Wine&Dine: another romance for the over 40

by L. B. Dunbar

  “I don’t even know where to start.”

  “You meet with Griffin. That’s his name, right?” Garrett’s brow pinches in recollection. “I say don’t think about the diner until then. Look at the plans, see where they are in the renovation, and then take action. Make the changes you want.”

  It sounds so simple, and in his authoritative voice, I wonder what he’s like in his boardroom. I eye his bare chest, glistening from the steamy water. I’d totally want him to do me on his desk if I worked for him. His lips crook, and his eyes narrow as if he’s reading my mind.

  “Focus.” He chuckles. “Next. The vineyard.” He breathes out, turning toward the window which casts a glow in the room but doesn’t allow him to see outside. “I’d like to talk to Magnolia. It’s her property, correct? Denton doesn’t have any power of attorney over it.”

  I smile sheepishly as I shake my head. “I do, actually. She wrote it off to me when my mother was sick. She worried she’d die, so she reworked her legal documents.” It’s sad to consider but also a reality as my elders grow older. She needed peace of mind, needed to know how she would be handled if she became incapacitated.

  “I still want to speak to her. Then with your permission, I’d like to talk negotiations with you. We can set it up with lawyers so they can explain everything in detail. How land sharing would work in your favor and mine.” He pauses, his hands stilled on my thighs, but he squeezes so I understand him. “This is business unless we want to get to item three on the list. Me. What concerns you?”

  “You don’t live here. How will you manage a vineyard from California? How would I see you? Would you visit from time to time, and how does that work with me and—”

  Wet fingertips cover my lips as his other hand wraps around my hips and he tugs me to straddle his lap.

  “Slow down. First of all, I love you, so I want this to work for both of us. Together. My business is in California, but I travel all over for it. I can have my home base from anywhere, which means I can travel back to California whenever I need to. If I’m starting this project here, I’d like to stay here.” He pauses, his eyes lowering to my chest. “I was hoping I could stay with you.”

  “I don’t live here. I have my own house.”

  “At your house, then. Wherever you are is where I want to be.”

  I stare at him. Is he real? Am I imagining him?

  “So you’d still keep your place in California and travel back there?”

  “Only when I have to, and you can come with me.” He tips his head. “And you’re not answering my question.”

  I smile slowly, stroking through the damp hair on the back of his head, focusing on my fingers. “I didn’t realize there was a question in there.”

  “I’d like us to live together.” My head pops up, and my eyes focus on his. “Does it seem too quick? Because I can’t think of anything I’d like to happen faster. I don’t want to be separated from you.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” I assure him, sensing his fear once again. “I’ll be right here.” I lower a finger for his chest and draw a heart over his moist skin.

  “I love you,” he whispers, and I lean forward to kiss him. There’s another space on him I’d like to be, and his dick springs against my inner thigh. I press against him as he unfurls, deepening the kiss with my arms and legs wrapped around him. I want to make love to him in this tub, but there really isn’t enough space to move.

  He pulls back, holding me by my lower back and stares. “Is our checklist complete? Can we stop worrying for just a little bit?”

  “The list will be unending. I’ve just thought of another thing to add to the to-do list.”

  His smile quirks up at the corner. “It’d better be me.”

  I press against his generously hard length and giggle against his lips. “You can read my mind, so you really are a Wizard.”

  31

  Property

  [Garrett]

  The next day, Dolores directs me as I drive us to her house. The place is small, looking almost like a cabin with a single window next to the front door. We enter a cool room that’s neat and comfy but tiny.

  “I hadn’t turned on the heat as I wasn’t here,” she explains. An overstuffed couch sits on top of an area rug facing a television on a low table. There’s a hall off to the side of the TV stand. Her kitchen to the right.

  “It’s not as nice as your condo,” she mutters, and I turn on her as we stand behind her couch.

  “Don’t do this,” I plead. I don’t want her comparing things. I came from a home that didn’t look too different from this one. Tidy, orderly but small. I’m not judging her, especially as it’s a small town, and she’s been a single woman. The thought gives me pause.

  “What I want to know is if you slept with him here?” The idea of her with that red-haired grease monkey makes my blood boil, and I’ve tried not to think of it since yesterday when I saw him briefly in the diner. She didn’t need to introduce us for me to know who he was. Wild orange hair lay limp over his ears with a patch of facial hair here and there. His eyes devoured Dolores even though his words sliced her up. He called her old, and I felt her bristle before me. She hadn’t heard me enter the diner, too lost in the mess around her, but I wanted to throttle him for insulting her. Only, I sensed her instability. She couldn’t handle a pissing match, and I didn’t need one either. There was no comparison between him and me, especially after her reaction when I touched her back. If she had flinched, I knew I’d lost her, but she didn’t. She leaned back, pressing into the comfort of my hand, and then when she turned to hug me, I didn’t worry. But standing in her home, I envision him everywhere with her.

  “I thought we said we weren’t doing this.”

  “I need to know.” I don’t want to share all our indiscretions, but there was something about the way he looked at her. She wasn’t as casual to him as she led me to believe. Or she didn’t see the way he peered at her as though he owned her, possessed her. Giving her up isn’t going to be easy for him, even if she fooled herself into thinking he didn’t care about her. His evil glare said he did, at least on an ownership level. I shiver with the thought. She’s mine, I seethe.

  Her silence is my answer.

  Without looking up, she corrects herself, “Well, not everywhere.” She eyes the floor and shifts toward the kitchen. I’m on her in a second, lifting her to cradle my hips and carrying her into her kitchen. I lay her out on her table, devouring her neck and her jaw, struggling to get all the layers back off her body. I’m a madman, come to stake my claim.

  “Garrett,” she murmurs between kisses. “Not here. It’s too cold.” She’s kissing me, but she’s telling me to stop, and I do, pulling back as I feel the weight of my crazy.

  “How he looked at you makes me insane.”

  Her head tips in question when she weakly grins up at me while sitting on the table.

  “We can’t stay here,” I whisper, knowing I’ll hurt her feelings after I told her I wanted us to live together.

  “Why?” she whispers, touching my cheeks.

  “I’ll see him everywhere with you.” I close my eyes at my own weakness. Jealous and petty and wanting her all for me. Soft lips brush mine.

  “I agree. It’s too lonely when I think of being here.”

  “But I’m here now,” I teasingly assure her, tugging at her hips. I might have to swallow my pride in this case.

  “I’ll sell. I can use the money to manage the damage to the diner.”

  “The diner isn’t damaged; it’s being renovated, and you’ll have all the money you need.” I lower my eyes, scratching at the back of my neck because I know I have to tread lightly. “But I wouldn’t mind you selling this place if you want. We can stay at the Lodge for a while until we figure something out.”

  “Magnolia would never forgive me. Plus, she has all that room. We can stay there.”

  I’m pleased to hear this solution as I’d prefer to be at the heart of the operation where
the vineyard begins and so does our adventure.

  “I need about an hour to pack up some things. Why don’t you head to the Lodge and check out? There’s also a hardware store in town. Duncan’s. You might be able to get a dog bed for Wally. I’ll call Denton, and he can meet us here with his truck.” I love how she’s thinking of things. Planning is a sign of accepting. She hasn’t said yes to anything, but after our checklist discussion, she seems calmer.

  Note to self: negotiate in the bathtub more often.

  + + +

  After I check out of the Lodge, I find a dog bed for Wally and a grocery store for some necessities, then head back to Magnolia’s. Dolores called me to say Denton can meet us in an hour and a half at her place.

  As I arrive at Magnolia’s, I knock, not wanting to let myself into her home. There are so many things to discuss, and I don’t want to have any conversations until Dolores and I can talk to her grandmother together. Magnolia has other plans, though.

  “What are your intentions?” she says after I’ve set the groceries on the cabinet with a makeshift counter of plywood over the top. She has an old refrigerator for now, but I’m assuming something industrial and flashy is coming based on the space provided. I pause while placing things in the fridge, debating if I should speak candidly to the matron of the Chance family.

  “My intentions? I’d like to marry her.” I shouldn’t be telling Magnolia before anyone else, but I figure she’s the one to ask if I’m going to do this properly.

  “What do you want from her?”

  “Her heart.” I’m honest and direct with this woman who looks like she’d accept nothing less from me. I meet her stare. Her shrunken figure with large glasses and a sturdy cane does nothing to dissuade me from recognizing she’s a force, and I need her blessing.

  She nods once, lips pursed but pleased.

  “Actually, I’d like something from you as well. Shall we discuss it now?”

  “Be useful and make me some tea in that fancy machine, and then we can talk.”

  I chuckle as I finish setting things in the fridge and follow Magnolia to the breakfast room. The fancy machine she references is the Keurig.

  “I’m told it’s easy to use, but I can never figure out the buttons.” She nods at the contraption while I press the appropriate button, and the heater roars to life. Tea dispenses shortly afterward, and I set the cup on the table. For a moment, I feel like a college kid again, fresh out of business school and ready to take charge of the world, one project at a time. A renewed sense of enterprise fills me, and I’m reminded of old-world deals where people discussed things in barrooms and shook hands to seal agreements.

  I explain what I want. The land. The vineyard. The use of the property but not a purchase of it. I explain profits and sharing with Magnolia. She was the original business entrepreneur of this family, making a diner in her grandmother’s name and selling fried chicken and fresh eggs to travelers on the scenic train route through the mountains. She explains to me how she got her start.

  “It always starts with an idea.” She winks. “Then it turns into a dream.”

  This was my dream. Strange that while I explained everything to Magnolia, I thought of my granddad as if he were in the room with me. Hopefully, he’s proud of me fulfilling his dream, even if he wasn’t here to see it come to fruition.

  “This all sounds good to me. It’s always broken my heart that the land went to waste. Neither of my girls wanted what my grandparents worked hard to maintain. Then that no-good Kip Chance stole a portion of the land for a subdivision, thinking he could blackmail my daughter and gain the rest of the land to build up a city.”

  I sit back in my chair. I hadn’t heard this story yet. Magnolia waves a dismissive hand.

  “I’ll let Denton explain. He’s the one who discovered everything. As for this proposal, you write it all up legal and fancy, and I’ll have Denton and Dolores take it to the lawyer to read. We use Charlie Harrington in town. He’s the mayor.”

  The mayor is a lawyer? I chuckle softly. Small town, I remind myself.

  “How are things going here? The renovations?”

  “Why? Is the next thing you’re going to ask to purchase this old place?”

  “No, ma’am, but your granddaughter suggested we live here for a bit.” Shit. That was a slip, and scratch at the back of my neck. I might be overstepping here.

  “Oh, she did, did she? What other promises did she make you?”

  “None yet, really.”

  “She know you want to marry her?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “But you love her?” If Magnolia hadn’t been a business owner with the diner, her second calling could have been police interrogation. I’m under a firing squad of questions, and sweat trickles down my back.

  “Yes, ma’am, I do.”

  “Huh,” she says, sitting back in her wooden chair.

  “Why huh?”

  “She thinks she doesn’t deserve you, but I told her she was wrong. She deserves everything and more in this world for all she’s put up with. Her father being the king of horrible. Her brother leaving like he did. And that no-good motorcycle thug. You’re a sharp looker, but I’m reminding you of my gun. She’s been surrounded by poor men, and I’m not talking about money. You better be a good one and be good to her.”

  “Understood.” I chuckle. “I plan to be the best man…because of her.”

  “Smart answer,” she whispers, leaning forward and giving me a wink from behind those thick lenses.

  32

  Baggage

  [Dolores]

  I’ve got a suitcase full of clothes and a pile of things to donate. My favorite blankets are folded and stacked over a box of books and necessities. I’ll also take the television and an antique rocking chair from my bedroom. I mentally mark the bed, the couch, and kitchen table for storage, which I’ll need to figure out.

  All these things run through my head as I wait for Denton and Garrett. When there’s a knock on the door, I don’t give it a second thought and open it. In an instant, Rusty enters and has me backed against the wall. His mouth on my neck physically repulses me. With strength I didn’t know I had, I shove him off me.

  “What the hell do you think you are doing?” I shout, staring at him with his wild eyes, disheveled hair, and a heaving chest.

  “You’re my woman.”

  I bitterly chuckle. “Don’t be a Neanderthal. I’m not your woman.”

  Rusty steps up to me, forcing me flat against the wall with his proximity.

  “You’re mine if I say you’re mine, and everyone in this town knows you belong to me.” While this might have once been true—the town thought of me as his girl by his association with Devil’s Edge—there is no basis to a relationship.

  “We had sex, Rusty. Like you did with half a dozen other women in the county. That doesn’t make me yours.”

  “You belong to me. Club rules.”

  “I’m not a member of your club, and I’m sure James would stand by that ruling.” When I first started spending time at The Ridged Edge, a biker bar about fifteen minutes outside of town, James stated in no uncertain terms that I was not to become a member. He signed his fate to them, but he wasn’t allowing me.

  For old times’ sake, I remember snapping at him.

  Because you’re like family to me. The comment made me shudder. As if all those years of fucking him meant he was sleeping with a sister.

  As a superior to Rusty in the club, James would fight an affiliation between me and the bikers. I might be considered Rusty’s girl by half the town out of fear, but I wasn’t an official member of the MC.

  “Don’t throw James at me,” Rusty snarls, his love-hate relationship with the second in command not a secret. Brotherhood forces them to have each other’s back. Jealousy causes Rusty to despise James.

  “Don’t threaten me,” I retort. Rusty’s hand comes to my throat, and while I’ve never been afraid of him, fear ripples through my belly.
<
br />   “What’s he got? Money? Shiny toys? He’ll throw you to the side once he uses you up, Lores.” Rusty hated my old lady name and wanted me to change it. Lores sounded badass, but I’ve never felt like a Lores, even after all the times he’s called me it. It’s as if he wanted me to be someone other than who I am.

  “It’s Dolores,” I hiss. “And he isn’t going to throw me away.”

  Rusty chuckles, still holding my throat, stroking my skin and making it crawl under his thick thumb. “What’d he do, say he loves you? Played right into those fucking words you want to hear?” Rusty steps closer, his breath assaulting me like a slap. My nostrils flare, filling with the scent of alcohol. He’s drunk. “But does he make you feel as good as I do?”

  “He’s better,” I snap, tempting my fate. Rusty pulls back, the palm of his hand coming for my face. I turn my head, preparing for the contact when another knock hammers on my door. Rusty pauses mid-swing, halting his hand prepped to slap me. The door is beside us, and keeping his eyes on me, he yanks it open, changing course as if he expects someone else on the other side. Please don’t let it be Garrett.

  “Ranger,” Rusty croaks, calling James by his MC name. He holds the door open, trapping me behind it.

  “Heard Dolores was back. Wanted to check in on her.” Here’s the thing, James Harrington never speaks to me. He might have said I was family, but he’s acted like I’m a pariah ever since Evie. He would never randomly check on me. Tall and lean but with solid muscle, he’s not as broad as his older brother, Giant, but his strength is unmeasured. The typical Harrington eyes are soft brown, but James is the only one with blue. They aren’t teasing like most of his siblings, but hard, cursed by life, and mean. James could look at you and melt you with a glare.

  “I’m here,” I mutter, the door muffling my plea. I need James, and I’ve never been so thankful for this surprise visit. He steps forward, the hard thunk of his motorcycle boots hitting the squares of tile marking my entryway. His entrance forces Rusty deeper into my living room. As the door tugs forward, James’s eyes narrow, looking behind it and catching my eyes.