The Crush (Oregon Wine Country #1)(49)

Chapter Twenty-nine


Junie marveled at the pleasant sensation of a full stomach. She’d come to disassociate that gnawing feeling from its meaning, that she needed to stop her infernal striving and eat. At some point in the past few years, she had come to accept that empty feeling as normal.

Instead of cramming the second slab of buttered bread Manolo handed her into her mouth like she had the first, she took a breath, savoring the sweetness of the butter, the fragrant, fresh-baked goodness.

“You’re staring.”

“I like watching you eat.”

Her eyes crinkled at the corners. “You’re just a tease.”

“Not always.” He seemed intent on one thing and one thing only—filling her up.

“I was thinking of the day I made you eggs.”

“And I didn’t have any bread.”

“It took awhile. But I always knew there’d be a next time. Want what’s left of my pasta carbonara?” His hand was already poised to slide it across the table.

“Thanks.” She squelched a burp. “I’m good. Now, will you take me back to my place? Now that I don’t have to go in to Casey’s, I’d like to finish spraying.”

“Not yet.”

Whenever she was around Manolo, the air throbbed with his energy. She wasn’t the only one who felt it. He could work a room better than anyone she’d ever met. But there was something else. Something personal that only she felt. During the day, she could stuff it into some hidden recess of her mind. But that only forced it to seep out later, when she let her guard down. More than once since she’d met him, she’d sat up gasping for air, blushing in the dark from the explicit dream she’d been having about him.

Still. His ego was already big enough.

Besides, having a crush on someone and taking orders from him were two distinct things. “I’m perfectly capable of making my own decisions. I don’t need to be babysat.”

“I’m not into babies. I prefer big girls who can take care of themselves.”

She rejected the notion that he could be interested in her as anything other than another conquest.

No. She’d be safer keeping her feelings locked up inside where he couldn’t use them against her. Take advantage. And then disappear, like all the others.

“Dessert?” asked the server, offering two menus.

Junie gently pushed the menu away. “No, thanks.”

Manolo cracked his menu open to point to the picture of a decadent chocolate cake.

“We’ll have the No Really, Though cake and two forks.”

Junie raised her index finger. “One fork.”

When the server was gone, he looked at her approvingly. “Strong. That’s what I’m talking about.”

Oh, he was good. He knew just what she wanted to hear.

“How about a compromise? I’ll finish the spraying. You kick back the rest of the day.”

“And what about tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that? I could hand over all my chores to you. That still wouldn’t accomplish what needs done. Bottom line, it’s not working. Don’t get me wrong, the tasting room’s beyond gorgeous. The few tastings I’ve taken you to don’t begin to compare with what you’ve done for me. But I still don’t have enough customers.” She sighed and ran her hands through her hair. When they met with resistance, she tore out the elastic band that held her top knot and stretched it taut between her fingers. “I’ve got to think of something else by the crush. I don’t intend to lose a single vine to Tom Alexander.”

Manolo let his usual careless mask fall and softened his voice a notch. “I wish to hell you had told me you were going to that guy. I’m not made of money, but I’d have found it somehow.” He leaned in, resting his forearms on the table until their hands were almost touching. He looked down at where she fiddled with her elastic band and caught one edge of it with the first knuckle of his middle finger.

She tried not to notice their micro version of tug of war. But her traitorous finger parried with him against her will. “Aren’t you the one who told me my idea would never fly?”

“That was before I got to know you. Before I saw your grit. Found out how loyal your friends are. If you knew how many people in this town have your back . . .”

The band stretched more. “If I’d borrowed from you, I’d be in the same position, handing my property over to you if I default.”

“I never would have taken your vineyard as collateral. There are other ways to go about it. I could have invested in it as a silent partner. That way, you would still make all the important decisions.”

Junie’s eyes dipped down to the band, stretched to its limit between their fingers. “Well, it’s too late now.”

“It doesn’t have to be.”

Damn him, tempting her to hope.

“Have you noticed that out of all the wineries you’ve taken me to, the most crowded were the ones that had food?”

All at once, she made a face and folded her arms in open defiance. The elastic band sprang across the table.

The waiter set down a slab of the richest looking chocolate cake Junie had ever seen. “Here you are. One No, Really Though, one fork.”

Manolo took a giant bite. He swallowed and asked, “You want to be a point of destination for people? Feed ’em.” He dug in and held up another bite to illustrate his point, and then happily devoured it.