And so fucking hot.
“Thanks, Luke,” she said as they walked together to the bar. “I’ve got this from here.”
He raised his eyebrows at her.
“Oh, I’m sure you do,” he said under his breath.
She winked at him.
“You know it,” she said.
They locked eyes for a moment. Finally, Margot looked away.
“Go check on that group in the corner. They seem fun. Actually, wait.” She went behind the bar and came out with a bottle. “Give them some of this.”
Luke took the bottle from Margot and went back over to the fun group.
“Can I offer you three—or you two, rather,” he said, with an apologetic look at the pregnant one, “a taste of our 2014 estate Cab? Margot—our co-owner over there—thinks you might enjoy it.”
They all giggled.
“If that’s an apology for making us listen to that blowhard,” the one with the curly hair said, “no need. Not that we’ll say no to the wine, obviously, but watching her insult him to his face without him knowing what she was doing was a master class, and I thought I was good at that.”
Luke grinned at them as he poured wine into their glasses.
“Wasn’t it? I learn from her every day.”
“To Margot,” the one in the pink dress said, “and to having a built-in designated driver.”
The pregnant one rolled her eyes, but drank her sparkling water.
“You two are going to be nightmares later, aren’t you?” she said.
They nodded.
“Yep,” they said in unison.
Luke laughed as he walked back to the bar.
* * *
MARGOT KEPT THE POMPOUS little jerk talking for so long that (a) she barely had to pour him and his silent group any wine, and (b) she made them late for their one-thirty lunch reservation. People like him always overscheduled themselves in Wine Country. Now she’d messed up his carefully crafted day, and he’d be stressed and running behind until dinner. Just thinking about that would make her happy all day. She gave the group a huge, genuine smile as she waved them out the door.
The group of three Black women in the corner who had been laughing and casually flirting with Luke for the past hour got up to leave just after Margot had waved goodbye to Mr. I Bet You Snuck Some Smoke-Tainted Grapes into Your Wine.
“Well, this has been both delicious and very exciting,” the woman in the royal blue dress said, “but we’ve got to motor if we’re going to make those spa appointments on time. However, since I’m newly a member of the Noble Family Vineyards wine club, I’d like to take advantage of my discount and buy some of that last wine . . . well, and a few of that second-to-last one.” She grinned at her friends. “That phone call in the airport yesterday landed me a new client, I just found out.”
The one in the red dress hugged her.
“Great job, Liv!”
Margot rang up the wine and gave the women their discounts and then waved goodbye to them. They talked and laughed on their way to the car, and Luke followed them out, carrying their many bottles of wine. She admired his muscles under his T-shirt for a few seconds before she caught herself and turned away. She glanced at the appointment book. Nothing in there until two, and it was one forty-five. She could go back to her office for the next few minutes, or even for the rest of the afternoon. Luke could handle the afternoon appointments by himself, unless he needed her.
He hadn’t really needed her for the noon appointments, but when she’d glanced into the tasting room, just to check and see what was going on, and overheard that guy maligning her brother’s character, she hadn’t been able to stop herself from butting in. She probably shouldn’t have done it—she probably should have gone back to her office and let Luke handle it, or she should have just been bland and politic and tried to sell wine, but she’d honestly wanted to kick that asshole out of her winery, so being rude to him in a way he was too pompous to notice was her compromise.
She walked slowly back into her office, but just as she walked in the door, Luke came in behind her.
“That . . . that was incredible,” he said.
She turned around and grinned at him. She couldn’t help it.
“What was incredible?” she asked. Yes, fine, she wanted to hear him praise her. So sue her.
He leaned against the doorframe, a grin on his face.
“The way you dealt with that guy. He was a nightmare, and you managed to put him in his place completely. I only wish Taylor could have been there to see that, she would have loved it.”
Margot laughed. She had felt pretty triumphant about that, actually.
“I have to admit, it felt pretty great. Maybe that’s petty— shouldn’t I have taken the high road, and, like, made him fall in love with our wines? What a terrible example to set in front of my new, young, impressionable employee. And yet, it felt so good.”
Luke had a huge grin on his face.
“First of all, your new, young, impressionable employee thought that was a very instructive life lesson on how to get rid of an annoying customer. And second, I think you more than made up for any wine that guy would have bought—which, we both know he wouldn’t have—by the impression you made on those women. They told me on the way to the car they were ready to join your army. And the three of them joined the wine club—even the pregnant one, who wasn’t drinking today. That was all due to you.”
Margot sat down on the edge of her desk and laughed.
“Not all due to me—they were already in excellent hands by the time I walked into the tasting room, and you get all of the credit for that. You did well on your own.”
He brushed that aside.
“Thanks, but I was very glad when you walked in. I could have handled two, maybe three, of the fun tables like those women, but once I get the actual wine people like that guy, my eyes start to glaze over and I forget everything I’ve ever known about wine—the vast majority of which, by the way, I’ve learned in the past few weeks.”
He grinned at her, and she grinned back. Why was it so fucking easy with him, so natural to talk to him and laugh with him? It wasn’t fair.
She glanced around her desk, and then jumped up.
“Oh no, I think I left my phone behind the bar. Let me grab it now, before everything gets busy again.”
Luke straightened up as she walked toward her office door. Then, in one quick move, he closed the door.
“What are you—” Her voice died out as she looked up at him.
He put a hand against the wall next to her head, trapping her against the wall with his body. Like he’d done that night. She knew she could get around him, open the door, and leave. But she didn’t want to. The proximity to him was intoxicating.
He wasn’t touching her, but he looked at her with such heat in his eyes that it felt like his hands were all over her.
She looked back at him. This was a bad idea. She had to leave.
She didn’t move.
“Margot.” He said her name in a low voice, a voice she hadn’t heard since that night. “Please tell me you think about that night, like I do. Am I alone in this? Because, my God, I think about it all the time. I think about you all the time. I can’t be the only one who feels this, can I? Sometimes—most of the time—I think I am. And then, every so often, you look at me in a way that makes me think I’m not. Tell me I’m not. Tell me you want me.”
He held her gaze. She wanted to look away, to deny it all, but she couldn’t.
“I can’t tell you that,” she said.
“Can’t, or won’t? Can you not tell me that because it’s not true, because you don’t want me? Or do you just not want to say it?”
If only it weren’t true.
“I can’t tell you that because I’m your boss,” she said in a low voice. “I can’t tell you that because that night never should have happened.”
She wished she weren’t breathing so fast.
He shook his head, but his eyes never left hers.
“You know that’s not true,” he said.
God, he was so close to her. She wanted to reach for him so badly. She let her eyelids flutter shut. Maybe it would be easier to move away from him if she couldn’t see him. But no, this was worse. Now she could feel the warmth coming from his body, so close to hers. She could feel his breath on her face. She could smell him, that smell she remembered from that night, that fresh soap smell, combined with his own body scent. She breathed it in and smiled. Now he smelled a little bit like wine, too.
She could hear him, breathing as fast as she was.
She opened her eyes. He was still looking straight at her.
“You didn’t answer my question,” he said.
“You know the answer to that question,” she said.
A smile touched his lips.
“I didn’t, when I came in here. But I do now.” He moved closer to her. “So tell me. Tell me you want me.”
She tried to look away from him, but she couldn’t.
“Why? You know it.”
His eyes finally left hers, but it was only to look, slowly, up and down her body. He lingered on her hips, her breasts, her lips, before he looked her in the eye again.