Romancing the Wine: A Boxed Set of 9 Newest Novellas from Award-Winning Authors

by Jan Moran

  When she went to the kitchen to finalize the menu for an upcoming event with Flavia, he was there. When she sought out the gardener to discuss what types of flowering plants to buy for next season, he was lounging under the lemon trees, either working on his laptop or with his nose in a book. She’d be checking whether or not a vintage was aged enough for selling, and he’d suddenly be at her shoulder, watching her with rapt attention.

  It was frustrating, both mentally and physically.

  Alessia simply couldn’t understand it. Never in her life had she been so distracted by a man. Until she met Luca, her work was her lover. She’d never cared enough for anyone she dated to leave it for any prolonged period of time. But in Luca’s presence, she found difficult to do even the simplest of tasks.

  His face haunted her, staying in the forefront of her mind when she was supposed to be running figures or setting up tour schedules. She would catch a whiff of a guest’s cologne and be reminded of him, remembering the night when he’d kissed her and she’d wished for one moment that she was brazen enough to ask him to take her home. That would have been a disaster, obviously, but knowing that didn’t prevent the thoughts.

  What was it about him that so attracted her? He was a man of no integrity, one who had lied to her in order to further his own interests. He said he wasn’t interested in the winery’s bottom line and wasn’t interested enough in the subject to make it his life, so why wouldn’t he sell?

  “Oh honey, I’m so sorry this happened?”

  Alessia leapt to her feet, wincing as water splashed on her calves at the motion. Her father entered the cottage, frowning as he gazed around at the mess. Though Alessia had left the hotel hours earlier, she’d been sure that her father would be in his office for a few more hours yet. “Dad! What are you doing here?”

  “The gardener saw the water running under the door and called the front desk. I ordered plumbers to get over here stat.” He frowned, tsking as he gazed around the room. “This is even worse than I imagined, honey; it’s going to take them a few weeks to fix this.”

  “Ugh, don’t remind me,” Alessia responded glumly as she scowled at the two inches of water on her floor.

  “You’ll stay at the hotel, of course. No nonsense about going somewhere else.”

  Alessia shrugged. “My insurance will pay for a hotel. I have to get in contact with our contractors and get an estimate.”

  “What’s wrong with staying in our hotel? Honey, it would be free and you’d even be closer to work.” He eyed her with a warm smile. “I’m surprised you aren’t jumping at the opportunity. One would think it would make this little mishap seem less overwhelming.”

  Alessia groaned inwardly. How could she explain to her father that the vineyard was no longer the safe place it had once been for her? It had been invaded by an outsider who seemed intent on screwing up her daily routine as effectively as he possibly could. If she stayed at the hotel, she’d be in close contact with him almost constantly.

  She didn’t know if she could handle it, quite honestly.

  “Honey?” She was snapped from her thoughts by her father’s repeated inquiry. “So are you going to be staying at the hotel? I can call right now and have the staff prepare a room for you.”

  Alessia forced a smile, even as she battled the feeling of dread welling in her chest. Did she have a choice? She had to keep up appearances, for her father if no one else. She couldn’t imagine what he would think if he discovered that she was attracted to a man who might very well abuse the rights he now had to half the winery.

  Her father had been quick enough to volunteer her to show Luca around the property, but she had to think that was because he trusted her to find a way to get Luca to sell. Overall, she wished she could afford the calmness her father exhibited about the whole issue. Of course, it would fall to her to ensure that everything went smoothly with Luca.

  Which was why she had to keep her cool, even if she had to stay in the same building as him. Alessia finally took a breath. “Go ahead and get a room ready for me. I just need a few minutes to grab some of my things.”

  “That’s my girl.” He leaned forward and enveloped her in a warm embrace, pressing his lips to her forehead in a brief kiss. “We’ll get this taken care of. I’ll call the contractors for you.”

  Alessia nodded stiffly, trying not to contemplate what weeks of living in close quarters with Luca Ferrari might do to her sanity or, even worse, her resolve to stay away from him.

  Chapter 11

  The next morning, Alessia was still asleep when someone rapped on her door. She groaned, rolling over, resolved to ignore whoever had the nerve to wake her at the crack of dawn; at least until she remembered that she was in the hotel and not at home, and someone might be trying to get her attention for an emergency.

  Yawning, she dragged herself from the bed and to the door. It surprised her to see no one on her doorstep. She frowned, glancing down the long, deserted hallway on both sides of her room. It was barely five and far too early for the morning staff to be on duty. Exhaling a huff of irritation, she was about to close the door when she spotted the basket that sat on the floor just outside the door.

  Alessia stared at it for a moment before bending down to grasp the handle. The moment she did, the heavenly aroma of cinnamon and cream cheese wafted up to her. She removed the cloth napkin covering the top of the basket to discover a plate of cinnamon rolls within and smiled.

  It wasn’t too early for Flavia to be up. The chef would have been in the kitchen since three. She must have heard about Alessia’s flooding and sought to cheer her up. That was just like the kind Scotswoman. A wide yawn threatened to unhinge Alessia’s jaw as she contemplated whether or not she should eat one of her treats while they were hot or rewarm them in the kitchen later.

  Right now, her body was tempting her back to bed. Whether she ate the cinnamon rolls right away or later in the morning, Alessia was sure that Flavia would know her gift was well received.

  On the verge of closing her door, she caught sight of a figure out of the corner of her eye and froze.

  It was none other than Luca, and he was headed in her direction.

  More importantly, he wasn’t wearing a shirt. In fact, he wasn’t wearing much of anything at all. Luca’s amazingly sculpted body was clad in nothing but a pair of scant running shorts that molded to his muscular legs. His broad, chiseled chest glistened with a layer of sweat, which dripped from him as he strode down the hall. He had obviously just been for a run; he still wore a pair of wireless headphones and his hair was slicked back from his face with sweat. Stubble covered his strong jaw, and in that instant, Alessia wondered what it would be like to feel the rasp of that five o’clock shadow dragging across her belly as he lowered his mouth towards the lower parts of her anatomy.

  “Alessia?”

  Damn. She’d been caught.

  While she’d been staring like a deer in the headlights, Luca had, of course, noticed her standing in the doorway in her cotton nightgown, with her hair mussed and not even the slightest hint of makeup on her splotchy face.

  Her eyes shot up to his, and she felt her cheeks heat up.

  He came to a stop about five feet from her and removed his headphones, eyeing her with no small amount of surprise. “You’re staying in the hotel?”

  “I…” She had to force her brain to work properly, which was incredibly hard when he smelled of sweat, musk and pure masculinity. Swallowing, Alessia called on all the rational thought she possessed to draw her gaze upward once more from his magnificent chest. “There was a leak at my house. I’m having it fixed.” Though she knew the hotel purposefully kept the air conditioning relatively high, she suddenly found herself parched, her skin burning with heat. “It’s only temporary.”

  “I see.”

  He looked her over as if he were seeing an entirely new being, and Alessia cursed her stomach for making her linger outside the safety of her room. Luca already followed her everywhere. Now he had an i
mage of her before she’d gotten ready for the day to log for future ridicule. She frowned. “What?”

  Luca’s eyes snapped back to her face, his expression almost guilty. “Nothing. It’s just that… you do know that my room is right next door?”

  Alessia’s heart plunged into her stomach at the news. Out of all the rooms she could have been placed in, she’d been put right next to Luca’s? How the hell had this happened? She knew for a fact that the hotel wasn’t at full capacity. She was going to have to talk with the front desk and have her accommodations changed as quickly as possible. “I’m moving,” she blurted. “I mean, I’ll switch rooms. I wouldn’t want to disturb you.”

  Luca arched a brow. “You think you’re disturbing me?”

  He was disturbing her. He was standing in front of her almost entirely naked, and she could stare at him all day. “I mean… I just want to ensure that you have your privacy.”

  Luca’s lips curved slightly into a devastating smile that made Alessia’s knees weak. “Alessia, I don’t mind that you’re staying next door to me.”

  “Well, I do!” She clutched her cinnamon rolls to her chest, almost as if they were her lifeline, the basket creaking in her tight grip. “So I’ll just change rooms. It’s no big deal.”

  “What are you afraid of?”

  And then, just like that, he was in her personal space. He loomed over her, his shadow encircling her as the sun began to rise in the windows behind him. Alessia was enveloped in the enticing, raw masculinity of him, and her breath hitched as she gazed up at him.

  The only thing between him and her, now, was Flavia’s basket of cinnamon rolls. He leaned down until his mouth was inches from hers and lowered his voice to a murmur. “Surely you’re not intimidated by me, Alessia? Not the all-powerful queen of the vineyard?” His words were uttered in a teasing tone she should have taken offense at, but Alessia found that she couldn’t. Not with Luca’s warm breath against her mouth.

  Hadn’t he promised her that there would be no more of… this?

  “I’m not… intimidated by you,” she managed, fighting the urge to drop her basket and throw herself into his arms. “You’re just a distraction.”

  “Just a distraction?” His tone was the very epitome of skepticism. “Oh Alessia, you wound me.”

  In that moment, Alessia knew he was going to kiss her. She knew, and did absolutely nothing to prevent it. When his lips pressed against hers, a shameless moan of longing escaped her. The basket she held tumbled from her arms to spill its treasure on the floor. Neither of them noticed.

  This kiss was different from the one they’d shared in the parking lot. Then, it had been slow, sweet, and seductive. Now, Luca’s tongue slid between her lips to thrust into her mouth as one of his hands wound tightly in her dark, mussed hair, pinning her smaller form against his. Alessia whimpered, arching against him as he nibbled and sucked at her lower lip, his other hand drifting down to curl possessively around her behind. When he shifted her against the prominent erection pressing against the front of his running shorts, Alessia immediately grew slick with desire.

  She wanted him to take her into her room. To strip off those indecent running shorts and ply her with his lips, teeth, and tongue until she begged for him to take her. She needed him in her bed for hours, long enough to get him out of her system. She wanted, for just a while, to forget that they were supposed to be at one another’s throats and simply give in to her desires.

  Her tongue slid against his hungrily as her hands reached up to curl around his shoulders. If it were physically possible, Alessia would have fused herself to him to absorb the heat of him and bask in the feeling of being wanted like she knew he wanted her in that moment. In an instant, she was backed against the wall, pressed flush against the stucco as Luca lifted her into the air, strong hands wrapping around her thighs as he settled in between.

  Alessia clung to him, her fingers sliding through his hair as their mouths worked against one another. The pebbled tips of her nipples rasped against the rough cotton of her nightgown until she gasped in sensation, tearing her mouth from his. Luca’s lips blazed a trail down the side of her neck, making her squirm in his arms. When he nipped at her pulse point and his tongue dipped into the hollow of her throat, she shuddered, her sex clenching in anticipation. She couldn’t remember the last time anything had felt so damn good.

  Just then, a sharp, high ringing interrupted their heated embrace. Alessia jumped, the sexual fog clearing from her brain enough for her to realize that she might have lost her senses. When the phone rang again, the entire world rushed back in on her, and she inhaled sharply at the realization that she had her legs wrapped around Luca’s waist in the middle of the hallway and had been willing to let him take her in a public place without a thought to the consequences.

  Luca eyed her with lust still blazing in his gaze. Reluctantly, he let her slide down his body until she was standing on her own two feet. “One second. I’m sorry.” Luca extracted his phone from an impossible pocket in his shorts, and Alessia’s face flamed at the sight of the erection that tented the spandex. Luca was certainly bigger than any man she’d ever been with, and the heat between her legs ached at the prospect of having him.

  Then rational thought took over.

  As Luca answered his phone, Alessia took a deep, steadying breath, glancing down the corridor to make sure that no one had seen them as sudden, real shame welled in her chest. She’d given over any and all reservations she had the moment he touched her. What would happen if they slept together? Would it change anything?

  Almost certainly not. He would still be an obstacle, standing between her and the acquisition of his half of the company. Sleeping with him wouldn’t change that, or his mind. Most likely, he would just laugh in her face for being so ridiculously gullible.

  Repressing a groan at her own vulnerability, Alessia glanced down at the carpet and cursed. She’d spilled Flavia’ cinnamon rolls all over the floor – not one was fit to eat. It was an omen, warning her how dangerous it was to be involved with Luca. Even contemplating being sexually entwined with him was a horrible idea.

  Alessia took the five minutes that he was on the phone to compose herself. She was going to make a few things very clear to Luca, and she was going to make them clear now. The moment he hung up, raising his still-heated gaze to hers, Alessia had to steel herself as she strengthened her resolve. “Luca, this is a bad idea. We shouldn’t, and you know it as well as I do.”

  “Why is it a bad idea?” He took a step forward, questioning her in a low, growling tone that went directly to her sex.

  Alessia caught her breath. “You know why.”

  Now she was pinned against the wall again. “No. I don’t. Why not enlighten me?” The heat of his erection pressing into her belly, she could barely concentrate.

  Alessia refused to let herself be fooled twice. Pressing her hand against Luca’s firm chest, she pushed until he gave her a few inches of space. “You have something I want. That my family needs…” She trailed off, shaking her head slowly. “And this won’t help that.”

  They stared each other down for a moment before Luca stepped back, his eyes clearing. Taking a deep breath, he ran his fingers through his hair, the series of contractions that rippled down his muscular arm at the gesture making Alessia’s throat tighten. “You’re right.” His reply was so disarmingly simple that her eyes widened slightly in surprise. “Believe it or not, Alessia, we’re both in this for family. But if you ever decide that you want to take something for yourself, you know where to find me.”

  He stepped away, turning to run his key card through the card slot on the door adjacent to hers. He stepped inside and shut the door behind him, leaving a shell-shocked Alessia staring after him.

  Her body immediately cried out at his absence, and Alessia had to make a concerted effort to silence it. She knelt to pick up the cinnamon rolls, which had smeared frosting all over the carpet. There was cream cheese between her toes, and she gave
up on any thought of trying to go back to sleep. The sun was almost up anyway. She would take a shower and try to calm herself enough to start her day.

  She had no idea how she was supposed to do that, knowing that an almost-naked Luca was next door doing the exact same thing. Remembering the intoxicating heat of his mouth on hers, Alessia shuddered. She was most definitely in trouble.

  Chapter 12

  Antonio Costa gazed out over the vineyard from his converted office. He watched the gardeners hurrying from plant to plant, attempting to save those that were wilting. He watched the staff lead tours that started at the vineyard’s hotel and worked their way around the property. But most importantly, he kept an eye on his daughter.

  It had been two weeks since Luca Ferrari arrived, and he’d watched the tension between Bruno’s son and Alessia grow.

  The sight made his old heart glad.

  They were obviously struggling to stay away from one another when it was apparent that they wanted to do the opposite. Watching the halting, secretive glances they shot one another when each was sure the other wasn’t looking drew a chuckle from his throat, and observing the way Luca eyed Alessia with rapt attention whether she was speaking to him or someone else made Antonio’s eyes gleam in anticipation of triumph. The attraction was palpable, and he wasn’t the only one who’d noticed it. Several of the staff had made comments as well.

  To be honest, Antonio was impressed with Luca. It was obvious that he was a man of integrity. He could have demanded to be shown around the vineyard without showing Alessia the slightest courtesy. Instead, he seemed enthralled with her and, Antonio noticed with mounting approval, the winery. Though he hadn’t seen Luca sample any of their wine, he showed an obvious appreciation for their operation.

  Now Antonio just had to wait for the inevitable. He remembered how things had been with Elenora when they first met. While his late wife had always spoken sweetly of their relationship to their daughter, the fact of the matter was that he and she had, at the beginning, been locked in a battle of wills not unlike the one in which Alessia and Luca were currently engaged. Ultimately, compromises had been made and both parties had won. If his daughter was anything like him, Antonio suspected she’d come to a similar arrangement much faster. Or so he hoped.