Page 117 of Not Safe For Work

“But I’ll be so careful! And I made an appointment to get it next week. Please? Don’t you want to be a rule breaker? Just a little bit?”

He grunts. “Fine. It’s your world, Sparkles. I’m just living in it.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

OLIVIA

“Areyou sure your parents won’t mind us being down here?” Gavin asks as we walk through the cellar.

“This is my home, Scottie. My brothers and I used to play hide and seek down here. It’s like our basement. It just also happens to house a few million dollars worth of wine.”

He gulps and takes my hand.

I lead us through the cellar and tasting room toward the dining area. Then I head for the double doors, the ones with the wordsLa Grottecarved into them.

When I open them, he actually gasps. “Is this really a cave?”

I laugh. “It’s man-made, but yeah it mimics a real one, at least the climate does.”

“I love how cool it is in here,” he says, looking around at the rows of barrels. “And it smells amazing.”

“Oak. And I always found it a bit too chilly.”

“Then I’ll have to keep you warm.” He wraps his arms around me from behind, spreads his legs to walk on each side of me.

We waddle toward the armoire that houses stemmed glasses and tools and he finally lets go of me. The door creaks when I open it, showcasing its age, a relic brought here from my greatgrandparents. I grab a glass and hand it to Gavin, and then I take out one of the thieves.

“What do you wanna taste?” I ask.

“You.”

“Scottie!” I poke the wine thief at his chest. “Pick a barrel.”

He licks his lips, raises a brow at me, but finally turns to face down the long hallway of barrels. “How do I know what’s good?”

“Everything along this wall will be bottled in the next six months.” I point to his left. “They’ll all be good.”

“This one.” He places a hand down on one of the closest barrels. “It’s gotta be your favorite for a reason.”

“The Vega it is.” I unlatch the barrel and slide the top over. “Hold out the glass.” I insert the wine thief, making sure to cover the top of it with my thumb and pull out a decent amount of wine.

“It really is kind of hot. How do you make that look sexy?”

“Just taste the wine, Scottie.”

He takes a slow sip, swishing it around in his mouth like my whole family taught him last time he visited. “It’s sort of tart, I think? Compared to the one in the bottle, at least.”

“Yeah, it mellows out the longer we barrel it.” I take a sip. “Going to be perfect though.”

We trade a few sips, and I let him test out using the thief for a second glass. Then I rinse everything in our little cleaning station so there’s no evidence of our secret tasting session.

“Ready to?—”

Gavin steals the words out of my mouth with a kiss, his arms coming around me in a tight hold. His lips brush mine softly, slowly, a little nip at the end before he pulls back.

“What was that for?” I ask through a grin.

“This has been one of my favorite days with you. I just wanted to make sure it ended with a kiss.”

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