Chapter 18
Chance’s smile didn’t fade, but something in his eyes went dead as they flickered down to my cane and my deformed foot, before settling on my face.
“If that’s your decision.”
“It is.”
Quinn got up with Javier’s help. “Get out of here. You heard her. You’re fired.”
“Quinn,” I said, “he’s going.”
“Pretty cruel turning me out on the street like this.” Chance stared hard at me. “Especially after your winemaker tried to kill me. That’s not your style, Lucie. You’ve got more class than that, don’t you?”
“I’ll give you two weeks’ severance pay.”
“Make it three. And I’ll overlook the assault charge.”
“Forget it,” Quinn said. “Don’t do it, Lucie.”
Chance shrugged. “Up to you. You know he started it. What I did was only in self-defense.”
“Three weeks,” I said. “I’ve got to write a check and the checkbook’s in my office. Chance, you come with me. Everyone else get back to work.”
Quinn started to protest but I silenced him with a look.
“I can handle this.”
Neither Chance nor I spoke as we walked to the villa. I asked him to wait in the tasting room while I wrote the check. When I came back, he had a bottle of wine in his hand.
“Okay if I take this as a souvenir?”
It was a bottle of Riesling.
“What if I said no?”
“I’d take it anyway.”
He flashed a shadow of the heart-stopping smile and I looked away as I handed him the check. He folded it and put it in his pocket without looking at it.
“You’re making a mistake,” he said, and pulled me into his arms.
Before I could protest his mouth came down hard on mine as he drew me closer in a viselike embrace.
“Chance—”
He loosened his grip on my waist, but it was only to put a finger under my chin and tilt my face to his for another long, bruising kiss. I felt the wine bottle press hard into the small of my back. It hurt. He was making me dizzy, breathless.
“Don’t! You can’t do this.” I put my hands on his chest, gasping, as I tried to push him away.
He laughed and released me. “I just did. I’ll be around for a few days. Then I’m probably leaving town. You could change your mind. We could finish this. I’ve seen the way you look at me, Lucie. I’ve known for a while that you want me.”
He traced his finger down my cheek and my throat. When it moved between my breasts, I caught his hand.
“Stop it, please.”
His laugh was low and seductive. He bit my neck and I stifled a cry at the unexpectedness of the sharp little pain.
“I know what you want, too, baby. And I’m good. I’d undress you nice and slow—”
“That’s enough!”
He laughed again. Then he walked over to the front door and opened it. I thought he’d look back, but he didn’t. I stood there, numb.
How could I have let him do that? Was he right? Had I asked for that kiss?
The door opened again and Benny walked in. How long had I been standing here?
“Jesus, you scared me, Benny!”
“You okay, Lucie? Queen sent me to check on you. Make sure nothing happened.”
My face was scarlet. I moved my hand to my neck to the place Chance had bitten me and pretended to rub it. Had he left a mark?
Benny’s expression was bland.
“Nothing happened,” I said.
He stared at me. “Good.”
We both knew that was a lie.
By the time Benny and I got back to the crush pad, Quinn had cleaned up, changing his bloodstained T-shirt to a clean one. His face looked puffy and he was going to have a hell of a shiner. He moved and looked like a dog that had just dragged itself home from a losing fight.
“Maybe you should go back to your place and get some rest,” I said. “You look like hell.”
“And lose all these grapes? No way.” He glanced up at me and went back to sorting fruit. “I’m sorry I took a swing at him. But he was asking for it.”
He kept concentrating on the grapes, but I could see his Adam’s apple move in his throat. I’d never seen him this uncomfortable before.
“Can I talk to you in private for a minute?” I said.
Benny and Javier glanced up.
“We can take a break, Queen,” Javier said, pulling cigarettes out of his pocket. He looked at Benny.
I picked up a bunch of grapes. “I have to ask you something.”
“What is it?”
“Have you ever threatened to turn any of the day laborers over to the Department of Homeland Security if they didn’t do something you asked them to do?”
“Have I
“If I believed him he’d still be working here,” I said. “It’s not true, is it?”
“Do you even need to ask?”
“Quinn, don’t make this difficult for me. Yes or no?”
He shook his finger at me. “I have never, never threatened anyone.”
“What would you call that little smackdown, then?”
He shook his head. “Aw, come on. Okay, so I slugged Chance. He had it coming. But you know me. You really think I’d physically abuse the men? Or threaten to turn someone over to DHS? They’d be deported so fast it would make your head spin. Tell me you never took that jerk seriously.”
I threw the grapes in the destemmer and avoided his eyes.
“You did believe him.” His voice was hard. “Jesus, Lucie. Look, if you want my resignation, too, you can have it.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I just needed to ask, is all.”
“Why didn’t you tell me as soon as he made that accusation? Why did you wait?”
“Because I was afraid you’d do what you did today, that’s why. Between Bobby telling me my father is guilty of murder and everything with Eli, I didn’t need more heartache. Back off, please, okay?”
He was angry, but that was too damn bad. Some of this was his fault, too.
I picked up more grapes. “Let’s get back to work.”
“Sure, boss,” he said. “Whatever you say.”
We barely spoke to each other for the rest of the night. Around midnight, Savannah showed up. Quinn told her he’d walked into the press when she asked about his eye. She looked like she knew she’d been asked to swallow a whopper but didn’t bring up the subject again, at least in my presence.
Someone turned on loud rock music and Quinn brought out a couple of cold six-packs. While he and Savannah were busy filling one of the tanks with juice, I asked Benny if we could talk.
