The heavy black door swept open and Bad-Ass lumbered out, cutting off her choice. His leather suit coat, black silk shirt and crisp black trousers were completely out of place at the vineyard, and vaguely frightening. A bulge under his left arm made Ava fall back a step. Guin cowered behind her as Bad-Ass advanced on them.
The scowl on his face deepened as she clutched Ava’s shoulders.
Ava straightened and braced.
The muscle-bound jerk stopped three paces from her. “What we have here is a little situation. You ladies skipped town and didn’t leave no forwarding address.” Bad-Ass’s voice sounded like it had been poured over shards of glass, gravelly and cutting. He propped his hands on his hips, pulling the flaps of his coat back. “So now, I’ve had to spend three long fuckin’ weeks looking for you. That don’t make me happy.”
Ava’s gaze zeroed in on the lethal looking gun holstered under the protective leather. “I paid you back, with interest. My mother’s debt is history.”
Bad-Ass clicked his tongue against his teeth as he shook his head. “Not exactly.” He scrubbed his hand over his shiny pate.
At least his motion had hidden the gun again. Guin’s fingers dug deeply into Ava’s shoulders. Ava squirmed under the pressure. “No, I paid exactly the amount you said she owed. Every penny. I have receipts from my bank to prove it.”
Dull red washed into Bad-Ass’s cheeks. “See, about that. Math ain’t my strong suit. You actually overpaid.” He gave them a sheepish smile. “My employer is a fair deal kind of guy, and felt bad about taking more than Grandma there owed.”
Mom gasped behind her, going stiff.
“Huh?” Ava’s world reeled again. An honest crook?
“Yeah. He wanted me to square it wit’ ya. Especially seein’ as he liked your mom. Said he enjoyed the year she worked for him more than he could say.” He glared at Guin over Ava’s shoulder. “Except when he found out she’d been robbing him.”
“Robbing him?” Will’s voice startled her.
As focused as she’d been on Bad-Ass and the gun tucked under his arm, Ava hadn’t heard Will’s approach. She swallowed a groan and reached behind to clutch her mother’s waist.
“What’s going on? Ava?” Will frowned as he skipped his gaze over her, and then to Bad-Ass.
“And you are?” Bad-Ass shifted his weight between his tree-trunk sized legs, as if bracing to for a hit.
“Will Bradford. I own this vineyard.” He stretched his hand toward Bad-Ass.
Jared, Alex, and Drake crowded in the oversized bay door behind Will. All three had their arms crossed over their chests.
Ava sidled around Bad-Ass and laid her hand on Will’s bicep. “It’s okay, Will. Mr . . .” She paused and looked at the thug.
“Marion Peabody,” he supplied, scowling.
“He’s, uh, this is an associate of Mom’s former boss.”
“Yeah, the guy Grandma here stole money from.” Bad-Ass snorted in derision.
Guin cupped her hands over her mouth and nose with a moan.
Will shot Guin a sharp gaze, lips seamed tightly together, before arching a brow toward Ava. “Looks like you need to fill in a couple of blanks for me.”
“I’ll explain it all to you. Just as soon as I’m done talking to this gentleman.” She waved her hand in Bad-Ass’s direction. “Please, Will. I’m asking you to trust me.”
His lips tightened again as he searched her face. Whatever he saw there must have made an impact. He gave a curt nod, then turned, leaning his shoulder to hers. He might give her time, but he wasn’t giving her space. Not while facing down this scary behemoth.
Relieved, Ava swung her attention back to Peabody, who was reaching into his jacket.
“No!” Ava ducked her head.
Guin gave a little shriek behind them.
At the sight of the butt of the holstered gun, Will went crazy-tense next to her. “You have a gun? What the fuck?”
Bad-Ass’s frown turned into a smirk as he withdrew his hand. “I just wanted to return this to the ladies.” He shoved the bulky envelope into her hand.
Ava curled her fingers around it, surprised by the weight on her palm. Opening the flap revealed the insignia for one-hundred-dollar bills. She dragged her thumb over the stack, flipping a lot of paper corners. “I don’t understand.”
“My mistake was twenty grand. My employer figured he owed you some interest on that error. There’s twenty-five large there.” Peabody settled into a more comfortable stance, gripping the edges of his jacket, hiding his firearm. He shot a meaningful look at Guin. “We’re copacetic now. Best you don’t go stealing from your next employer.”
A low rumble rose from Will’s throat. He pivoted to look at Guin, hurt and distrust in his eyes. It was still there when he turned back to Ava.
Oh, God. She had to make this right.
Bad-Ass—uh, Peabody—touched two fingers to his forehead and whistled as he walked away from them. The growl of his engine filled the tense silence between Ava and Will. Gravel spurted from under the wheels as Peabody steered it out of the lot.
Ava let her hands fall to her sides and her chin drop to her chest.
Guin sobbed softly behind her. Ava couldn’t decide if the noise her mother made stemmed from relief the episode was over, or what was sure to come from Will.
Desolation crested and crashed over her as Will stepped away. Ava resisted the urge to cry right along with Mom. She was as much to blame as Guin for letting things get so out of hand.
“Everything’s good. Get back to work,” Will shouted, waving his hands at the group of men in the doorway.
“Will, let me—”
Will cut Ava’s explanation off with a hard slash of his hand. “I think I need to hear this from Guin.” He cocked his head in Mom’s direction.
Guin sniffed, then smoothed her floral top over her hips and tossed her head. “This isn’t Ava’s fault. She was just trying to help me. Like she always has. This time, it’s all on me.”
Will spared a fast glance at Ava, his lips trembling. She couldn’t tell if he fought off a snarl or a smile. “I’ll be the judge of that. Why don’t you start at the beginning?” He leaned against the tree and crossed one ankle over the other, obviously prepared to listen.
Like verbal vomit, Guin spewed all the wretched details. Starting with showing up unannounced and unwelcomed at Ava’s house, Bad-Ass’s early morning visit, and the shitload of trouble she was in financially. Will’s eyes warmed as he looked Ava’s way when Guin shared everything Ava had sacrificed to get her off the hot seat.
“Then when we got here, and Meg had been arrested . . . well, I have experience in running an office. You needed help,” Guin finished.
Will made a noise in his throat. “Even though you were hiding out from a previous employer when you knew my last employee had stolen from me?”
“I’m so sorry. I’ve been honest. I haven’t taken a dime from you.” Mom crashed down on a bench to the left of the tree and knuckled at her eyes. Her shoulders heaved.
Will straightened away from the trunk and took a halting step toward her. “Guin . . .”
As he fell silent, humiliation staggered Ava, that Will knew all the sordid details of her life. Now he thought Ava had allowed Guin to work for him under unsavory circumstances. She finally broke her silence. “Will, I know you must think the worst of me and Mom right now. But please know that I checked your books every night while Mom has been working for you.”
Her voice quaked and she paused to clear the annoying clog in her throat. “She’s telling the truth. I’d have caught any discrepancies if she’d been stealing. You can confirm with Drake if you want. Your money is all intact.”
His dark brown eyes went soft. “I trust you, Ava.” His voice was barely a whisper.
“You do?” Something she didn’t recognize swelled in her chest. Relief for sure, but something more. Something chaotic and messy. Something undeniable.
Expelling a quiet sigh, she owned her truth. She’d fallen in love with her disorganized, devil-may-care client.
“Yeah,” he said as he took another step in her direction.
“Will, I’m so sorry,” Guin inserted. “I’ll leave if you want me to. I can rent a room in town while Ava finishes her assignment here. Please don’t take it out on her.” Guin’s voice lacked its usual happy tone.
Pausing in his advance toward Ava, he pivoted to face Guin. “If you leave me shorthanded, I’ll be mad.” He scrubbed his hand over his neck and looked toward the building, a faraway glint in his eyes. “Do I wish you’d have told me your story when you first arrived? Hell yeah. But everyone deserves a second chance. That includes you, Guin. You are light years ahead of Meg in terms of your work ethic. You made a mistake once. I have to trust you won’t do it again.”
Gulping back her shock, the teaming emotions swamping her, Ava stepped toward him and pressed against his side. “Oh, Will.”
He bent his head toward her, but stopped short of slanting his mouth over her lips. “And I’ll have you around to keep your mother on the straight and narrow.”
Confusion made her frown. “Excuse me?”
Will held her gaze, heat sizzling in the air between them. “Um, Guin, can you give us a minute? I’m sure they’ve started the assembly line already. You should go help. I mean, what am I paying you for?” His low chuckle tickled against Ava’s heart.
“Right. I’ll just . . .” Her mother beamed a wide grin at them and turned.
“Mom?” Ava stopped her. If Will could trust, she might as well take the leap. She extended the envelope Bad-Ass had delivered. “Would you lock this in the safe, please.”
Guin took the money, then wrapped her arms around Ava, her mouth right next to Ava’s ear. “I don’t know what I’ve ever done to deserve you.” After an awkward pat on the back, Mom bustled away.
Will gripped her hands and pulled her across the grass. “Now, as I was saying . . .” They reached the tree and he touched his mouth softly to hers.
He let the kiss linger, and it tasted of forgiveness and passion. Longing. Wrapping his arms around her, he tugged until her body was pressed to his. With a racing heart and blood singing through her veins, Ava returned the kiss. Her pulse pounded, knowing they were having a moment that would change their existence.
When Will raised his lips from hers, he rested a cheek on her hair, his hands making a slow, soothing circuit from her shoulder blades to the curve at her waist and back. “Remind me to have Guin remove any reference to nepotism from the employee handbook.” His chest rumbled under her cheek.
She let her gaze search his face. “What are you saying?”
“I think you know.” He grinned at her. “Now that I’ve gotten used to your bossy ways, and you’ve proven you’re willing to let your chaos out once in a while, I find I want it around always.”
“Will—”
He pressed his fingertips to her lips. “Don’t give me an answer now. Take your time to think about it. Let Avalon evaluate the pros and cons of you moving here, working from here. You’ve shown me the value of being organized, but what if I forget your lessons? I’ll always have you near to make me toe the line.”
“Will, we’ve only known each other a few weeks.”
He shook his head. “We started this process months ago. But it didn’t take me that long to realize I need you in my life.”
She wasn’t sure why she wasn’t swooning at the moment. This man, this wonderful man, had all but confessed his love for her. A love she returned. So what was stopping her?
“I can see Avalon is already back and worried about this conversation.” Will’s sigh swirled around both of them. The corners of his mouth turned down and disappointment darkened his eyes as he eased her back.
“Will, I just confessed to misleading you. A declaration of . . . whatever this is between us certainly isn’t what I was expecting. I’m in shock.”
“I can see that.” His chuckle was less than jolly, but his eyes remained warm. “Let’s just make it through this day, and get the shipment on the road. When we’re done, we can talk more.”
“Do you—I can still go with you, if you want.”
His gaze heated and zeroed in on her mouth. “I want.”
Emotion wormed around her stomach, making it hard to catch a breath. She chewed her bottom lip and Will’s gaze tracked the movement of her teeth on the tender flesh.
“Come on,” he said. He laced his fingers through hers. “We better get back to work.”
Chapter 29
Will’s ears rang with the continuous noise in the confined space. The clatter of bottles being loaded a carton at a time on the production line. The rattle of the metal struts of the conveyor belts as those bottles moved forward. The hiss of nitrogen being forced into each container so there was no room for oxygen once the wine was decanted into them. When Jules and Brynn set the corked products on the table, the clunk of glass and the high-pitched hum of the hair dryers his mother and Guin wielded added to the thunderous symphony.
And Will loved the noise. Relished it because it meant he was achieving the dream.
Even the faint squeaking noise of the silver-ink pen he used to sign added a dimension. And each time Ava bent near him to pluck the newest collector’s item and deliver it back to the production line to be boxed, he heard a happy hum from her. That, of all the other noise, was his favorite sound. Her quiet tune wove its way through all the emotions and feelings of gratitude he held close.
Will cranked his neck side-to-side to ease the ache in his shoulders. He linked his fingers together and cracked his knuckles, erasing the cramps in his hand from hours of scrawling his name on glass. Ava had suggested numbering the bottles as well, but he’d vetoed that idea. No way would he be able to keep track of what number he’d just signed. He reached for the next bottle.
After getting a delayed start, thanks to one scary dude’s sudden appearance, they’d been hard at it for four hours. The fact they’d only gotten through half the mountain of boxes caused anxiety to boil in Will’s gut. The pizza Guin had pre-ordered arrived, and Drake handed over a fistful of cash to the delivery guy. Will wasn’t sure he’d be able to choke even a bite past the stress-induced clog in his throat.
Silence descended once Ollie shut down the line.
“Lunchtime. Convene under the tree by the lot,” Will announced, rubbing his aching stomach. “Sorry, but it will be a fast break and then we have to get back to work.”
His mother scuttled from the room, presumably to retrieve plates and cups. He filled a pitcher with wine straight from the vat, handed it to Ava, then filled a second. His body tightened in a familiar fashion at the sway of her hips as she preceded him to the designated picnic spot. The glorious sight took his mind off the churn in his belly.
When they arrived in San Diego, he planned to check into a hotel with a huge bed and keep her there and both of them happy until they had to show up at the distributor’s warehouse.
His crew of friends all dropped to their butts on the grass under the sycamore and hastily ate, gulping their wine from red plastic cups. Jules leaned against Alex’s shoulder and Penny and Drake chatted with Brynn between mouthfuls of pepperoni and cheese. Ollie and Dirk each grabbed a couple slices and disappeared around the building, presumably to smoke. Guin stood to one side, quietly talking to Will’s folks.
Ava had sprawled on her back next to him and closed her eyes with a sigh. Arms crossed over her chest, she massaged her fingers into her biceps, as though they ached. Her eyes flicked open when Will scooted to her, settled her head on his lap, and took over the kneading
motion. He liked her groan of satisfaction more than he liked her quiet humming.
Real pain assailed him at the thought of getting back to work. Will found himself dragging out the moment when he had to announce lunch was over.
Later, Will realized his deadline for being finished had passed two hours ago. Frustration grew with each passing moment. If they didn’t work faster, he wouldn’t attain his goal of starting on the road tonight. He bit back a laugh. Ava’s strict adherence to schedules and working efficiently had rubbed off on him.
“Last box,” his dad shouted out from the front of the line.
“Hallelujah!” Drake tossed up the last of the Rolling In The Clover labels he’d been adhering to the completed cartons. They fluttered down around his ears as he shared his wide grin.
“Ollie, the instant that last box is in place, wrap the stack, and load it in the truck,” Will hollered above the noise. He signed the final bottle Jules set in front of him, then tossed the pen to the table. Relief bounded through him when Ava dropped the bottle back on the line. Alex deposited the final corked, labeled, and signed container in the box.
Dirk sealed the edges with packing tape while Drake affixed the label. Ollie shut down the line and silence crashed in the area. A cheer went up from Will’s friends.
Emotion clogged his throat at their generosity and their hard work. He pulled Ava into his embrace and buried his face in her neck, breathing in the sweet cinnamon and bergamot scent wafting off her warm flesh.
“We did it, Will,” Ava whispered against his temple, her breath a graceful caress. “I’m going to run up to the house and get our overnight bags while they’re loading the truck. Back in a flash.” She pressed a fast, victorious kiss to his mouth, then pushed out of his arms. She sprinted from the building.
Drake slapped Will on the back. “Gonna make the deadline, bud.”
Chaos Among the Vines (Romancing the Vine Book 2) Page 23