She squinted at the display. “It might be important.”
Rolling her beneath him, Will cut off her view of everything besides his face. Golden brown whiskers glinted in the early morning sunlight as he smoothed her hair away from her forehead and touched his mouth to hers.
“Uh-uh, this is more important,” he whispered against her lips.
He slung his thigh between hers and anchored her in place with his mouth and chest and hips.
She wasn’t going to complain when he made his point so eloquently with his body. Ava sank into the kiss, returned it with a fervor that had her gripping his shoulders and pulling him closer. What a glorious way to start the morning.
Will eased the kiss to tiny sips from her mouth, a tickle of his breath on her skin. His lips quirked in a smile. “I bet if I woke you this way every day, Avalon would never show her face.”
It might be weird for him to think of her as two different people, yet her thoughts ran along the same lines. “Pretty sure Ava would stay around all day long. But Will . . .” She pressed his shoulders. “We do have a big day ahead of us. You’re going to need Avalon’s super structured habits today.”
He rolled away from her and slung an arm over his face. “Damn, I hate when you’re right.”
Missing the heat of his chest, she moved with him. When her taut nipples brushed his skin, desire sizzled through her. “No, you don’t. You like my bossy side.”
Lifting his arm, he gazed at her through squinted eyes. “Kind of.” He slid his hand under the sheets and connected with her bare flesh, flexing his fingers into her hip. “Tell you what . . . I’ll let you boss me around today, but I get to take charge tonight. And I have some pretty awesome ideas.” His leer lit a fire in her hot enough to melt nails.
She pressed a kiss to his pec, then shoved up to her knees, taking the comforter with her. “Hmm, we’ll see about that.” She straddled his hips and plucked her watch from the table.
Dropping the comforter, she exited the bed, strapping the watch into place. A pillow smacked her backside. Will’s grin lit his face and the room.
Laughing quietly, she snagged his shirt from the floor where he’d tossed it last night in his rush to get into bed with her. Donning it, she secured a single button between her breasts. She moved around the room, picking up the other clothes strewn on the floor. Will had thoughtfully cleaned out two drawers in the dresser and she’d neatly arranged her belongings in them. Ava withdrew a T-shirt and jeans, along with undergarments.
Behind her, the sheets rustled as Will fluffed the remaining pillow against the headboard and then settled back to watch her. Heat shimmered in his eyes and a wide smile remained on his lips.
“You are gorgeous in the morning, with your bedhead hair and sleepy color in your cheeks. And you wear my shirt so well.”
Ava shot her weight to one hip, the shirt gaping open over her belly. She smoothed the fabric together. “You better get up.”
Will gestured to his lap, where the sheet had tented. “I am up. Why don’t you come take care of this?”
Heat flared up her neck and into her face. “I, uh . . . Will, be serious.” She licked her lips.
His chest heaved. “Baby, I am serious.”
“Let me rephrase. Be serious about getting out of the bed. We have less than an hour to grab breakfast and get to the bottling plant. Plus, you have houseguests.” She tapped the watch and noted the time. “I need five minutes in the shower, then you can go.”
“Damn, Avalon.” He used her full name, revealing he knew she’d come roaring back.
“Sorry. But this really is important. I’ll see you downstairs.”
A sensation a lot like regret filled her as she tugged open the door. She paused in the entryway and cast a glance over her shoulder to find Will staring at her, desire smoldering in his eyes. She chewed her lower lip, battling the urge to shut the door and dive back into bed with the man and see where that smolder took them. A zap of pure pleasure jolted through her, lodging between her thighs.
But sensible Avalon charged forth, brought on by a zap on her wrist as a new alert was delivered. Stifling a groan, she forced her right foot forward and stepped over the threshold, then eased the door shut.
~ ~ ~
Once Will finished in the bathroom, he jogged down the steps. As he’d passed the office at the front of the house, he’d paused long enough to nuzzle Ava’s neck as she pounded on her laptop keyboard. He gently tugged her hair, tipped her head back and captured her lips while wrapping his forearm over her chest. Loving her wholehearted response, his body tightened and his cock plumped as their kiss lengthened.
Then she laughed as she pushed him away. “Will, I have to finish this email and call into my office.”
Will whistled a merry tune as he proceeded to the kitchen. Today marked a turning point for him and nothing was going to defeat his happy mood. Nothing.
“Drake!”
His best friend was seated at the table with Penny and Guin. Will greeted him with a slap on the back of his head, then scrubbed his knuckles hard on the crown of his head. “Didn’t expect to see you here today.” He dropped a kiss on Penny’s cheek and nodded to Guin.
“I’m joining the bottle brigade.” Drake smoothed his hand over his copper hair to neaten what Will had messed up.
Will had told Drake what the plan was for the day when he’d arranged for a transfer of funds to his dad’s account for the bottles. “Drake, I appreciate it, but buddy, you won’t be able to work for thirty minutes before you start to wheeze.” The last thing Will needed was for his friend to have an asthma attack.
Drake pointed to a brown bag next to a box of donuts. “Came prepared. I have my inhaler and my brownies. All the tricks to keep my breathing easy.”
“Fine, you can stay. But if I think you’re getting bad, I’ll kick you out,” Will retorted, as Guin pressed a coffee cup into his hands. The ceramic warmed his fingers. He helped himself to a chocolate glazed donut and eased out a sigh of pleasure as he sank his teeth into the yeasty treat.
“You won’t have to. I’ll take care of him.” Penny slurped from a steaming mug.
“Deal.”
Drake lifted his chin. “Where’s Avalon?”
“In the front office. She had to make a call to Karen—that’s her boss—and deal with some other stuff.” It was taking her longer than he’d thought it should. He cast a worried look down the hallway to find Jules and Alex approaching.
“Morning,” Jules called as they entered the room. “I smell coffee.”
Alex laughed. “I smell donuts.” He eyed the large white box as he pulled out a chair for Jules. Once she was seated, he strode to the coffeemaker and snagged two mugs, adding cream to one and leaving the other black. Placing the cream-laden version in front of Jules, he dropped to the seat next to hers. Grabbing the only cruller in the box, he broke it in two and gave half to Jules.
Still no Ava. Will bounced his knee and picked at the last bite of his donut. “My dad used to get donuts on Sundays. He’d cut all of them in half and then eat six halves by himself. Gave Mom reason to scold him.” Will usually noshed on two jelly filled pastries before racing out the door. Sundays had always been his only day of freedom growing up.
“We never had donuts in the house,” Jules complained around a mouthful. “Gitta worried that the camera would transform a single donut to five extra pounds.” Jules’ mother was a talented but very shallow Hollywood actress. In interviews she almost never mentioned her daughter, which, from what Will knew, was perfectly fine by Jules.
He spied Ava walking toward him, a frown deeply etched on her brow. Behind her, one of his employees followed. He didn’t look at all happy.
The unusual sight of one of his workers in the big house had Will jerking upright in his chair. “Hey,
Ollie. What’s going on?”
“Bad news, boss.” Ollie dug the toe of his boot into a grout line between the tiles.
Will’s shoulders pinched painfully. “Of course, nothing’s ever easy.”
Ava stepped behind Will and rested her hands on his neck, rubbing circles on his skin. Apparently, Ollie had already spilled his guts to her.
“I came in early to fire up the machines, so everything would be ready and we could start on time. I told Meg a couple of weeks ago the labeler needed some attention.” Florid red swept up his cheeks. “Don’t think she ever made the call. Anyway, the heat applicator isn’t working. The labels aren’t sticking to the trial bottles. I’m really sorry.”
Damn Meg. Will crossed his arms on the table and dropped his forehead on them. His former employee had turned into a curse from hell. What am I supposed to do now?
Ava stroked her fingers up his spine, tangling them in the curls brushing the collar of his shirt. “Come on, Will. All we have to do is work the problem.”
He sighed under her soothing touch. “How’re we going to do that?”
“I don’t know.” She paused and her hand stilled in his hair. “Jules, any ideas?”
Will raised his head, his gaze locking on Jules as she tapped her chin thoughtfully. “The labeling is one of the last steps,” she mused. “We could hand apply the labels. We could use hair dryers to adhere them in place.”
“That will take hours,” Will groused, knowing his plans for getting on the road by early afternoon just went up in smoke.
“Yeah, but you really only need four people running the line. If we use high heat, each bottle might take thirty seconds, no more than a minute to process.” Jules sent her glance around the people at the table. “We set up a work station. Two people move the bottles from the line, we have enough hands that four people can glue, and then two more to move them back to the line to crate them up. Easy.”
He did a mental count. “We still might be short a few bodies.”
“Will, remember your dad and mom are coming back to help as well.” Ava moved her fingers from his neck, grabbed his mug and took a sip, then resumed her calming strokes on his nape.
“And Brynnden is coming too,” Jules pointed out. Cell phone in hand, her fingers flew over the face of it. “I’ll just text her to confirm and tell her to hustle.”
“Okay. We could do this. But how many hair dryers do we have?”
“I’ll run into town and pick up some up,” Guin volunteered. She crossed to the counter where she’d left her purse. “I’ll get extra just in case. Ava, car keys?”
“They’re in my purse in Will’s room. Help yourself.” As Guin scurried from the kitchen, Ava tugged his hair, pulling his head back until their eyes met. “I know this is going to add one extra step, but this gives us a pretty great opportunity.”
Will snorted. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”
Ollie hem-hawed and cleared his throat. “I’m going to finish the set up. Dirk’s here as well.”
After he left, Ava resumed proposing her idea. “Will, I think you should sign each bottle. Make them a little more special. No other vineyard owner personalizes their product. It will be like a perk of buying the wine.”
“Oh, my God! Ava, that’s a brilliant idea.” Jules bounced in her seat. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
With a smile, Ava tapped her temple. “That’s me. Always thinking. Although, this time instead of making less work, my idea makes more.”
God, it had to be driving her a little crazy. But looking at Ava’s face, Will didn’t see any signs of distress. In fact, she looked downright gleeful.
He pushed off his chair and grasped her upper arms, pulling her in close. “You okay with all of this? This snafu messes up your schedule.”
“The situation isn’t ideal, but together we’ve created a work-around solution. And that’s what being efficient is all about. So yeah, I’m good.” She hit him with a smile that made him wish he could snap his fingers and make everyone in the room disappear.
He settled for a fast, hard kiss. “I’ll sign every bottle with a flourish.”
She smiled up at him. “I’m going to find Mom before she leaves and tell her to buy some pens that write on glass. We’ll market them as collectors’ items.”
With one last peck on his cheek, she turned to the rest of the room and snapped her fingers. “Breakfast is over. Go get busy.”
Chapter 28
Guin hurried through the door to the bottling room, carrying two bulky bags from a discount store and a third small bag from a craft store. Her movements were jerky as she dropped everything on the floor by the tables set up toward the end of the production line.
“Just in time.” Ava smiled at her mother.
Guin kept her eyes averted as she dug boxes of hair dryers from the bag. Her fingers shook as she placed them on the table. “Got a deal, so I grabbed everything they had. I was lucky to find the craft store open this early.” She upended the smaller bag and three markers tumbled to the surface.
“Mom?” Dread boomed in Ava’s gut when her mother babbled and refused to look her way.
Guin halted abruptly, dropped her chin to her chest, and huffed out a breath. The gaze she lifted to Ava held sorrow. “I . . . we need to talk, Avalon.”
“You’re scaring me a little here, Mom.”
Jules glanced up sharply at Ava’s words, then looked away, as though she didn’t want to intrude. She bent her blond head toward Brynnden’s chestnut curls. Arriving about thirty minutes after Guin left, Brynn had jumped right to work and moved like a whirlwind. The woman reminded Ava a little of herself. Ava liked that Brynn knew the value of a schedule and stuck to it.
As Brynn and Jules got back to work, ripping labels from large rolls and arranging them in stacks on the table, Ava diverted her attention back to her mother.
Guin covered her lips with a trembling hand. “Maybe we could step outside.” Not waiting for an answer, she pivoted and hustled back out the way she’d come.
Ava stared after her for a beat, before she dragged herself toward the door. Whatever this was, Mom’s behavior guaranteed Ava wasn’t going to be happy about it.
“Ava?” Will stopped her with a hand on her arm. “Everything okay?”
Was it? Most likely not. “Won’t know until I find out what has Guin in a panic.”
“You need me to come along?”
“No! I mean, I’m sure it will be okay. Probably something silly like a parking ticket.” She forced her mouth into a smile she wasn’t really feeling. “I’ll keep you posted. You stay here. I’ll be back shortly. Promise.” She stretched up on her toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. The warmth of his skin, the rasp of his stubble on her lips, calmed the agitation grumbling in her belly. It hit home that she wasn’t in this alone. Whatever it was, Will could be counted on to help.
Resolutely, Ava squared her shoulders and followed her mother.
Stepping over the threshold, she spied Guin pacing the grassy verge under the white-barked sycamore. Gravel crunched under Ava’s sandals as she strode over.
“What’s up, Mom?”
Guin’s purse was still slung over her shoulders, and she let the strap drop off her arm, then rolled the top and squeezed the supple leather tight. “Avalon, I made a big mistake.” Her fingers tensed and released repeatedly on the purse.
Ava’s own fingers curled in. The tips of her nails cut into her sweaty palms. “Just tell me,” she whispered.
Guin held the purse up so Ava could see it. “I know you told me not to, but I went shopping. I bought this new purse.” Tears shimmered in her eyes.
A truck drove into the lot and parked near them. Guin spun around so her tear-streaked cheeks weren’t visible. Jared and Bettina alighted,
glanced curiously their way with an uncertain wave, then sauntered into the bottling building.
Ava stared at the purse. It wasn’t anything special. Just gray pleather, certainly not high-end or designer. “I noticed the other day. You’re earning a salary now. No reason why you shouldn’t have something new. Your old purse was held together with safety pins.”
“But I charged this on one of your cards.” Guin’s lips curled into a frightened grimace. She continued on a whisper. “I’m so sorry.”
Air whooshed from Ava’s lungs as worry shimmied up her spine. “Mom, I told you we couldn’t use cards. That’s how Bad-Ass tracked you last time. And he went back to my condo and ransacked my desk. He’s probably been watching my accounts. Using cards makes it too easy to track us.”
“He found us. I ran into him in Cloverdale.”
Ava’s heart quit working as a monumental weight settled like a boulder on her chest. Her brain reeled worse than a drunken sailor. She stumbled to the tree trunk and braced her arm against it.
Panting out several breaths, she fought to pull enough oxygen in to erase her dizziness. “I paid your debt in full. Why is he back?”
The sound of a powerful engine charged up the lane toward the lot.
“He said he needed to have words with you.”
“You told him where we were?”
A low-slung muscle car turned into the lot next to the tree. Through the dark tinted windshield, Bad-Ass’s bald head gleamed in the morning sunlight.
Panic surged. Ava cast a frantic glance toward the building. She had people in there. Surely the enforcer wouldn’t try anything in front of witnesses. Unfortunately, Bad-Ass’s vehicle blocked her path. Precious seconds ticked by while she considered making a run for Will and the relative safety of the bottling area.
But escaping to the protection Will offered would mean the whole awful story would be out in the open. In front of Will and everyone else.
Chaos Among the Vines (Romancing the Vine Book 2) Page 22