by Kim Karr
“Tyler—” I started to say, but he stopped me with a shake of his head.
“Let me finish.”
I nodded and choked back my sobs for him.
He went on. “By three that day he was extremely confused, disoriented, and his breathing was shallow. I should have called 9–1-1, but I didn’t. I wanted him to suffer like he had always made me suffer.”
I gasped, fearing where this was going.
“Yeah, well even then I pussied out on him. When he became unresponsive, I called Wilhelmina, who called 9–1-1. By the time we got to the hospital, it was too late. The alcohol had poisoned him. Luckily, he was in and out of consciousness, allowing for Wilhelmina to quickly marry him. I watched him take his last breath knowing if only I would have called for help sooner, I might have saved him. And you know what? I felt like that was the biggest fuck-you I ever could have given him.”
Tyler was shaking and I reached for him, pulling him to me. “Tyler, you didn’t kill him, just like I didn’t kill my mother. He was an alcoholic who drank himself to death. Who’s to say that even if you would have called someone sooner, he would have lived.”
Tyler held onto me. “I watched him die and felt nothing but satisfaction. What kind of person does that?”
Understanding why his birthday was so tragic, I took his face in my hands. “You are not a bad person, Tyler Holiday.”
He clutched me to him, holding me like I was a lifeline, and we stayed that way for the longest time.
Many minutes later, he pulled back. “I need to get out of this car. Would you like to go somewhere with me?”
After I wiped my tears away, I answered, “Yes, I would.”
The fact that he wasn’t running made my heart beat in a special way.
I got out and met Tyler in front of the truck. His expression was reserved, revealing nothing. His shoulders were wide and proud when he took my hand. “Come on. I want to show you something.”
“Wait, Tyler,” I said.
He looked down at me, his lashes fluttering. “Please, let me show you something first?”
The pleading in his voice was all I had to hear to agree.
“Follow me,” he told me.
Follow him.
I’d follow him anywhere.
It was déjà vu to that first night we’d met. Him leading me somewhere me having no idea where or why.
The cloudless night sky was littered with stars and I tipped my head up to gaze at them but even with it all that sparkle overhead it was chilly. “You should put on a coat,” I told him. “It’s really cold out here.”
Tyler glanced over his shoulder and slanted me a look. “You worried about me?”
Trying to act indifferent was useless. “Yes, maybe, I am,” I said and drew in a frosty breath.
“Good.”
Of course, I had to giggle.
We made it through the straggly patch of trees in no time. Everything was dark but still when we came to the end, Tyler said, “Close your eyes.”
“What is going on?” I asked. “I really need to talk to you about something.”
“Just close your eyes and let me show you something, first.”
As soon as I slammed my eyes shut, he let go of my hand and turned me around so my body pressed against the hard planes of his.
“Okay, open them,” he said.
When I did, I gasped in delight. “Oh, my God.” I brought my hands to my mouth and looked over my shoulder. “You did this?”
He nodded, so very sure of himself I knew right then we were already together for the right reason. “For you. For us.”
Under the night sky stood a bright white gazebo with six equal sides and a peaked roof crowned with twinkling lights, and near the lake was a shiny blue rowboat with oars.
Tears welled in my eyes as I pictured the rowboat on the lake. The gazebo sheltering us from the intense sun as we drank lemonade. And a rose garden with a picket fence just beyond.
Picnics and flutes of champagne.
The pink and gold glow of sunrises and sunsets.
White doves and morning birds.
Kids running in the fields.
I pictured a life.
Our life.
Our happy life.
“Come on, let me show you,” Tyler exclaimed in excitement leading me to the gazebo. On five sides white lattice fencing formed a barrier and the sixth side was wide open to face the lake.
Feeling like this was a dream, or a fairytale, I took the three crisp white steps and stopped at the top. Two rocking chairs, which had been on the front porch, where inscribed with the words, his and hers, and there was a lemonade table in between them.
I whirled around, and when I did, my heart leaped, catching in my throat at the sight of him.
Tyler was on the steps, down on one knee, holding a small black box in his hand. It was open and inside was a platinum band that matched his own. “Paris,” he said. “I didn’t do this right the first time but I’m going to now, and I hope it isn’t too late.”
There were a million reasons why we shouldn’t be together, but there was one really good reason we should, and that was love. There was another, too of course, but he didn’t know it yet.
I began to shake, and my long hair fell down around my shoulders and over my face, but I could still see him.
He drew in a deep breath. “I can’t rewind time, but if I could I would have told you that I love you, Paris Holiday, long ago. I think I’ve loved you since that first night we laid out here on a blanket and talked until we both couldn’t talk anymore. I should have told you then. I should have told you a million other times. And I’m telling you now, I love you and I want us to be together for the rest of our lives. Build a winery, make a home, have a family, watch the sunrise and the sunset, grow old together. You were my first and I want you to be my last. You’re perfect and sweet and I want you to be all mine, forever.”
I covered my mouth with my hands and let my tears fall freely. A hundred more years could pass and I knew I would still find it hard to breathe every time he looked at me like that. That butterflies would always dance in my belly when he was near. That he’d had me at hello.
“Yes. No. Maybe?” he prompted, looking for an answer.
Feeling overwhelmed, I dropped down and sat on the second step, pulling him up beside me. “I love you, Tyler Holiday and yes, I want to stay married to you, but I have something to tell you first.”
He slid the ring on my finger. “What? You’re leaving on a jet plane to do the whole eat-love-pray thing?”
I shook my head and laughed.
“You want to move in with Tabitha?”
I laughed even harder. “Oh, God, no.”
“Then what?”
I could do this. “It involves the whole build a winery, make a home, have a family, watch the sunrise and the sunset, grow old together thing you just talked about.”
His head cocked in confusion. “Did I leave something out?”
The corners of my mouth tipped up. “No, it was perfect,” I said, and tears fell from my eyes, slipping in hot trails toward my chin and down my throat, puddling in the hollow there. I wanted to tell him but I wasn’t sure how he was going to take it. Before I could say anything, I felt that nausea that just wouldn’t go away come back with a vengeance. Without a word, I got to my feet and rushed over to the trees.
“Paris? What’s going on? Are you all right?” Tyler asked, his arm coming around me and helping me to stand up straight. “Do you need to go to the hospital?” he demanded.
I shook my head no. “Pregnant,” I croaked out amid another round of tears.
This crying business really had to stop.
Tyler stared at me dumbfounded for the longest time. “Over . . . when I . . . you mean the family?”
I wiped my mouth with a mitten I’d shoved in my pocket and decided to help him out. “Yes, I was trying to tell you your order of life events had to be changed. That the family part was goi
ng to be coming first.”
“You and me and a baby?”
Seriously, could he be any cuter? I nodded. “Yes, I am having your baby and if you want the two of us, we’re yours.”
The smile that crossed his lips made me weak in the knees. “If I want you both? Of course I do,” he said and then swung me into his arms and strode rapidly toward the truck.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“You need to get to the house. It’s way too cold out here. And it’s late. You should be in bed.”
“Tyler,” I laughed. “I’m pregnant, not old.”
“I know that,” he huffed as he set me in the truck.
I grabbed him and pulled him to me before he could close the door. “Tyler,” I held my ring up. “I think tonight is our wedding night.”
He looked at me, his eyes sparkling in the moonlight with so much lust, I couldn’t wait to put my hands all over him. “Is that an invitation for me to move back into our bedroom?”
I nodded and then pulled him to me. “It’s more than invitation. It’s an order.”
His lips twisted in amusement. “Don’t let those panties of yours get too big, Love.”
Joy flooded my heart and I nearly toppled him over as I hugged him tightly. “I love you.”
He hugged me back, emotion thick in his own voice. “I love you, always and forever.”
Always and forever.
Now that sounded like a promise I couldn’t resist.
Six months later
Paris
I WANTED TO freeze time.
Sitting out at the gazebo with a pitcher of lemonade, I was talking to Wilhelmina about the pros and cons of naming the baby Tyler Justin Ryan Holiday, IV when Tyler Justin Ryan Holiday, III came speeding down the valley in the red pickup beeping his horn.
Wilhelmina got to her feet. “What on earth is the matter?” she shouted to him as he got out.
I set my glass down and shielded my eyes from the setting sun. I wasn’t worried. He loved that truck so much, he seemed to always be making a show of driving it around the property whenever he could.
Yanking the tailgate down, he marched over to us. He kissed Wilhelmina on the cheek. “Nothing is the matter, old lady,” he told her and then took a step and leaned down to kiss me on the lips.
“Hi,” I said.
“Hi,” he said back. “Sorry, I’m late.”
“At least you’re in time for the sunset.”
He bent down to kiss the baby in my belly. “I know. That’s why I was rushing.”
When he started to untie my Converse sneakers and then took them off me, I thought he’d lost his mind with the whole barefoot and pregnant thing.
“What is going on?” I quipped.
Nonchalant-like, he dropped a blindfold on my protruding belly.
I raised a brow and Wilhelmina cleared her throat. “Should I leave?”
Tyler laughed. “Nothing kinky, gran-gran, I promise. Not this time, anyway.”
That had me blush a thousand shades of pink.
“Come on, Love,” he said, and tugged me from my seat.
After he wrapped the piece of silk around my eyes, he took my hand. “Follow me.”
“What’s going on?” I asked.
He guided me down the steps and over to his truck. “Patience,” he drawled in that sexy voice that did silly things to me.
Still, I had to laugh at that. He was one to talk. Moments later I heard some scratching of metal and the sound of him grunting.
What in the world?
“Okay,” he said, “Now lift one foot as if you were going to take a step into the bathtub and then set it down.”
“Tyler,” I protested.
“Trust me,” he said, and I did, so I followed his instructions. As soon as my bare toes hit the soft surface, I knew immediately what I was doing. “Oh, my, God,” I shrieked in glee and yanked my blindfold off.
“Where did you get these already?”
His smirk was arrogant and I loved it. “Gable’s property has two vineyards ready for early harvest.”
We’d taken Vince Gable to court and proved he’d altered the property lines illegally. That wasn’t how we’d gotten his property, though. We’d been awarded the original plat boundaries and refused to allow him access to the highway once we had. It took Vince four months to beg us to buy the land sandwiched between ours.
Tyler and I didn’t have the money but it turned out Tabitha was looking for an investment. She’d come into her giant trust fund and wanted something to occupy her. Projects. She was all about projects. And this was a big one.
Now Highway Jane is five hundred acres and one of the biggest wineries in the valley with two attorneys on the board, I might add.
This business was never getting screwed again.
I looked down just as Tyler was whipping his beat-up combat boots off and watched as he stepped in beside me.
The metal tin was filled with red grapes and as soon as Tyler took my hand, I started stomping like a child, moving my knees up and down. I smiled as the skins squished between my toes and my husband stood by my side, sharing in my joy.
This was him.
This was me.
Our grapes. Our wine. Our vineyards.
This was our life.
And it was a good one.
Great one.
The best one.
Then again, we had been lucky. Doing what most people can’t, we had been able to rewind time and get back what we’d once had.
I’d go as far as to say, we’d reWined our lives.
Wouldn’t you? ;)
New Year’s Eve
Paris
I ARRANGED FOR us to spend a quiet night at home.
Tyler Justin Ryan Holiday, IV was spending the night with Wilhelmina and Buck, who had remodeled my father’s house and moved into it last month. They’d decided to live together and since Buck had ten grandkids, the guesthouse was way too small.
Tonight was a quiet party for two—party girl and party boy. I wanted to create a happy memory for him.
The cake was giant and I set it in front of the birthday boy. “Blow out your candles,” I quipped.
He shook his head. “This is ridiculous. I haven’t had a cake in years.”
I raised a brow. “Blow.”
“Why do I feel like that’s my line?”
Getting his dirty humor, I swatted his shoulder. “Blow, now, party boy.”
He did, and all twenty-eight candles went out at once.
Happy, I smiled at him and got to my feet. “Do you want your present before or after cake?” I asked in a seductive tone.
“Depends on what it is,” he said, his tone full of erotic expectation.
It wasn’t wrong.
The air between us felt like fire and when I bent to kiss his lips, I swore we were about to go up in flames. Taking care of the baby was both exhilarating and exhausting and somehow we had adopted the Tabitha plan—sex after baby feedings—so sex while we were wide awake and alone was my present to him. And he wasn’t complaining one bit.
The feel of his tongue pushing my lips apart and taking, dominating, tasting, kissing was so hot it took me a few seconds before I could pull away.
“Where are you going?” he murmured.
Walking backwards, I took one step and then another until I was halfway down the table. “Just over here.”
“That’s too far.”
He was wearing those jeans that were low on his lean hips and I pointed to them. “How about you get naked and join me?” I said in a husky voice.
With a grin on his face, he got to his feet. He put a hand over the bulge in his pants and stroked himself a few times through the cloth, but he didn’t move.
As I swallowed hard, I pulled a chair out and sat on it. “You’re such a tease.”
He stroked again. Watching him touch himself was so hot, but that wasn’t what tonight was about. “How about you come back over here and finish undres
sing me?” he drawled.
With a shake of my head, I untied my wrap dress and let it fall open. I was naked beneath it and I spread my legs. “I’m good here but thank you for the offer.”
His tongue snuck out to swipe across his bottom lip, and when it did, I started stroking myself.
With gleaming eyes, he stared at me. Slowly, he stripped off his shirt and tossed it to the ground. I gave myself another stroke. He unzipped his jeans and pulled them down just enough for his erection to spring free.
My pulse was going wild, and I reached across the table and scooped some frosting with my finger. I used my tongue to slowly remove it.
He licked his mouth again. “Now who’s the tease?”
I shrugged and did it again. “You could be next,” I said but it came out a little strangled.
That changed the dynamics between us entirely. He was standing in front of me naked with his erection bobbing in a matter of seconds.
I scooped up three fingerfuls of frosting and got to my feet before sinking to my knees. “Happy birthday, Tyler,” I said as I lathered the frosting around the tip of his cock.
“Oh, fuck,” he murmured when I started to remove it slow lick by slow lick and when I was done, I went back for seconds.
Soon after, I took him in my mouth, inch by inch, steadying myself by holding on to his muscular thighs.
The sound of his breath started getting faster. He groaned out in pleasure and whispered my name. “Paris.”
I felt the ecstasy flowing between us like electricity.
Gripping my hair, he surged forward and I heard that familiar sound of his dog tags jingling. “Best fucking present of my life,” he murmured.
God, I loved him. Loved what I could do to him. Loved what we were together.
This.
Love.
Lust.
Everything.