half-crazy? I don’t want to be tied down any more than you do. Trust me. If it’s between staying in Rainbow Valley and hitting the road on a motorcycle, which do you think I’m going to pick?”
“That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.” His brilliant smile made the entire room glow, but Kari could barely contain the desperation she felt. Marc wanted freedom, and she knew if she told him she wanted anything else, the last thing she’d see of him was his back as he drove out of town.
An hour later, they got back on his motorcycle to go home. As they headed down the road, at first Kari felt fine. Then nausea crept in, and she had to focus on the horizon to keep from feeling really sick. The panic she felt about that didn’t help. What if this happened every time she sat behind him on this motorcycle? If she couldn’t ride from Fredericksburg to Rainbow Valley without getting dizzy, how was she supposed to go across the country with him?
By the time they crossed the city limits into Rainbow Valley, she felt so dizzy that if she hadn’t had a death grip on Marc, she might have gone tumbling right off the
back of the bike. As they came around the last bend and she saw the “Cordero Vineyards” sign in the distance, she was filled with relief.
Deep breath. It’ll be over in a minute.
As they approached the driveway leading to the house, Marc pulled his motorcycle to a halt to allow a party rental truck to pull from the driveway onto the highway. Luke and Shannon’s wedding was only a few hours from now. Undoubtedly Nina was putting the finishing touches on the arbor for the ceremony and the decorations for the reception.
Marc brought his bike to a halt and let the truck pass. Then Kari was surprised to see another car coming down the drive.
“Who’s that?” Kari asked.
“Don’t know.”
Marc waited on that one, too. As it turned onto the highway, she saw a magnetic sign on the side of the car that read, “Morgan Tank and Equipment.”
Marc muttered a curse. “I can’t believe this.”
“What’s wrong?” Kari asked.
“I need to have a word with my brother.”
Chapter 16
A minute later, Marc stormed into the kitchen, where Daniel sat at the table poking at his phone.
“Marc. You’re back.”
“Yeah. I’m back. Tell me what a rep from Morgan Tank and Equipment was doing here.”
Daniel froze. Then he looked back down at his phone with a careless shrug. “Just talking.”
“Talking? What about?”
Daniel tossed his phone aside. “You know what about, so why are you asking me?”
“Weren’t you listening when I told you how I feel about micro-oxygenation?”
“Oh, come on, Marc! Will you get with the program? Technology is the future of wine making.”
“It’s not this vineyard’s future. We’re a boutique winery. Our selling point is the care we give to every grape we pull off a vine. You start applying technology to what we do, and we lose our competitive edge.”
“Old school,” Daniel said. “You need to keep up.”
“Keep up?” Marc said, his voice escalating. “You haven’t lived here for ten years, and I’m the one who needs to keep up?”
