by Candis Terry
“I . . . uh.”
Pippy laughed. “That’s as good an answer as any.”
“I try not to wear my heart on my sleeve. Or anywhere else for that matter. I’ve worked with him for four years.”
“So you’re pretty good at hiding your feelings?”
Brooke shrugged. “Believe me. He’s not interested.” She fed another piece of dog treat to Moochie then she used a plastic fork to take a bite of the warm cinnamon roll. The sweetness melted in her mouth and she nearly did a happy dance. “Oh. This is so good.”
“Next time try the butterscotch sticky buns. To. Die. For.” Aunt Pippy leaned her head back and sighed. “And didn’t anyone ever tell you not to believe everything you’re told by a man?”
“Not really.” Because growing up, the men in their sect said everything they meant with an iron fist while the women were expected to remain acquiescent.
“Well . . .” Aunt Pippy patted Brooke’s leg. “Then let me be the first. Especially when it comes to my nephews. They’re beautiful, bighearted alpha males who don’t always focus on the right thing. And when it comes to matters of the heart, their stubborn streaks have them digging in their heels.”
Brooke sipped her latte. “I’m not sure why you’re telling me all this.”
“Because someone has to open their eyes.” Pippy patted her leg again. “Lucy had to knock Jordy off his skates before he got a clue. When you talk about Declan, I can see that in your heart there really is more than just a boss/employee relationship.”
“You can get that from just the way I talk about him?”
“Oh, and maybe the way your eyes light up too. Eyes are the window to the soul, right?”
If that was true, then Declan had a very beautiful soul.
“Come on.” Pippy stood. “I’ll give you and Moochie a ride home so you can get started shaking up my nephew’s carefully planned out life.”
“I’m not sure shaking him up any more than I already have is such a good idea.”
“Oh honey.” Pippy cupped Brooke’s chin in her palm. “Knowing Declan has someone who will love him and be by his side for the things that are sure to rock his foundation in the future is an excellent idea. Now, come on. I’ll make sure he puts business aside today to give you a tour of the vineyard.”
Brooke had never met a person before who made such giant leaps with their assumptions. Yet unable to come up with a good excuse to remain right there on the bench, Brooke gathered up her food and her dog and climbed inside Pippy’s vintage sunshine yellow VW Bug.
“Hang on tight,” Aunt Pippy exclaimed. “I guarantee it’s going to be a bumpy ride.”
Brooke couldn’t help wondering if the reference meant Pippy’s driving skills or something a lot more personal.
Chapter 6
When he woke up, Declan found Brooke’s note that she’d taken Moochie and gone out for a run. Hours later, his worry alarm had started to ring. He didn’t know how long or how many miles she usually ran, but she didn’t know the area. Not that there were bad neighborhoods to stay away from, but maybe she’d gotten lost. Maybe he should go out looking for her. Maybe she’d fallen and couldn’t get up.
He jammed his fingers through his hair and squeezed.
Dammit.
Maybe she’d met another one of his damned brothers and had fallen under their spell too. He hated to admit an acquaintance with the green-eyed monster, but where Brooke was concerned, there might be a strong likelihood.
Unable to stay put any longer, he grabbed his car keys off the kitchen counter. The moment he opened the front door, his Aunt Pippy’s VW Bug putt-putted up and stopped. Inside were Brooke and Moochie, who had her paws up on the passenger window giving him her happy doggy face. A sigh pushed the air from his lungs and relief wound around his heart. Looked like he wouldn’t have to murder his brothers after all.
At least not today.
Stepping out onto the porch he tried to act normal and not expose the twisted bag of nerves he’d been just a few seconds ago. When Brooke got out of the car Moochie jumped down to the ground and ran right to him. The excited dog wiggled her tailless butt then rolled to her back for a belly rub. He complied with the request as Aunt Pippy honked her horn, waved, then putt-putted off toward the main house.
“Good morning.” Brooke’s long bare legs ate up the ground between them. “I met your aunt.”
“I see that.” He gave Moochie another quick rub then righted himself so he could look into Brooke’s face. “Did she scare you?”
“Scare me?” A head tilt swung the long blond ponytail at the back of her head. “No. Why?”
“Her driver’s license was revoked several years ago for making up her own road rules instead of following the legal ones.”
“Oh no.” Brooke laughed and the sound tickled his chest. “Did she have an accident or something?”
“Let’s just say she broke the law several times in front of the sheriff and he stopped thinking she was just quirky.”
“Well, she drove fine. But next time I’ll remember that and offer to drive for her.”
“How was your run?”
“Great. Except I blew all the effort by stopping in at Sugarbuns.”
“Cinnamon roll?”
“Yeah.” She sighed. “I couldn’t resist. How’d you guess?”
He reached out, swiped off the bit of icing on her bottom lip, and held up his thumb. “Evidence.”
“Ah.” Her tongue swept across her lips to remove further proof and Dec could barely keep his eyes off her mouth. Especially now that he knew what it was like to kiss her.
Keep it business, buddy.
“You interested in a tour of the place?”
“I’d love that.” A grin flashed her dimples. “Can Moochie come, or should I put her in the house?”
“Are you kidding? There are hundreds of acres for that dog to run. Let her have some fun. She was stuck in a car for two days.”
“Hear that, Mooch?” The dog did a little back leg dance then trotted toward the vineyard, grabbing up a stick on her way.
“Didn’t have to ask her twice.”
“She’s a working-class dog.” Brooke stuck her hands in the pockets of her jacket. “She likes to be busy. I always feel bad when I get home from work too tired to take her for a walk. I didn’t think about that when I found her. Those big blue eyes just grabbed me and I had to bring her home.”
The fact that he worked Brooke so hard that she didn’t have the energy to walk her dog at the end of the day scraped a raw nerve. “Do you have a backyard where you live?”
“We do,” she said, “but it’s mostly concrete and a pool. Another worry, because she loves to swim and I’m always afraid she’ll jump in when we’re not there and won’t be able to get out.”
“Can you fence in the pool?” He tried to erase the horrible image from his mind.
“Not really. We’re just renting.” She kicked at a pebble and it flew several feet away. “I’ll have to find a new place when Kyle and Marc get married. Next time I’ll make sure there’s enough room for Moochie to run and play.”
Dec wondered if she lived with a roommate because she couldn’t afford to live on her own or if she just liked the company. He knew the salary he paid her was adequate, even at the top of the pay range, but maybe it was time he gave her a raise.
The road they followed wound down to the vineyard and wove around the rows to a variety of grapes. The vines had sprouted leaves. Next would come the fruit, and then the work would really begin.
“I had no idea the vineyard was this big.”
“The entire property is over three hundred acres.” Dec waved his hand to the vibrant green meadows and the forest rising up to the nearby mountains. “Some of the ideas we’ve been tossing around are about how to make better use of more of the property to increase profitability. The wines are great but if you can’t get them in front of an audience it doesn’t matter.”
“What kinds of ideas?”
“Possibly an expansion of the bed-and-breakfast, adding a restaurant, a new tasting room, and a better event area.”
“Wow. That’s a lot.”
He shrugged. “The company is currently in the red so something needs to be done. We’ve all agreed to invest our own money and sweat equity to bring it up where it needs to be.”
She stopped and looked up at him. “All of you?”
“It’s our family legacy. That’s what families do. Pull together in times of need, right?”
“I . . .” Head down, she started walking again. “I really wouldn’t know.”
“Brooke?” He caught her arm and brought her around to face him. Her forehead crinkled and he was tempted to place a kiss right in the center of it. To take away what troubled her. To make everything right. “You know you can trust me. I wish you’d tell me what happened.”
“Thanks.” A forced smile crossed her soft lips. “I’ll remember that.”
“But you’re not going to share?”
“Maybe.”
“But not right now.”
“Right now I want to know what you’re putting next on your bucket list.” She started walking backward, which ended up being more of a little dance than an actual stride. One thing he was quickly learning, the woman was highly skilled in the art of distraction.
“You first,” he said, curious where that creative mind of hers would travel next.
“Swimming with dolphins.”
“Not sharks?”
“No.” She laughed. “I deal with enough of those in L.A.”
“How extravagant can this bucket list be?”
“It can be as over-the-top as you want.” Her hands came up. “It’s your list. There are no rules or boundaries. It can be as far out there as your imagination will take you.”
He didn’t suppose making love to her should go on that list let alone be openly shared, but right now he’d definitely put that up at the number one spot. “How about opening the new office in Chicago?”
“What?” She stopped abruptly and jammed her hands onto her curvy hips. “No. No business stuff. You have enough of that going on. Think of something fun. Something scary or rewarding. Something that after doing, if you were to die tomorrow you wouldn’t have regrets because you’d fulfilled that dream.”
“That could be anything.” His mind really didn’t work that way. The inside of his head was always filled with numbers, deals, and client needs.
“Exactly.”
“Fine.” He tried to focus, but all he could come up with was peeling those gray running shorts off her body.
The seconds ticked by.
“Dec?” She curled her fingers into his T-shirt and gave him a little shake. “It worries me when it takes you this long to figure out something.”
It worried him that he’d become so single-minded. “Okay, okay. I’ve got one. How about . . . pursuing my passion?”
“Perfect! What’s your passion?”
You.
“I don’t know.”
“Then how can you pursue it? Haven’t I taught you anything these past couple of days? Why don’t you know what it is? How can that possibly be?”
“You know the answer to that better than anyone.”
“Because you work too much.”
“I don’t know if it’s too much, but I do work a lot.”
“Ai-yi-yi.” She slapped her forehead and let out a long, loud sigh. “What am I going to do with you?”
He had plenty of ideas.
“All right, smarty-pants.” He folded his arms across his chest. “What’s your passion?”
“Karaoke.”
“Brooke?” He managed to refrain from laughing out loud. “I’ve heard you sing.”
“I know. I suck. But I love it. So sue me.”
He did laugh then. With her, he wanted to laugh a lot more than he’d ever realized.
“You know, I feel an obligation to introduce you to new things,” she said. “I think you’ve been living in a suit and tie too long and it’s strangled your ability to think outside the box.”
“That’s not true.” Because he could come up with plenty of ideas about how to make love to her. Including using the ties he wore each day.
“Really.” She cocked her head and gave him a disapproving frown.
Shit.
He had no comeback, because as much as he hated to admit it, she was probably right.
“That’s what I thought. I’m disappointed in you, Dec.” With Moochie on her heels, she took off at a fast pace down the row between the Chardonnay and the Riesling. “Let me know when you figure it out.”
“Where are you going?” he called out.
“To find some fun.”
Brooke knew if she turned around Dec’s dark blue eyes would be set in a glare because she could feel the penetrating heat of it on her backside.
On an average day she’d never be a game player. But the more she learned about the man she had a heart deep crush on, the more she realized his aunt was right. Someone needed to jar him loose from the strict confines he’d put himself in. Hard work was good. Admirable. But all hard work and no play at all could be detrimental to a soul. If she didn’t care she’d go on with her life and let him figure it out. But she did care. A lot. And no way in hell was she going to stand by and watch the man she’d fallen in love with miss out on life.
Commence operation shake, rattle, and roll.
“What’s with the frown?”
Declan looked up as he entered the winery office and found his brother Ryan and his twin, Jordan, refilling their coffee cups. He pulled a cup off the shelf for himself. “You got enough in there to share?”
“Maybe.” Using his quick-handed hockey skills, Jordan snatched the cup away. “If you ask nice and tell us what crawled up your butt first.”
“Like you care, Mr. I’m-so-happy-because-I’m-getting-laid-on-a-regular-basis.” Yes, he was happy his twin had found the perfect woman. And he truly liked Lucy. But his brother’s happy sappy shit could get annoying.
“So the problem is you’re not getting laid?” Ryan barked a harsh laugh. “Join the club.”
“Yeah.” Jordan grinned. “And Ryan’s not grumpy as shit.”
Dec knew his oldest brother hadn’t dated since his wife left him. He’d been too busy raising their young daughter and taking care of his duties at the vineyard. He had every right to be grumpy. Yet he sat behind the desk like he didn’t have a care in the world.
“At least you can crawl out of the office and look at beautiful women while I’m stuck here with miles of vines,” Ryan said, “a crazy secretive aunt, and a moody little sister.”
“Dude.” Jordan handed Dec the cup back. “I told you your assistant is hot and you should be—”
“Stop. I don’t want you talking about Brooke like she’s some kind of easy piece of ass. She’s my assistant and I expect you to respect her for that.”
His brothers looked at each other then started to laugh.
“What?” God, they pissed him off. Yeah, he loved them and all that shit, but it seemed like they took every opportunity to jab him whenever they could.
“You are in deep, little brother.” Jordan punched his arm.
“You’re only older by a few minutes. Don’t get cocky.”
“Well, I’m a couple years older,” Ryan said, “and I say you’re in deep too.”
“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” Although he pretty much did. He just wasn’t going to own up to it. Dec filled his coffee cup then carried it over to a chair in front of the desk and sat down. “So, in the scheme of things, where are we?”
Ryan kicked his feet up on the desk. Jordan sat in the chair next to Dec and said, “We’re in the office waiting for you to tell us why you’re being such a fucking Debbie Downer.”
Shit. That’s what Brooke had called him the other night on the beach. He knew what the hell his problem was, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to sound
like a pussy and share his feelings.
“I’m tired.”
“Late night?” Jordan lifted his cup and sipped.
“Stop smirking, jackass.” Tempted to plant his fist in his twin’s face, Dec looked away. “In case you forgot I drove all the way up the fucking coast yesterday.” And he’d used up his sleeping time on Brooke-induced fantasies for two nights in a row.
“And why did you drive exactly?” Ryan asked. “You normally take a plane because you’re in such a hurry. Was there some specific reason you wanted to take your time? Did it have anything to do with a hot blond assistant?”
Great.
Backed into a corner again.
Maybe Dec should just kick the shit out of both of them so they’d stop with the fifty questions. “Can we just get down to business?”
“Can you?” Jordan grinned even wider. “I mean you do seem a bit distracted.”
Distracted? Hell yes. “What are you guys, like five years old?”
His brothers laughed at his expense then finally decided to cut him some slack.
“How’s Nicole doing?” he asked. Since their parents’ deaths, their baby sister had gone through a lot of turmoil. Especially where their father was concerned because he’d admitted that something in his past had affected him in a negative way where she was concerned. He’d told her he didn’t blame her, but also that he didn’t know if he could ever move past it to be the kind of father she needed and deserved. Then he and their mother had been killed in a touring helicopter crash while vacationing in Hawaii. Hell of a thing for a young girl to deal with.
Luckily with the help of Jordan’s fiancée, who’d also been one of Nicole’s schoolteachers, Nicki had been able to receive her diploma and was now considering her future options. Although her mood swings could still drive the brothers to drink.
“She’s still thinking about taking her talents to Nashville,” Jordan said. “But Lucy’s trying to convince her to at least give college a try first.”
“Has she said any more about thinking she’s not really our sister?”
“She hasn’t said much,” Jordan said. “But every once in a while I catch her looking at us like her wheels are spinning in the wrong direction.”