Red Red Wine (Tastes of Seduction) (17 page)

“Just Maurice. And only after he’s had water.”

“Brindle or brown?”

“Brown. You like boxers?”

“I like dogs. I have one of my own. Bruiser.”

“Don’t tell me. He’s a German shepherd?”

Andrew grinned and shook his head.

“Rottweiler?”

“Nope.”

“Bull mastiff?”

“He’s a dachshund.”

She burst out laughing. “You named a sausage dog Bruiser?”

“I don’t think he’s pure dachshund. I suspect he may have some Maltese poodle mixed in there somewhere.”

She laughed even harder. “How big is your Bruiser?”

He held his hands about forty centimeters apart. “This long.” Then he narrowed the gap significantly. “And this high.”

“Where did you get him?”

“Someone I work with found him wandering the streets near our offices. He must have been three or four months old. His ribs were sticking out, and I doubt he’d eaten in days. He was pretty damn pathetic.” Andrew had taken one look at the bedraggled animal with huge, sad eyes, and the rest was history. “I guess I kind of took a liking to him.”

She studied him with a warm smile. “And the name? Where’s that from?”

“Hey, the little guy was scrawny as. He needed a strong name. Something to live up to, you know?”

“And does he? Live up to his name?”

“Oh, hell yeah. He licks my face so hard, he leaves marks.”

She snorted. “Where is he now?”

“Staying at my neighbors. Little devil has them wrapped around his paw.”

“He has you wrapped too, from the sound of things.”

“He’s a cool dog. Chewed his way through a sofa, six different shoes and one kitchen cabinet, but cool nevertheless. Where are your guys while you’re here?”

“I have a sitter who looks after them. She moves in, so the dogs don’t get too unsettled.” Tori’s face fell. “I need to let her know I’ll be home sooner than planned. Declan and I were going to stay here until Friday, have a little honeymoon.”

“Ah, sweetheart. You just got sad again.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t seem to help it. My moods are crazy, swinging from one extreme to the other.” She closed her eyes, and for long moments Andrew left her to the thoughts.

“Wanna know what else is crazy?” she said finally.

“Tell me.”

“I was supposed to be walking down the aisle in about twelve hours’ time. Supposed to be saying my vows this afternoon.”

“That is kind of crazy.”

She sighed heavily. “It’s going to be a very, very long afternoon.”

It would be. A hellish afternoon. Unless… “Seems to me you’re going to need something to take your mind off it. Find another way to occupy yourself.”

She looked at him with eyes as sad as Bruiser’s had been that first day. “Got any suggestions?”

He smiled at her. “As a matter of fact…”

And that was how Tori found herself elbow deep in chocolate, marshmallows and coconut at the very time she was supposed to pledge herself to Declan. Instead of saying “I do”, she told Andrew to hold still as she poured the rocky road mixture into a pan he held.

The peanut brittle they’d made first had already set and was waiting to be broken into pieces and packed away in plastic bags. Well, what was left of it, anyway. Andrew had scarfed half of it already.

Initially, she’d resisting joining him at the candy-making course. It had seemed inappropriate to go out and enjoy herself at such a time. But Andrew had pointed out that the only inappropriate thing that had happened this weekend was Declan’s poor judgment. Plus, he’d convinced her if anyone needed a little sugar in her life, it was Tori.

It wasn’t just the lollies that put a smile on Tori’s face. It was Andrew too. He made her laugh, helped her see the humor in everything they did. She’d laughed constantly as they’d cooked and created.

Soon as the mixture was poured, he set the pan on the table, wiped a smudge of chocolate off her cheek and popped his finger in his mouth, licking it clean.

“Andrew,” she chided, “there are people around.”

“No one you know. Besides, chocolate never tasted so good. Wait. You have another bit…just here.” He leaned in and kissed her upper lip, dragging his tongue along its length.

Tori’s body heated instantly.

He drew back and licked his own lips. “Mmm, delicious.”

She frowned at him.

“Bet I know what you’re thinking now.” His smile was one of pure mischief.

“Bet you don’t,” she grouched, fully aware her nipples had puckered beneath her apron. She grabbed the pan and walked to the industrial-size fridge, setting the chocolate treat on one of the shelves.

She’d barely gotten the door closed before Andrew murmured in her ear from behind. “You’re thinking how grateful you are that I haven’t confiscated today’s knickers.”

She set her hands on her hips and turned to glare at him, because that was exactly what she’d been thinking.

Andrew grinned and added, “Yet.”

“You’re incorrigible.”

“And you’re horny,” he whispered.

“Maybe.” She bit her lip to stop from smiling. “What are you gonna do about it? There’s a room full of people standing behind you.”

“Now? Nothing. But the second we get back in the car, those knickers are mine.”

Of course he was right. Tori arrived at the vineyard without her panties.

And late that night—as they once again shared his bed—instead of celebrating her wedding night, Tori learned that homemade rocky road and peanut brittle tasted best when eaten directly off a man’s naked body and swallowed down with a sip of red wine.

On Sunday morning, Tori waved goodbye to her parents, her sister, her brother-in-law, her nephew and her best friend. Apart from the late nights and the few stolen daylight hours yesterday with Andrew, she’d spent every waking moment with them. But now she needed her space.

It had taken a while, but she was finally able to convince them to go home and give her this last day to herself. Her mother left only after promising to fill her fridge with food so Tori wouldn’t need to worry about cooking for the rest of the week. And her father swore to change the locks so Declan couldn’t access the house without her express approval.

Unquestionably, she had the best parents ever. Correction: the best family. And yeah, Andrew had been right. No matter how much chaos Declan had caused in her life, he hadn’t destroyed all her eggs. That bottom layer was indeed indestructible.

The one person she couldn’t convince she needed space from was Andrew. But then she didn’t try very hard. They spent the day together, touring vineyards, tasting wines, eating and laughing.

Tori discovered she laughed a lot when she was with him.

He’d somehow managed to wrestle a bicycle out of thin air for her, along with a helmet and other protective gear, and the two of them set off on a late-afternoon ride around the estate. Along the way, Andrew picked bunches of fat, ripe grapes from the vines. When they came to the pond and stopped to watch a family of ’roos resting on the other side, he fed the fruit to her, one grape at a time.

The sun set as they shared a bottle of red; and the world darkened around them as they enjoyed a second bottle. They made love in the gazebo one last time at midnight, laughing the whole way through the encounter. Well, right up until the end, at which point their laughter was replaced with soft moans and long sighs of rapture.

The rest of the night was spent in Andrew’s bed.

Hours after the sun rose, he ordered them breakfast in his room, and they ate it naked in bed, the sheets lying in piles on the floor.

He watched her, his face bemused, as Tori shoveled food into her mouth.

“For a thin girl, you sure do eat a lot.”

“Built up quite an appetite during the night,” she explained between mouthfuls. “Besides, you never fed me dinner. I’m starving.”

“I never fed you dinner? You wouldn’t let me up long enough to go in search of food.”

“Hey, you told me gorging on my breasts was the only sustenance you’d ever need again.” She frowned. “Although I do believe you said tits, not breasts.”

Andrew licked his lips. “I’d gladly forego breakfast for another taste.”

“I’m sure you would. But I’m not giving up this food for anything.”

“Not even another orgasm?”

Tori’s hands stilled half way to her mouth. Instantly, her nipples hardened and her belly tightened. But then she shook her head and shoved the piece of croissant in her mouth. “Nope, sorry. Too hungry.”

His laughter filled the room. “How about an orgasm while you eat?”

“What, I’ll just sit here stuffing my face while you…?”

He stared between her legs, and suddenly her appetite had very little to do with breakfast. “Lie down and stuff my face.”

Her hands stilled again. “You’d do that? Go down on me while I ate?”

“Oh, yeah, sweetheart. In a heartbeat.”

“But…but I’d get crumbs in your hair.”

Again his laughter echoed off the walls. “I bet you wouldn’t be able to take more than two bites before you forgot all about that croissant.”

“Then you underestimate how hungry I really am.”

Andrew set the tray on the edge of the bed, out of their way. “No, Tor. You underestimate how hungry
I
really am. Now, spread ’em.”

“I’m not going to stop eating,” she warned.

“That’s okay. Neither am I.”

Andrew was right. Tori didn’t make two bites. The croissant fell to the bed unnoticed, mere seconds later. Andrew, on the other hand, took a very long time on breakfast.

And when he’d finally eaten his fill, and Tori had come at least twice, she treated herself to her very own breakfast special: Andrew.

“I’ll miss this,” she said a long time later. Once again she lay replete in his arms. His hand was tangled in her hair, hers stroked his chest.

Andrew’s response was a long time in coming. “It doesn’t have to end.”

“Yeah. It does.” She sighed. “It’s been wonderful, Ando.” Spectacular actually. Amazing. And it had done wonders for her heart. “But I need to get home. Need to confront my life again. And I need to do it alone.”

“So you and I…?”

She swallowed past the lump in her throat. “Will just be a memory. A very precious memory that I’ll cherish every day.”

“I can’t convince you otherwise?”

An immeasurable sadness invaded her heart. “You probably could. And I’d probably be more than amenable to it. But…but in the long run, it would be the wrong decision. It’d mean I go from one relationship to another without discovering what I really want from life. I’d just be replacing Declan with you, without ever learning who I am, and without ever really separating you out from Declan. It wouldn’t be fair to either of us.”

He kissed the top of her head. “You’re right. I know that. I’m just not as ready as you are to get back to real life.”

“We both have some obstacles to face when we get home.” At least she only had herself to worry about. Andrew had to go home and put his parents in a situation they didn’t want to be in but had no choice.

“I’d prefer to stay here for the next six months. With you.”

“I don’t believe that. I think that deep inside you know it’s time to get back home. Know you need to sort everything out with your folks.”

He sighed deeply. “I do.”

And again they lapsed into silence, each of them, she suspected, lost in thoughts about their own worlds.

“Will you do something for me before we leave, Ando?”

“Anything, sweetheart.”

“Make love to me one last time.”

Laden with four bags and dragging her suitcase behind him, Andrew followed Victoria down the ramp leading to the car park. He shifted the case of red wine he’d brought for her out of the way and stowed the rest of her luggage securely in the boot. Then he stepped aside, looking on hungrily as she leaned into her car to rearrange a few things.

Sexiest ass in the Hunter, without a doubt. And he knew it intimately.

When all her bags were packed away and his bike secured in the Range Rover, Andrew kissed her one last time. Then he stood and watched as she reversed, turned her wheel in the direction of the main road and drove out of his life.

It almost killed him, but Andrew didn’t stop her.

Chapter Eleven

“Don’t let him slobber on the baby,” Janine warned as the dog headed in Tori’s direction, a long strand of drool hanging from his jowl.

“Maurice,” Tori chided, rocking her tiny nephew, Aaron, in her arms. “Outside.”

Midstride, Maurice turned around and headed straight back out the door he’d just walked through. Winslow kept coming, stopping only when he’d reached the couch and placed his chin on the cushion beside her.

“My hands are full.” Tori showed him the baby. “I can’t pat you now.”