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Our eyes met.
He didn’t smile. Or frown. Or scowl. Lucas was utterly unreadable at that moment, and I got a glimpse of the warrior just then.
Which is why I could not have been more surprised when he said, “Done.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
charlee
“You did what?”
A wine-tasting brunch with Natalie and Zoe seemed like a good idea on Friday. But now, not so much.
We were seated on the deck of our favorite vineyard, the Grado Valley Wine Cellar, our wine choices having already been made. Not that we didn’t know all the wines by heart, but variety was the spice of life.
Or so they said.
With men, it seemed, I wanted less variety and more of the “ex-boyfriend, left for ten years, became an Army sniper with a razor-sharp edge sure to cut me” thing.
“That was bad, right?” I verified.
“Oh, dear Lord.”
That was Natalie.
“What in the ever-loving hell were you thinking?”
That was Zoe.
“You didn’t hear what he said,” I tried, knowing it wouldn’t make a lick of difference. I wasn’t some green girl who had no idea how to deal with men. How to set boundaries for how I wanted to be treated. Yet here I was, taking so much more from him than I ever had with any other man.
He’d dismissed me. Showed zero gentleness so far. Or willingness to meet me halfway. Either we went with his plan or. . . I was cut off. Never to be spoken to again.
At least, that’s how he’d made me feel. But instead of a firm “fuck you,” I’d literally agreed to his terms with nothing more than a promise for him to be a bit more candid. Big fat whoop-de-doo. He would probably continue to answer the questions he wanted to answer, evade the others, and drive me absolutely freaking wild in the process.
“Tell us,” Zoe said as our wine was put in front of us. Four samples each.
I was gonna need more than that. “I’ll just go ahead and order a glass of the Brooke Blend now,” I said, realizing the purpose of the tasting but knowing already what I wanted too. Again, like my men.
Perry, the tasting attendant, knew us well. “Three Brooke Blends?”
“Ahh, what the hell, why not,” Natalie said.
It was a perfect fall day for wine tasting and ruining your life.
“He said. . .” I thought back, wanting to get it exact. “‘Let’s just say. . . there is a side to me that is very comfortable outside the limits of societal acceptance.’”
At least my friends had the good grace to appreciate that one.
“Okay then.” Zoe picked up her first wine. “I get it. Cheers.” She didn’t even wait for the two of us.
“The very first sign of a masculine alpha and you fold like a lawn chair?” Natalie asked Zoe.
“Yup.”
I loved that she was completely unapologetic. Natalie looked at me. I picked up the same tasting glass as Zoe.
“Also yup,” I said.
