Page 69 of Champagne and Daisies

“It is. I love this little cottage.” She turned to go in, they didn’t need to stand here talking on the doorstep.

Grant followed her through to the kitchen, and he opened up the cartons while she got the plates out. She smiled to herself at the thought that they even worked well together in the kitchen.

“Do you see this place as your forever home?” he asked.

“I’m not sure. I love it, but at the moment, I just rent it. It suits me to be near my folks, and close to Zosca. Lately, I’ve been wondering if I shouldn’t buy it. I don’t want to move away, but I don’t want to feel like I’m dependent either.”

“That sounds a like good compromise to me.”

Chelsea smiled and dished out the rice. She wondered if this would be the right place to live if he ever moved in with her. And wasn’t that crazy? She picked up her plate. “Do you want to eat outside?”

“Yes. It’s still so nice out there. Do you want a drink?”

“Oh. Sorry. I forgot. What would you like? We could open a bottle of wine, or there’s soda or champagne in the fridge.”

He smiled. “Do you want champagne?”

“Yes.”

Once they were seated at the table out on the deck, Grant popped the cork and poured them each a glass.

She raised hers to him. “Here’s to drinking champagne in wine country.”

He laughed. “There’s some significance to that that I’m not sure I grasp.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know, I like it. Sometimes it feels like Napa is so full of itself. Everything’s about the wines. We look down our noses at Sonoma and poor old Lake County, as if we’re something special as if Napa wines are the be all and end all. Drinking champagne is like a reminder, that every wine producing region thinks it’s the best in the world, and Champagne is the granddaddy of them all.”

Grant laughed. “Yeah, I guess it is.” He clinked his glass against hers.

After they’d eaten, they walked in the meadow behind the cottage. Chelsea loved it out here. It was so quiet and peaceful. Grant held her hand as they walked. It was perfect. At least, it would be, if he knew that she loved him—and he loved her back. She shuddered. Was she being dumb about this whole thing? Was she making up a fairy tale that only existed inside her head?

Grant stopped and bent down. She laughed when he picked a daisy and handed it to her.

“Thank you.”

“I hope you like it? It just dawned on me that I haven’t bought you flowers or done anything like that yet.”

“And you don’t have to. I’m not the kind of girl who needs flowers and gifts. I thought you’d realize that about me by now.”

He smiled. “I do, but I still think it’s nice, you know?”

“I do, but this,” she held up her daisy and twirled it between her fingers. “This means more than store bought flowers ever could. This is real. It’s not about what you’resupposedto do like a guy is supposed to buy a girl flowers. It’s more about what you want to do. You saw it, you wanted to give it to me, so you did.” She smiled and tucked it into her hair. “Thank you.”

He took hold of her hands and drew her toward him. Her arms found their way up around his neck, and she sighed as his hard body pressed against hers. She lifted her chin and looked up into his eyes. They were blue and so full of … what? She wanted to think that the look in his eyes was full of love, but maybe she was just seeing what she wanted to see. As his arms closed around her and he kissed her passionately, she had to remind herself that what she’d seen was more likely lust than love—and she could hardly complain about that.

When they came up for air, she took his hand and led him back up to the cottage. It might be too soon to do anything about the love she felt for him, but it certainly wasn’t too soon to act on the lust.

Chapter Nineteen

“I’m going to get coffee, would you like me to bring you some back?” asked Mary Ellen.

“Yes, please.” Cameron looked at Grant, and he nodded.

“That’d be great, thanks.”

She closed the office door behind her and Cameron smiled at Grant. “Are you ready for your next project?”

Grant nodded. He’d spent his first week at Hamilton-Groves troubleshooting one of the bottling plants. He’s suggested a few changes which Cameron was now implementing. Now he was back in the office on Monday morning, ready to hear where he was needed next.

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