Just a Kiss: The Single Girls Wine Club (A Wine Country Romance #1) (14 page)

He removed a blanket from a basket, adoring the way she watched his every move, and gently wrapped the throw around her. He took her shoes off, placed them next to the hearth and then tucked the blanket around her feet. His eyes never left her.

“Are you comfortable?”

“Very,” she teased. “It’s
very
warm and snuggly under the covers.”

Jamie lifted the covers and moved in next to her. “I think I can make you warmer.” The second he climbed on top of her and felt her breasts against his chest, his temperature rocketed.

Digging his hands through her soft, tresses, he buried his face in the curve of her neck and sucked. He couldn’t get enough of the taste of her skin. When she reached for him and lifted her mouth to his, he came down on hard on her lips. She responded with a moan that shot through his heart. She was made for him to kiss.

“Sarah,” he whispered, before depositing kisses on her cheek and following the curve of her jawline. She threw her head back, and he licked and sucked the line of her neck and into the hollow of her collarbone.

“I want to see you, Sarah,” he said peeling back the collar of her blouse and stroking her shoulder. He let his hand slide down to the button of her blouse. She leaned back on the armrest, and she helped him unfastened the buttons of her shirt.

Finally, she was in his arms, with no interruptions where he could take his time and quench all of her desires properly. He wanted to hear her cry out his name again and feel her shudder beneath him, on top of him, anywhere and everywhere he could have her. Although tomorrow was his first day on the set for the movie that could revive his career, practicing lines or getting sleep was the furthest thing from his mind.

Feeling the warm heat from Jamie spooning her tightly in the squeaky double bed, Sarah slowly adjusted her eyes to the dark.

A few embers were still burning in the fireplace. Her tummy flipped when Jamie moved and pulled her closer. She almost started giggling. The thought of cracking up at this moment made her want to laugh more. Listening to his steady breathing, she longed to stay in bed with Jamie's arms around her forever.

The green fluorescent clock on the microwave read three forty. She'd only had a few hours of sleep and felt blissfully energized, but she'd never make it to the Vine Café by four.

She didn’t have a change of clothes, needed a shower and Manny would have to cover for her. She’d left her phone in her purse. Her bra dangled haphazardly from the edge of the hearth, and her panties were on the floor. She spotted her bag where she had left it on the table by the door and devised a plan to scoot-slide out of the bed without waking Jamie.

He had the top sheet, and the covers wrapped tightly around them, so she’d have to make the journey in the buff.

Holding her breath, she pressed her body face down into the mattress and began her sliding maneuver inch by inch. Jamie sighed, and grabbed her waist, pulling her backside into him.

Sarah tried again, using the same technique only with one motion. She pressed against the mattress as far as she could and felt Jamie’s grip relax. Sliding on her tummy to the edge of the bed, she wriggled out of the covers and landed on the hard cobblestone floor with a splat.

Staying on all fours and out of Jamie’s sightline on the floor, Sarah crawled to the small table. Only five more feet to go.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

She froze mid-crawl, with one arm forward and one leg back. “I'm just getting my phone,” she said in a quiet voice, turning casually toward the bed, to see if he’d dozed back to sleep.

Jamie had his head propped on his hand, with his elbow on the mattress. He raised his eyebrows and grinned.

Sarah didn't like the angle. From her position on the floor, her butt crack was smiling at him.

“Are you trying to sneak away?” He asked.

“It'll only take a minute,” she said playing it cool. Just two more crawls to the phone.

“Oh no, you don’t,” Jamie said flinging the sheets back and pouncing out of the bed and onto the floor. When Sarah reached for her handbag, Jamie stretched over her head from behind and grabbed it off the table. “Nope,” he said laughing. “It’s not even four in the morning. You’re not running away from me.”

Dropping the purse, he pulled her closer, so they were spooning on all fours. Nuzzling into the crevice of her shoulder and neck, Jamie teased. “What will you give me for the bag?”

As if to verify last night wasn’t a dream, Sarah turned to face him. He seemed ten years younger than he did last night and even more gorgeous. A surge of excited tingles jittered through her when she ran her fingers over the rough stubble on his dimples. Drawing an imaginary line along the outline of his jaw, she thought she’d burst from the rush of bliss she felt at that moment. He looked so incredibly happy.

Outlining his lips with her thumb, she guided his mouth to hers. Like a sports car's engine in the morning, her body increasingly warmed with his kisses, until she revved. She needed more of his tongue, more of his touch, more of what they did last night and more of him.

“You win. You got me,” Jamie said reaching for the purse and looking down at himself. “Now look what you’ve done.”

“Hold that thought.” Sarah hit Manny’s number on her speed dial, trying to avert her eyes from what was vying for her attention.

Jamie left the cottage at five thirty for his seven o’clock shoot. Sarah burst into the rush at the Vine Café at eight a.m. feeling guilty about being so late, especially when she saw how hard her crew was working, shorthanded, because of her. Any remorse only lasted five seconds. Nothing could get in the way of Sarah’s lightheaded, cheerful mood, not even Manny’s sloe-eyed-Monday-morning mope.

He plodded into the kitchen grimacing as Sarah pulled a batch of gingerbread cookies from the oven. “It’s not even close to Christmas, why are we making those?” Manny asked.

“Hmmm, just smell these babies. Come on…” Sarah waved the aroma from the cookie sheet to her nose.

Manny silently stood next to her.

She turned from the cookies to Manny. “Come on…Just one little whiff will do ya.”

Manny rolled his eyes.

“Okay. I give. Why so down?” Sarah asked.

“For starters,” Manny said. “I got an earlier-than-usual call on my morning to sleep in.” He gave her an expectant look. “And now that I’m here, it’s dead.” He scowled.

“It’s not dead,” Sarah said. “Look at all the customers out there.” She winked. “All waiting to be graced by your charm.”

“Not the hot kind of customers.” Manny shook his head. “Jamie left, and all the babes followed him.”

“You poor baby,” she chided. “How will you possibly be able to focus on your work without an assortment of beauties fighting for your attention?” She pulled her phone from her pocket and quickly sent a text to Jamie.

“And I called Janette to come in today to close,” he said. Sarah put the phone back in her pocket. “I thought you might be a little, ah, preoccupied and might forget to cover that shift.”

“Right. Good. You’re a mind reader,” she said heading for the doors. “Don’t forget to feed kitty if you see him,” Sarah called out, almost skipping to the front area as her phone pinged.

“Are you whistling Sarah?” Manny said in a voice that meant he knew something.

The day flew by and didn’t seem like work at all, just an extended date with Jamie. When Sarah scampered out of the Vine Café and into the warm interior of her Prius, she received another five texts from Jamie. She opened all the windows and the door and checked the phone again.

Her heart had buzzed at the sound of Jamie’s text messages all day. She felt like she’d never left the bed in the cottage. His language had started out sweet and romantic but had progressively ramped up throughout the day to hot and erotic. She could feel his body right there next to her. Sarah reread the text from two minutes ago. “Please send a picture.”

“Something naughty.” The last one came sixty seconds later.

Sarah stared at her phone. She’d been a sexting virgin until today. And although she’d become reasonably proficient in teasing wordplay, she wasn’t exactly sure what she should do next.

She guessed they’d technically gotten to maybe second base throughout the day texting. Did he want her to go to third? How? She had worn her usual outfit of leggings, clogs and a baggy blouse. What was she supposed to do? Get naked in the car and take a picture?

Her phone buzzed again.

“I want to
see
something.” Before she could text back, another one pinged.

“You know what I want.”

She read the message again and felt like the sexiest woman on the planet. Even through the phone, he turned her on, from miles away. She imagined the heat of his voice, telling her what he wanted, and how he wanted it, all raspy and gravelly like when they were in bed. She shut the door, closed the windows, started the car and cranked the air conditioning.

She stared down at the inside bend of her arm and thought it looked kind of sexy. She snapped a picture, cropped it into a close-up and smiled.
For all he knows, I stripped myself down in public and took a picture of my butt cheek.
She hit send and then drove home.

After changing into shorts and convincing herself she could enjoy Chill Hour and not reveal every body quaking detail of last night, she held her head high and walked out to the patio. She’d have to concentrate on not bubbling over with joy, and she needed to take her face wide smile down a notch.

Juliet and Lulu had already started on a bottle of Santino Family Estate Reserve, and two glasses for Danica and Sarah sat waiting on the table.

“Danica just called, she’ll be home any minute.” Juliet looked back at her computer screen, furiously typing. “Almost done,” she said under her breath.

Lulu looked up from the book on her lap. “Very nice party last night, huh?”

Sarah plopped into her favorite wicker chair and poured a glass. “Great party.”

“Exactly which party are you speaking of Sarah, the Santino Family party or the Jamie Santino
private
party?” Juliet said looking up from her computer.

Busted. Heat pulsed through her cheeks. She should’ve known there wasn’t a chance she'd finagle a glass of wine without getting prodded. How could she even think she’d escape the third degree after not coming home last night? Sarah didn’t shy away from Juliet’s eyes and asked, “What are you reading?”

Juliet’s lips were a straight line and her face got tight. Sarah inched closer to the computer screen for a peek and Juliet tilted it back so she couldn’t see.

“What? Is it porn?” Sarah asked, then checked her phone for Jamie’s response to the semi-naughty picture she sent. She glanced back to Juliet. “What have you got there, missy?”

“Nothing, just the usual. Checking gossip sites for show prep, that’s all.”

“Hmm, gossip sites… And you’re hiding the computer? C’mon, what are they writing about Jamie now?” Sarah asked. “I can take it.”

Juliet reluctantly turned the computer so Sarah could see the article. The headline read
Costar Threatening to Stop Production of Lean-Santino Film
.

“Lovely, just lovely.” She scanned down the page quickly, skimming over the supposedly hidden camera shots of Jamie and Nikki. One picture showed his arm around her, looking like they were hiding from something. Another showed Nikki lustily pressing into Jamie for a kiss with his dimples flashing broadly. Sarah turned away from the computer and settled back into her chair.

“I’ve seen enough, just nutshell the story for me, please?” Sarah asked.

“Nikki is threatening to walk out of the production because she doesn’t like the script,” Juliet explained. “She doesn’t feel the screenwriter has given their love story enough detail.”

“She should be happy she gets to fake kiss him at all.” Sarah bit her tongue. She had no doubt she’d get the full scoop from Juliet because she woke the San Francisco Bay Area every morning, giving her radio listeners all the titillating tidbits they wanted to know.

“Yeah, the script is apparently an ongoing issue with Ms. Lean, but all the pictures… I wouldn’t buy into those Sarah, don’t even look at ‘em.” Juliet sighed. “They could be shots from rehearsals, or scenes from the actual movie, not real life as the tabloids would have you believe.”

“That makes sense.” Sarah didn’t feel too ruffled because her body still reveled in the delicious effects of last night’s love fest. She had a hard time believing Jamie could be in the sort of relationship the tabloids were reporting, and still do all the things he did to her last night. No one was that great an actor.

“Where is our Miss Danica?” Sarah asked.

Juliet checked her phone. “She just texted. She’s hung up at work and doesn’t want us to wait on dinner.”

“How did it go at the party with her and Michael…any developments?” Even though Sarah hated being questioned about Jamie, it didn’t mean she didn’t love talking about Danica and Michael. She hoped their relationship moved past the few pecks on the cheek they’d shared.