Love in the Vineyard (Tavonesi #7)(32)
But until he’d met Natasha he’d never known the feeling.
He’d only felt anything similar when playing hard in the flow of a hot polo match or when he’d made a great business deal.
But the flame Natasha ignited made all of those move one step down. One very, very big step down. And the feelings he had when around her didn’t feel like a flow. He felt captured. A web of energy had spun around him, into him, and he didn’t know where he ended and the energy began. He felt arrested, as though a hole had been punched into the fabric of reality and he’d fallen into a world that was just as crazy-making as people in love had reported. He’d never believed the reports. But for the past week he hadn’t been able to think straight. He’d flubbed the numbers for the irrigation order. He’d never done anything like that. He’d made a wrong turn off the freeway and ended up on a back road.
He didn’t make wrong turns.
Yet it was more than infatuation. He knew that feeling. What he felt for Natasha ran deep. Shook him. Made him think about his life differently. Hell, he imagined having a family with Natasha. Imagined what their children would look like.
And yet he hadn’t even slept with her.
If her behavior the previous night was any indication, he never would. They’d kissed once, when he’d dropped her at that damned café. After that, after she all but shooed him away, he’d considered following her to learn where she lived, to make sure he could find her again if she didn’t answer his calls. But she’d waited to see him go off in the limo, and he couldn’t tell the driver to circle back and follow her. He’d be stalking her. And the fact that he’d considered stalking her was a horrifying revelation.
He downed a quick espresso in his still-unfinished kitchen. Maybe he’d grab breakfast on the road before heading to the vineyard. Maybe he’d—
His phone chimed. He glanced at the screen.
Blair.
What the hell was Blair doing calling him? He hadn’t seen her since the polo match in the Hamptons.
“I’m on my way,” she said cheerily.
“Pardon me?”
“To Casa del Sole. Didn’t Coco tell you?”
“No.”
“Well, I am. Zoe’s determined for me to play in the match tomorrow and Coco wants my opinion of her calendar boys. And I want you to give me a proper tour of your new vineyard. Who knows, maybe I’ll buy one up there. I’m loving the country feel of this county.”
Blair.
An unstoppable force if ever there was one. He’d dated her for a while when she’d lived in Rome. Their families were sure they were perfect for each other.
But his mother had known otherwise.
Before she’d died she’d told Adrian to wait for the one. But when he’d asked how he’d know, his mother had only said he would.
Clearly the one wasn’t Blair. If his feelings for Natasha told him anything, it was that he’d made the right decision cutting things off with Blair. She’d moved on, he’d heard. She was dating a member of the royalty in Monaco. But if she was thinking of moving to Sonoma, maybe that affair had ended. Maybe she had some idea that he and she could start up again.
He checked the time. “I can take you around this morning.”
It was the last thing he needed, but she was a long-time friend of his sister’s, so he couldn’t be rude. Better for her to get a sense of the particulars of the wine business before she had her people phone the nearest real estate agent and get her a roster of vineyards for sale.
“Fabulous. I’m dying to see you.”
“But, Blair—”
“I know, you don’t have to say it. But I’m glad we can be friends. You’ll always be special to me, Adrian. I’ll see you in half an hour.”
She didn’t wait for his response before ending the call.
“I love this kitchen,” Blair exclaimed. “It’s like an old Italian farmhouse only with all the conveniences of modern life. I’ll never understand why you didn’t just continue living here. But then, I haven’t seen your new place.”
“You try living under the same roof with a parent,” Adrian said dryly.
Blair laughed. “Point taken.”
She opened the double doors of the Sub-Zero refrigerator and sighed. “Do you have any idea what it has taken for me to renovate the place my grandfather left me?”
Adrian shook his head and couldn’t help but smile. Projects that required that one keep track of details were not Blair’s strong suit.
“No, you wouldn’t. Nightmare. A raging and complete nightmare. We had to take out walls to put in plumbing and heating.” She closed the stainless steel doors and spun toward him. “But the old house looks marvelous, even if it has been a headache.” She waved her arm through the air, and the diamonds on her bracelets caught the sun. “I’m dying to see this garden Coco told me about.”
He had trouble imagining Blair as a farmer. As a vintner. It was likely a fancy that would pass soon enough.
He held the door to the garden for her. “Right this way.”
“My goodness—it’s huge!”
She slipped on the tile on the back terrace, and he caught her arm. He tried to talk her out of touring the vineyard in spiked sandals, but that warning fell flat.