Page 32 of Taken With You
He pumped the brakes, giving both of them a jolt. “You said you needed to check the fermentation tank.”
“I don’t reallyneedto.” She had told him that earlier, in a moment of nerves that had had more to do with Garrick wearing Armani than anything going on in the winery. “The grad student has the night shift. I’m sure that if there had been a problem, she would have texted me. We can go straight…home.”
Lit by the back-spill of the car’s headlights, Garrick met her gaze. The temperature rose in those silent seconds, and so did her daring thoughts.
Squeezing the stick shift, he backed up a fraction. With the grinding of tires on gravel, he drove back up the road that led to the higher terrace where the cabin stood amid the trees. Once he’d parked, she let herself out of the car and sauntered to the veranda in a way she hadn’t dared at the gala, having long stopped wondering what imp had gotten into her. She heard his steady footsteps behind her as she pulled out her key and let them both into the darkness of the kitchen, lit only by moonlight streaming through the windows.
“I’ve been dying for a beer all night.” Garrick strode in behind her, wrestling off his jacket. She set her clutch on the kitchen island and basked in the breeze of his passing. “Can I get you something?”
You.
“No,” she said. “I’m fine.”
He tossed his jacket over the back of a chair and then opened the beer with a metallic fizz. As he raised it to his mouth, the moonlight limned his strong throat, flexing as he drank. She ached to graze her teeth against his Adam’s apple, or run her tongue along the stubble of his jaw. The sexy dress had definitely played a part in waking her inner seductress tonight…but Amanda knew she wouldn’t be quite so volcanically seductive if anyone but Garrick Kane had stood in this dark room with her.
She’d made a decision about him tonight.
All she had to do was tell him.
He lowered his beer. She couldn’t see his expression, only the shadowed contours of his features, but she could sense the charge of his undivided attention. She couldn’t quite find the courage to blurt out what she needed to say. She supposed she could ease into it by striking up a conversation about the evening. Discussing the calls they would make in the days to come to follow up on new connections. Or she could be a coward, say her good-night, and slip away to bed.
Alone.
“Amanda? Are you tired?”
“Not at all.” Her skin prickled with the slightest draft. The silk hem brushing against her thighs aroused her. She’d never been more alive to sensation. “I think it’s time we had another talk.”
His beer swirled in the bottle with a flashing glimmer.
“This isn’t working.” She pressed her hands against the edge of the island counter, holding herself up. “No matter how hard we try.”
“We worked like pros tonight.” The vibrato in his voice rippled a new tremor through her. “You know we did.”
“I’m not talking about business.”
A muscle flexed in his moonlight-glazed cheek. “Be very careful about what you say next, Amanda.”
That voice was full of warning, full of promise. He was so much more of a master at this than she.
“It’s about that kiss,” she murmured. “And the moment in the barn, too. And the dance we just shared.”
It’s about the dreams I’ve been having, no matter how exhausted I am when I fall into bed. It’s about the way you look at me when you’re trying not to. It’s about how my whole body comes to life whenever you’re in the room.
It’s about another dream I have…one I never thought would come true.
He said, “I could go back to New York. Give you space.”
“No.”
He stood still but vibrating with energy, his shadowed face unreadable.
She said, “You and I made a pact to keep our distance until crush was over. We need to renegotiate that agreement.”
He brought the beer to his mouth. “I’m listening.”
“Tonight, you were more than a partner to me. You were an ally.” She dug her fingers into the table. “Do you know how rare that is?”
He set the beer down. “For me just not being an asshole, you give too much credit.”
