Page 23 of Taken With You
“He’s not…like that.”
“Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t.” Maggie shook her head. “If you don’t want to ruin this partnership, you’d better take control of the situation now.”
The look Maggie gave her was the listen-to-me warning of a lab tech insisting that the readings weren’t right, and if Amanda didn’t stop whatever she was doing right now and hop over to the fermentation tanks to control the process, a whole batch of the latest vintage of Windsor Wine would be ruined.
Amanda slumped, dropping so the back of the chair dug into the base of her skull. “What do I do? Talk to me.”
Tell me I won’t lose a dream again.
“It’shimyou need to talk to.” Maggie patted the table. “Set the ground rules. Be very clear about the limits of your relationship.”
The wordrelationshippopped another mental cork in her head.
“There’s no avoiding your business partner, so get that idea out of your mind. And now there’s thisotherthing between you.” Maggie blew at her bangs. “Andboy, is it fierce. I mean, when I walked in, I expected those fluorescent lights to explode in a shatter of glass.”
Little sparks danced under her skin. A bunch of them settled in her belly, burning hot.
“The problem is that anything forbidden is an aphrodisiac,” Maggie continued. “If you try to resist this attraction, it’ll only be a matter of time before you two fall into bed together.”
At the thought of rolling in smooth linen sheets with Garrick, she practically levitated off the chair.
“You’ve been sleeping here, in the winery?” Maggie’s gaze strayed to the cot in the corner. “Not good. That proximity is only going to raise the temperature between you two—”
“Actually.” Amanda tucked her chin closer to her chest in anticipation of Maggie’s disapproval. “I’m sleeping in the cabin.”
Maggie dropped her forehead into the bed of her clenched hands.
“Just for the crush,” Amanda added. “After it’s done, I’ll search for a rental in the valley.”
Maggie banged her head on her knuckles a few times before straightening up. “Did he talk you into that?”
“No. Not at all. It was generous of him to offer and a rational solution to the commuting issue. There hasn’t been a problem. He’s gone from the cabin before I’m awake, he’s asleep before I return. The closest I’ve gotten to him is a note scribbled on the table.”
Mags absorbed that information, becoming more confused than ever. She sighed and then slid a hand across the table.
“I want you to enjoy this.” She tipped her head to indicate the whole of the barn. “Allof this. I want you to put out the best vintage that Cedar Ridge has ever produced. I want you to get a 100% rating from every single jury on your very first vintage. I want you to have volcanic monkey sex with that steamy-hot partner of yours. I want you to get your back dirty while you’re spread under him in the furrows of the vineyard.”
“Please stop.”
“I know this is your dream, Amanda.”
“Volcanic monkey sex?”
“This winery. And a good man. The jury’s out on whether that good man is billionaire Garrick Kane.”
She flexed her hands wide. “I’m so freakin’ confused.”
“You’re not confused. You want the partnership, and you want the partner.” Maggie squeezed her wrist. “The problem is, can you have them both?”
***
Garrick stood in front of the bay window of the cabin watching the tapering activity outside the winery below. The low rumble of the crushing machine had fallen to silence some time ago. One by one, the cars parked along the drive switched on their headlights and drove into the night. The lanterns that edged the eaves of the crush pad flickered off.
Just past midnight, Amanda’s footsteps creaked the porch boards, answering the question of whether she would opt to sleep on the cot in the cave rather than in the cabin with a guy who’d stepped way over the line. He should have known she wouldn’t dodge him. He should have known she’d come for a face-to-face.
At the quiet click of the front door, Garrick switched his focus from the winery below to his own reflection in the window glass. A long, hot shower, fresh clothes, and a few hours away from her alluring presence had given him time to reassess their encounter, but not to calm the storm inside him. He needed to get a grip on himself. Not just because it was a hell of stupid idea to get involved with a business partner, but because he didn’t want Amanda to think she couldn’t say no to him because he was the one who held the purse strings.
Light footsteps came through the hall. He turned as she stepped into the blue-white starlight pouring in through the window. It washed her already-pale face a ghostlier shade of white. She didn’t appear angry, but his heart pulled taut.
