Page 24 of A Taste of Chardonnay

“Chardonnay it is.” He leaned into Sherry and smiled. “‘The secret, Alice, is to surround yourself with people who make your heart smile.’”

“Are you seriously quoting Alice in Wonderland to me?” Sherry asked.

He motioned to their costumes. “It seemed necessary, don’t you think?”

A smile tilted Sherry’s lips, and I waved toward Ben. “Sherry, this is Ben. He just applied for the position of warehouse manager. He’s new to town. Lives down at Robin’s Landing.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Sherry said, extending her hand. “I’m Sherry Grasso, the nice sister.”

He took her hand and kissed her knuckles. This guy was a real charmer. If he thought charming my sister would help get him hired, he had another think coming. Unfortunately, he had a stellar resume and extensive experience working at wineries throughout the Napa Valley that already made him a shoo-in.

A blush blossomed on Sherry’s cheeks, and I had a feeling I was about to be flying solo for the night. Looked like my work as wingman for the night was done. I mentally checked it off the to-do list in my mind.

“Could I offer you a drink?” Ben said to us, but really, he was looking at Sherry.

“I would love one. What about you, Char?” Sherry asked.

“No, you two go on without me.”

“Please don’t skip out. Stay. Have a drink. Have some fun.”

“I will. Now you go do the same.”

Sherry spun toward Ben, her sexy blue Alice costume flaring around her. She’d paired hers with white knee stockings and garters. I refused that step, already feeling like I should be hiding away in a bedroom and not on display in a distillery. Didn’t need to draw any more attention to my thighs, thank you.

There was a woman I had never seen before behind the bar. I wondered if she was new to town and how she managed to convince Brady to get more help. Franc was always complaining that Brady refused to cut down his workload, and it would kill him one day.

Michael and Kenneth came in from outside, Michael in a short black curly wig and a black dress that flowed behind him. It took me two seconds to realize he was Nancy from The Craft. Kenneth walked behind him in a blond wig with half the hair missing. Epic scene from that movie. The twelve-year-old girl inside me who saw it at a birthday party for the first time was loving it.

They were going to win for the best costume. They had to.

“Sexy pirate, huh?” Brady’s deep baritone came up behind me. I spun toward him, ready to have a snippy comeback, but my words lodged in my throat as my eyes took him in.

I swallowed, wracking my brain for some semblance of a sentence other than sputtered sounds. Heat exploded in my chest, spreading through my neck and into my ears. My thighs tingled as the words on the pages of my books rushed into my mind.

His smile with the fake fangs faltered as I couldn’t do much other than gape at him. Brady’s hair wasn’t just pulled back; it wasslickedback, highlighting his chiseled features. A cape with a leather collar wrapped around his broad shoulders. Beneath it, a crushed red velvet vest over a woven shirt with silver details, the top few buttons opened. His legs were encased in tight black dress pants that were nothing like his usual stained cargos.

He held a top hat in his hand along with a silver cane. He placed the hat on his head and cleared a table of glasses. “You okay?”

I shook myself, knocking myself from my stupor. “Sorry, I didn’t recognize you without your usual stained pants and t-shirts.”

“Funny,” he said, surely thinking I was joking, but I wasn’t. What were the freaking chances that Brady would be dressed up as the one thing that had been giving me joy at night? I wanted to be annoyed, but I couldn’t stop staring.

“You sure you’re okay?” he asked again, and normally I’d be confused by his concern, but again, all I could do was focus on those three open buttons. The tiny bit of tan skin and chest hair poking out. I wondered what it would feel like beneath my fingers.

What. The. Fuck?

No. I forced the thoughts from my mind and focused on forming sentences. “Have you had a chance to look at those papers I gave you?”

“Not yet, I’ve had a lot going on.”

“Okay.”

“But I will,” he added. “And I do appreciate it.”

He was being nice, which was weird. I wasn’t used to him being nice. Or at least not for a long time anyway.

“Don’t worry about it.

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