Page 2 of Taken With You
“I didn’t realize the previous owner had preserved so much of the original space.” She slid onto a chair, strangely dazed by the room, by the moment, by the man.
“So I’ve been told. Water?”
Garrick held out a bottle he’d pulled from the fridge. Midnight blue, those eyes. She took the icy bottle in hand and cracked it open as he wrestled into a clean T-shirt that he pulled from the back of one of the chairs. She pulled her gaze from the sight of him covering all that bare skin. What the hell was wrong with her? She hadn’t been interested in anything but Brix readings, yeast strains, and wine blends for a very long time. Not even the very hot-looking Miguel could pique her interest outside of work.
“So,” Garrick said, sitting down as he twisted the cap off his water bottle. “How long have you been at Windsor, Amanda?”
“Three years.” Solid ground finally. She’d been working toward a position in a winery like this forever. And would continue even after Garrick Kane dismissed her and her paper-thin qualifications today. “The last two years, I’ve been an assistant winemaker under André Bonchemin.” She was one of twenty assistant winemakers at Windsor, but let him figure that out. “My job requires me to cycle through various responsibilities, from testing grapes and working the crush, to the fermentation, decanting, blending, bottling, etc. I’m a jack of all trades.”And master of none. She thrust a hand into her messenger bag. “I have a copy of my résumé if you’d like to review—”
“I’ve seen it.”
His voice was rough. She glanced up and caught his odd, unsettled expression, the sudden shift of his gaze.
Was her shirt gaping at the neckline?
“What I need to know,” Garrick said, leaning back in the café chair, “can’t be gleaned from a résumé. How do you handle challenges?”
“I handle them as they come.” Was this her imagination, or could she smell the mineral scent of the stony cliff he’d just climbed? “I assume you’re talking about the challenges of running a winery that’s been off-line for three years and out-of-date for much longer?”
One brow rose. “You’ve done your research.”
“I know every winery in the valley.” Other women flipped through bridal magazines while waiting at the hair salon, she checked out listings in the local commercial real estate flyers. “As an undergraduate, I worked at crush for the old owner—Mr. Brunichelli.”
“Yet now you work at Windsor. I understand that’s a huge operation.”
“Windsor is big, that’s true.”
“There’s no corporate ladder to climb here.” He crossed his arms, the biceps bulging against the short cotton sleeves of his T-shirt. “Why Cedar Ridge?”
“All vintners want to be the master.” She shrugged. “Of course.”
As he leaned back further, king of his domain, Amanda suspected this man would never settle for anythingbutbeing the master.
“At Windsor,” she continued, “it’s all about maintaining a consistent quality from a large and varied harvest. But when wine is made in smaller batches, like it would be here, the winemaking is more like alchemy.”
He murmured, “Magic?”
“Yes.” His attention intensified. She didn’t know what to do with her hands. “Cedar Ridge has great land, great vines—”
“Miguel told me the same thing.”
“He knows. He worked these slopes for years. It’s too bad he’s at that winery in Sonoma. You should try to hire him away next year.”
“I hired him away yesterday.”
She startled. Only a week or two away from the harvest, he stole Miguel away? That was a bold move.
Asharkmove.
The corner of his lips twitched as if he read her thoughts. “If I were to hire you away from Windsor, Amanda, how would you run this winery?”
Oh, if only, ifonly. Those words were music to her ears, but he couldn’t be serious, not if he’d really read her résumé. He was just putting her through the usual interview paces, and she was getting a glimpse into what might be…someday.
“Only a fool would answer that without touring the facilities first.” The thing about interviewing for a job she knew she never could get was the freedom to say whatever she thought. “I’d have to see the cellar, the tanks, the lab, everything.”
“One of the tanks is leaking.” He tapped his thumbs against his biceps. “The electric wiring needs to be upgraded.”
“Challenging.”
