Page 7 of Backroom Boy
She looked back at me and mirrored my expression with one eyebrow raised. “I have a hobby actually. I made something, but it’s not quite done yet. Once I work out the kinks, I might try to sell it to the highest bidder and get out of here.”
I looked out over the fields, stepping closer to her to see if she still smelled like mangoes. “Why are you in such a hurry to leave? Looks like paradise to me.”
Delta stepped close and looped her arm through mine, just like last night. “Come walk with me?” she asked, barely above a whisper.
I couldn’t deny the shiver that went up my spine hearing her voice in my ear like that. Just like I couldn’t deny her a walk on her parents’ property. I nodded and we started walking. She steered us around, pointing out rocks and sticks, which was surprisingly sweet.
“I have walked barefoot before, you know.”
She glanced over at me quickly and bit back a laugh. “I know. I just don’t want you to cut your feet and then expect me to carry your ass back.”
I full-out grinned. Definitely better than being by myself in that pool house. And she still smelled like mangoes. We made it into the vineyard and started down a row of grapes.
Delta pointed while we walked. “The three most prevalent wine varieties in Sonoma County are chardonnay, pinot noir, and cabernet sauvignon. These here are pinot gris grapes. Daddy always grows those, mostly because they’re my mom’s favorite. Which is almost sacrilegious here in wine country. To love the white wines more than the reds.”
Holy shit. Sorority girl knew her wines.
“Andyourfavorite?” I asked, genuinely wanting to know.
She squeezed my arm and I felt like I passed some sort of test. “Viognier.”
“Ah. Sounds as fancy as you are.”
Her steps faltered and I rushed to explain. “Admit it. Youarefancy. I met you last night and you were wearing heels in a vineyard.”
She laughed and kept walking with me. “Okay, fine. I can be extra sometimes. But you can’t judge a book by its cover, Lukas. Isn’t that right?”
We both stopped walking and turned toward each other, barely an inch of space between my bare chest and her absurd outfit.
“That’s exactly right,” I murmured.
I’d never really understood why men took their ladies somewhere romantic when they popped the question. Like, shouldn’t the question be the most important thing, not where it was asked? But standing there with Delta, seeing the sun set behind her, row after row of gnarled grapevines spanning as far as I could see, I understood. The environment added a heavy dose of romance, even when it wasn’t what you were intending.
“I’m sorry for sounding like a bitch about you living in the pool house. I’m glad you’re there and I’m glad we’re working together.” Delta’s whisper floated across the light breeze.
Her gaze danced down to my mouth and I felt the pull. I wanted to taste her, to hell with her dad and this summer job in the back room of a winery. Her body fell forward and her breasts lay against my chest. We both stared at each other, neither of us making the first move.
A loud ding drifted up from somewhere in her shorts, making us both jolt back.
“Sorry,” she muttered, unzipping a tiny compartment and pulling out her cell phone.
I blew out a heavy breath and scrubbed a hand through my hair. Kissing Delta the first day on the job would have been the stupidest mistake ever. I had to pull myself together and just find a way to get along with her while we worked together this summer. Friends. Yeah. We could be friends.
“Ugh. Just one of the sorority girls giving me shit for not including her on the brainstorming session for rush in the fall.” Delta rolled her eyes and put her phone back in her pocket after thumbing out a quick reply.
Looked like I’d guessed correctly. “So, you’re in a sorority, huh? What college?” It occurred to me that we really didn’t know that much about each other.
She nodded and followed when I turned around and headed back for the tree where I left my stuff. “Yep, I go to Stanford and I’m on the sorority committee this year. You’d think I wouldn’t have to have rush all planned out the first week we’re off on summer vacation, but…”
Once we got back to the tree, I pulled on my shirt and picked up the speaker. A last glance out at the rolling hills of the vineyard had me feeling calm.
“Why, again, do you want to leave all this?”
Delta looked at me intensely for a few seconds, no answer in sight. Then she reached up and took off her diamond stud earrings, grabbing my hand and placing them in my palm. I looked down at my dirty hand next to her painted nails, the flash of the diamonds looking completely out of place.
“What—”
“Take them,” she said, her eyes snapping.
