Beauty from Pain (Beauty, #1)(31)

She frowns and shrugs. “I didn’t bring the right kind of shoes or clothes for working out. Plus, you don’t have the right kind of equipment for what I do, so I think I’ll take a shower and get ready.”

“Okay, but I’m installing a pole in the gym.” Or maybe the bedroom. I haven’t decided.

She smiles and dismisses my statement with the wave of her hand as she walks toward the bedroom. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever.”

She thinks I’m kidding, but she’ll see I’m not.

Time passes quickly while I do my workout; I can’t stop replaying the last twenty hours in my head. Paige is so different from the others, but in the most spectacular ways.





15

Laurelyn Prescott

The shower is huge and there’s plenty of room for two people. Somewhere not too far in the back of my mind I hope Lachlan joins me, but I don’t expect him to. He’ll be working out for a while. No one has a body like that without spending a lot of time in the gym.

The hot water feels glorious—I’m a little sore today. Because of my usual workout regimen, it’s hard to put me in many positions that will stress my muscles, so props to Lachlan for achieving that.

When I finish in the shower, I linger a little longer. Just in case. When he doesn’t come into the shower with me, I’m a little disappointed, but I don’t dwell on it. We have until he leaves for his parents’ house tomorrow.

I get ready and dress casually since I think we’re staying at the vineyard today. I guess I should’ve asked, but I didn’t, so I choose faded denim shorts and a solid ivory tank. Maybe it’s a little over the top, but I finish the ensemble off with my brown cowgirl boots.

I’m braiding my hair when he comes into the bathroom and we both smile when our eyes meet in the mirror. He’s shirtless and glistening with sweat. Damn, if I hadn’t just showered. “Someone had a productive workout.”

He stands with his hands on his hips, a towel thrown over one shoulder. “I did, thanks to you. I couldn’t stop thinking about yesterday and last night, so time got away from me.”

“You don’t look very happy about it.”

“That’s because I wanted to catch you still in the shower.”

“I stayed in a long time because I was hoping you would, but you didn’t, so I gave up on you.”

He walks toward me and I hold up a hand to stop him. “Nope. Too late now, caveman.”

“Okay. Later then.” He smiles and drops his sweaty bottoms to the floor before he kicks them toward a hamper and gets into the shower. Steam immediately billows into the space. “I have some vines I need to check today. Do you want to go out with me to see how they’re doing?”

“I’d love to. There’s not a problem, is there?”

“I hope not, but that’s why I’m going out to check.”

It feels like a sauna in here and I have to get out. How can he stand the water so hot after a workout? “Okay. I’ll wait for you in the living room.”

I’m watching some kind of Australian Christmas special when he plops on the couch beside me. He’s wearing khaki cargo pants and a fitted navy V-neck T-shirt. I can see a few sparse hairs peeking over the V’s point, but I know there’s more underneath and think about how I ran my hands over them last night.

Oh, my. He’s a fine specimen of a man. Very fine indeed.

He puts his hand on my leg and massages it. “Ready?”

“Whenever you are.”

He stops by the refrigerator as we pass through and grabs a couple of bottled waters. “It’s going to be a hot one and we could be gone for a while. It’s probably not a bad idea to take a cold drink.”

He grabs his Indiana Jones hat from the hook as we’re on our way out the door. I shake my head because I can’t believe the good-looking suit can also be rugged sexiness on a stick. No man should be this desirable.

I follow him to the ATV garage and he gases up before we drive out to what must be the edge of the property. He parks and walks over to a vine, lifting it for inspection. He puts his hand up and motions for me. “Come here, Paige. I want to show you this.”

I walk over and he points to a section on the vine. “I came to this vineyard for a very specific reason. The acidity of the soil and this particular type of grape are no longer compatible. The quality of the grapes is deteriorating. That means the quality of the wine is as well, so I’m grafting a different variety onto the existing rootstock. If it doesn’t reject the change, there will be a more compatible grape growing on these vines within two years.”

The process sounds similar to skin grafting. “Is it working?”

“It’s still too early to tell, but it’s doing well so far.”

He releases the vine and we walk back to the ATV. “I’ve never really thought about all that goes into making wine. It seems like it’s a very complicated and demanding business.”

“It can be.”

“I see why your boss pays you well. You’re very good at what you do. Did you learn all of this at the university where Ben attends?”

“No. I learned from growing up around it and then I went to another university to learn what I needed to know about the business part of the industry, but that’s been many moons ago.”