Page 56 of All Dressed Up

She took the bottle from him, setting it down on her kitchen bar while Marc excused himself to get ready to leave. In minutes, she joined him on her front porch.

A cool summer breeze touched her skin as the sun set over the lake. Most of her friends liked living right on the lake, but she loved living high on top of the hill, always enjoying the panoramic view of the sun setting over the water.

Marc shoved his phone in his back pocket. “Got to love a winery you can walk to.”

“It definitely was a selling point when my ex and I bought this place.” She nodded in the winery’s direction. “So, you just take a left, and you’ll follow the road to the next entrance. It’s a short walk up the hill.” She paused, adding, “Just be careful of the cars.” There seemed to be more than the usual traffic on this road tonight with vehicles passing by in both directions.

“Will do.” He winked. “I promise I won’t be back anytime soon.”

She smiled her appreciation for that and showed him where she kept her spare key underneath a large clay flower pot.

This evening was going to be absolutely perfect. Thanks to the skills of her house guest, she had fabulous food to pair with awesome wine.

Overcome with excitement, she flung her arms around him, giving Marc a long hug full of her gratitude and appreciation for what the next few hours could entail once Will arrived. “Thank you so much. You don’t know how important this night is to me.”

“You’re welcome. I should probably get going. Make myself scarce.”

“Thank you for that, too.”

“Don’t mention it. I love this town. It’ll be fun to see more of it.”

She waved a finger and teased, “You know, there have been many outsiders who have fallen in love with this town. Bachelors like yourself. You better be careful. You might not want to leave.”

“We’ll see about that.” He patted her shoulder. “Have a good night, Rachel. Bon appétit!”

“Thank you. Be careful of the traffic,” she called out and stepped into her house.

Moving down her hallway back to the kitchen, she pulled off her apron, fluffed her hair, and uncorked the wine, pouring herself a glass. She peered out her window, taking a sip.

Now, all she had to do was wait.

*

Will lifted up the handle to the passenger side of the old Ford and hopped in, slamming the door shut. Shoving in his long legs, he leaned back, sighing out his extreme frustration.

Dammit!

His eyelids flew open, and he pounded his fist on the dashboard. When was he going to learn?

When he accepted Rachel’s invitation to dinner, he didn’t realize that he’d be driving in as a third wheel. That realization hit him square in the eyes when he slowed down in front of her house and saw her with her back to the road in Marc’s arms.

Beyond pissed, he’d focused on the road and kept driving. There was no way in hell he was going to spend the evening watching Rachel cozy up to Marc. His body tensed.

Nope. Not going to happen.

He’d driven around aimlessly for several minutes, finally turning into the auto body shop, thinking he could help his brother close up—try to take his mind off what he saw.

When he got there, the shop was closed for the night. His brother was gone, and he really didn’t feel like going home, so he used his own keys and went in.

He shut his eyes, breathing the potent scent of imitation pine courtesy of the freshener hooked on the console.

A loud tapping on the window caused his head to jolt forward.

“What gives?” Dan Jenkins folded his arms, smirking through the glass.

Will heaved in a deep breath. He opened the door, letting it hit his brother. “Nothing. Just thinking. I thought you were gone for the night.”

“I forgot my wallet.” Dan went over to the garage refrigerator and pulled out two long necks. He twisted the cap and handed one to Will. “You’re still doing this? I thought you’d outgrown it by now.”

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