“Kind of like lightning striking.”
“Exactly.” He beamed at her. “Drake is looking into buying extra acreage so we can grow more grapes and bottle more wine. Even the whites are gaining in popularity. Distributors have told me that once a customer sees our logo on the bottle, they’re snatching up the available stock.” His expression suddenly clouded.
“That’s good, right?”
“Yes. But it means more work.”
“Good thing I showed up, huh?” She rested her elbows on her drawn up knees, wineglass dangling from her fingers.
“Enough work talk.” Will clinked his glass against hers. “To relaxing.”
Chapter 19
“To relaxing,” Ava echoed, the look on her face seriously skeptical.
She took a sip, then dropped her gaze, trying to hide the fact she was checking the alerts on her watch.
Fighting exasperation, Will positioned the appetizer plate between them, then topped off their wine. He’d had her relaxed and pliant in his arms. Two seconds away from crawling over her, pressing her back against the blanket. He could spend the afternoon kissing her, talking to her. Discovering more about her.
But she’d gotten shaky on him. So he’d backed off. Casting about for something to break the tension between them, he asked, “What do you do for fun?”
“Fun?”
“Oh, lord. You’re making me wish you had your phone so you could look up the definition.”
“I know the definition of fun.” She nibbled a slice of smoked Gouda.
Will shook his head. “Okay, I’ll start.” He popped a grape in his mouth and tried to pick one of the things he liked. “Before we got so busy at the vineyard, I used to get on my bike on Sundays and ride for a couple of hours.”
“Hours? I can’t stand to be on even a stationary bike for more than twenty minutes.”
“Not the same at all. There’s no scenery to look at. No nature to appreciate.” He snagged another grape, tossed it in the air and moved to catch it.
“I tried a spinning class where the instructor showed videos of trails,” she mused. “But I couldn’t pay attention to the images because I was so exhausted from trying to keep up with him shouting instructions. Not in the least relaxing.”
Curiosity snaked into his tone. “Then why’d you do it?”
“I needed the exercise and I wanted to maximize calorie burn. Best method to achieve the goal quickly.”
Will slapped his hand to his forehead. “Have you ever ridden for enjoyment, not for a workout?”
“I find there aren’t enough hours in the day to crowd work and enjoyment in. But I need to work out, so I picked the one thing I didn’t hate.” Her voice was defensive, cross.
“I have an idea. Drink up.” He drained his glass. Her lips pursed, brows knitted in a frown. Fingering the base of her wine stem, he edged it up until she took a sip. “Promise, it won’t hurt.”
She gulped the last few mouthfuls. When he reached for the glass, she held on. He tugged it from her grasp and set it at the edge of the blanket, alongside his. On his knees, he crawled around her until he settled immediately behind her, then spread his thighs and inched closer, snugging her between his legs. The warmth of her body lit him on fire. Her back remained stiff, but her breath sped up.
Brushing her hair out of the way, he dug his fingers into her shoulders. Her moan burst out, deep and rolling. Sexy as fuck. Satisfaction simmered low in his gut when she dropped her chin to her chest and purred under his massage. That purr galvanized his body, his dick pressing hard into the front of his jeans. It took every shred of discipline he possessed to keep from pulling her back against him, dragging her shorts down, settling her on his lap, and burying himself deep in her slick heat.
Ava wasn’t the only person breathing deep. He all but wheezed with need.
“Damn, this was supposed to be relaxing,” he muttered, his forehead pressed against her neck.
“I’m relaxed.”
“Yeah, well, I’m about as unrelaxed as a man can get when he’s holding a beautiful woman in his arms.”
“Will.” She edged forward, away from his kneading fingers. “Um, weren’t you going to teach me to fish? You said fishing helps you unwind.”
She popped up, and lurched toward the tree where he’d stashed his other poles. When she slid her fingers along the sleek bamboo, the wood in his pants leapt to attention.
Will rested his elbows on his knees and bent his head to his forearms, willing the steely erection to ease, and his heavy sac to lighten the fuck up.
Ava dragged the reel end of the poles through the grass as she strode to the water’s edge. She dropped both rods to the ground and cast him a glance over her shoulder. “Coming?”
A single tiny, innocent, evocative word and one thought surged up. He’d love to be coming . . . in her. Everything in his body that had loosened, tightened back up again. Tremors rippled up his spine as he fought for restraint.
Picking up a fishing pole, Ava wiggled it in the air, acting like she was about to throw the lure into the water. The tip of the apparatus tangled in the low-hanging branches. She jerked it forward, but the hook snagged in the leaves. His cock barely under control, he struggled to his feet and went to help.
“Got it.” Stretching his arms overhead, Will pulled it free, the nylon fishing line biting into the pads of his fingers. “Where’d you learn about casting in?”
“The Andy Griffith show. To fly under Child Protection services radar, we had to alternate where I’d go after school. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I had to wait for Mom to pick me up from the laundromat. They had a TV in the corner and the manager was nice enough to not shoo me away or call the authorities. The channel was always tuned to kid friendly shows.”
He couldn’t imagine how she must have felt, knowing at any given moment, the place where she’d sought sanctuary might chase her away because she wasn’t a paying customer. He grasped her elbow and led her to a clear spot on the bank.
“Well, Andy was doing it wrong if you learned that cast from him. Let me show you.”
He positioned her to face the water, then tucked in behind her. The heat between them intensified as his body made contact. Sweeping his knuckles down her arm to her wrist, he circled his fingers around the fine bones below her damn watch. His chest bumped her back and he steadied her with a hand on her ribs, digging his fingers into the sleek muscles there.
Her hips brushed his as he pulled their arms back to cast. His hand slid around to her front, balancing her through the movement. Saliva dried in his mouth as he battled the urge to shift his hold, and cup her sex.
The lure plopped into the water about ten yards away from them. Not a great cast, but the best he could do with the distraction of his body wrapped around Ava’s. She pulsed her butt backward and widened her stance.
Oh, God!
Will cleared the lust from his throat with a strangled cough. “Now, reel the line in,” he instructed.
Ava edged back, bracing herself against his pelvis, like she was about to reel in a marlin. She spun the handle on the reel. “Like this?” The line jerked.
“More smoothly. Like this.” He brought his hand over hers and helped her even out the cranking motion, trying desperately not to think about her hand moving in the same compelling motion on his cock.
Under his fingertips, her wrist buzzed, breaking the spell between them.
“That’s it!” He wrested the rod from her fingers, and threw it to the ground. He spun her around. Lifting her wrist, he quickly undid the magnetic clasp and stripped the device off her arm.
“Hey!” She reached toward his hand, but he shoved it overhead. “Will, give it back.”
“No.” He pulled his arm free of her fist. “You can’t relax if you’re we
aring a constant reminder of your obligations, and the ticking clock of your rigorous schedule.” He jerked his arm back, then whipped it forward, prepared to hurl the offensive tech piece into the pond.
“No-oo!” Ava’s eyes went wide and she whirled around, watching for where the timepiece landed.
At the last second, Will didn’t unclench his fingers. So the splash never came.
Ava spun back toward him, anger dominant in her frosty gaze. “You’re being a dick. That’s an expensive watch. I don’t have the money to replace it.”
He opened his hand, let the leather strap dangle from his fingertips, and thought about how he’d badly he wanted to have his dick in her. But he’d probably just ruined any chance of that.
Her eyes snapped to the watch and she stretched to grab it, her breasts rubbing along his pecs. Damn, it felt good. He extended his elbow, hoisting the prize higher above his head. He wound his other arm around her waist and tugged her against him.
Closing the distance between them, he captured her mouth in a brutal, needy kiss. The hunger in his body translated to his deeply probing tongue. When she slid her arms up his back and returned the kiss, his eyes rolled back in his head for a look at his brain. Watch still clenched in his fist, he draped his arm around her shoulder, angled his head and bent her backward. Fishing completely forgotten, he sucked her tongue into his mouth, nibbled her lips, dug his fingers into her curvy ass. The thin inch between their bodies crackled with energy and electric desire.
He shoved his hand into her waistband and speared south, the silky skin of her buttocks warm under his fingers. Supple muscles bunched and moved as she pressed closer.
She dropped one hand from his back and trailed her fingers along his arm, their touch a branding fire. Her luscious tits smashed to his chest as she arched back.
Gripping his wrist, Ava drew his hand forward, around her front, up her ribs, aiming for a sweet, apple shaped mound. As he pressed his palm around one plump breast, her lips curved into a smile.
Then she divested him of the watch.
Will squeezed his fingers, but lost his grip when she shoved his shoulders and stepped from his arms.
Her smile grew triumphant as she retreated further, strapping the fucking watch to her wrist again. His breath came in hard pants, the ache in his groin hard and heavy.
“I agreed to taking time this afternoon to relax, but your dirty trick has destroyed the calm I was finally feeling.” Avalon was back, in control and wound tighter than he’d ever seen her.
“If I promise to not steal that fucking thing, will you kiss me again?” What he really wanted to ask was if she’d let him take her to the ground on the picnic blanket and then take her to heaven in the sunlight shifting through the trees.
She dropped her gaze to his mouth, and her tongue snuck out to make a slow, lazy circuit around her lips. The hot blue of her eyes was an intoxicating sight. Suppressing a groan, Will flexed and clenched his fingers. “Ava?”
One of her feet shuffled forward, then another as she stepped toward him. He commanded his legs to move, to meet her halfway.
One pace away, the watch chirped. Avalon jolted to a stop with a pained look on her face. This was the closest he’d seen her to being frustrated by her own device. The fucking thing chirped a third time.
“Ava, no.” Don’t look, don’t look, don’t look. Don’t interrupt the passionate flow escalating between us.
Shaking her head, with an apologetic plea in her eyes, she raised her arm.
Cockblocked by a damn piece of technology.
“It’s a text from Guin.” A frown threaded her brows together as she read the display. “Oh no! Meg showed up at the office. She’s there now.”
~ ~ ~
Avalon had helped Will gather up the picnic supplies in under a minute. They were in his Suburban racing back toward the vineyard a minute after that. Every single muscle loosened by the insanely hot kiss had knotted back up when he’d stolen her watch. Now all those muscles and more than a few nerve endings hummed tautly, painfully under her skin. His tension was contagious. She clutched her fists together in her lap, her white knuckles matching his around the steering wheel.
Gone was the seriously sexy beast who’d teased her, kissed her, and made her lose control. In his place was a scary, determined man on a mission.
Forcing her fingers to unclench, she dug in her pocket for the elastic she’d retrieved while throwing crap back in the picnic basket. She scraped hair back from her temple and pulled it into a tight ponytail. She’d kill for a couple of bobby pins to secure it in her cool-as-ice chignon.
The door handle pressed hard into her ribs as he sped through a turn into the parking lot. He careened to a stop next to a Corvette that looked to be glued together with Bondo and duct tape. The mirror on the driver’s side door drooped, held in place only by a thin cable.
Will jolted from the car and pounded up the steps. Following on his heels, Avalon stumbled into the office in time to hear his cold, scathing tone.
“You have a lot of nerve, showing up here. You have ten seconds to get your ass off my property, or I’ll have you arrested for trespassing.”
Visible tremors wracked Will’s body. His chest heaved, his cheeks bright red. Hands, balled into fists, were propped on his hips.
A short woman—had to be Meg—with thin, iron gray curls stood next to Guin’s desk. Chunky, lace-up biker boots hit her mid-shin. Her ratty, skin-tight jeans were frayed at the knees. A black denim jacket covered a frilly cream peasant blouse with a brown stain down the front. A hard, cold expression gripped the woman’s face, making her look haggard. Or maybe the effect was due to time spent in county lockup.
Sitting bolt upright in the office chair, Mom had her arms crossed over her chest, her eyes squinted at Meg.
Avalon stroked a hand up Will’s spine. In response, he leaned into her soft touch. He spared a glance at her, and his eyes warmed for an instant, before they skewed straight back to a hard glint and he cut them back toward Meg. He didn’t relax. Not a single iota.
“I had personal property in the desk. I came to claim my stuff, then I’ll get out of your hair.” Meg’s voice held the coarse, raspy quality of a lifelong smoker. Avalon registered the sharp odor of tobacco smoke wafting across the room.
She resisted the urge to wave a hand in front of her face. “Guin, you cleared out the desk, didn’t you? Where did you leave the stuff?”
Guin unfolded her arms and jabbed a finger toward a cardboard box in the corner. “Most of it is there.” She darted a look at the back of Meg’s head, then to Will. “Anything with a Rolling logo on it, or pertaining to vineyard business, I locked in the file cabinet. That included a credit card I found taped to the bottom of the desk. I figured if it was hidden there, chances were good Will hadn’t applied for it. Therefore, said card could be evidence.”
Meg cranked her head toward the stack of five-drawer cabinets on the far side of the office. “Everything in those files is mine.” She took a step toward the locked drawers.
Will cut her off with a hand to her upper arm. “Nope. Like Guin said, anything with a logo on it, or implemented in the name of the vineyard, is my property.”
Avalon shivered at Will’s icy tone.
Meg wrestled her arm from his grasp and took a hasty step backward. She bumped into Avalon, who locked her knees and didn’t budge. Meg bounced off her and back toward Will, like a ball of rubber bands.
Mom hadn’t mentioned a finding a credit card. “Is it Will’s?” Avalon’s gaze flicked between all the faces in the room.
Meg’s look was the most arresting; part angry, part fearful. Will on the other hand, had a storm cloud on his face, eyes squinted, lips curled in a sneer, like he’d just tasted wine gone to vinegar.
“Doubt it.” Guin shot a baleful glan
ce at Meg. “It was registered to a company that Will had flagged in the payables file.”
“PSGM Enterprises?” Will asked through gritted teeth.
“Uh-huh.” Guin retrieved the file from a rack on the corner of her desk and dug out a sheet of paper, handing it to Will.
“Get out.” Undeniable command hardened Will’s voice. He stomped to the box and hoisted it high. He jammed the carton against Meg’s chest, forcing her to take possession of it. “If I see you near Rolling again, you can bet your ass I’ll be calling the cops.”
“You’re a bastard, you know that?” This from the woman who’d robbed her employer. Avalon had seen the payroll records. Meg had been well compensated, and judging by the state of the files Guin had complained about, she hadn’t been terribly efficient at her job.
Meg skulked toward the exit. “Working for your dad, as hopeless as he is, was a way better gig.”
“Was that because he was easier to steal from?”
Garish red crested Meg’s cheeks. “Asshat!” She stuck out one booted foot and kicked the door, leaving a tread-patterned scuff on the wood.
Avalon and Will followed her outside. Gripping Will’s bicep, skimming her other hand over his forearm, she watched Meg storm to her car and stash the box in the trunk. With a final glare at the porch, Meg climbed into the beat-up Corvette and slammed the door.
The side view mirror shuddered and clunked in reaction.
“Oh, heavens, that exit would have been more dramatic if Meg hadn’t needed to roll down her window to fix the mirror.” Avalon chuckled.
Will bumped her with his hip. “It did lose a little oomph, didn’t it?”
Meg shot both middle fingers at them, then for good measure gave them a nasty chin-flick. One final double-bird, and she reversed quickly out of the spot, narrowly missed a fence post, and bounced over a good sized log that marked the edge of the lot. Gravel spat from beneath her tires as she peeled out of the lot, black exhaust belching from a tailpipe carelessly rigged to the bumper with thin baling wire.
Chaos Among the Vines (Romancing the Vine Book 2) Page 16
