Baby, It's You (14 page)

“What were you doing in Napa?” Marc asked.

Daniel shrugged. “Just poking around. Talking to a few guys. I have a couple of ideas about how we might be able to tweak the aging process.”

Marc felt a twinge of foreboding. “Napa’s not the Hill Country.”

“I know. But a lot of stuff still applies.”

Marc didn’t know why he was surprised. This was nothing new. Daniel always thought he had a better way of doing things, because his brain was moving constantly. He always had the best of intentions, but the outcome was always in question. When you were working with intangibles like bits and bytes and something wasn’t coming together, what did it hurt to throw out a million or so and start over? But grapevines were a real, physical product that couldn’t withstand one bad decision after another without doing the kind of irreparable damage that would affect a vineyard for years to come.

Daniel waved his hand. “Forget about it for now. We’ll talk about it later. Let’s have another beer.”

When he signaled Terri, she looked at Marc. He nodded, and she brought them another drink. Then Daniel glanced up at the baseball game playing on the TV over the bar, and they turned their conversation to the Rangers and their chances of heading to the World Series.

Later Terri picked up their empty glasses and laid down the check. Marc grabbed it, only to have Daniel pluck it out of his hand and pay it with a credit card. Then as they were getting up to leave, he reached into his wallet, pulled out a hundred, and tossed it on the bar. Terri flicked her gaze to the extravagant tip, then reached over and picked it up.

“Hmm,” she said, flipping it over and back with her fingertips. “Looks like what they say is true. A fool and his money are soon parted.” She slid it back across the bar. “There’s your money back. But you’re still a fool.”

As Terri walked away, Daniel shook his head with admiration. “A woman who can’t be bought. You don’t see that every day.”

“Then you’ve been hanging out with the wrong women.”

“It’s official. I’m in love.”

“You are
so
out of your league.”

“Nah. We’re both playing in the majors. She’s hot, I’m hot. Where’s the problem?”

“That’s it,” Marc said. “We’re out of here.”

Kari sat on the sofa in the cottage watching some dumb TV sitcom, but her mind was on Marc.

She was dying for him.
Dying.

A few minutes ago, she’d looked out the window to see his truck parked near the garage, so she knew he and Daniel were home again. But when half an hour passed, then an hour, it was clear she wasn’t going to see Marc again that night. She told herself it was because he hadn’t seen Daniel in such a long time, that it had nothing to do with his logical brain kicking in again and telling him maybe they shouldn’t be together.

That was what she told herself, anyway, or she was going to go crazy.

All at once, Boo jerked to attention and let out a flurry of barks. He leaped off the sofa and ran to the kitchen window. Curious, Kari followed him to the kitchen and looked out the window. Darkness had fallen, and a single mercury vapor light cast a weak glow over the area. At first she saw nothing and started to turn away, only to see a strange shadow several yards from the cottage.

Then the shadow moved.

Shocked, she stumbled backward several steps and stood there, breathing hard. A man was walking through the trees. A man she was sure wasn’t supposed to be there.

She hurried forward again and closed the blinds. After a few more seconds, she flipped one of the blinds up and looked out. The man had moved to a bank of trees closer to the cottage, and she had the distinct feeling she was being watched.

She dropped the blind as if it was on fire. It couldn’t be one of Marc’s employees. It was late, and the trees surrounding the cottage were nowhere near the vines. And it looked as if this guy was trying to stay hidden.

Every horror movie she’d ever seen flashed through her mind. They always took place in out-of-the-way locations just like this vineyard, which was miles from civilization—slasher movies with knives and scythes and chain saws. Boo barked again, but any evil person worth his salt knew that bark wasn’t coming from a German shepherd or a pit bull. Just from one tiny dog who looked as if he should be trotting up the Yellow Brick Road.

She ran to the front door and made sure it was locked. But what about the windows? She needed to make sure those were secured, too, but that meant she had to go near them, and she sure as hell didn’t want to do that.

Her phone. Where was her phone?

There.

She grabbed it off the end table in the living room. Calling 911 would do her no good out there. Thank God, Marc had given her his number. She punched the button, her heart beating madly. Waited through three rings.

“Kari?”

“Marc,” she whispered. “There’s a man outside the cottage.”

“What do you mean? At the door?”

“No. He’s lurking in the trees, and he’s moving closer. I think…I think he’s watching me.”

“Any idea who it is?”

“No. None.”

“Is the door locked?”

“Yes.”

“Stay put. I’m on my way.”

Kari laid down her phone, only to pick it up again as if it was a life preserver on the end of a rope. She waited in the living room, wondering if she should turn out the lights. Then wouldn’t it be harder for her rapist/murderer to find her if he should happen to burst through the door?

No. She couldn’t sit in the dark. That would freak her out completely. Instead, she gathered up Boo and held him close to her chest, feeling his little heart beating like mad, hating the way he kept looking at that kitchen window. Then she heard what sounded like a car engine in the distance, and Boo let loose with another burst of barking.

Then all at once she heard three loud raps. “Kari! Answer the door.
Kari!
”

Oh, thank
God
. It was Marc.

She put Boo down and leaped off the sofa. She hurried to the door, unlocked it, and flung it open. Marc and Daniel strode into the cottage, and they were both carrying rifles.
Yes.
Men with guns. She liked that. She liked that a
lot
.

“Are you all right?” Marc asked her.

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

“You were right. There was definitely somebody out there. But by the time we got there, he was taking off through the trees.”

“I thought I heard a car engine.”

“You did,” Daniel said. “There’s a dirt road that runs along the western edge of the vineyard. That’s how he got away.”

Kari closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Scared the hell out of me. Who could it have been?”

“I don’t know,” Marc said. “We’ve had our share of itinerant people wandering across our property, but they don’t make getaways in cars.”

Kari swallowed hard. “Why would somebody be poking around the cottage?”

“A few houses and businesses in Rainbow Valley have been broken into in the past week, but I can’t see burglars coming way out here. How about that fiancé of yours?”

“
Ex
-fiancé. And he wouldn’t be walking through woods for any reason. The closest he gets to nature is when he hits a golf ball into the trees. So who do you think it was?”

“I don’t know. But until we find out, pack your things. You’re moving up to the house.”

Fifteen minutes later, Marc and Daniel had moved the last of Kari’s suitcases to the house. It felt odd being there, particularly with Daniel knowing what was going on between her and Marc. But her alternative was to stay in the cottage, never knowing when the scary man would come lumbering back through the forest, this time with his trusty chain saw. Much better to be in the big house with big locks and big men with firearms.

With Daniel in the guest room, Marc said the only other room available was Angela’s, so he put Kari in there. As he gathered her suitcases in one corner, she circled her gaze around the room. As weird as it felt being in the house, it felt even weirder being in a teenage girl’s room, even though Angela’s was different than she imagined most would be. The furniture looked antique, with a vintage handmade quilt on the bed. Where rock star posters should have been were posters of horses and other animals.

“I take it your daughter is an animal lover?” Kari asked.

“She wants to be a vet. She used to work at the Rainbow Valley Animal Shelter in the summer and on weekends during the school year.”

“Yeah, I met Shannon North the other day. Nina introduced us at Rosie’s.”

“Shannon was good to Angela,” Marc said. “Wrote one of her college recommendation letters.”

Boo walked over to Marc and barked.

“What does he want?” Marc asked.

“Nothing.”

“Then why is he barking?”

“I don’t know. Doesn’t Brandy ever bark for no reason?”

“Nope.”

Marc had a dog with as much self-control as he did. What a surprise.

“Try to keep him from chewing something up while he’s here, will you?” Marc said.

Kari put her fists on her hips. “What makes you think he’ll chew something up?”

“The teeth marks on the dining room chair in the cottage.”

She dropped her hands to her side. “Oh.”

“Bathroom’s in there. The bed should still be made up. Anything else you need?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“Good.”

In one smooth move, Marc kicked the door shut with the heel of his boot, grabbed Kari around the waist, and pulled her up next to him, giving her a look so hot it practically melted her panties.

“I believe we have some unfinished business.”

W
hen Marc slid his hand along Kari’s neck, pulled her to him, and kissed her, she thought she must have fallen into some kind of dreamworld where fondest wishes come true. She loved how he slipped his tongue into her mouth and stroked it against hers. She loved the way his hand tightened against his neck as he kissed her. She loved the way he smelled, clean and masculine, like a big, brawny man who lived life outdoors. When she started to get a little light-headed, she ripped her mouth away for a quick intake of air, as if she was a drowning woman who’d lifted her head above the surface, only to lock lips with him again and succumb to the delicious drowning sensation one more time.

He backed off, grabbed the tail of her T-shirt, and yanked it over her head. They both went after his shirt buttons, and once his shirt was off, he pulled her up next to him again, crushing her bare breasts against his chest, kissing his way along her neck as he stroked her thigh. She slid her hand down to his crotch, where she felt his hard-on bulging beneath his jeans.

“When you didn’t come down to the cottage,” she said, breathing hard, “I thought maybe you’d decided we shouldn’t do this.”

“Oh,
hell
no.”

“Does the door have a lock?”

“Don’t need one.”

“Daniel—”

“If he comes in here, he’s a dead man. Then I’ll kick his body into the hall and keep on going.”

She smiled. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a man offer to commit fratricide for me.”

“Another one of those big words?”

“It means—”

“I know what it means. It means nothing is stopping us this time.”

He turned around, gave the gorgeous handmade quilt on the bed a hard yank, and slung it to the floor. Then he reached into his pocket, pulled out three condoms, and tossed them on the bed.

She looked at them with surprise. “When did you grab those?”

“Earlier. I wasn’t going to get caught without one again.”

“I take it they’re not expired.”

“Like I said. Nothing’s stopping us this time.”

Marc laid her down on the bed and yanked off her jeans, leaving her wearing nothing but her purple satin panties with the pink hearts on them she’d gotten on sale at Victoria’s Secret.

“As much as I love these, they gotta go,” he said, pulling them off.

“You love my panties?”

“You have no idea. But right now they look better on the floor.” He tossed those aside, too, then he turned back to look at her. “My God, you’re gorgeous.”

“I am?”

“Believe it.”

Every word he spoke seemed to be drenched in lust, and it turned her on like nothing else. He was out of his jeans in no time, barely kicking them aside before he was stretched out beside her on the bed. He teased his fingertip across her nipple, and then his mouth was on her, and she arched her back and maybe even whimpered a little because she wanted more. More, more,
more
. She closed her hand around his cock and stroked him. She was hot and swollen and dying to feel him inside her, and when he finally moved between her legs, she thought she’d die from the anticipation she felt. He slid his hand beneath her ass and plunged inside her with a harsh groan. She arched up against him because it felt so good. He moved harder and faster, and she had the most glorious sensation of him filling her completely, moving in and out, the friction causing red-hot sensations to streak through her, every new one building on the last, every stroke pushing her higher and higher.

Then she felt it. A tiny spark that became a blazing inferno in five seconds flat. And then she was coming…a hot, indescribable sensation that rolled over her like surf crashing against a shoreline. He moved like a man possessed, and she loved it.
Loved it.
Seconds later, Marc buried his face in her neck, his hot breath scorching her skin. “Oh, God…Kari…
yes
…”

A raspy sound of pleasure radiated from deep in his throat, and he quivered beneath her hands. He craved discipline and self-control more than any man she’d ever met, so when he lost control like this, she felt like the most powerful woman in the world.

A minute later they lay together, their breathing slowly returning to normal. When she thought about how she’d almost married a man who didn’t make her feel one-tenth as good as she felt right now, she almost cried. She told herself that when the inevitable happened and Marc got on that motorcycle and drove away, at least she’d know what sex was supposed to feel like.

He lay on his back, his eyes closed, a sheen of sweat along his forehead. When he finally turned to look at her, his dark eyes were filled with satisfaction.

“Our bargain is working out pretty well,” Marc said.

Bargain?
Kari thought.
What bargain?

And then she remembered. Their bargain. Just sex. No commitment. Fun and games. And when it was over…

“Yep,” Kari said, suddenly feeling not so great about that. “So far, so good.”

“We decided on just sex,” Marc said. “The question is, how much sex?”

“I don’t know,” she said with a teasing smile. “How much do you want?”

He pulled her into his arms again, and by the look in his eyes, he actually meant to see how much they could accomplish in a single night. A warning flashed inside her head.
He’s leaving soon. Stop now, or you’ll be sorry.

Uh-huh. Right. That was going to happen. She’d been hot for Marc almost from the first moment she met him. Now he wanted to have as much sex with her as they both could stand, and she was going to say no?

When Kari rose the next morning, it was after ten. She lay in bed for a moment, thinking about the night before, and took a deep breath of pure delight. Then she took another one to welcome her first whole day off since she’d started working at Rosie’s.

Hallelujah.

Marc was up and gone already, so she took a shower, got dressed, and headed downstairs. She found Daniel in the kitchen wearing a pair of plaid boxer shorts and a T-shirt that said “I Haven’t Lost My Mind. It’s Backed Up Somewhere.” His smushed-up hair and day-old beard told her he probably hadn’t hauled himself out of the sack much before she had. He was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee and a two-pack of cold Pop-Tarts, poking away at his phone.

“Hey, Kari. Coffee’s over there.”

She turned to see Sasha sitting on the kitchen countertop next to the coffeemaker, her tail curled around her legs, gazing around as if she owned the place. Kari gave her a few strokes along her back. The cat arched up into her hand, then sat back down again.

“I’m surprised Marc lets Sasha on the countertop,” Kari said.

“He doesn’t. She knows what she can get away with.”

“So she doesn’t sit up there when Marc’s around?”

“Nope. But Uncle Daniel makes it a point to spoil all living things in the Cordero household.” A tiny smile curled his mouth. “Drives Marc nuts.”

Kari poured a cup of coffee and sat down at the table. Daniel shoved the last of one of the Pop-Tarts into his mouth and slid the other one toward her. “Go ahead. One’s my limit on cardboard and rubber fruit.”

Kari grabbed the Pop-Tart and nibbled on it. “Where’s Marc?”

“Where he always is this time of morning. Giving each grape a little kiss. Takes him a while, but he swears they grow better.” He tossed his phone to the table. “Shit. Wi-Fi sucks in this house. I gotta do something about that.”

“I couldn’t help but notice that you drive an extremely cool car,” Kari said. “What do you do to afford a Porsche like that one? If you don’t mind my asking.”

“Now, why would I mind a woman asking that? Gives me a chance to tell her I’m filthy rich.”

“How filthy?”

“That Porsche was a hundred grand, and I didn’t even bother to talk the guy down. If you ever want to get behind the wheel and take it for a spin, let me know.”

“Seriously? Didn’t you hear the story of how I ended up here in the first place?”

“Honey, that’s what insurance is for.”

“I’ve been driving one of Marc’s cars.”

“One of his cars?”

“The Bomb.”

Daniel looked horrified. “He’s got you driving that piece of shit?”

“Beats walking. So where did you make your money?”

“Developed a little website creation app for small businesses. Google wants to rule the world, so they bought me out. They didn’t want to do anything with it. They just wanted to make sure I’d never end up being competition. To them, I was peanuts, but I’ll never have to work another day as long as I live. And now here I am, Mr. Cosmopolitan, coming back to Rainbow Valley, Texas, to run an estate vineyard. Now, tell me, Kari. Where along the way did I lose my mind?”

“I don’t know. I kind of like it here. It’s peaceful.”

“You don’t strike me as a peaceful kind of girl. You had Marc half-naked in the garage. I couldn’t imagine any woman on earth who would have been able to pull that off.”

“Maybe he’s crazier than you think.”

“Nope. Not my brother. The devil clearly made him do it.”

Kari smiled. “So I’m the devil?”

“God, I hope so. Somebody needs to get Marc to loosen up.”

“That’s his plan, isn’t it? Once he leaves the vineyard and you take over?”

“Yep. That was the deal we made when Angela was about fourteen. Three years. Then either he comes back to run the place again, or we sell it and split the profits. I’m paroled either way, so I don’t care.”

“Which do you figure it’s going to be?”

“Guess it all depends on whether he finds a better deal out there somewhere.”

Kari had a flash of that “better deal” being a woman, and she didn’t like it.

“So what’s your take on why he’s leaving?” Kari asked.

“Freedom, baby. The open road. No strings, no commitments. He wants to dump responsibility and head out.” Then Daniel shrugged. “Actually, I’d hoped it was just Angela’s teenage girl crap that made him want to leave, and he’d get over it once she grew up and became a human being again. No such luck. So here I am, holding up my end of the bargain.”

“So how do you feel about running the vineyard?”

Daniel picked up his phone again. “That was the deal we made.”

So he didn’t exactly feel great about it. Truth be told, Kari could see why. Daniel seemed about as suited to running a vineyard as Marc did to becoming a dot-com millionaire. She didn’t think she’d ever seen two brothers more different from each other in her life.

“Thanks for the yummy breakfast,” she said, tossing the Pop-Tart wrapper in the trash. “I think I’ll go watch Marc kiss a few grapes.”

Kari went outside and was met by a warm morning sun and a bright, cloudless sky. She saw Marc with Ramon and wandered over. Oddly, they weren’t looking at any of the vines. Instead they were examining a rosebush. Closer now, Kari could see there was one planted at the end of every row of vines.

“Good morning,” she said.

When Marc looked up, she was pleased to see his eyes flick to her breasts, her legs, and back up again. Then a tiny smile crossed his lips. “Good morning.”

Ramon nodded a greeting, then clipped a branch off the rosebush the two men were looking at. “I’ll check it out,” he said as he walked away.

“What’s with the rosebushes?” Kari asked.

“Have you heard about canaries in coal mines?”

“Sure. The canaries are way more sensitive than the miners, so if the canary faints, it means there’s less oxygen in the mine and the miners need to watch out.”

“Exactly. The rosebushes are more delicate than the vines. If they show mold or pest infestation or signs of drought, it means we’d better pay close attention to the vines, because sooner or later those things will be a problem for them, too. Ramon took a clipping that looked a little suspicious back to the lab.”

Marc pulled his phone from his pocket and poked at it for a moment. He looked up at the sky, then poked again.

“You can’t seem to keep your hands off your phone,” Kari said. “So what are you hooked on? Facebook? Cat videos? Porn?”

“Weather.”

“Weather?” She looked over at his phone and was stunned. “Good Lord. How many weather apps do you have?”

“I don’t know. Six?”

“That’s an obsession I’ve never heard of.”

“Our business depends on the weather. You know that rainstorm we had the night you ran off the road? We’re just lucky there’s time before harvest for the grapes to recover from that.”

“Recover? I thought rain was good for growing things.”

“Some rain. But not too much.”

“But you have all these sloping hills. Doesn’t the water just run off?”

“With grapes, water isn’t taken in just through the roots. It goes through the grape skins, too. Too much water, and the grapes split. If the skins have already been compromised by bugs or birds or mold, it makes it that much easier for the water to damage them. If they’re not ready to be harvested, they rot on the vine.”

“I didn’t know grapes were that delicate.”

“Believe me, grapes can be a real pain in the ass. If you don’t pick them at exactly the right time, the acidity can be off. They need a certain amount of sugar to ferment properly. We picked the grapes just in time last year, right before a huge rainstorm that went from late one afternoon until before dawn the next day. If those grapes had still been on the vine, the water would have bloated them and thrown their chemical composition off. A whole crop can be ruined that way. Fortunately, we had the crew booked and they got the job done in time.”

“I always figured you just pulled the grapes off the vines, squeezed out the juice, and that was that.”

“I wish it were that simple.”

“I didn’t realize you were at the mercy of the weather like that.” She shook her head. “Wine making is a tough business, isn’t it?”

“Why do you think I’m ready to leave it all to Daniel for a while?”

Kari could see why. What she couldn’t see was Daniel actually running the place.

“Daniel said you kiss all the grapes every morning to make them grow better.”

“Daniel’s a smart-ass.”

“So when’s he taking the helm?”

“I’m scheduling the crew, but I want him to call the shots during harvest this year.”