Wine, Tarts & Sex

they’re happy as clams. No stress, no grief-I figure they’ll live till they’re a hundred and ten.”

“I don’t know… Jake Chambers’s kind of stress might be worth a try. Think of him like a box of truffles-just a sinfully delicious treat. And when the last truffle is gone, it’s gone. Then it’s back to health food and the responsibilities of life.”

“If you’re so hot for him, Shelly, you go out with him. I’m sure he’s available.”

“Shelly’s lusting after Jim Balfour,” Zoe said with a wink. “He’s won her admiration for his studly way with the futures market. He pulled in a million in commissions last week, and apparently that’s Shelly’s aphrodisiac of choice.”

Shelly made a face. “Very funny. Not that money isn’t a turn-on, but Jim’s cute, too.”

Zoe grinned. “How cute exactly?”

Here’s where the ladies reverted to form, dissecting what most appealed to them in the male species. Liv sat back with her French martini the waiter had just delivered and listened with half an ear to the conversation. Her concentration kept slipping away to those male qualities in Jake Chambers that were still rattling her cage. There was something about him: a brute virility, a ruggedness not often seen in the world of the rich and famous, the challenging look of a man who hadn’t been housebroken and might never be. Jeez, snap out of it, she silently chided herself. Since when was she interested in whipping a man into shape?

Since never, that’s when.

And bottom line, if Jake Chambers didn’t want to be housebroken, he wasn’t going to be, no way no how.

Don’t even think about it.

He was a customer. No more. No less.

Zoe was talking about her oldest daughter, who could play the piano with considerable skill at age six. Liv concentrated her attention on the merits of a Montessori education that were being extolled and ordered another drink.

Five

In the course of the next week, both Jake and Liv were busy enough to relegate heated memories to the discard bin.

But on Monday when Liv was making her usual deliveries, she found herself experiencing a heightened disquiet on a couple levels as she turned into the alley behind Chaz’s restaurant.

First, sales weren’t her strong suit, and whenever she had to pitch her wines, she was nervous. While Jake Chambers hadn’t refused the bottles Chaz had ordered last week, she wasn’t sure he would remain a customer. There were lots of wines out there and even more wine merchants. He didn’t have to buy hers.

Secondly, she had to admit, his image had popped into her thoughts once or twice in the course of the week. He had killer sex appeal, there was no denying it. So it would be a matter of keeping her cool and remembering this was a business call. And also remembering that men like Jake Chambers weren’t on her wish list.

When she walked through the door into the kitchen, she saw him in the back, seated at Louie’s desk, a phone to his ear.

He swung around at the sound of the door opening, lifted one hand, fingers splayed, indicating five minutes, and then pointed at a table and chairs near the doorway into the dining room.

Fucking a she looks good, he thought, wondering if she always made her deliveries in sexy dresses and spiky heels. But hey, it was a great sales tool. It was working for him; after a dutiful week of celibacy, it was really working. Cutting his conversation short, he told his supplier he’d get back to him.

“Sorry,” he said, walking toward Liv a moment later. He jerked his thumb back toward the desk. “I’ve been on the phone or the computer nonstop ordering shit. I repeat,” he said with a smile, sitting down on the other side of the small table, “delivery people look a helluva lot better out here.”

She smiled. “Thanks. I’m meeting friends for drinks. How are things going? Are you making progress?”

“Yes and no,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “Things never go smoothly on all counts. I’m used to it.”

Trying to ignore the impressive width of his shoulders on display in his lounging pose, she nodded toward the two cases of her wine stacked under the counter. “I thought I’d stop by and check, but I’m guessing you’re not interested in any more of my wine.”

Oh, Christ-he hadn’t moved them very far. “I’ve just been too busy to get back to you. Actually, I am interested.” In her, not her wines, particularly in that sunflower-yellow dress with those little ties on her shoulders that looked like they’d open real easily. “Why don’t I double Chaz’s order.” How could it hurt to have sex with another good-looking blonde? In this case, a blonde with big, lush breasts that he could reach out and touch if he was real stupid, he thought, flexing his fingers against the uncool impulse.

“You don’t have to be nice just to be nice.” He obviously was, but for reasons that didn’t bear close scrutiny, she found herself willing to overlook his diplomatic reply.

“No, really, it was an oversight. I’ve been busy as hell.” He smiled. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a lame-ass salesman?”

“I know. Fortunately, I don’t have to actually make a living doing this.” She pushed her chair back, realizing she’d better leave before those hard muscles under his T-shirt got to her any more than they already had.

“Why don’t I try your wines as long as you’re here,” he quickly suggested, his weeklong celibacy steamrolling over saner counsel. “You could give me some background on your operation.”

She glanced at her watch, lied to herself that this was strictly business, and said, “Sure, why not. I have time.”

The word time hung in the air for a flashing moment while two minds sent up word balloons rife with possibility and/or knotty complications.

But man of action that he was or impelled by a libido that decided it would have no more of this ignominious abstinence, Jake quickly came to his feet and held out his hand. “Let’s sit in the dining room. The view is better.”

His hand was large and strong, Liv thought when she shouldn’t. When, if this was just about a wine order, she wouldn’t have even noticed. As she rose and placed her fingers on his palm, as his hand closed over hers, even had she been concentrating with a laser-sharp focus on business, the seismic tremors that shook her would have been enough to blow any mission statement to kingdom come.

Freaked out, she snatched her hand away. “I’ll get the wine,” she said, enunciating with special care to mitigate her breathiness. “Why don’t you find some glasses and a corkscrew.” Seriously, she didn’t want to be aware of his closeness, his formidable size, his heated gaze. For sure, she didn’t want to yield to her tumultuous desires. Not with a man like Jake, who could compete in the Guinness book of one-night stands. Not that she was necessarily against casual sex. She was just against casual sex with Jake Chambers, celebrity.

Quickly pulling out a bottle of her red and one of white from the cartons, she deliberately preceded him into the dining room. Setting the bottles on a table near the windows, she sat down and gave herself a good talking to.

“You’re right, the view is great,” she said in a normal tone of voice as he approached a few moments later. She was feeling better, more in control. She wasn’t fifteen. She could manage him.

“I’ve had my eye on this place for a while. I’m glad the timing was right for Chaz.” Setting four glasses down, he opened the red wine first with a deftness that bespoke considerable experience. Pouring them each a glass, he sat down across from her and lifted his glass in salute. “To Liv Bell Wines.”

“I confess to a certain prejudice. I hope you like it.”

After a smell, a swirl, a taste, he said, polite as hell, “It’s excellent. My compliments. Tell me about your vineyard.” If she talked, he didn’t have to, particularly when it came to discussing her wine. While it was passable- not that he had expected more from the cold Midwest-he wouldn’t have been able to offer praise with any conviction.

She told him a little of how she’d decided to get into the business, a brief, edited account short on the passions that motivated her. She talked about her various grape varieties, her small winery, several of the people who had influenced her decision to start a vineyard. He was surprised to discover she had a chemistry degree-so much for the blonde bimbo designation-and more surprised to hear that she’d worked in several of the really fine boutique