Page 43 of Work and Play
“Look, I’m not going into details, but yes, things changed. He finally showed me the side that you guys see.”
Mila claps her hands to her heart and pretends to swoon. “Aww. Our boy swept you off your feet?”
“Hard to do when he’s on crutches, but yeah.” I grin.
“Wait. Does this mean you’re thinking about staying in town after the tasting room is done?” Summer asks eagerly, and all of the women have similar hopeful expressions on their faces.
My eyes cast down to the floor. “I…I don’t know, you guys. There’s a lot to consider. It’s a big decision, and I really don’t want to make it based on a week of good sex.”
“Of course. That’s totally valid,” Mila says quickly. “We’re just really hoping that the more reasons we give you to stay, the better the chance is that you will. And good sex is a good reason, isn’t it?”
I have to laugh at that. “Yeah, it is. But it’s not the deciding factor.”
“Got it. Okay, had better space out our return to the table so the guys don’t suspect anything. Who knows if Paige and Abby kept them distracted enough,” Serena says.
“You really think they don’t know we came back here to talk to Ashley?” Summer remarks wryly, and they all giggle.
When we get back to the table, Reid is the first one to pipe up. “Have a good gossip, ladies?”
I snicker as Abby elbows him. “You weren’t meant to notice, babe!”
“Oh, come on, like it wasn’t obvious they were going to find Ashley and bug her for details.”
“Even if we did do that, and I’m not saying we did, but it’s none of your business,” Mila announces as she sits down on Jackson’s lap. I watch her open affection with him, and with everyone, with a smile as I take my seat next to Finn.
“Did they interrogate you about us?” he asks quietly, his hand coming to cover mine on my leg.
“Yeah, but don’t worry. I didn’t tell them about your fear of horror movies.” I pat his cheek and grin to ease the sting of my teasing.
“You’re evil.”
“You like it,” I reply saucily.
His gaze softens. “I do.”
I don’t let myself think too much about what I see written on his face when he says that.
I can’t.
Because I’m not ready for the answering emotions it stirs in my own heart.
Chapter twenty-one
Finn
I never in a million years imagined being in a relationship again at this point in my life. I figured the next few years would be solely focused on the winery with the occasional trip to Victoria when I needed some companionship of the female kind. And yes, I realize that makes me sound like a total douchebag. But I honestly didn’t plan on having the time to date, or the desire to put any effort into a relationship.
Yet, here I am, finding myself growing more and more attracted to Ashley with every passing day. How I ever thought she would be a thorn in my side, or more of a hassle than anything else, I don’t know. Her ideas are innovative, creative, and best of all, cost efficient.
And that’s just at work.
At home, or at least our temporary home, it’s even better. Our chemistry is off the charts. I’ve found myself laughing and having more fun with her than I’ve ever had with a woman who isn’t just a friend. I’m slowly letting myself believe I can truly have it all.
She hasn’t spent a night in “her” bedroom since that first night, and slowly her clothes are mixing with mine in the closet of my room. We’re together all day, every day, which could feel suffocating this early on, but instead it just feels normal. As if this is the way it was always meant to be, and the frustration and confusion we both were feeling before we gave in to our attraction was fate’s way of telling us to get it together and accept the inevitable.
She was meant for me.
She’s unleashed a side of me I didn’t really know existed, a side that thinks of romantic date nights, and that’s fixated on feelings and emotions, not just the physical chemistry. Unfortunately, along with the good comes the potentially bad. I can’t seem to accept the lack of certainty over her future. What happens when the tasting room is done? Will she stay, or is she headed back to the city? We seem to have come to an unspoken agreement not to talk about that yet, as if we both know what we have is too new, too fragile, to face that conversation. But it has to happen, and soon. Because I’ve started thinking ahead to things I want to do with her in the spring and summer. I can see her walking with me through the vines, caring for the grapes, having a picnic with one of the first bottles of wine I’ll make here.
