Page 8 of Sigh of Relief

Archer Scott was exactly why he’d come back here. Why he’d suggested La Montagna Nebbiosa for his friends’ anniversary party last fall. Why, months before then, he had, for only the second time in his career, used his professional resources for personal reasons.

To find the man he’d locked eyes with fifteen years ago.

The man who’d only gotten hotter over the years, aging like the fine wine he tended. Archer was halfway to gray, his skin tan and wrinkled in all the best ways, and fuck if that same heated hazel gaze from a decade and a half ago hadn’t sparked into a flame last fall. Had made Elton think, Maybe now. The climate of hope then had made that maybe seem like a possibility. Four months later, that maybe felt like both an impossibility and an imperative, and that double-edged sword of uncertainty was making Elton doubt himself.

He didn’t like the feeling.

Gravel crunched under tires outside, and Elton temporarily shelved his doubts. He strolled to the open doorway just in time to see Noah climbing out of the Defender and into Ezra’s waiting Benz. They’d promised to bring his vehicle down before heading to the airport. “Thanks,” Elton called out. “Safe flight.”

“I made him promise to play nice,” Ezra said, aiming a pointed look at Archer before laughing and tearing back down the road.

“You didn’t want to catch a ride back with them?” Elton asked.

“Why?” Archer jutted a thumb over his shoulder at the cozy-looking cottage on the banks of the lake, across the parking area from the barn. “That’s my place.”

“You stay here on the property?”

“I need to have my feet on it.” He scuffed his boots in the gravel. “My hands in the dirt,” he added with a clawing gesture.

Digging in.

Elton used to feel that way about his work. “I get it.”

“Good. You can get your hands dirty with me tomorrow, then.”

Elton’s brows raced north, chasing his non-existent hairline, and Archer laughed out loud as he carried Elton’s luggage toward the nearest set of closed barn doors. “Don’t worry, city boy. I’ll take care of you.”

“City boy?” Elton said, arms crossed.

“Your hands are soft, your designer boots are shiny, and there’s not a speck of dirt on your clothes or under your nails.” He unlocked the doors and pushed the luggage inside the guest suite Elton spied over his shoulder. When Archer turned back around, Elton’s entire world was reduced to twinkling hazel eyes. “Am I wrong?”

“I thought you were a winemaker, not an investigator.”

“I’m also a farmer and all we do is solve problems.”

Elton grinned. “Oh, so now I’m a problem?”

Archer tilted his head, as if considering. “Remains to be seen. Be ready tomorrow at six.” He skirted around Elton and out the door, headed for the ATV.

“Hey, Archer,” Elton called after him. “Thank you for today.”

The silver fox grinned and fuck if a dimple didn’t pop out beneath the gray scruff. “We’ll see if you’re still thanking me tomorrow.”

Chapter Five

Archer opened his front door and found a sexy man sitting in the halo of his porch light.

Elton was leaning back in a rocker, his booted feet propped on the porch rail, his long legs clad in worn denim, and yesterday’s dark trench traded for an insulated work jacket. He looked like he was ready for a day in the vineyard.

“I’m impressed,” Archer said, closing the door behind him.

Six was still a half hour off, but by the comfortable look of him, Elton had been wide awake and waiting for him for a while. And if the rich, chicory-laced aroma wafting from the mug in his hand was any indication, he’d also raided Ezra’s barn stash of overpriced coffee. “My life operates on DC time most days,” the assistant director said. “Whether I’m there or not.” He stretched an arm toward the floor on his other side and righted himself with a second mug. “For you.”

“Not gonna turn that down.” He sipped the pricey, delicious brew and let his gaze wander over the lake, then past the tree line to the morning sky that was beginning to lighten.

“So, what’s on the agenda today?” Elton asked.

“Pruning mostly, some irrigation work, maybe some blending. And goats.”