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I hung up and looked at her. Thayle then promptly threw her arms around me. It wasn’t unusual. Something she often did in a situation like this. But as I returned the celebratory hug, I couldn’t help but think it felt different. I let myself notice her breasts pressed against my chest. Even squeezed her a bit, suppressing a groan at the touch, at the smell of her.
The embrace went on for much longer than it should have. If there was any doubt after that morning about our attraction to one another, there wasn’t any longer. We pulled away finally, but I could sense her reluctance to do so.
Could I have been that wrong, all this time, about how Thayle felt about me? It seemed implausible. And yet...
“Congratulations,” she said. “This is so exciting.”
“Agreed, though it’s just step one. Now we have to get her to like and review the wine.”
“She will,” Thayle said, leaving no room for doubt. “I guarantee it.”
I appreciated her confidence in my winemaking abilities, even if it might not be warranted. The odds that she would have chosen one of our wines, over all the others she could have tasted in the Finger Lakes, for a review and feature...well, it felt like a miracle. But what were the odds her review would be a good one? While a good review would put Grado on the map, a bad one wouldn’t do us any favors at all.
“Let’s get back so we can start those celebrations Min was talking about,” I proposed to Thayle, allowing myself to flirt with her a bit. “I hope you’re not tired today, because we are celebrating.”
“Me tired? I was born to party.”
Which was true. Thayle could hang with the best of them.
“A celebration. A truth or dare. I’m looking forward to the rest of the day,” I said, holding the door open for her.
Thayle looked at me as she walked past. Gone was the poker face or sisterly smile. Instead, Thayle offered a look that held promise. One that didn’t refute my words, but in fact, challenged me to follow through on my promise.
Suddenly I couldn’t give a shit about Fox Hill’s chardonnay. I was ready to get this night started. I was ready to make some really bad decisions.
TWELVE
thayle
I lookedin the mirror as if the person staring back was someone other than me. Someone who I could ask for advice. Someone who had more knowledge and experience, or at least who was more worldly.
I’d lived in Kitchi Falls all my life. The only vacations I’d ever taken were with the Grados. I was observant, and fairly good at listening to others, which helped. I’d listened to Mr. and Mrs. Grado’s advice to their children. I’d listened to Dorothy and Rich, who’d worked in a service industry all their lives and had met more people than me. But still, everything I’d learned, I’d learned in the same little town. The only broader perspective I’d achieved had come from books, but that wasn’t going to help me here.
If I had a mother, I’d call her now. Ask her what to do. Tell her, that for the first time in my entire life, the man I loved had shown the teeniest bit of interest in me. And while it was exciting, it was terrifying too. The thought of ruining my relationship with the Grado family if this went south, of betraying Min’s trust in me as her best friend...it was what had kept me, all these years, from doing precisely what I had this afternoon.
I’d flirted with Neo.
And he’d flirted back. The spa, the looks, the hug. I knew him. Neo had never, ever looked at me like that before. Which was all fine and dandy, but now what?
I took an extra-long time to get ready, having packed a few nicer outfits knowing how the Grados rolled. They liked good food, and I’d been certain we’d be eating at a few nicer places. Staring back at me now was a pretty girl, not model stunning orturn guys’ heads on the streetgorgeous, but pretty enough. And on the inside too. I cared about people. I truly did. Which was why it pained me to know that once I went out there, I’d never be able to hold back. There would be no putting the genie back in the bottle.
I looked at my phone. The lock screen stared back at me, which I’d customized with an inspirational quote knowing full well how horrible I was at making decisions.When faced with a decision, choose the path that feeds your soul.
There was no real reason to look at it. I knew the words by heart. And if I were to follow the advice of people wiser than me—the words staring at me from the screen—there was only one real choice here.
Especially when Neo had strolled out of the bathroom earlier in a pair of pants and no shirt. I was certain then he’d been taunting me. Twice now, he’d forgotten to take his clothes with him to shower. Plus, the look he’d given me as we’d passed each other earlier had been anything but innocent.
Here goes nothing.
I opened the door to the room.
The first thing I saw was Neo literally bent over, giving me a full view of the most incredible ass known to womankind. He picked up a room key card, stood, and turned. He didn’t hide his slow perusal of me in my black dress with long, sheer sleeves and a hem that fell halfway down my upper thigh. He looked down to my strappy heels and then back to my face. “Holy fuck, Thayle.”
I tried to play it off as if his words were no big deal. “You clean up nice yourself.”
This time, unfortunately, there were no rolled sleeves. Neo wore a button-down and navy blazer, his jet-black hair, like that of all the Grados, playing off his white shirt quite nicely. His hair was freshly washed and dried, though he hadn’t shaved tonight.
Had he remembered me saying, on more than one occasion, I thought five-o’clock shadows were sexy as hell?
