by MJ Duncan
Anna’s smile was soft and warm as she leaned forward to kiss Bryn softly. “It was my pleasure.” She chuckled as her stomach chose that moment to make its presence known, and sighed. “Stay here?”
Bryn gave Anna a quizzical look. “Where…?”
“I’m going to get the pizza I brought for dinner.”
“Oh.” Bryn started to get up, but was stopped by Anna’s lips on hers, kissing her back to the mattress. “I don’t…?”
“We’re going to have pizza in bed, and then I’m going to see if I can’t make you giggle again,” Anna said, waggling her eyebrows.
Bryn laughed. “And if I wanted to touch you…?”
“We can do that too,” Anna promised, sealing her words with a hard kiss. “I’ll be right back.”
“You better be,” Bryn said, smiling to herself as she watched Anna saunter out of the bedroom wearing nothing but a Cheshire Cat grin.
Forty-One
The idea of going out on a date with Anna was far less frightening the second time around.
Bryn did not know if it was because she had the last three weeks to wrap her head around the fact that she was in a relationship with a woman, or because she had planned this particular outing herself—but whatever the case, the nerves that had left her a fumbling, awkward mess the last time around were far less noticeable. And, with the final cluster of grapes having been harvested earlier that afternoon, leaving her free to enjoy the evening without worrying about having to be back in the winery at dawn the next morning, things were already looking far better than she could have possibly hoped for even forty-eight hours before.
She pulled to a stop in Anna’s driveway, and looked at the bouquet of flowers sitting on her passenger seat. Roses would have been a more appropriate choice given the evening she had planned, but there was something about the trio of bright yellow sunflowers surrounded by white and blue wildflowers that had caught her eye the moment she walked into the florist’s shop. The flowers were beautiful and fun, just like Anna, and she could not help but smile whenever she looked at them. The cellophane that surrounded the flowers crinkled in her hand as she picked them up, and she moved them carefully around the steering wheel as she climbed out of the car.
The porch light beside Anna’s front door beckoned her forward, and she was glad she had decided on a pair of pale gray wool slacks for the evening as the crisp, early October air that smelled like damp earth and fallen leaves surrounded her. Her white silk blouse did little to ward off the chill in the air, but she loved the softness of the fabric and the way that it clung to her breasts enough that the mild discomfort she suffered was a more than acceptable trade-off. A wide black belt and matching heels finished off her outfit, and the only jewelry she wore was a chunky steel watch with a deep purple face that Kendall had given her for Christmas the year before.
She trailed her fingers along the railing as she climbed the porch steps, and she tucked the flowers she carried behind her back as she reached for the bell. Excitement pounded in her veins as the door began to open, and her breath caught in her throat when her eyes landed on Anna.
In all the time she had known her, she had only ever seen Anna in shorts or some kind of pants. But not tonight. Tonight Anna had chosen a form-fitting, sleeveless little black dress that had a twin stripes of leather running from shoulder to hem, curving along the swell of her breasts and hips in a most alluring fashion. Her hair was pulled back in a loose bun with a few strands left loose to tickle the sides of her face, highlighting her cheekbones and crystalline blue eyes, and she had the most endearingly shy smile tugging at the right side of her lips.
Bryn had never been blind to Anna’s beauty—even during those first few weeks when she found her utterly insufferable she had been aware of it—but she was absolutely blown away by it now. “Wow.”
Inarticulate as her exhalation was, it seemed to do the trick as Anna’s smile softened, all traces of insecurity vanishing in an instant as she ducked her head and looked up at Bryn through her lashes. “Thank you.”
Bryn pulled the bouquet she was holding from behind her back. The bright wildflowers she had fallen in love with at the shop paled in comparison to the elegant woman in front of her, and she kicked herself for not going with a more traditional bouquet of roses as she held the bouquet out to Anna. “I…um…”
“You brought me flowers,” Anna murmured. She reached for the bouquet, her eyes flicking from the flowers to Bryn and then back again, like she could not believe what was happening.
Bryn smiled as Anna’s fingers brushed over her own, sending a familiar current of electricity dancing over her skin. “I know they’re not as fancy as the tulips you gave me, but…” Bryn was cut off by Anna’s lips against her own. Her stomach flipped as Anna’s free hand cradled her cheek, holding her in place as Anna kissed her with so much gentle affection that she forgot what she was even trying to apologize for.
“I love them,” Anna whispered, nuzzling Bryn’s cheek, letting the moment last a few heartbeats longer.
Bryn nodded, swaying slightly where she stood as Anna’s fingers trailed down the length of her jaw before disappearing as she pulled away. “I’m glad.”
“Do we have time for me to put these in water before we go?”
“Of course.”
“Come in?” Anna stepped away from the open door and motioned with her free hand toward the back of the house.
Bryn smiled tipped her head in a small nod as she stepped over the threshold. She followed Anna through the living room to the kitchen, where she leaned against the fridge as she watched Anna pull a white ceramic vase that had blue and yellow swirls painted over it from the cupboard.
“How did you know?” Anna asked as she used a pair of kitchen shears to free the bouquet from its cellophane sleeve. She pulled a single sunflower from the bunch and twirled it between her fingers for a moment before setting it into the vase.
Bryn frowned, not understanding what it was Anna was asking, and shook her head. “I’m sorry…”
“That sunflowers are my favorite.”
“I didn’t,” Bryn admitted. She waited until Anna had finished arranging the rest of the flowers in the vase and was looking back up at her before she said, “They just reminded me of you, so I got them. I had actually intended to buy you roses, and with the way you look in that dress, you certainly deserve something more elegant than wildflowers, but these…”
Anna grinned and looked down at herself. “You like the dress, huh?”
“‘Like’ is not nearly a strong enough word to describe my thoughts about you in that dress.”
Anna laughed and sauntered across the kitchen with a deliberate sway in her hips, and Bryn’s mouth went dry when she stopped in front of her.
She leaned her head back against the fridge, and shook her head as she stroked her hands over Anna’s hips in a light caress. “How in the world it took me so long to realize how attracted I am to you, I will never know…”
“I’m just glad you did.”
Bryn did not blink as Anna took a small step forward, pinning her lightly against the fridge. She tightened her hold on Anna’s hips, pulling her closer as she smiled against her lips. “Me too,” she whispered, punctuating her words with a sweet kiss. The idea of staying in and continuing what they were starting was tempting, but she sighed and asked, “Are you ready to go?”
“I am.” Anna kissed Bryn again softly. “Are you?”
“Not if you keep kissing me like that,” Bryn murmured.
Anna laughed and took a step back. “Point taken. Later?”
“God, yes.” Bryn held out her hand. “Shall we?”
Anna looked at her hand for a moment, and Bryn watched a small smile curled her lips as she threaded their fingers together. “Absolutely.”
In the foyer, Bryn snatched Anna’s coat—a black wool pea coat with a blue satin lined hood—off the bannister and held it out to her with a flourish. She smiled to herself as she helped Anna int
o the coat, and could not resist pressing a light kiss to Anna’s cheek as she stroked her hands down Anna’s arms when she pulled away.
After Anna had gathered her things and locked up after them, Bryn slipped her hand into Anna’s and led her down the walk to her car. It felt perfectly natural for her to hold the passenger door open for Anna, and she grinned and winked at her as she slammed it shut. Giddy with excitement, she all but skipped around the front of her car to climb inside, and she laughed under her breath as she started the engine.
“What?” Anna asked, smiling at Bryn’s obvious happiness.
“Nothing.” Bryn shook her head. Anna’s gaze was piercing, and she shrugged. “I’m just really looking forward to tonight. I hope you like what I’ve planned.”
“As long as you’re with me, I’m positive that I will love it.”
Bryn backed out of the driveway and, after she had shifted the car into drive, reached across the center console for Anna’s hand.
Because Anna’s house was close to the center of town, it did not take them long to reach the bridge that would take them into Oregon, and Bryn was not at all surprised when Anna asked, “So, where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.” Bryn smirked and gave Anna’s hand a squeeze.
“Yeah, I totally deserved that,” Anna chuckled and lifted their joined hands to her lips to brush a soft kiss across the back of Bryn’s knuckles. “So, how’s everything at Spectrum?”
“Great. The crew finished harvesting today, so now it’s all up to Gerald to work his magic.”
“The harvest is done?” Anna asked, brows raised in surprise as she turned in her seat to face Bryn. “Really?”
Bryn nodded. “It is. Which means that, while I will need to spend a few hours at some point during the day tomorrow in the winery with Gerald so that he can brief me on how the fermentation process is coming, I do not need to be there at dawn.”
“I like the sound of that,” Anna murmured.
Bryn smiled and glanced over at Anna. She liked the idea of not being chased from bed by the alarm, but more than that, she especially liked the idea of spending that extra time with Anna, trading lazy good-morning kisses as they lingered in the restful cocoon of soft sheets and sleep-warmed skin. And, judging by the way Anna was looking at her now, she was thinking the same thing. She sighed and looked back at the road, not trusting herself to avoid a collision if she kept looking at Anna for much longer. “As do I.”
“You look beautiful, by the way. I think I forgot to tell you that.”
“Thank you.”
Because of their schedules, they had not seen each other for close to a week, and their drive into Portland was filled with easy conversation. Anna tried on several occasions to weasel their destination from Bryn, who just laughed and changed the subject, and before either of them could believe it, they were driving over the river and into downtown.
Their destination was just beyond the riverwalk, and Bryn glanced at Anna as she turned into the parking garage across the street from the restaurant. She pulled into the first open space she came across, and smiled at Anna as she shifted the car into park and killed the engine. Her stomach quivered with nerves, and she swallowed hard, forcing the butterflies that were fluttering in her throat back into her stomach where they belonged. “Allow me to get your door?”
Anna nodded. “Of course.”
Bryn sighed with relief and nodded once before she shouldered her purse and hurried around to Anna’s door. She smiled bashfully as she opened the door and held her hand out to Anna. Anna’s smile was beatific as she took her hand, and Bryn laced their fingers together as she shoved the door shut. “Ready?”
“I am,” Anna murmured, studying Bryn as they began making their way to the elevator. She gave Bryn’s hand a light squeeze when they stopped in front of the polished steel doors. “You’re much more comfortable about all this than the last time we went out.”
In truth, Bryn could feel the faintest tendrils of panic creeping over her—but she forced herself to ignore them as she punched the call button. The doors in front of them slid open, and she took a deep breath as they stepped inside. She licked her lips as she turned to face Anna, whose expression was kind and understanding, and shrugged. She wanted to say that she was totally at-ease with even this small display of affection, but the most she could honestly say was that she was trying.
“I want to be,” Bryn murmured. She gave Anna’s hand a squeeze as the car stopped at the ground floor, and smiled somewhat shakily at her as the doors slid open. “Our table awaits, Ms. Fitzpatrick.”
“Lead the way.”
The streets were beginning to bustle with the typical Saturday evening traffic of people coming into the city for a night on the town as Bryn led them to the corner of First and Madison, and she tipped her head at the low building with an unassuming black façade across the street. “Have you been here before?”
“No.” Anna shook her head as she eyed the carved wooden sign that hung above the door.
“You are in for a treat, then,” Bryn promised as the light changed and it was safe to cross. Enigma was a wine bar and restaurant, one of those well-known secrets that locals went to great pains to protect—which meant that it was, of course, absolutely impossible to get a table on any night of the week without a reservation.
The entryway was predictably crowded, and they must have cut quite the striking pair as they walked in the door, because more than a few heads turned their way. Bryn faltered for a moment under the weight of so many unexpected gazes landing on them, but recovered quickly as many of those same pairs of eyes shifted back to the conversations they were having before they walked in.
The maître d’, a mid-twenty-something guy with floppy brown hair and sleepy eyes, smiled as she stopped in front of his podium, and Bryn leaned toward him to make sure she would be heard over the crowd. “Reservation for Nakamura?”
He checked his list, and nodded as he checked her name off of the list. He gathered two long, rectangular leather-bound menus and a smaller wine list that was nearly three times as thick, and motioned toward the back of the restaurant. “If you’ll just follow me, please.”
Bryn smiled at Anna and motioned for her to go first, finally letting their hands slip apart as they wound their way through the bar to the quieter dining room at the back of the building. The dining room was long and narrow, filled with square tables covered with pristine white tablecloths. An expanse of french doors with cornflower blue frames stretched along the left-hand side of the room, providing a stunning view of an outdoor seating area that was always packed during the warmer months, and ahead was a small white-railed staircase to a raised dining area.
The maître d’ glanced back at them once before he started up the stairs, and then led them up the stairs to a small table near the middle of the upper section. “Will this be okay?” he asked, waving a hand at a table.
Bryn looked to Anna for an opinion, and her mouth went dry as she watched Anna slip off her coat. There was nothing particularly seductive about the act itself—she was just taking off her coat and draping it over the back of her chair—but that did not stop Bryn from staring. The dining room’s lighting drew attention to the definition in Anna’s arms and the hollow of her throat, and it shone in the leather accents of her dress, leaving Bryn absolutely spellbound. Anna’s eyes twinkled with laughter when they landed on her own, and it was then that Bryn realized that she had not responded to the maître d’s question.
She shook her head and looked over at him. “This is great. Thank you.”
“Yes, thank you,” Anna echoed, pulling out her chair and lowering herself into the seat.
“Excellent.” He handed each of them a menu and stood the wine list in the center of the table. “Your server, Justin, will be with you in a moment.”
Bryn dismissed him with a small nod, and reached for the wine menu. Enigma’s wine cellar was impressive, to say the least, which was the reason Kendall had intro
duced her to the restaurant so many years ago, and Bryn chewed her lip as she scanned the list. She smiled at the sight of Spectrum’s Cabernet and Merlot listed with a little asterisk after them—marking them a house favorite—but kept reading. While she was understandably partial to the wines she produced, she appreciated a good bottle no matter its origin. She finally spotted what she had been hoping to find on the third page, and nodded once to herself as she snapped the wine list shut.
“How did you ever find this place?” Anna asked as she looked around the crowded restaurant.
Bryn shrugged and reached for her menu. “Kendall. Her office is about two blocks that way,” she added, hooking a thumb over her shoulder in the direction of Kendall’s building, “so she knows about all the good places around here.”
“Any recommendations?” Anna asked as she opened her menu.
“I have yet to order a dish that I haven’t enjoyed.” Bryn scanned the menu for that evening—because Enigma was a farm-to-table establishment that used only the freshest ingredients from local suppliers—and was pleased to see that all her favorites were listed. “I think I will be going with the pancetta wrapped Rainbow Trout and a small spinach salad. Would you want to share the apple and pear crostini as an appetizer?”
“Of course. That sounds great,” Anna murmured.
Bryn laid her menu on the table, and crossed her legs as she leaned back in her chair. The conversations from the tables around them were nothing more than a quite hum that was easy enough to ignore, and she took advantage of the opportunity to simply admire the woman sitting across from her.
Anna must have felt her staring, because she looked up from her menu and asked, “Yes?”
A lightness settled in Bryn’s chest as their eyes locked, making her feel like she could float away with only the lightest push. She took a deep breath, which only served to make her dizzy for some reason, and let it go slowly. “I was just looking at you.”
