by Aiden Bates
So now Cody, who was more of a “beer and pretzels while watching the game” kind of guy, had to scramble to find a wine vendor who could get him something that would satisfy Brock Sutherland’s rarefied palate on their distinctly more plebeian budget.
Cody had a lot of connections in the area, but he’d always left things like food and wine to the caterers. Again, he was a beer and pretzels kind of guy, and the caterers got paid a lot of money to be experts in things that were not beer and pretzels. So with the current problem, he needed help.
Fortunately for Cody, he had Cliff. Cliff owned the bar down the street from Cody’s condo. Cliff sold pricy beer and pretzels, which Cody always sampled when he wanted to watch a game someplace other than his own couch. Cliff also sold overpriced wine and cocktails to overdressed people who’d just come in from the snow. And Cody knew that Cliff would have some ideas on who Cody could call.
Cliff came through, proving that a good bartender was the most valuable resource a business owner could have. “The guy you want is the one who owns Skaneateles Vine and Rind, out in Skaneateles. He’s got a storefront in front of a nice-sized warehouse, and he sells me all of the wine and a lot of the liquor you see on the menu here.”
“Really.” Cody stroked his chin and took the number, vowing to call the next day.
When he called that morning, he connected with some guy who sounded baked. For a moment, Cody panicked. Had Cliff sent him on a wild goose chase? But no, Stoner Guy told him that his boss would be in a little later.
When Kristi, Cody’s assistant, passed the wine seller’s call on to Cody a couple of hours later, Cody was almost as heartbroken as he’d been before. The voice on the other end spoke with a long, exaggerated Texan drawl that immediately set Cody’s New York teeth right on edge. Oh, Lord. How long was it going to take to work with him? Couldn’t he have gotten one of the other kind of Texans, the ones who talked so fast that even New Yorkers couldn’t keep up? The auction guys? And then—and then! What if Texas here found out he was an alpha? Everyone knew about Texans. Everyone knew.
“Well, sure, Cody. I can get my hands on a lot of things, but for how much and on how short of notice depends on you. Are you going to be able to come out to the shop? We can chat about what you want and then we’ll see what we can do for you.” Austin Baines—and who named a kid after the city where they were born anyway—wanted to meet up. Terrific.
Well, that was his job. He might as well get on with it. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You know what? I can come out there this afternoon, I got a new florist to meet with out there anyway since my last one went and got claimed on me. Can I come by at three?”
They agreed to the meeting, Austin signed off with a farewell that was going to give Cody diabetes—he swore to God—and Cody sat down to work on the rest of his day. He had a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it in if he was going to drive all the way out to Skaneateles.
At the current time of year, the ride from Cody’s Armory Square office to Skaneateles took about half an hour. The leaves were off the trees, and everything had a creepy, dead look to it that had its own kind of charm. Cody hadn’t really gotten that charm in Manhattan. Even in Central Park, the falling leaves had a sanitized quality to them. In Syracuse, driving out of the city for five minutes put a guy in farm country. Things moved differently there, more naturally he guessed.
He got to the shop close enough to on time to count. Finding parking was more of a challenge than he’d meant to deal with, and really, what else was Austin Freaking Baines going to do with his day anyway? The place looked like just about any other wine shop from the outside. Cody couldn’t see what the big deal was.
Inside was a different matter. They had fresh bread on wire shelves near a cooler full of different cheeses, right near the front of the store. Two rooms, one small and one large, stood across from the register, both with huge windows showing interesting tables with multiple racks for wine glasses. The smaller one had glasses set up on a table, and several open bottles besides. Long rows, labeled by region, stretched out from the front toward the back, where an office looked out over everything.
A tall, heavy-set man with gray curly hair scratched his head and looked Cody over with dull, bloodshot eyes. “Hey,” he said after a second, and grinned.
Cody blinked. “Hi.” The giant was not Austin Baines. His voice was all wrong.
Another man emerged from one of the aisles of wine. He, like the giant, was impressively tall. Not many men could make Cody feel short, but the omega did. His chestnut-brown hair had been pulled back into a ponytail, and his narrow hazel eyes tilted upward ever so slightly at the ends. It gave him a foxlike appearance, one that could only ever be beautiful.
Maybe the “beautiful” part had something to do with his scent too. He smelled like sun-warmed grapes on a hot summer’s day. Cody could picture himself in that vineyard just by inhaling, and he wasn’t given to that kind of picturesque imagery. Damn it. Damn it all to hell. Why did there have to be an omega?
The most beautiful, sweetest-smelling omega to ever walk the earth stepped forward after just a second’s hesitation. He must have picked up on Cody’s scent too. What did Cody smell like to him? Did he smell good? Did he smell repulsive? Did he not smell like much of anything at all?
Why did Cody care?
“Hi there. I’m Austin. Welcome to Skaneateles Vine and Rind.” He stuck out a hand for Cody to shake. “I’ve got a few different wines set up for you to try, and we can get a feel for what you might be looking for. Right this way, I’ve set you up in the small tasting room.”
Cody shook the hand as quickly as he could. He didn’t want to deal with an unclaimed omega. It wasn’t that he didn’t think that omegas couldn’t do the job just as well as anyone else. That was ridiculous. Unclaimed omegas, though, were always looking to get claimed. They couldn’t help it. It was just how they were wired. Once they had that claim, filled that ache inside of them, they calmed down and weren’t much different than anyone else.
Cody had no interest in claiming anyone. That ship had long since sailed, and he didn’t tend to think that way anymore. The last thing he wanted, or needed, was to spend a bunch of time cooped up in a small room with a sweet-scented omega.
“Can we leave the door open?”
“I suppose.” Austin’s responding smile was at least half a smirk. “Don’t be surprised when a bunch of customers pop their heads in here, though. Skaneateles’ schools let out just a little bit ago, and plenty of teachers stick their heads in to grab a little something for the night. You know how it is. A long day of dealing with other people’s kids; those good people have earned it.”
“I guess.” Cody followed Austin into the tasting room. “I don’t actually know anything about wine. I probably should have gotten the caterer to do this, but she doesn’t drink and was all tied up.”
“Hmm. Sounds like fun.” Austin sat down across from Cody, folding his long legs into the chair. “I’m kind of jealous. Anyway, since you don’t know much about wine I’ll skip the long backstory about the different wines. I can print it out for you to give to your client if they want it, but to make a long story short every one of these tastes like a bottle three times the price, and is a varietal that’s just different enough that it will make your guy look unique and trend-setting without being jarring to his guests’ palate. Do you have a copy of the menu handy?”
Cody jumped just a little. He couldn’t believe that Austin had really made that comment when he had mentioned Sabrina being tied up. He’d never met an omega who was so forward before. Then there was the way that Austin met his eyes head on. He didn’t blush. He didn’t look away. Austin was the expert here, he knew it, and he wasn’t about to defer. That wasn’t normal.
Cody was also in danger of losing himself in those hazel eyes. That wasn’t normal, either.
“Ah, yeah. I can send you the same email I sent to my clients. It has the menu on it.” Cody pulled out hi
s phone.
“Fantastic. Austin dot Baines at Skaneateles Vine and Rind dot com.” Austin fished his phone out of the pocket of his black trousers. “I’ll take a look at it and recommend a starting place. If you don’t like those, or think they won’t match your clients’ tastes, let me know and we’ll go from there.”
Cody nodded, brow furrowed. He was too busy searching for the message he wanted to send. When he found it, he sent it on to Austin, who read through the menu with a little frown. “Your client approved this?”
“He did.” Cody folded his arms across his chest. “I’ve worked with this caterer for three years. You got a problem with her work now?”
Austin waved a languid hand in the air. “I’m sure her work is fine. Delicious. She’s serving pecan pie for dessert, and I’ve got a fantastic Greek dessert wine that will match perfectly with that. I’ll go grab some. The problem is that the first course here, the soup, is very acidic. It’s going to be pretty hard to match with any wine, and any self-professed wine snob should know that just by looking at the name.” He shook his head and laughed quietly to himself. “Hoo, boy. This is going to be fun.”
“Fun. Not a disaster.” Cody narrowed his eyes. Could Austin not understand the gravity of the situation?
“Of course fun.” Austin grinned, showing all of his teeth. “Come on now, Cody. Where’s the fun in just doing the same old thing day in and day out? Now, is it your client or your caterer who’s into all of this local sourcing?”
Cody leaned back. “Um, both, actually. The bride’s very proud of New York agriculture, and if Sabrina talks at me one more time about how local is best I’m going to slam my head into the kitchen wall.”
“Okay.” Austin poured something from a blue bottle into two of the goblets. “This is from a local winery, over in Otisco. I know—New York wines, only useful at Seder, right? That’s not the case anymore. We’ve got some fantastic stuff coming out locally, and this particular white is a go-to that works with just about anything. Not chocolate.”
Cody watched as Austin swirled the wine in his glass and sniffed it before sipping. Was that a ritual? A tic? Did it actually improve anything? Whatever. Austin clearly knew wine, and Cody didn’t. He followed the gestures and tasted the wine.
The aroma hit him before any of the wine touched his tongue, full of fruit scents that had nothing to do with grapes. He tasted the wine, and had to take a moment when he realized that it tasted nothing like he thought wine was supposed to.
“Right?” Austin had been watching him intently. “You and I have an advantage when it comes to wine. Our olfactory sense is already overdeveloped, so we pick up on things that others can’t hope to notice. That helps with tasting. It helps pick up forgeries, too.”
“Seriously?” Cody frowned, drawing his brows together. “People forge wines?”
Austin threw his head back and laughed, exposing his long, tan neck. Cody had to resist the urge to run his mouth along that long expanse. “Are you kidding me? If the wine you make is only worth six bucks, but you can get away with putting someone else’s label on it and sell it for thirty, that’s a lot of money you wouldn’t have made otherwise.” He smiled. “I used to do work detecting fraud.”
Cody bit the inside of his cheek. “Wine fraud?”
“Wine fraud.”
“And now you’re here.”
Austin drank the rest of his wine. “Well, I made plenty of money and I wanted to try something new. Trust me, drinking cheap wine dressed up as good wine gets pretty old, pretty fast.” He poured another wine. “This one comes from the same maker. It should pair well with the heavier items on your menu. Sit tight and I’ll grab a bottle of that dessert wine. I should have enough of that on hand for your customers, and clearing the shelf space will give me some leverage with that distributor.”
Cody watched him go. Austin Baines wasn’t anything he’d expected at all, and somehow Cody wasn’t sure what to feel about that.
Chapter Two – Contents
Austin opened his email on Monday morning and gave a little smile. Maybe Cody was abrasive and abrupt, like most guys from Manhattan. Like most alphas. He could be as abrasive and as abrupt as he wanted if he paid his bills so promptly. Austin’s terms were net twenty days, and most of his customers ignored that and tried to pay in net thirty days. He didn’t give them a hard time until sixty days had passed, because Austin understood that things weren’t always easy in the hospitality industry.
Austin had sent the bill to Blue Bells Weddings on Thursday night. Cody had paid him the day before, on Sunday.
Austin liked a guy who paid his bills promptly without a fuss.
Of course, objectively speaking, Austin liked guys like Cody anyway. He liked tall guys. He rarely found guys who were as tall as he was or close to as tall as he was. He didn’t restrict himself to alphas, he’d take a toppy beta who liked guys, but Austin wasn’t in a position to demand that he be able to look up into their eyes. He liked Cody’s wavy blond hair. He liked Cody’s wide gray eyes. He liked the way that Cody didn’t hide what he was about. That was the thing with Manhattan guys. They told you up front that they weren’t interested.
Normally, that wouldn’t bother Austin. There were plenty of guys out there that would give him the detached, friends-with-benefits kind of arrangement that he preferred. At least, they’d give him that for a while. Louis had seemed to be pretty happy with what they’d had together, until suddenly he wasn’t and Austin was left trying to cope with his own feelings about being dumped while dealing with a man who was angry about doing the dumping.
Cody, though, he apparently didn’t want any of that. Maybe he didn’t want to mix business and pleasure. Maybe he wasn’t into guys who were taller than he was. Maybe he had someone he was more into. Maybe he only wanted a serious relationship. Either way, Austin would probably never see him again.
Well, that was fine. Austin could bask in the glory of a job well done. He’d done exactly what was needed. He’d found the right wine for the event. He’d surprised Cody by showing him something new about wine, and hopefully he’d changed his mind about wine and wine people. Maybe he’d start experimenting and finding wines he liked in general for his own personal pleasure.
Austin’s face got hot. Yeah, he needed to spend some time not thinking about Cody’s pleasure.
He got up and prowled the racks. He could hire someone to do just that, of course, but he’d been putting it off. Jamie was good for what he did, but he wasn’t proactive. If there weren’t customers in the store, and if Austin didn’t instruct him specifically to go out and stock shelves, Jamie would hang out behind the register and read romance novels. Austin could probably use some more help in the store anyway, another strong body to lift and carry things. He just didn’t feel like dealing with more people. Jamie never tried to tell him what was best for him, so Jamie got to stay.
But even Jamie didn’t come in on Mondays. Monday and Tuesday were the slowest days Skaneateles Vine and Rind had in terms of sales, so those were Jamie’s days off. Austin was there alone, doing inventory and ringing out the occasional lonely soul who thought to come in for a visit.
The bell on the door rang and Austin got up from his crouch in front of a stack of Rioja and went to see who had dropped in. Hopefully the customer would be a big spender. The shop was doing well, but Austin figured it could always do better.
When he got to the front of the store, though, Austin didn’t find a customer. He found a mirror image instead. That was, he found a mirror image of what he would look like if he’d cut his hair, put on a high-priced suit, and somehow changed his genes to alpha.
Austin’s twin brother smiled and held out his arms. “Austin!” Adrian’s whole face lit up with joy. “You are one hard son of a bitch to find, you know that?”
Austin staggered forward into the hug and threw his arms around his brother. “Adrian!” He laughed and pounded on his brother’s back. “Oh my God! I can’t believe it’s you! How’ve y
ou been, man?”
“I’m doing okay.” Adrian looked around. “Better now that I know where my other half is, you know? It’s been ten years, brother! No one had any idea where you were!”
Austin bit the inside of his cheek and pulled back a little. He hadn’t been hiding, not exactly. If the family hadn’t been able to find him, it was because they hadn’t been looking. He didn’t want to argue about it, though. “Well, you found me. I’ve been right here in Skaneateles for the past six years.” He spread his hands wide open. “Can I offer you a glass of wine or something? Sit down, take a load off!”
“Don’t mind if I do. Won’t your boss get mad, though?” Adrian took Jamie’s usual seat.
Austin laughed as he grabbed a bottle of Pinotage at random. He tried to keep any bitterness out of his voice. It wasn’t as though he didn’t know what his family was like, after all. They’d never thought he would amount to much. Why would they assume he’d done something with his life now? “Yeah, no. I am the boss, Adrian. I own it. Everything you see here, everything in the warehouse behind it, all mine.”
Adrian let out a long, low whistle. “That’s a lot of wine, brother.”
“You bet it is.” Austin poured them both glasses and took his usual seat.
“You going to be able to sell it all?”
Austin frowned and hunched forward a little bit. “Well yeah, Adrian. That’s kind of the whole point. I do sell it. I sell it all. Okay, the kosher stuff’s a bit of a hard sell around here, but I sell it all.”
Austin sipped at his wine. He wanted to be happy. Most of him was happy. He hadn’t seen Adrian in a decade. He hadn’t heard from Adrian in a decade, or from any other family member. As soon as he’d gotten his hands on his inheritance from his omega Uncle Colton, he’d taken off and never looked back. No one else had come looking, either, and that just about summed up dynamics in the Baines family.