The Apple Orchard

Twenty-Three



Dominic woke early the next day, with his arms curved around a warm, redheaded woman.

He had a powerful urge to stay right where he was, to kiss and tease her awake and take her again while she was half-asleep and sweetly compliant. Just the thought was almost enough to override his common sense. Focus, he told himself. He had a ton of things to do, starting with turning off the winery pumps. He’d never forgotten them before. But last night had been all Tess, all the time. He’d forgotten everything.

Last night had blown his mind. The two of them, so new to each other, should have been awkward and uncertain together, but instead, some unspoken familiarity created a rhythm, as though they were dancing to silent music. It was the kind of night he’d probably fantasize about for a long time, the one his mind would go back to again and again, the night by which all others would be measured. He couldn’t analyze why. Maybe he didn’t want to analyze why. She was adventurous and tender in bed, surrendering to him while at the same time inspiring him to give more of himself than he could ever remember doing. It didn’t bug him to be vulnerable with her, and he didn’t know why that was, either. She was not the domestic sort, enamored of small-town life in sleepy Archangel. She had every intention of picking up for the city as soon as her business here was concluded. He ought to be bracing himself for that. Instead, he found himself thinking, what if....

She stirred a little in her sleep, giving him a chance to extricate himself from the bed without waking her. But then she clung to him, and he couldn’t keep from wanting her again. Without saying a word, before she even opened her eyes, he lifted himself to cover her, and it was as brief and intense as an electric storm, leaving him shuddering, his mind blank. The sleepy smile on her lips afterward was like the rising sun to him.

“Go back to sleep,” he whispered, filled with a crazy happiness as he kissed her temple. Yes, happiness, something he hadn’t felt in every cell of his body since before the divorce. He didn’t even know he was allowed to feel this way again. “I need to shut off the pumps. Didn’t mean to leave them on all night.”

Her response was a wordless sigh of contentment. She stretched, drawing the covers over her bare shoulder, and went back to sleep, a smile still curving her lips. Then she chuckled. “I love it when you talk dirty to me.”

Dominic winced with regret as he slipped from the bed. He was dying to stay longer with her, but he had to get his day started. There was never enough time to get everything done—the kids, his job, his winemaking. He loved being a dad. He even loved being a single dad, but it made for an insanely busy schedule. Lourdes would be bringing the kids back to him at dinnertime, and they were his for the next week. He couldn’t wait to see them, but he had a lot to get done today.

And all he wanted was to spend a lazy day in bed with Tess, making love to her over and over again, pausing only to do something ridiculous, like maybe taking a bath together or peeling grapes and feeding them to her. However, duty called.

He dressed quickly, took one last look at her in his bed, which inspired a fresh wave of desire. He was jolted back to reality by a sound from his phone, indicating a work email. Without even looking, he could guess what it was about. The regulators, who never seemed to sleep, were breathing down his neck, contesting the extension he’d requested based on the unrecovered assets contingency. He wondered if he was a fool, putting his job—his children’s livelihood—on the line, for the sake of a friend.

Without looking at his email queue, he decided to head out, the dogs trotting along with him. Dogs were so easy. They didn’t judge, ever. They approved of everything.

It was no simple matter, taking up with a woman. Particularly with a woman like Tess Delaney. The simple solution would be to declare last night a lapse in judgment and back off.

“Who am I kidding?” he said to the dogs as he headed to the shed. “I’m in this.”

Iggy and the Dude swirled happily around him.

“It’s true,” he assured the dogs. “I’m all in.” He swung open the doors to the shed, inhaling the musk of grapes. “My life is about to get very complicated.”

* * *

Tess stretched luxuriously, unraveling herself from a strange and sensual dream. She was in the apple orchard, watching buds turn to blossoms and then fruit as if through time-lapse photography, and all the while, Dominic was holding her close, kissing the side of her neck, tasting her skin with his warm tongue.

She moaned softly and shifted, reaching out to gather him closer, but found only rumpled sheets and pillows...and there was Iggy, licking away at her neck and shoulder. “Oh, come on,” she said, pushing him away. “Really? Really?”

Though she had nothing against dogs, it was Dominic she wanted. Last night had been pure magic. He had the kind of hands that knew just how to touch her, just where, just when, as if he could hear the rhythm inside her. His touch left her with a warm sensation flowing all through her body, making her greedy for more. She sat up and looked around, waiting for the customary churning anxiety to hit, but for once, the unpleasant feelings stayed away.

“Remarkable,” she muttered to the little dog. “If I’d known a night with Dominic would be a cure-all, I would have jumped his bones a long time ago.”

Iggy’s ears pricked up, and he skittered away, his nails clicking on the hall floor and then the stairs.

She levered herself out of bed and reached for her skirt. Then, spying a blue denim work shirt, she grabbed that and slipped it on. The garment was soft and faded with wear, and his scent hid in the fibers, enveloping her like a phantom embrace. She headed into the bathroom, which was as neat as the rest of his house, and helped herself to his toothbrush. After last night, the barriers between them had dropped; she was sure he wouldn’t mind.

Then she headed downstairs to forage for food. Isabel’s kitchen had spoiled her for ordinary breakfast fare, but she figured she would find at least a cup of yogurt or maybe a bagel. Like everything else in the house, the kitchen was spotless, even after the orgy of wine and sex that had begun only hours before. Did the guy have cleanup fairies that swept in when no one was looking?

The pantry yielded a shockingly unimaginative but perfectly organized assortment of prepared foods. Bad prepared foods, like canned spaghetti and ramen noodles. How could this man create such exquisite wine, yet have no yearning for fine food?

He was a mystery. Perhaps that was why she found him so intriguing.

She discovered a box of Pop-Tarts, a foodlike substance. Tearing open the wrapper with her teeth, she took a bite. Despite its cardboard texture, the gummy filling tasted vaguely of fruit. It wasn’t half-bad. Chewing thoughtfully, she wandered around the kitchen, checking out the world of a man who was quickly becoming far too important to her.

His life appeared to be governed by his kids and his job. There was a calendar page on the fridge with highlighting on the weeks he had Trini and Antonio with him. In his neat banker’s script, he had written down the times for soccer matches, tutoring, work meetings.

And the item at the month’s end caught her eye: Bella Vista matter.

The Pop-Tart curdled in her stomach. She was an idiot, falling for a guy who, voluntarily or not, was about to wreak financial havoc on her sister. Suddenly Tess felt very protective of Isabel and sheepish about their quarrel the day before. Yet at the same time, something was happening between Tess and Dominic, something powerful and unexpected.

She’d always considered herself good with men. She could handle them. She was capable of availing herself of their charms without risking her heart. This—whatever it was with Dominic—felt risky, though, and when it came to her emotions, she was risk-averse.

Yet the only thing that felt more risky was to walk away now. Her gut kept telling her not to blow this.

Her head and her heart were at war.

Head: His entire life is here in this tiny burg.

Heart: Hello, he’s an ace pilot. He can be anywhere in an hour.

Head: Every other week belongs to his kids, one-hundred percent.

Heart: They’re adorable. We could be a family.

Head: You don’t even like kids.

Heart: That’s just in general. I like his kids.

Head: He’s the enemy. He’s foreclosing on Bella Vista.

Heart: He doesn’t want to. It’s the last thing in the world he wants to do. We’re lucky he’s in charge, because he’s giving us every break he can find.

Head: This can’t work. You’re going to end up getting hurt.

Heart: If last night was any indication, being hurt by him feels like heaven.

She heard the tread of footsteps at the back door, and her heart won the battle. Wearing his work shirt and nothing else made her feel both vulnerable and wildly sexy. “I wanted you to wake me up and have your way with me again,” she called to him. “Get in here and do it now.”

“Sorry,” said an annoyed, female voice, “but that’s not the way I roll.”

The half-eaten Pop-Tart dropped to the floor, scattering crumbs at Tess’s feet. She stood frozen with mortification as a woman walked into the kitchen. She was dressed as though she’d stepped from the pages of the Sundance catalog in a flowy skirt, hand-knit sweater and ballet flats, a hemp bag in one hand, a cartoon character backpack in the other.

“Obviously,” she said, “you weren’t expecting me.”

Tess wanted to wilt into the ground like the Wicked Witch of the West after a slosh of water. But she cloaked herself in dignity, praying the cloak was not as skimpy as the work shirt.

“I’m Tess,” she said. “And no, I wasn’t expecting you.”

The woman subjected her to a frosty glare that looked out of place on her overtly pretty face. “Lourdes Maldonado,” she said.

Dominic’s ex-wife was nothing like the slit-eyed viper Tess had pictured. She looked...pleasant. Pretty. Like a very well put-together soccer mom rather than a two-timing nightmare who cheated on her husband while he was off serving his country. Bad things sometimes come in nice packages, Tess reminded herself.

“I’ll just come right out and say it,” Lourdes informed her. “I intend to reconcile with Dominic—did he tell you that?”

Tess managed to keep her jaw from dropping. “Frankly, he doesn’t talk to me about you.”

Lourdes appeared to be unfazed. “He and I both know it’s best for our family.”

“This is probably something you should talk to him about.”

“Just so you know, Dominic and I, we’re not over. We never were. Not by a long shot. You’re just a distraction.”

Tess sensed a strange vehemence behind the words. “I’m not discussing this with you.”

“There are children involved. Fragile, hurting children. I’m telling you to step aside.”

Wow. This woman was some piece of work. “You don’t want to start ordering me around,” Tess said quietly, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

“That isn’t the point, is it? What I should really say is that it makes no sense at all for you to get involved with Dominic. You’re only here for a short time, so there’s no point. It’ll only confuse my children more.”

Tess had engaged in a similar debate with herself. She couldn’t deny it. “How do you know anything about my plans or intentions?” she demanded.

“Small-town life. Get used to it. Or not. Where’s Dominic?” asked Lourdes.

“Right behind you,” he said. “Are the kids all right?”

Lourdes’s demeanor changed entirely as she turned to face Dominic. She visibly softened, moistening her lips. “It’s Trini. She forgot her lucky spelling-test shirt.”

Dominic’s face was as unreadable as a marble statue. “You could have—”

“Called, I know,” she finished for him, “but I don’t have my phone with me, and I wanted to catch you before work. I think we should go over the latest progress report. You do have time for our daughter’s school report?”

“Excuse me,” said Tess. “I need to get going.” She slipped past the glorious Lourdes, heading for the stairs. The sensual warmth that had enveloped her a few minutes before had frozen to a sheen of ice. She dressed hurriedly, keeping her gaze away from the rumpled bed and her thoughts away from what they’d done there last night. When she got downstairs, Dominic was alone.

“Hey,” he said. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t apologize. You have an ex-wife and kids. Nothing to be sorry about.”

“She—Lourdes—has a problem with boundaries.”

God, why did he have to look so good to her? Even now, she wanted to fall into his arms. “She wasn’t what I expected,” Tess said.

“What did you expect?”

“I’m not sure. Someone...harsher. She seems nice and...organized, I guess. Except the bit about forgetting her phone. She told me—and believe me, I understand this—she wants a chance to reconcile with you.”

“Look, if there was any chance of that, don’t you think we would have made it happen before now?”

“I honestly don’t know. But, Dominic, I don’t intend to compete with the mother of your children.”

“You’re not—”

“I’m not anything like her.”

“Maybe that’s what I like about you.”

“You loved her once.”

“I did. I loved her a lot, the best way I knew how. It ended, though, and I moved forward. Why would I go backward, looking for the same kind of person?”

“Because that’s the way it works. You—”

“Don’t tell me how it works. I’m interested in you, Tess. I want you.”

The tone of his voice gave her chills. He spoke with absolute conviction, and she realized his certainty made her nervous. “I need to go.”

“Not yet.” He gently caught hold of her wrist. “Tess—”

“Really, I should go.” She took her hand back despite the fact that with every cell in her body, she wanted to hang on. She wanted to stay.

He took her face between his hands and gave her a long, slow kiss that reminded her of how good they had been together last night.

Although she yearned to melt into his embrace, she felt a powerful inner resistance. Falling for him was too easy. Falling in general was easy. It was the landing you had to watch out for.