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Keys in hand, I led Thayle from the tasting room through a corridor toward the caves. It was one of the unique features of J. Saunders. The caves themselves were a sight. As we entered them, Thayle looked from side to side in awe.
“This is beautiful down here.”
I spied the door I’d been looking for. I opened it and led the way into the reserve room, flicking the light switch as I entered. Soft lighting from the chandelier suspended above a six-person table illuminated the room just enough. I shut the door. Put Jay’s keys on the table.
And pulled Thayle to me.
The first touch of our lips was everything I’d imagined it would be. She did not hesitate, opening to me as I greedily drank from her wine-tinged lips. Our tongues collided in a dance we both knew well, but one I’d never expected to engage in with her.
My hands cupped Thayle’s cheeks as she held on to my shoulders. At first our lips had moved relentlessly, needily. But now, at the realization that this woman was in my arms, I slowed things down, each stroke of my tongue deliberate. I wanted her breathless. Unable to think. Unable to reason. I wanted the taste of me to be something she would think of every second until we were alone again.
Having drawn out the kiss as long as I was able, hating that we needed to stop, I finally pulled away, though my hands remained in place. We gazed into each other’s eyes, years of longing having just been realized.
“How long?” I asked. She hesitated, so I asked her again. “How long, Thayle?”
A month? A year? Had she felt this way before she came to work at Grado?
“Since the moment I realized boys weren’t as gross as I thought.”
Normally, I’d have smiled at her jest, teased her back. But this wasn’t the time. Her lips still glistening with our first kiss, this was the time for answers. But the answer she’d just given me? Impossible.
“When?” I asked again, needing more.
“I was fifteen. You’d just been in the lake and had walked into the kitchen without a shirt. Your mom yelled at you for getting everything wet.”
Fifteen. That had been ten years ago. And I could tell from the look in Thayle’s eyes, she felt guilty about that. So I did the only thing I could think of to tell her it was okay. Better than okay.
I kissed her again. And groaned at the sheer pleasure of her lips. Of her revelation. In this instant, everything changed.
And I was here for it.
EIGHTEEN
thayle
“We haveabout a twenty-minute drive to Taughannock Falls. I added some ice to the cooler for waters,” Wayne said. “Can I get you two anything else in the meantime?”
“I think we’re good.” Neo placed a hand on Wayne’s shoulder. Neo’s genuine warmth toward other human beings was probably his most attractive feature. Or it had been. Before he kissed me. Now I think his lips—and his tongue—were my favorite things about him.
The man really, really knew how to kiss. I’d floated up from the wine cave, hardly heard a word Neo and Jay said afterwards, and was really glad I wasn’t meeting with anyone here. It had been a casual visit to an old friend, nothing more, thank God. Because if I’d had to string two thoughts together after that kiss, there was absolutely no way it would have happened.
When we climbed into the limo, I headed to my usual spot and was sorry that Neo did too. Because I’d been waiting for this, another opportunity to be alone. He sat back, took a sip of the leftover water in the cup beside him, and looked at me.
“So.”
“So,” I said, still getting over my mortification of having told him how long it had been since I’d first dreamed of being kissed by Antonio Grado. I’d wanted to ask him back, how long had it been for him? But I’d chickened out. “That was a...nice winery.”
Neo laughed, his chest reverberating with the deep sound. “Nice. Not sure I’d use that word exactly.”
“Which word would you use?”
He replaced the water, his forearm flexing as he did. “Perfect. Exciting. Exhilarating. Take your pick.”
He stood, crouched in the cramped limo. Was he coming to sit with me?
Nope. Instead, Neo kneeled in front of me, the floor of the limo giving him just enough space to do so.
Surely he wasn’t...
