Page 71 of Legs

Slowly, she nodded. Slowly, apprehension fisted my gut. When she didn’t elaborate, I said, “I don’t follow.” I didn’t want to follow. There was a feral look about her, like she was cornered, no escape in sight.

I stood bare chested and queasy, her khaki shorts and white T-shirt a preppy contrast to my ink. I should have been all over her, teasing her inner thighs with my fingers, getting her ready for me. Instead tension hung between us. And doom. I could sense it. Whatever she was about to say would be the final blow.

It was a sucker punch.

“Your father has been exercising at my gym. For a while. I didn’t know who he was,” she added quickly, talking over herself. “I swear, I didn’t know. Then he was there today with your mother, and they admitted who they are. They are so torn up and sorry and want to make amends. Which means you can’t do this thing. You can’t destroy them and the winery. They want you to run it again, with your brother.”

The room swayed. Rachel knew my fucking parents and wanted me to work with them like nothing had happened? Like they hadn’t committed fraud and booted me from their lives? A sharp pang slammed into my ribs, worse than sparring at the gym. How could she be on their side after everything I’d told her? Unless she’d been lying this whole time, toying with me.

My mind stilled. Eerily, almost. Something shifted, a sinking feeling that had me reliving the shittiest day of my life. The day Sophia had turned down my proposal.

I stepped back from Rachel, bile building. “You’re telling me you’ve spent time with my parents and didn’t tell me? That you didn’t realize who they were?” Lies. Lies. Lies.

She sniffled. “No. I mean, yes…just your father at first, but he didn’t—”

“You know the people who ruined my life, and you never mentioned it? Until what? Until you knew my actions would ruin their winery?” Until she realized what she’d lose. I barely recognized my voice—flat and detached, listing my thoughts as they formed. The pieces of her story slotted into place, taunting me with the truth.

I’d misjudged a woman again.

Calmness weighted my bones, a sudden quiet. Like my heart had simply stopped. “How long have you been planning this?”

She squinted at me. “Planning what?”

She was good, I’d give her that. I gestured wildly, one hand slashing through the air. “This. I mean, I swear to God, Rachel, you certainly had me fooled. Because that’s what I do, I guess. Too damn trusting, like my grandfather. I just never fucking learn.”

She reached out, but something in my glare had her yanking her hand back. “You’re not making sense, but whatever you think I did, you’re wrong. I’d never hurt you. I…” Her brow crumpled. “I love you.”

I winced, her words another harsh blow. God, how I’d wanted to tell her the same. Before her deception. Before my life came crashing down. “Bullshit,” I said.

Her skin paled. “Excuse me?”

“Bullshit. Our relationship has been nothing but lies.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Did that soccer ball hit you in the head?”

Her vehemence was a dagger in my heart, her deception suddenly clear. My body still craved her, needed her in a visceral way, one touch able to dull my turmoil, one kiss obliterating everything but us. It was all poison now.

There was nothing left to do but end this madness.

“You can stop pretending, because I get it—your glorious deceit.” The timbre of my voice dropped, roughened with resentment. “You’ve been after a winery gig since before I met you. You somehow realized who I was at that first bar and thought you maybe had an in. Even asked me to give you a winery if you won our blind tasting. The idiot I am, I didn’t clue in. Thought you were joking around. Looks like the joke’s on me.”

The scenes flipped through my mind, faster and faster. A wildfire surging. My accusations rose with the flames. “You worked me over, had me falling over myself to be with you, while you got to know my parents. You convinced them to let me back in the family business, so you’d end up sitting pretty, working the job you’d always wanted, the prestige of Offshoot Winery putting dollar signs in your eyes. I get it, Rachel. I fucking get it now. It’s pretty smart, actually. Con the broken man with promises of love and affection. It’s all so fucking clear.”

I hadn’t just misjudged her; I didn’t know her at all. And I’d fallen hard. Harder than for Sophia, by a landslide, leaving me lied to and used again, treated like I was a means to an end.

I was an idiot.

Her eyes sparked, the innocence I loved darkened with malice. She poked a furious finger at my chest. “How dare you.”

I snorted, done with her lies. “Pretty sure I’m not the one in the wrong here.”

“Unbelievable.” She shook her head, like I was the traitor. “Did Sophia mess you up this badly? Are you so oblivious you think I’ve been hatching some secret plan to take over your winery? That’s beyond ridiculous.”

“What’s ridiculous is that I let myself be fooled again.”

She flung her arms in the air. “You’re a fool, all right. And an asshole. I made that winery crack at The Blue Door because Cameron mentioned something about it to Gwen. I didn’t know your name then, didn’t have a clue who you were. I can’t even believe what I’m hearing.”

“Enough,” I bellowed, the sound like a hammer on a bell.