Page 18 of Lochlan

I feel the men's jeering stares as I round the bar and walk out the back door.

Humiliation burns my face as I hurry down the path to the storage and slip into the cool darkness. I've never been crap at any job I've tried. Sports or academics, I've always excelled, so feeling inadequate is new for me. I round a tower of wine cases and slump onto a stack with my feet dangling a few inches from the floor. My face buried in my hands, I’m wondering if a good cry would help. I try to summon the effort to relieve this tension, but nothing happens. I'm dry; I have no tears.

I stay in the room a long time, questioning if any of this is worth gold medal dreams. I should go back to that tasting room like nothing has happened, but it never seems to be the right time to leave.

The door cracks open, allowing a shaft of light to spill into the semi-darkness. “Kenzie, are you in here?”

“Yeah, I'm here.”

The shaft of light is gone when he closes the door. His footsteps tap the cement floor until he finds me behind stacks of tall boxes, sitting on a short row of cases.

“I thought you might be in here.” He displays a relieved grin. “I saw what happened with those jerks. How are you feeling?”

I lean forward on my hands, which are pressed flat on the box where I'm seated. “About what you expect after an asshole publicly humiliates you in front of your colleagues, customers, and we can't forget the perfect Lochlan MacTavish.” I had hoped to keep my response light, but the bitterness slips out anyway.

Connell shifts his weight and places his backpack on a box near him. There's only a three-foot wide path where I'm in the middle. He's already changed into the jeans, shirt, and jacket he wore when he walked into the breakroom earlier. The only difference is he's wearing the brown Stetson.

Connell places his hand on the wall beside me. “Remind me to tell you the bonehead things I've done in the tasting room and you'll see it's not you; we all make mistakes. Most of the customers are good people. Sometimes we get asses who think they know more about wine than you do, because they took a class or read a book. Real wine lovers have a reverence. Those guys are in thea little knowledge is a dangerous thingcamp. I'm here now; you don't have to worry. Let me help you through this.”

I tilt my chin up to amber eyes that overload my senses. He's looking at me the way I want Lochlan to see me, as a woman he wants desperately.

Connell removes his Stetson, placing the hat on my head. He nudges it back slightly, then brushes the hair out of my eyes. “Damn if you're not the cutest Texacali girl.”

What he's said has loosened the dam of resistance. I wipe a tear from eyes that have already begun to flow. His thumb dabs at another drop streaming down my cheek, and the sweet gesture has me on the verge of ugly, red-nosed waterworks.

“Hey Texacali girl, no need to cry. I'm here. If I have to, I'll kiss every one of those drops away until I see you smile again.”

I catch his warm hand and hold it to my cheek. Melted by his care, I give him a weak smile.

“There it is. I knew that sunshine would come back,” he says, taking my face in his hands to check if I'm alright. I draw in a shaky breath under his scrutiny just before his lips touch mine with a hot, wanting kiss that breaks open all the pent-up attraction I've had for him since we met. My arms circle around his neck to pull him to me so I can sink hard into his embrace. God, I need him to erase this day and let me drown in what I know he can make me feel.

Connell lifts the hat from my head, placing it next to his backpack, then turns his attention back to me. He finds my lips, while his fingers open my shirt buttons agonizingly slow. He urges me onto my back and I pull him with me, a loud thump as our bodies hit the boxes, stretching out over the cardboard platform. “I'm going to strip you and have you here,” his low, guttural voice whispers. A shiver quakes my body alive, imagining his hard cock thrusting inside me until I'm a pool of nothing.

He pulls the halves of my shirt open, and the cool of this place grazes my hot skin. His big hand cups me, and he’s sighing while his fingers caress me like a promise until he slides a strap off to tangle in my sleeve. He roughly pulls my bra down as cold air assaults more of my skin. His strong fingers roll my nipple hard and I gasp out a moan. My hands fall away from his neck to dig my nails into his tense biceps as he increases the pressure.

I'm letting go in this cocoon of shadows because nothing matters, only how he makes me feel in this moment.

His lips graze my neck as his scratchy chin teases at my tender flesh. My moaning murmurs are almost incoherent, encouraging him to explore lower.

The door cracks open as a sliver of bright light falls into the space, followed by footsteps. The boxes shield us from the visitor. Connell pulls away, placing a finger to his lips. He motions me to button up and replaces his Stetson back on his head. My heart pounds while nervous fingers fumble with buttons in the shadows, the motion not going quickly enough as I move up the shirt.

“Is someone here?” Lochlan's gruff voice warns. “Show yourself now and it will go easy on you.”

Lochlan is a big man, and Connell is too. Both grappling in this room could produce extensive damage to the fragile content of the storage.

There's a short, scraping sound of something heavy being dislodged. Other than glassware or bottles, what else could be in this storage?

Connell slips from behind the protection of the boxes with his hands up. “It's me, boss. I came in here to get my backpack. I didn't have time to stow it in the employee cloakroom or I'd be late.”

Connell, appearing first, gives me time to finish buttoning my shirt. Then I quickly pull the soft hair band free from my ponytail to reassemble and smooth the stray hairs. I won't stay here lurking in the dark to let Connell face Lochlan alone. I'm off the boxes, skirting the corner a few seconds behind Connell.

Lochlan comes into view, gripping a large piece of wood. His hands are tight around the handle that's attached to a wide, flat, broad end. He's positioned like a batter, with feet wide apart, ready to strike at an intruder. Surprise widens his eyes, mouth slightly open at the sight of me. When his attention lands back on Connell, he's arranged his features in his usual frowning mask. He rests the bat on his shoulder, his fist flexing around the handle, still looking dangerous. “I came to see if you were alright. I had to wait until those men were gone before I could check on you,” he says to me.

I step between the men as if that would avoid a confrontation. “I came out here to think. The storage was the closest place without running into anyone. I was about to leave when Connell found me,” I say.

He glances at Connell, his stare boring into him. “I see we had the same notion, but maybe not with the same intention.”

Connell shifts his weight at the veiled accusation, but Lochlan has no proof of what we were doing.

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