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Sherry held up the very pinky she broke all those years ago.
“Are you serious?” We hadn’t done pinky swear in years.
She didn’t drop her hand, so I hooked my pinky with hers, kissed my thumb, then spit off to the side just as Sherry did the same.
“If I knew twenty-five years ago we’d still be doing this, I would have left out the spitting part,” I said.
“It is pretty gross, but it’s our seal, and you did it. So you better—”
“I will tell you if at any point I am not okay because your brother gave me a platonic kiss that meant absolutely nothing.” I believed my words, but as they left my mouth, a bit of guilt plummeted into my gut.
But I kept a poker face, and when Sherry nodded, I exhaled in relief.
“I’ll meet you at your place then,” Sherry said before taking off toward the building.
I headed to my car when I heard my name echoed across the parking lot again. I turned as Odette hurried over.
“I wanted to let you know, I handled the situation.”
“Thank you, Odette. I appreciate it.” I went to continue on my way, but Odette shifted on her heel.
“Just because this kiss was nothing, doesn’t mean the others won’t be something.”
“Others?” I shook my head. “Odette, I’m not going to be kissing Nero again. It was a onetime thing and meant nothing.”
Odette smiled, her overly bright pink lips spreading wide. “I don’t know. There’s something in the air. I feel it.”
She pivoted on the ball of her foot and moseyed on back to the tasting room.
I glanced at the September sky and closed my eyes. And waited. For what, I wasn’t sure. A shift in the air. A flutter of a breeze that brought a sense of calm and hope. After a second, my lids popped open.
“I feel absolutely nothing,” I said and finally got in my car. I put my seatbelt on and started the engine. Instead of pulling right out of there, I waited another second, closed my eyes, and angled my head toward the sky.
Yup, nothing.
There was no shift in the universe because Nero’s lips touched mine for the first time. Everything was exactly the same. Despite the dreams of my fifteen-year-old self, Nero and I weren’t destined to be together. We weren’t written in the stars or whatever the fairytales said. No, we were nothing like that.
When it came to Nero, I would always just be his sister’s best friend.
My smile was big, charm turned on to a hundred, and the women in the tasting room were eating it up. I should’ve been happy as hell, but all I could think about was Lainey and her too soft lips. The way my hand molded to her generous hips. If I’d known she’d be a permanent fixture in my mind, I never would have kissed her. I would have kept my damn lips to myself, my hands firmly planted in my pockets, and got rid of that woman some other way.
Now I was stuck trying to get another woman out of my head, reminding myself she had been there all along, and the only reason I was even having x-rated thoughts about her was because of that kiss. But damn.
It was a good kiss.
I shook my head before my mind brought me down a path it shouldn’t go and grabbed the bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. The brunette in the too tight pants was waiting for her next tasting. With a quirk of my lip, I pushed the glass toward her.
“You’re all set,” I said.
She took a sip, slow and seductive, eyes holding mine as she pulled the glass from her mouth. “Yummy.”
“It’s one of our best sellers. The bottles are over there if you’d like to purchase one.” I pointed toward the nook dedicated to our product.
“Thank you.” The brunette took her glass and walked away, and I put the bottle back in its place.
My eyes drifted down and froze on a burn spot on my shirt. Shit. I knew I shouldn’t have gone into my workshop before my shift, but ever since Albert gave me the okay to get started on the secret project, I was eager and excited. I tucked the tail of my shirt into my pants. That should do.
“What the hell was that?” Rhone, my youngest brother, asked. He was helping behind the bar since we were shorthanded tonight. Normally he was in the facilities helping Franc make the wine.
