Love and Chaos: A Growing Pains Novel (18 page)

She walked across the grand room, a flurry of tingles bursting in her stomach as he straightened up when she neared. Focusing on her breath, she matched his pace up the corridor.

“Are you going to tell me what was up in the car?” Cassie spied the others
in a reserve tasting room at a smallish counter in an offshoot on the side. “Wow, going big, huh?”

“Do you have the funds?” Jace glanced down at her. “Is Peter not paying for you?”

“What? Oh.” She waved the thought away. “I don’t know. I’m fine.”

“Hurry up.” Demetri slid down the counter
, shoving Nick, making room for the newcomers. “We’re already done with the first glass.”

Cassie stepped up to the counter and an empty wine glass. A smiling man waited for Jace to assume his position
in front of his own empty glass, before pouring a white wine.

“We’re doing the gamut,” Nick filled them in, looking around Demetri.

Cassie nodded, swirled the two or so ounces, took a big sniff and sipped. The liquid assaulted her taste buds and scratched its way down the back of her tongue. Her glands felt like they were reeling from a dose of lemons.

“Yikes. That’s…” Cassie took another sip, trying not to make
a face.

Jace watched her with a half grin. “Good?”

“What do you think?” Jenn stepped away from the counter so she could see Cassie’s face.

“Um…” Cassie had one more sip to finish the sa
mple. No sense wasting it. “It kind of makes you lose an eye, doesn’t it?”

Everyone else glanced her way. “What’s that mean?” Rachel asked.

“Lose an eye. When you taste it, you make this expression—“ Cassie made a face like she was sucking a lemon, her grimace accented with one eye squeezed shut in agony.

All the onlookers, except the less than enthused pourer, started to laugh. Two camera phones came up, pointed at her.

Jace stuck his head next to her, his heat on her back even though they weren’t touching, his smell in her senses. She vaguely heard him rumble, “Photo bomb.” She tried to ignore it with everything she had, but her legs started to get wobbly and her stomach wanted to upchuck.

She reached out to grab the counter as the next wave of wine was poured into her glass. Her body became acutely aware of
Jace’s large frame next to her. Of his strength and power and his movements. Of how masculine he could make swirling a glass of wine and drinking it.

“Talent,” she muttered.

“What’s that?” he asked, slightly leaning in to hear.

“What about the red?”
Jenn asked Rachel.

Rachel shrugged. “It’s okay. Peter? Cassie?”

“Are we invisible?” Nick asked, his fingers touching his chest to indicate who he was talking about in case no one caught his meaning.

“No, you just never have a real opinion,”
Jenn explained.

“It’s okay.” Demetri shrugged and downed his glass.

Jenn gave Nick a look that said, “
See?”

“Talent,” Cassie answered Jace, focusing to clear the crazy thoughts in her head. “Making this wine tasting deal look all macho.”

“
Macho, macho man!”
Demetri sang. “
I wanna be a macho man.”

“
Is that what you’re saying, Cassie?” Nick held his camera at her face with a straight arm. Demetri brought his up to mimic is brother. “That he’s
gay?
As in, village people
gay?”

Peter lost his smile.
Jenn turned to the counter and asked for the next pour.

“Cute,” Jace growled.

“Are you saying the Village People are his idol?” Nick pushed, tapping the face of his phone with his thumb to click pictures.

“I think this one is pretty good,” Rachel answered
Jenn. “Might buy it.”

“What?” Demetri lost interest in mocking Jace and refocused on the wine. “Are you trying to spend my money, honey dearest?”

“
My
money. This is payment for wiping your kids’ asses all day for five years.” Rachel motioned she was ready for the next pour.

“Now,
this
varietal,” the pourer began.

Cassie tuned him out, immediately. She’d been wine tasting a few times—learning about the rain, how the wine got its name, or
the batch size didn’t interest her. Basically, if it tasted good enough, she’d buy it. If not, she’d still drink it, and then move on.

Since most of the others were being polite, she turned to Jace. His gaze left the tasting attendant and found her. “What was up with the car ride? And why are you suddenly thawing out again?”

Wariness crept over Jace’s expression. “I thought I’d let Peter speak to his girlfriend. But when he left you…” Jace turned back to his wine, drained it, and held it up for the next pour.

The employee pursed his lips. Obviously he thought this group wasn’t respecting the wine as they ought. Too snobby, this guy. No fun.

“How you treated me in the limo was kind of a dick thing to do.” Cassie hated the wobble in her voice. She hated the trickle of insecurity that had her armpits sweating and her face going red.

She flicked her hair and turned to her tasting of wi
ne with an air of importance—that’d throw any observers off the trail.

“What do you want me to do?” Jace asked in a low tone she could barely hear. “
I’m the brother of your boyfriend. Why is it my obligation to entertain you?”

“Oh, just shut up.”
She didn’t plan on letting him win an argument through logic.

She drank her wine and looked to the others.
“Where are we? Which wine are we on?”

They finished that tasting, purchased
a few bottles, and then took a quick saunter around the beautiful gardens. As expected of a tourist attraction, not one blade of grass was out of place. The roses were pruned to perfection, the pathways delicately packed dirt, and the bushes round and green. The trees leading up the golden hill behind them, wild and untouched by rows of grapes as of yet, provided a beautiful contrast. Even if her magazine didn’t use any of the picture she snapped—and they probably wouldn’t—she wanted this memory. She wanted to look back on this place—it was that beautiful.

When they got to the front of the house, the others wandered toward the limo to stow their purchase
s, leaving Cassie to get a few pictures of the super cool house.

“I’d love to get married here,” she muttered to herself, glancing off to the right side of the grounds w
here a cultivated path led to a beautiful little gazebo surrounded by roses.

“I did, too.”

Startled, Cassie realized Jace was again waiting nearby, hands in the pockets, watching her do her thing.

“Jesus, Jace. I love your company and all, but it’s not like I’m going to lose the giant black car amongst all this grass. It stands out a little. And
between the one driveway, my detective skills, and my current sobriety, I doubt I’ll get lost.”

“Are you done?”

“Don’t rush me. I want a picture of that gazebo. If I can find someone to marry me, I’ll be dragging him up here.”

“I meant…are you don
e with your rant?”

Cassie let her eyebrows form a flat line above her eyes. “Don’t try to get cute.”

“How could I? I’m too busy being macho.”

Cassie snapped off a couple pictures of that gaz
ebo before turning toward the limo. “You are revolving personalities today.”

Jace lost the hint of smile. He glanced away from her to the gazebo. What he said
earlier came back to her.

“What do you mean, you did, too? You did what? Want to get married here? Does she not want to?”

Jace gave Cassie a stare so hard her spine started to tingle in a warning. Danger licked her senses, his large body poised just ten feet away, like he would rush her.

Strangely, the warmth spreading over her wasn’t fear. It was excitement. Lust and desire took over,
wanting
his power to rush her. To take her. To overcome her in his need and push into her body with reckless abandon.

“Oh holy moly,” Cassie muttered, wiping the back of her hand across her moist forehead. She probably scrubbed off her makeup with that move.

She turned away, but that gaze was still there, cutting into her. She could feel it, ripping her open and consuming what it found. Trapping her and reeling her in. Claiming her with steel hands.

The metaphors were endless on this one.

“Gotta get back.” She dropped her phone into her satchel with great care, her hands shaking so bad to touch him she was afraid she’d drop it.

“No.” The word held anger, but also earthshattering pain, rough and bleeding. “She didn’t want to get married here.
Dead set against my wishes. And then, when I found her fucking my best friend, she said she would, just to keep me from leaving. She thought the wedding location would be enough—that that would cover up all the shit she’d done to me. That she still does to me, when I think of her.”

Dawning happened slowly, eroding what she thought she knew into a new r
eality. She turned to him on wooden legs, her chest on fire, her eyes wide. “You’re not with her anymore?” she breathed.

His smoldering gaze locked onto hers. The world dropped away—
all she could focus on were those beautiful brown eyes with the golden burst in the middle wrapped in lush, deep brown lashes. Her groin tingled in expectation; her heart lurched in adrenaline-coated fear.

The fact that this could be doable, that he could be available, had all sorts of random insecurities and anxious second-guessing jockeying for attention in her brain. She went from completely and utterly infatuated to a crazy head case chick
, in the space of five seconds.

You just found the answer to why you are still single, Cassie. Myste
ry solved.

“No. At some point, you have t
o try and retain a little pride,” he answered.

A million comments sprinted through her head. A million little ticks of his head and ang
les of his body. His hesitation. His open regard for her. His battles.

One of the roadblocks had been stripped away, and she was terrified
of what lay on the other side. Terrified of realizing that these feelings she’d been having around him were actually real. That they were as deep as she suspected, rooted way down in a place hard to eradicate. That she would shove her baggage on him, and her insecurities, and chase him away, like she’d done to everyone else.

All this, and she didn’t eve
n know for sure he even liked her.
That’s
how crazy-town the prospect of real love made her.

“Time to get back,” he
growled.

“Yup. Excellent point. Great idea.” She waited for him to walk away so she could get her crap in order. She needed to calm down a minute—let the universe realign.

Because, really, there was still that roadblock with Peter. With the worry that his coming
out
would strip away his family. And these people were so great, and so fun—she’d hate to lose them if she was Peter. In fact, she’d be his pretend girlfriend for life, just so she could participate in their family time.

So, really, she was still safe. She still had a pretty immovable buffer. And now she could touch Jace more
, since she wouldn’t be hurting anyone—Peter certainly didn’t care, and there was no longer a woman in the picture. She just had to make sure it was friendly, and not, say, cupping his bulge.

Giggling to herself at that last thought, she came out of her head space and noticed
that Jace still stood where he had been a second ago, staring at her.

“You and the staring. What, do you expect me to break into song or something?” she asked, starting toward the car. “And why are you loitering around me all the time? You don’t have to wait for me.”

“If someone didn’t monitor you, you’d stand in one spot, chewing on your lip and daydreaming all day. I’m herding you.” Wariness had crept into his eyes—probably for her own revolving personalities that easily scared the most steadfast of men—but the aching hurt in his growl from earlier had lightened. He must’ve tucked it away, like she had her own crazy.

Two psychos hanging out together. What could go wrong?

They headed to a town called Healdsburg for the next winery, and would be staying in that area for the rest of their trip. Since it w
as a couple towns away, and those towns were pretty spread out, it took about a half hour to reach their destination. Within that time, Rachel and Jenn forced champagne on Cassie by yelling that she needed to let her hair down. Apparently she was not consuming alcohol fast enough.