by Melody Grace
Evie grinned, and then suddenly made a turn. A very familiar turn.
Hastings Family Vineyard & Winery.
Jules’ heart lurched. “What are we doing here?” she asked Evie. She hadn’t been back to this place since… Well, since Reeve had stomped on her heart. The memory stung, fresh as if it had just happened that day. “Seriously, Evie, this isn’t funny. Stop the car.”
“Trust me,” Evie said, pulling up the driveway and coming to a stop out front. She finally turned, and gave Jules a mysterious smile. “Or forgive me. But either way, we’re here.”
“Why?” Jules demanded. Evie reached across her and opened the passenger door.
“Go find out.” She nodded to the entrance, where Frank was waiting, looking surprisingly dressed up in a jacket and tie.
Jules slowly got out of the car, still utterly confused.
“Welcome,” Frank greeted her with a smile. He handed her a fresh-cut rose, and gestured inside. “If you’ll please follow me… ”
Jules didn’t know what was happening as she followed him through the lodge. “Is this Reeve’s doing?” she asked, looking around. “Where is he?”
Frank didn’t reply, he just steered her onto the back patio… And Jules stopped in her tracks.
The place looked incredible. Unrecognizable. There was a table set for two in the middle of the patio, with crisp linens and champagne; lush blooms spilled from every ledge and wall, and all around, tiny lights were strung, twinkling a path down through the vines. It was like something out of a fairytale, but Jules barely registered the scene. All she could see was the man standing in the middle of it all, wearing a button-down shirt and a hopeful expression in his eyes.
Reeve.
She swallowed hard. Just the sight of him made the world disappear, and a wave of longing rolled through her, swift and sharp. She’d been telling herself all week that she would get over him; that her heart would mend. But looking at him now, she felt it all the way to her soul:
There was no getting over this man.
“Hey,” Reeve said, adjusting his collar. His eyes moved over her, like he was drinking her in. “You look… Incredible.”
Jules blushed. OK, maybe she could forgive Evie all the subterfuge, making sure she didn’t show up to this in sweatpants. “Evie said we were going to dinner.”
“I’m sorry about all the mystery,” Reeve added, with a wry smile. “I thought… Well, I thought that if I called you up, you might just slam down the phone.”
His words brought her back with a jolt, and reminded her of just why this distance between them existed at all.
Because he’d put it there.
Jules tried to pull herself together. “What is all of this?” she asked, her voice thankfully emerging steadier than she felt. She took a step closer, her heart pounding with nervous anticipation. “Nick told me that the deal was off. What happened? I thought you’d be on a plane by now.”
Reeve shook his head. “I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “You were right. I let my feelings about the past blind me to what was right in front of me. The life I could be building right here, if I gave it half a chance.”
Jules paused. Her hopes were already taking flight, bright in her chest, but she still couldn’t be sure. Did he mean the two of them?
“You said you couldn’t stay,” she said, trying to stay firm.
“I said a lot of dumb things.” Reeve replied, his voice heavy with regret. “Believe it or not, it was Frank who made me realize just how much I was screwing things up. He signed the vineyard over to me,” he added, and Jules’ jaw dropped at the news. “I’m going to take over, with his help. But… That’s not the most important thing about all this,” Reeve said, shaking his head. And then he looked at Jules, with an expression she’d never seen before. A naked kind of hope. Raw, and vulnerable, and as real as could be.
“You are.”
As Jules’ heart leapt, Reeve closed the distance between them, and took her hand between his. “I miss you,” he said, gazing into her eyes. “I’m sorry I ever let you walk away. I know I’m supposed to tell you to go to Chicago, and follow your dreams, but I couldn’t just let you go without telling you—”
“Wait a minute,” Jules interrupted him, confused. “Chicago?”
“I heard about the job.” Reeve gave her a lopsided smile. “Congratulations. I knew they would be fools not to want you.”
Jules exhaled in a rush. He thought she was taking the job. He thought she was leaving.
And he wanted her to stay.
“What exactly are you asking?” she said slowly, resisting the temptation to hurl herself into his arms.
Reeve exhaled. “I’m asking you to give me another chance,” he said simply, and the emotion in his eyes made Jules lose her breath. “I love you, Jules. I want to be with you. I know you have your own plans, and I shouldn’t try and hold you back from them, but… Stay. We could have something special—”
She was already kissing him.
Jules had never held back in life, and she wasn’t about to start now, when the man she loved was standing in front of her, telling her that he loved her too.
He loved her.
Jules wrapped her arms around Reeve like she would never let go. She kissed him for every minute they’d been apart, and every hour they would share from now on. It felt like her heart was beating out of her chest by the time they finally came up for air.
“So you’ll think about it?” Reeve asked, searching her face for an answer. Jules’ mind was so scrambled that it took her a moment to realize what he meant.
She laughed. “I already did,” she said, kissing him again. “I decided to stay, last night. For me,” she added. “This is right where I want to be.”
Reeve’s smile grew, blinding in the sunset. He laughed, sweeping her up in his arms and spinning her around. “I love you,” he whispered again, and Jules felt as if she could take off and fly. Because after years of wanting: of waiting, of wondering if she would ever find someone to really know her—and love her for exactly who she was—it had finally arrived.
And it felt perfect.
“I love you, too,” she breathed, kissing Reeve with everything she had.
“So we’re agreed,” he smiled, finally placing her back down. “We’re going to give this a try?”
Jules smiled back at him, breathless with joy. “We’re doing more than try,” she said, knowing in her bones that this was it. Real love, the kind that could last a lifetime.
“We’re going to make it, all the way.”
18
Three weeks later, Jules finally managed to roll out of Reeve’s bed and put some clothes on before noon. Ever since their reunion, they’d been making up for lost time—in every possible position, and every possible room.
“Hey, that’s not allowed,” Reeve protested, teasing. He leaned over to kiss her bare shoulder before Jules shrugged on a linen shirt. “You know the house rules.”
“No shirts in the bedroom, or pants either?” Jules shot back, grinning. “I never noticed, but a whole lot of your house rules involve being naked at all times.”
“Huh, funny that.” Reeve captured her mouth in a sizzling kiss, almost managing to pull her back under the covers until Jules finally broke away.
“I can’t!” she protested, laughing. “Evie’s been blowing up my phone for days, and I promised Rose I’d meet her to do some social media magic. She’s a paying client now,” she reminded him proudly. “I can’t start things off on the wrong foot.”
“Even if they are very sexy feet,” Reeve said, with a wicked smile. Jules laughed, allowing herself one more melting kiss before she danced back out of his reach. If the man touched her again… Well, she’d dive into that bed for the rest of the day, and happily never come up for air.
“Surely you have things to do?” she asked, shimmying into a pair of shorts. “Things that don’t involve seducing me.”
Reeve grinned, relaxing back to wa
tch her dress. “Nothing as fun,” he replied. “But, I guess I do need to make some calls. And I should probably go check on Frank,” he added.
“I can’t believe he’s really camping out there,” Jules said, glancing out the window to the vineyard, where she could just about make out the flash of red from Frank’s tent, set up deep in the vines. With the grapes just about ready to be harvested, he was refusing to leave them for even a night. Apparently, a few hours could make all the difference.
“He swears we’re getting close.” Reeve shrugged. “And hey, it keeps him out of our hair… ”
Jules smiled, and went to where she’d left her purse by the door. Her massive tote bag of a purse, that had a change of clothes and her makeup bag stuffed inside. She’d learned that when Reeve picked her up for dinner one night, there was a good chance she wouldn’t make it back home for days, and as much as she loved their unexpected, sexy diversions, she also liked having clean laundry.
“You know, I can’t keep doing this,” she said lightly, digging through the bag. “One of these days, you’re going to have to give me a drawer.”
“How about the whole dresser?”
Jules looked over, surprised. “What do you mean?”
Reeve got up, and came to slide his arms around her. “You could… Move in,” he murmured, nuzzling at her neck.
Jules giggled. He had to be kidding. It had taken her last boyfriend six whole months to begrudgingly hand over a key so she wasn’t stuck waiting on an icy street every time she came over. There was no way Reeve was asking her this, now. “Sure, I can just picture it,” she agreed with a smirk. “You, me… and Frank. Roomies.”
“I’m serious,” Reeve said, finally lifting his lips from her skin. He met her eyes in the mirror. “There’s a studio above the main lodge, dad would be more than happy there. And we could give this place a facelift,” he added. “Get rid of the orange wallpaper downstairs. Whatever you like.”
“But I love the orange!” Jules protested.
Reeve laughed, and then turned her to face him. “Does that mean ‘yes’?”
She paused. “Are you sure?” she asked, not wanting to rush anything. “It’s been going so well, I don’t want… I don’t want to ruin it.”
Reeve just smiled. “Nothing’s going to ruin us,” he murmured, kissing her slow and sweet. “We’re going to be indestructible.”
Jules sighed in happiness, sinking into the embrace. And soon, Reeve’s featherlight kisses turned hotter. Smoldering.
“You know, if you moved in, we’d have our privacy… ” Reeve said, hands slipping over her body in a delicious caress. “And no Beachcomber guests complaining about the noise.”
She blushed. “Hmm, what noise is that?” Jules pretended to ask, teasing. “The noise from loud music? All our wild parties?”
“You know what kind of noise,” Reeve said with a wicked smirk, doing something with his fingers that made Jules moan. And then again, louder.
“You’re probably right,” she said, breathless. “I should move in. For their sakes.”
“Good,” Reeve managed to reply, and then proceeded to prove just what a good idea it was.
Twice.
* * *
In the end, Jules arrived for her appointment at Rose’s florist shop a half-hour late, and with her hair barely brushed. “Sorry, sorry!” she yelped, hurrying in. “But look, I brought coffee!”
“I won’t ask what kept you,” Rose said, taking the iced coffee with a smile of amusement. “And, um, there’s a mirror in the back if you want to… ” she gestured to Jules shirt.
Jules looked down. She was buttoned up wrong. “Whoops,” she said, grinning. She went to straighten up, but she couldn’t keep the satisfied smile from her face. Every morning should start with this kind of wake-up call.
When she emerged back into the store, looking less disheveled this time, Rose was assembling a bouquet for Nick Sterling, who was browsing the blooms. “… And some roses, I think,” he was saying. “You all love roses, right?”
“If you mean, all womankind, then no,” Rose replied, smirking. “My sister is allergic. Swells up like a strawberry whenever they’re around.”
Nick chuckled. “Then remind me to buy her lilies, instead.”
Rose thwacked him with a bunch of begonias. “You’re impossible.”
“Impossibly charming, isn’t that right, Jules?” he asked, turning to greet her.
“No comment,” Jules took a seat at the counter and slurped her coffee. “Who’s the lucky lady this time?” she asked. In the past months she’d known him, she’d never seen Nick with the same woman twice.
“Don’t you mean, ‘unlucky’?” Rose added.
Nick clutched his chest painfully. “You wound me,” he said, grinning. “And for your information, I think this one could be something. She’s a model,” he said happily, “And yoga instructor. Casey. With a C.”
Jules burst out laughing. Nick looked confused. “What?”
“Nothing,” she said, smiling as she remembered the way Casey-with-a-C had draped herself all over her last (rich) boyfriend. “Just… Enjoy the good vibes while they last.”
“I always do.” Nick took the bouquet, and handed Rose a crisp fifty-dollar bill. “Have a great day!”
He sauntered out, and Rose shook her head with an exasperated smile. “Why do I feel like I’m an accomplice in his manwhore ways, every time I sell him flowers?” she asked, as she rang up the sale.
“Because you are,” Jules laughed. “But that’s OK. I think he’ll be the one regretting things this time. Ooh, these are gorgeous,” she said, noticing an elaborate arrangement of purple and red blooms on the counter. “They’re like a sculpture!”
“Thank you,” Rose beamed. “I know most people want their flowers to be pretty and sweet, but I love it when I can create something more dramatic.”
“You know, this is the kind of stuff we should be putting on your social media pages,” Jules said, already whipping out her phone to snap some photos.
“You really think so?”
“I know so,” Jules vowed. “It’s all about standing out from the crowd. Hmm,” she said, looking around. “Do you want to bring some of these outside? We could photograph them in the gazebo, get everyone thinking ‘weddings’ when they look at the pictures.”
“Yes please,” Rose said immediately. “Mama needs those bridal budgets!”
They headed out to the town square, and set up for the impromptu photoshoot. “I can’t believe my orders have increased from just a few weeks of you posting,” Rose commented, watching Jules work. “And there I was thinking I was being so smart, staying off social media.”
Jules smiled. “You are. But you’re being even smarter, hiring me to do it for you.”
Rose laughed. “You don’t need to give me the hard sell,” she teased. “I’m already a fan.”
“And so am I,” Mackenzie said, joining them. “I just got a massive order for a forty-piece dining service, from someone who saw my pottery on the new site you made. And it was one of my weird macabre designs, not those endless anchors.” She held her hand for a high-five, and Jules gladly slapped it.
“Ooh, which one?” she asked. Once she’d discovered that Mac loved designing ghoulish bugs and Greek myths, she’d insisted they promote them front-and-center. And it looked like she was right.
“Medusa, killing dozens of poor Greek adventurers,” Mac said happily. “I do a lovely red trim on the bowls from all their blood.”
Jules laughed. “And you look so sweet.”
“I know.” Mac grinned back. “Drinks are on me tonight.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Jules protested. “It’s my job to make you a fabulous success.”
“Yes, but soon you’re going to be swamped with businesses wanting to work with you,” Mackenzie replied. “I need to keep you on my team.”
Jules smiled. Although she’d been expecting it to take time to get her social media
consulting business off the ground, things were already moving full-speed ahead. She’d signed up to work with all her friends’ businesses, and they, in turn, were singing her praises and recommending her to everyone they knew. Between all the small, part-time contracts she was signing, Jules was getting busy all of the time. It was going better than she’d ever dreamed.
“By the way, expect a call from Natalie when she gets back from her honeymoon,” Mackenzie added. “I told her all about your amazing work, and she wants to talk about the chocolate shop.”
“Umm, yes please.” Jules said immediately. “I’ll take my payment in candy from her.”
Mac laughed. “I don’t blame you.” She glanced up at the rapidly darkening skies. “You might want to hurry out here, before it rains.”
Rain… Jules paused, and then gasped. “The grapes!” The others looked confused. “It could ruin the harvest,” she explained. “Something about the sugar levels, or the skins… I don’t know, but it’s bad!” She grabbed for her phone, but Reeve was already calling.
“Can you come help?” he asked, sounding hurried. In the background, she could hear Frank calling something. “We have to get them in today!”
“I’ll be right there,” Jules promised. She hung up, and turned to the others. “I don’t supposed you want to come pick grapes?” she asked hopefully.
Mackenzie and Rose looked at each other. “Why not?” Rose said.
“And call everyone you know,” Jules added, racing for her car. “It’s all hands on deck!”
* * *
By the time Jules arrived at the vineyard, the Sweetbriar Cove gossip network had done its job: Dozens of people had arrived, everyone from Noah and the guys from the firehouse, to Poppy and Paige with their strollers in tow. Even Aunt June was out, wearing a sturdy pair of sandals and a grape-themed blouse.
“Thank you so much for doing this,” Jules greeted them.
Evie grinned. “Are you kidding? This sounds like so much fun. I even had some guests insist on coming, too,” she added, pointing to a group of eager looking Swedes with backpacks and khaki shorts. “They can’t wait to experience a real-life vineyard harvest.”
