by Jan Moran
He took her to dinner. It was something, he realized, that he’d promised her the night they met. Something that had gotten lost in everything they’d assumed about one another. While they ate, they discussed anything and everything but the winery. If there was anyone as aware of the decision he now had to make as he was, it was Alessia, and speaking of the world she’d shown him every inch of in the past few weeks meant nothing right now. He wanted to know about her.
Alessia told him how she’d gone through school knowing exactly what she would do with her life, and that she’d always been close to both of her parents. She’d been a good student, and after high school, she’d gone directly to college to get a Business degree. It had, of course, only been a formality. Her work was in her blood more than anything else. Alessia had few close friends, and an even shorter history when it came to the men in her life. Oddly, Luca found it satisfying that he was one of the few men in her life. Usually when he had a casual relationship with a woman, he found it enough to know that he’d been memorable.
But with Alessia, he craved something more. Why not? He’d only have her for a very short while.
Chapter 17
There was no opportunity for him to take her back to his room that night or a few nights afterward, as the hotel was ramping up to turn in a big financial report. Alessia had launched herself from one big project directly into another. Something quite common for her, if he understood the way she functioned.
While he couldn’t be with her as much as he would have liked, Luca took the opportunity to watch her, just as he had from the very first day. Alessia ran herself ragged, flying from one end of the property to the other, gathering figures to finalize paperwork. He waited patiently, as he had for no other woman, because Alessia was like no other woman he had encountered.
While he was waiting, his mother called him no less than seven times, each of which he ignored. He didn’t know if he could deal with her just now, clamoring to tell him what a big mistake it had been to visit the winery in the first place and how he belonged back in New York.
He knew where he belonged. It was just a matter of convincing the parts of him that were otherwise preoccupied.
There was a staff party the night they finished the financial report, and everyone who worked at the winery was in attendance, from Flavia to Stanley to all the servers who’d giggled at him. Even Antonio was there, for once seeming completely exhausted, snoozing in a chair in the corner. Luca was invited by Alessia, who he found munching on some of Flavia’s homemade cookies as she watched the staff have fun.
There was a decidedly different vibe now than there had been the night of the charity ball. These people weren’t the elite of California’s social registry. They didn’t drive Mercedes, and they weren’t dressed in name brands. Yet Alessia fit in as easily with this crowd as she did with the other, laughing and talking with the people around her as if she’d known them all her life. Which, Luca reminded himself, was certainly the case for some of them.
He was sipping a glass of wine when he finally got her alone. He edged up on her, enjoying the way her eyes widened and she jumped, then smiled at the sight of him. “Hey. I didn’t know if you’d make it.”
He chuckled, glancing around at the assembled people in the midst of eating, drinking and being merry. “Why wouldn’t I?”
She shrugged, taking a sip of her wine. “It’s not everyone’s crowd.”
But it was hers, and that was all he needed. For now. “I’d say this is much more of a party than the charity,” he commented offhandedly, watching two servers take a selfie together on one of their phones. “More laid back, anyway.”
“I don’t think I could stuff myself into that dress again.” Alessia made a face and patted her flat belly. “Too much of Flavia’s good cooking.”
Luca arched a brow as he gave her slender form a once-over. “I certainly don’t blame you for enjoying Flavia’s cooking, and I fail to see that it’s contributed to any changes in your figure.”
Alessia laughed softly. “That’s because you’re a man, and men know nothing about how food affects a woman’s body.”
Luca's eyes darkened, her words sending fire flooding his veins. He didn’t think he’d ever understand exactly how this woman made him want her by merely standing there and smiling at him. He lowered his voice and said, "You could show me.”
Alessia’s face flushed at his words, but there was no mistaking the gleam of desire in her eyes. If she was anything like him, getting back to his hotel room had been the only thing she’d been able to think about since they’d last parted. “Luca…” Her words were murmured well below the thudding party music as she gazed up at him. “I can’t just abandon the party; everyone will notice I’m gone.”
He didn’t want to press her. Luca had never been a man to push himself on an uninterested woman. But the way that Alessia’s eyes darted from his to the grand staircase behind him made it clear she only sought an excuse to escape with him. Taking her hand in his, he drew her close, into the nearby shadows for more privacy. “You said yourself that this is meant to be a time for celebration. I can certainly ensure that you’d enjoy yourself.” He felt her shudder against him and knew that she was his. For one more night, he had her all to himself.
“All right.”
The moment the words left her lips, Luca turned to spirit a bottle of Cabernet and two glasses from behind the bar. Then, keeping to the shadows, they made their way toward the main staircase like secretive teenagers, Alessia stifling her laugher as they made their getaway.
Within minutes, they’d found their way to Luca’s room. It had felt lonely somehow, ever since Alessia had left it, and now, as they entered, Luca’s eyes fell on the open letter lying on the bed. He set the wine down, moving to retrieve it as the fire in his loins cooled somewhat.
Alessia patiently watched him put it in the bedside table before sitting on the bed, her lips curving upwards warmly.
Seeing his father’s letter had served to remind Luca that he still had a very important decision to make, one that could very well crush this woman he was so intrigued by. But was he really contemplating staying here—with her? For her? It would mean admitting that she meant more to him than just a momentary fling, something that Luca had never in his life considered.
“I have to wonder what he said.” He jolted, gazing down at Alessia as her eyes locked on his stricken face. “Not that I expect you to tell me, but with the all heartache it’s caused you, I can’t help but wonder.”
Luca sighed, turning from her inquiring eyes to uncork the bottle of wine and pour two glasses of Cabernet. He took those precious few seconds to regain his composure, burying the weight of his father’s words deep within himself with every breath. “Things I didn’t want to hear, and we’ll leave it at that. Whenever he did deign to speak to me, the old man had a penchant for saying the wrong thing.” He frowned, handing her a glass as he took a seat on the bed beside her. He forced himself to smile, raising his own glass. “But I didn’t bring you here to dredge up the past, did I? Let’s toast the completion of your latest project.”
Alessia’s eyes looked uncertain when she clinked her glass against his, but Luca barely gave her a moment after she’d taken the first sip of the cool liquid to dwell on his demons. Within seconds, his mouth was pressed to hers, his blood heating anew as a soft moan escaped her lips. This wasn’t her issue, and it wasn’t something she could fix.
His father was his problem and his alone.
He certainly wouldn’t deal with him now, not when he had Alessia’s soft, graceful body in his arms. She tasted even better than she had the first time, sweet, fresh, and decadent. Though he’d replayed the slide of her body against his over and over in his mind, feeling her grip him in the flesh, her fingers threading through his hair as her tongue strained against his—nothing compared.
He lost himself in her, forgetting the turmoil his father had created in favor of her incomparable softness. Laying her back
on the bed, Luca cupped her cheek as his mouth devoured hers. When his lips left hers to make their way down her neck and over her throat, Alessia squirmed beneath him. He nipped at her collarbone lightly before suckling at her pulse point until a whimper escaped her.
The sound went directly to the burgeoning erection between his legs, and he groaned, reaching for the buttons on her dress. His fingers made quick work of the obstacles, and within moments, his hands were sliding over the warmth of her skin.
How could he have gone so long without this?
Every single time he’d laid eyes on her in the past week, his fingers had itched to touch her. Now, his hands followed the curve of her waist down to the swell of her hips, and he inhaled the intoxicating scent of her as his mouth found the supple flesh of one of her breasts. In an instant, he’d freed it from the confines of her bra to plump the nipple high to his eager lips.
At the first lap of his tongue, Alessia gasped, lunging upwards in his arms. Luca groaned against her, drawing upon her nipple until she gasped his name in a plea for more. He gave her more. He switched to her other breast, teasing its pinnacle with his teeth and tongue until Alessia was panting, her bare stomach quivering beneath him. It was as if his slightest touch brought her supreme pleasure, and to know that he was one of very few men to touch her only fed his pride.
She was his.
In this moment, as his lips trailed over her trembling stomach to nip at each of her hipbones in turn, she was his idol, and he intended to worship until he was thoroughly exhausted.
Luca peeled her dress from her slender legs, marveling at their length as his fingers whispered over her thighs, parting them. He was beyond pleased to see that she had already created a damp spot of anticipation on her silken panties, and he inhaled the musky scent of her arousal indulgently. Alessia’s fingers threaded through his hair and tugged, as if to distract him from his task, but Luca would not be deterred.
He wondered if she tasted as sweet as the wine she loved. Curling his fingers into the material of her panties, Luca tugged them aside for his first taste of her. His tongue covered her in a long lap, and Alessia cried out, arching from the bed. He placed minute, lingering kisses on her lower lips before his tongue circled the tiny bud of her pleasure.
Luca pinned Alessia’s writhing hips to the mattress as he proceeded to slowly, methodically undo her with every movement of his mouth against her most secret place. Alessia moaned, gasped, and writhed in a way that only served to further fuel his pulsing erection. He felt her body winding tighter and tighter as he drove her closer to her inevitable peak.
When she came, his name left her lips on a shuddering moan as she grasped handfuls of the coverlet beneath her, her entire body shuddering. Her honey flooded his mouth, and Luca lapped up every drop before straightening to look down at her.
The sight that met his eyes was absolute heaven: a naked Alessia tangled in his sheets, her cheeks flushed with arousal, her lovely eyes drunk with pleasure. When she sat up and reached for him, he went without question, helping her as she blindly tugged at his clothing to get at the body beneath.
He loved the way she looked at him when he took his clothes off. Luca had always been appreciative of his own physical fitness, but he’d never paid much attention to the look women gave him when he undressed… until Alessia. Now, as her hands roved over his chest and down his abdomen to tug at the waistband of his jeans, he resolved to see that look on her face every time he stripped.
Alessia pushed him down on the bed, her hands delved into his pants to extract his weeping erection, and a groan escaped him. Her fingers were warm as she stroked him hand over hand. He wanted nothing more, in that moment, than to plunge himself deep inside her, harder and harder, until he lost his mind in her clenching tightness.
But he let her have her way. He let her hands roam his skin, leaving tingles of awareness in their wake, as her mouth made its way over his throat and shoulders, leisurely traversing his chest before moving downward.
Lower and lower… Just when Luca didn’t think he could bear any more of her teasing, she swallowed him, drawing a growled expletive from his lips. The suction was hot, sharp, and intoxicating, making his toes curl against the floor. The sensation, along with the sight of Alessia’s head steadily rising and falling between his legs, was enough to drive him to the brink of madness. His fingers threaded through her silky locks, steadying him as the muscles of his abdomen contracted reflexively.
He couldn’t remember the last time anything had felt so good.
She kept on relentlessly, her eyes darting upward to take in his almost pained expression. As Luca met her gaze, he knew he was nearly undone. In a smooth motion, he drew her mouth from him, pulling her to her feet to yank her forward into his lap. His mouth fused with hers as she worked her legs around to straddle him.
When she sank down on him, Luca drew her tight against him, growling her name as he thrust up into her willing body. They moved against each other, all raw passion and roaming hands. The feel of her skin against his own was mind-blowing, and, enveloped in her wet, clenching core, he knew he had never been more content.
Sweat beaded on Luca’s skin as he increased the pace, driving upward into Alessia until she was gasping, moaning, and finally crying out his name as every muscle in her body contracted to milk him reflexively. Luca was helpless against the onslaught and thrust into her a few more times before flooding her spasming passage with his seed.
As their bodies slowly cooled, Luca used the last of his strength to lift her from his lap and lay her down on the bed. The sheets had been thrown into violent disarray by their coupling, but Alessia certainly didn’t seem to mind. She only cast him a satisfied smile as he moved to crawl beneath the coverlet with her, pressing his lips briefly to hers.
He pulled Alessia into his arms so her back rested against his chest and listened to the sound of her soft breathing, stroking over her flat belly as he kissed her neck.
Luca had assumed he might need a moment to recover, but he was surprised at how quickly his erection gained new interest in the pert behind pressed against it. Within moments, his kisses had turned into more carnal, hungry bites, and Alessia didn’t protest when he turned her in his arms, feverish with desire for her once more.
It continued that way for the better part of the night. Just when Luca thought he was on the cusp of sleep, the feel of Alessia against him was enough to spur him to new heights of passion. It was only when the sun began to paint the horizon in purples, reds, and oranges, and they were still in one another’s arms, that it was finally enough to make up for the weeks of almost painful sexual tension between them. He watched Alessia rise from the bed, her slender, sheet-wrapped body silhouetted in the light of the rising sun, and found that he wanted her yet again, but couldn’t bring himself to move a single inch.
“Come back to bed,” he murmured, lips curving into an inviting smile.
Alessia glanced over her shoulder at him with a low laugh before gazing out the window, her features soft. Luca sensed that this wasn’t the first time she’d watched the sun rise over the winery, and for a moment, he merely stared, transfixed by the way the rays of the rising sun caught in her hair.
“Never fails to amaze me,” Alessia murmured. “This place gets more incredible with each year that passes. It has to be the love.”
Luca sat up at her words, his eyes widening. He swallowed, careful to keep the surprise from his voice when he spoke. “What did you say?”
Alessia’s smile was fond, indulgent. “Everyone loves it here. The staff, the guests. Did you know that we have at least a hundred couples tie the knot here every year? It’s like… it’s contagious. This place and all the love it propagates.”
Luca stared.
Alessia was absolutely breathtaking, bathed in the glow of the breaking day, and in that moment, with her words, so similar to his father’s, ringing in Luca’s ears, he realized a very sudden, very devastating fact: He loved her.
&n
bsp; He’d been so caught up in the letter he’d found in his father’s office and the decision that he was now faced with that the revelation had snuck up on him. In fact, Luca didn’t think he would have realized it at all if it weren’t for the fact that he’d never felt this way about another woman. With his busy lifestyle, women rarely made it past a one-night stand – a few weeks at the very most.
And here he was, a month after having met Alessia, still as entranced with her as he’d been at their first meeting. She was in his blood in a way that not even an entire, unbroken night of lovemaking could satisfy, proving that the winery did indeed have a very strange effect on those who visited it.
Luca had once been thoroughly convinced that when and if he settled down, it would be out of convenience – something he would fall into after years of youth, success, and partying. But that was apparently not what life had in store for him. Right here, right now, he was assaulted with a very powerful desire to tell Alessia that he would not give up his half of the winery. That he was staying right here, and there was nothing she could do about it; she was stuck with him. And to ask her how she felt about him in return.
But the more rational part of Luca’s brain knew that that would be absurd. They led very different lives, she and he, and though the winery had been a pleasant diversion from the real world, wasn’t it time that he got back to it?
Alessia didn’t see him frowning, as she was still looking over the sun-drenched rows of grapes laid out before the hotel, and she didn’t notice his expression when she came sleepily back to bed, falling into slumber the second her head hit the pillow. The moment she fell asleep, Luca sat up, gazing down at her sleeping face.
His father had been right.
This place, and whatever mystery it held, drew everyone here into a euphoria that seemed near constant, and it had to have affected him. Was this what had happened to Bruno Ferrari? Had he, too, been afflicted by the gorgeous California sun and the sweet grapes, until his wife and son faded into a distant memory?