Page 9 of Backroom Boy
“Oh shit, sorry. Yeah, let’s walk a bit and then run the rest of the way?”
His concern was adorable. And it made my red cheeks even hotter. Once we walked a bit, I could breathe again and I addressed his concerns.
“I doubt Daddy will be mad that you had a suggestion to make him more money,” I said wryly, making Lukas smirk. “And when we get back to the house, the project I’m working on will erase all those doubts in your head. Promise.”
Lukas eyed me, one eyebrow quivering like he wanted to raise it but didn’t want to put in the effort. Facial expressions beyond his normal RBF were rare and precious. Until I convinced him of my project’s worthiness, he’d wait to give me more than a blank stare. That was just fine by me. I believed in myself enough for the both of us.
“Race you back!” I shouted when the sight of my house came into view some two hundred yards down the path. Surely I could run that distance and not die.
I ran like the cutest boy in all of Merlot wasn’t right behind me checking out my ass. I ran like my life depended on it, though mostly it was just my pride hanging in the balance. Every stomp of his feet behind me spurred me on until the joy of the race fizzled in the face of a cardiovascular system not designed for sprinting. I blamed the private chef we had at the sorority who made meals to die for. I blamed my parents for their wine-guzzling genetics. I blamed my lifestyle at college that prioritized parties instead of the gym.
But when Lukas came up beside me and then pushed me on the shoulder, making me take several steps to right myself, just as he zoomed ahead and beat me, I blamed him.
I nearly fell over trying to catch my breath. Hands on knees, I gasped until my vision cleared of the black dots and my lungs didn’t hate me. Then I stood up and stumbled over to Lukas, my finger pointing to his chest. His face was split with a grin so big I didn’t think it possible of him.
“You lost, princess.”
“You!” Fingertip drilled into his chest. “You cheated!”
He grasped my hand, his palm rough and calloused and oh so sexy. “There weren’t any rules established beforehand. Therefore, no cheating. And I won.” He tugged me closer to him, our labored breathing mixing together, a sheen of sweat covering both of us.
The moment hung there and I couldn’t make myself step back. He blinked and then cleared his throat, letting go of my hand.
“Come on. Enough stalling. Time to show me your project.” He spun and walked toward the pool house.
I flapped a hand in front of my face, willing my cheeks to cool off. “Let me go grab my laptop.”
I walked into the house and grabbed my laptop out of my room, using that time to tell myself not to be attracted to Lukas. The more I said it, the more I might start believing it. Believe it, you can achieve it. Didn’t I see that on some pretty social media post all the time?
Lukas had grabbed us both a bottle of cold water, sitting on one of the lounge chairs by the pool. I sat in the chair next to him and started up the program on my computer.
“Okay, so I know I’m the sorority girl and all, but I know a thing or two about computer programs. I’ve been tinkering with this one since my senior year in high school, but I think I finally have it down.”
Lukas leaned in close and I could smell the soap and sweat on him.
“What’s the program for?” he asked.
I smiled, feeling a sense of pride puff up my chest. “It’s an all-in-one tracking program made specifically for a winery. All the inventory, grape yields, timelines, bottling, and accounting you could ever ask for. Once it learns a winery’s numbers, it can start making projections when you change one variable. I went ahead and implemented your suggestion about waving the tasting fee with just one bottle of wine purchased and ran the numbers. I think we can stand to make ten percent more from the tasting room with just that one change based on the number of people who come through the door and a moderate guess of one out of three who wouldn’t normally buy taking us up on the offer.”
Lukas leaned in even closer and then used the track pad to scroll down over my data. My heart beat faster, letting someone actually see what I’d been working on for the last couple of years.
He sat back and stared at the huge cedar tree down below the pool area. When he didn’t say anything, my heart dropped. Shit. Was my program that bad? I really thought it had the potential to be amazing.
“Lukas?” I asked quietly.
He looked over at me, his face unreadable but there was definitely something there in his sparkling blue eyes.
“Holy shit, Delta. This is amazing. How’d you learn to program?”
I huffed out a huge breath, a smile forming before I could even answer. “I, uh, picked up a hobby. When I got bored, I watched videos online and then started working with various people around the world on our own projects. I have friends all over who I’ve never met, but they helped me make my program while I helped them with theirs. It was kind of fun, to be honest.”
“Kind of fun?” Lukas sat up again. “Delta, you could sell this program all up and down the coast of California. What programs do wineries currently use?”
I sat up too, really getting into it now that I knew Lukas was into it too. “That’s the thing. Most wineries are using multiple programs for each department of the winery. I haven’t seen a program yet that combines them all, from planting of the grapevines to the finished bottle in the customer’s hands.”
“Have you shown your dad?”
I lifted a shoulder and let it fall like I didn’t care. “Nah. I wanted to test it a bunch before I showed it to him.”
