“It’s considered one of the royal fruits.”
“Really? By whom?”
“People.” He cracked a smile and then picked up the baguette and tore off a chunk. “I was a picky eater growing up. My parents had to bribe me to eat fruits and vegetables. They’re the ones who first told me that. ‘Mangos are a royal fruit, boy,’ they’d say, ‘and if it’s good enough for royalty, it should be good enough for you.’”
Lucia tried to imagine him as a small boy being cajoled by his parents to eat his fruits and veggies. “But you like them now?”
“Love them. I developed a fondness for a lot of things as I grew older that I didn’t appreciate as a boy.” He spread some cheese on his bread, taking his time as if the baguette were his palette, the cheese his medium, and he a master artist.
“Here, try this.” He held the offering in front of her, lifted it toward her mouth. “The woman in the cheese shop gave me a sample and I liked it. I think it’ll complement the fruit.”
Lucia opened her mouth and took a bite. The pad of his thumb brushed over her bottom lip when she did, soft as a satin negligee might whisper over heated skin when removed by a lover’s talented hands and given leave to drift to the floor. Not an accident. An intentional stroke she wasn’t immune to.
She chewed slowly. The tangy cheese hinted of fruit and herb, enhanced by the crisp, chewy crust and light airy center of the baguette. She swallowed and then took a sip of the rosé before giving him her verdict. “You’re right. It’s a nice pairing, and with the wine as well.”
She tipped her head sideways and smiled into his eyes.
“What’s that look about?” he asked, and she threw her head back and groaned.
“Ugh! I feel like I’m being seduced,” she admitted, and laughed lightly because she rather enjoyed the feeling and, because neither of them had any expectations of the other, felt free to tell him so.
Antonio smiled broadly. “Then you need to catch up, Lucia. I was seduced the first time I saw you.”
She bit back a grin. “Oh man, this is not good. Have some prosciutto and some cheese. Here…I’ll make you one.” She sat forward and took a piece of each, one on top of the other, and handed it toward him. “Now eat this.”
He took it. “What? I bare my soul and you hand me meat and cheese? I thought doing so might at least earn me a small kiss.” The corners of his lips tugged mischievously and she laughed again.
“Hey, you set the protocol with the one you made for me,” she bantered, enjoying the interplay. “I’m just following your lead. It was delicious by the way—the cheese, what is it?”
“Brie, with fig and rosemary. Does that mean if I’d led with a kiss you would have followed suit?” He slid the tidbit she’d given him into his mouth and hiked an inquiring brow.
She debated her answer, knowing this kind of talk could easily lead them into more intimate territory. Could she have a brief fling knowing there was no chance it would lead to anything else? Could she let herself enjoy this man and still keep her heart out of it?
Degree was the key. There was no reason not to kiss him when she wanted to and knew in her bones she’d enjoy it. And it wasn’t like he was misleading her. They both knew he was only passing through the area. She knew better than to mistake anything that might happen between them for more than a mutually enjoyable fling. Her heart was safe.
“What if I said yes?”
He swallowed his food and fixed her with a look that made her want to lie down on the blanket and say whatever you’re thinking, just do it. Did that make her stupid or just horny? She took another sip of wine and eyed him over the rim of the glass instead, waiting.
“I’d put the rest of the food back into the cooler to keep for later and satisfy my taste for something else. Something I think we’re both curious about.”
“You know what they say about curiosity, right?”
He licked his lips and a pool of saliva gathered in the back of her mouth. “That if you don’t satisfy it, it becomes an itch that will drive you crazy for the rest of your life?”
Lucia laughed. “Not the answer I was thinking of, but yeah, there is that.”
“So?”
“So even though I admit I’m also curious, I think it would be nice to start with some basics first. For example, are you in a serious relationship with anyone, you know, a romantic one? What’s your favorite food? What do you do for a living?”
“Okay, that’s fair.” He leaned back on his elbows and stretched out his long legs. “I’m not currently in a relationship, serious or otherwise.” He paused and held her gaze, and she saw truth in his response. It was important to her. It didn’t matter how strong the attraction or how fleeting their time together, if he was involved with someone else, she wouldn’t encroach. She knew the pain of that kind of betrayal and would never knowingly want to cause it.
“My favorite food is pasta, done almost any way, but I probably enjoy it most with a simple marinara. And to your third question, I’m an architect.”
“An architect!” Lucia sat up straighter. “That’s such a coincidence. My sisters and I just talked this morning about meeting with some architects to discuss our expansion plans.”
She pulled her hair around to one side. “It’s too bad you’re not from around here. If you were, I’d ask if you were interested. I’ll bet you do wonderful designs.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence. My clients seem to like my work.” He put some cheese and meat on his plate. “When you say expansion, what are you looking at doing?”
“That depends on what the county will allow. Cat wants to open a full-service restaurant. We also want to be able to accommodate more overnight guests. Right now we only have six guest rooms, but I’d like to increase that to fifteen, maybe twenty. When we have events, we don’t always have enough rooms. The conference we’re hosting now is a good example; some of the attendees had to get rooms off-site. If we could accommodate more people, we could attract more event business.”
“Can you do all that at the winery?”
“That’s part of what we need to find out. The bulk of our revenues comes from the winery, and we discovered there are restrictions to what percentages can come from where. I’m sure our parents knew all of this, and it may be why they never opened a restaurant on-site, but none of us ever had a reason to get involved with those aspects of the business before. There’s a chance we may need to break the inn and restaurant off from the winery in order to meet the legal requirements.”
“Are you talking about a different location?”
“Yes, but hopefully not far. There’s a large piece of land about a half mile down the road from us that’s for sale. It has been ever since I moved back, so if we’re not able to expand on the winery’s grounds, we might be able to work out some kind of arrangement where Cat and I purchase that property and open an inn and restaurant separate from Bonavera Winery.
“There’s also a neighboring property that’s been vacant for about three years that could be an option if we can’t get the other one for a fair price. The owner inherited it from his uncle, but he moved away from the area about ten years ago and swore he’d never come back. It’s not for sale, but if we approached him, he might consider it. He and I were friends in school. He was Marcella’s first crush, but he’s a year older than I and never thought of her as anything more than my kid sister. She was devastated when he moved.”
“First loves can be crushing,” Antonio said sympathetically.
“Yeah, especially for someone like Cel who doesn’t impress easily.”
Lucia sighed at the prospect of having to create a whole new business, but they might not have a choice. “We need to talk to someone from the county to find out what we can and can’t do. We were planning to meet with some architects next week, and if we liked one of them, take their plan with us when we did. It seemed like a good idea, but now…well, I’m starting to think we might just be throwing money away to have plans dr
awn up when there’s a good chance we won’t be able to use them.”
“I could go in and talk to them for you,” Antonio offered. “I deal with local government and building codes all the time back home. I’m sure there are differences here, but it might be advantageous to have someone who understands the business talk with them.”
“That’s really nice, but do you really want to spend time trying to navigate the red tape of our county government when you’ll only be here a few days?”
“I’ll go by their offices tomorrow morning; I just need to find out where they are.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“I offered, so no, I don’t mind, and I’m usually successful getting cooperation on my projects back home. Besides, I won’t be trying to get you a variance, just information, so it shouldn’t be too difficult.”
“That’s very generous. I know my sisters will all appreciate it as much as I do. If we’re not able to move forward on either of those plans, I’m not sure what’s going to happen, especially with Caterina. She’s wanted her own restaurant since she was in high school.”
Lucia finished her wine and Antonio immediately reached for the bottle and refilled her glass.
“Thanks,” she said, grateful for more than just the rosé. “Do you need to know anything from me before you go see them?”
“You’re just looking for clarification on land usage and what percentage of your revenue can come from sources other than the winery, right?”
“Pretty much. Once we know that we can decide how to proceed.”
“Okay, then I’m good. If you’re around tomorrow evening, I can come over and fill you and your sisters in on what I find out.”
Lucia beamed at him. “Caterina isn’t scheduled to work the restaurant, so everyone should be good to meet. You can come for dinner. I’ll ask Cat to make something nice…as a thank you. Pasta. I’ll ask her to make pasta marinara.”
The moon rose higher, full and bright, illuminating the ripples on the river below as it flowed past the clearing where they sat sharing tidbits of this and that, things about themselves, each curious to know more about the other.
The evening raced by and Lucia wished she could slow it down, back it up, do it all over again. She hadn’t enjoyed an evening so much in years and hated to see it end.
“I should probably take you home,” Antonio said. “The air’s getting chilly, and as good as you look in that dress, I doubt it’ll be warm enough if it gets any cooler.”
Lucia didn’t disagree. The day had been sunny and pleasantly warm, reaching the low seventies, and she hadn’t thought to bring a sweater, but she wouldn’t mind having one now.
They packed everything back into the trunk and got in the car. Neither one said much on the drive back. They’d had a wonderful time, but Lucia now felt a touch of melancholy that cast a shadow over her good mood.
Despite what their grandfathers may have wanted, her life and Antonio’s had taken courses of their own—like seeds carried on the wind that rooted and grew where they’d landed, on different soils, in different climates—not by chance but because her parents had made a conscious decision to begin a new life in a new country. No, she didn’t believe in fate, no more than she believed the ridiculous notion her aunt’s ghost inhabited their ancestral home.
ANTONIO AND LUCIA stood facing each other on the inn’s wide wraparound porch. Silence encircled them, a cloak of anticipation warming her blood beneath its shroud.
Lucia shivered in expectation of what she knew was to come.
Antonio took hold of her hands and rubbed his fingers over them, the pads of his thumbs warm and gentle against her skin.
No words were needed to communicate their thoughts. Their eyes spoke their desire, locked on each other’s gaze. He dipped his head, she lifted hers, and their lips met for the first time.
The kiss, the sheer perfection of it, overwhelmed her senses. Lucia wrapped her arms around his neck, abandoned herself to the glory of his mouth—giving, seeking, and hungry for hers—and knew to the depths of her soul the memory of this moment held the power to haunt her forever.
She didn’t care. She had no more desire to deny herself this magic than she had to stop breathing. If all she was left with was a bittersweet remembrance, an unquenchable longing when he was gone, so be it.
Antonio held her tighter and she melted into him, their bodies molding together, moving against, and yearning for a completion they’d never know.
He groaned and broke the kiss, rested his chin on top of her head. “I knew I wouldn’t be able to leave here without satisfying my curiosity about what it would be like to kiss you, but I have to admit I hoped it would be different.”
Really? Lucia frowned. She’d never experienced anything as exquisite as their kiss. How could he not have felt the same rare perfection when their mouths joined? The magic of it had cast its spell over her, and she doubted any man would ever come close to making her feel that way again. It was impossible. There was no way she could have been so affected and he wasn’t.
She leaned back and looked up at him. Antonio tilted his head down. Desire burned in his eyes as they roamed over her face and she saw the truth.
He rested one of his hands on her cheek. “How does a man settle for water the rest of his life after he’s sipped from the sweetest, richest glass of wine? You’ve destroyed me, cara mia.”
In the next breath he was kissing her again, kissing her as if he’d been suffocating his entire life and she were the sweet air he needed to survive. He backed her up against the door frame and moved against her.
Temptation burned in her blood, incited her passions. It would be so easy to give in to it…too easy, and with little more inducement than another kiss she might be inviting him up to her room. It had been so long since she’d made love to a man, or even considered it.
Antonio pulled away again, cursing as he did, and took a couple of steps back. Lucia straightened, glad for the sturdy door frame to hold her up, and tried to steady her breathing. She’d never felt such consuming desire, and it caught her off guard that it flared to such a degree so quickly.
Antonio pushed his hands through his hair. “This is crazy.” He shook his head and closed his eyes a moment. When he looked at her again, he was still shaking his head, and she suspected he’d been just as knocked off balance as she.
“I think I should say goodnight.” She heard regret in his voice.
Lucia nodded. She’d rather he stayed, stand there and kiss her stupid crazy all night, but that would be…well, stupid crazy, considering. She smiled and gave a light laugh. “Thank you. It’s been a night I won’t soon forget.”
“Yeah.” His chest rose and fell as he drew in a deep, slow breath and let it back out. “Unfortunately, I’m afraid I won’t either.”
He held her gaze for several seconds then dropped his head and turned to go. “I’ll be over tomorrow night to let you know what I find out from the county.”
Lucia leaned her head back against the doorframe and watched him get in his car and drive away. She stood there for several minutes after he’d gone, hugging herself as the night air helped cool her passions and as it did, she wondered if it might not be better if she’d never met Antonio DeLuca.
Good wine is a good familiar
creature if it be well used.
William Shakespeare,
Othello
Lucia woke slowly the next morning and stretched her arms lazily. Turning her head, she glanced at the clock on the bedside table and saw that she still had almost an hour before she needed to be downstairs.
The forensic accountants’ conference was scheduled to end at two, and as they had no other guests arriving today, Lucia had told them they could wait until after they ended their meetings to check out rather than the normal eleven o’clock hour.
She slid out of bed and padded into the bathroom to wash up. After brushing her teeth, she studied her face in the mirror. What did Antonio see
there when he looked at her? Had her eyes given away the wanting he stirred in her?
Reaching up, she touched her lips and rubbed the tips of her fingers over them. Lord. Would she ever forget the magnificence of their kiss? Would she now be cursed to compare every man she went out with to Antonio, measuring their kisses against his? Would she ever again experience anything even close to what he’d made her feel in those brief moments, or would all her future encounters with men seem like crumbs that left her hungry for more? Hungry for a man she’d never see again after a few more days.
How ironic that he should show up out of the blue and make such an impact on her. Two days ago if his name had come up, she would have spent no more time dwelling on him than she would any other stranger she’d never met. Now, she could think of little else.
She took her brush out of the bathroom vanity and pulled it through her hair. It wasn’t just his kiss that had her thoughts scattering like a flock of ducks at the sound of a hunter’s gun echoing over the lake; it was everything about him. She liked his humor, the way he moved. She liked the way he talked, found his accent sexy, and although she never considered herself a woman who needed to be romanced, she did enjoy his romantic bent.
“Hey Luch, are you in here?” she heard Eliana call from somewhere beyond the bathroom.
Lucia poked her head out to see her sister standing in the bedroom doorway. “Morning. What’s up?”
“Cat’s got one of her migraines. She was up early making scones and muffins, but I told her to go lie down before it got too bad. Can you help me pull this morning’s setup together?”
“Sure. I just need to get dressed and I’ll be right down.”
Lucia hustled downstairs and into the solarium about five minutes later.
“I’m getting the coffee and hot water going.” Eliana bent down and plugged the cord she was holding into the wall outlet behind one of the two buffet tables that had been placed against the side wall. “If you set everything else up, I’ll take care of the food.”
Lucia (The Bonaveras) Page 6