a spin around the dance floor and show her a good time?”
“Not yet. This one…” He moved closer to Nic.
“Trying to take me on, old man?” Nic asked. “I’m not going to fight you.”
“Maybe not, but you’ll do something.” Lorenzo’s eyes narrowed. “What do you want with my granddaughter?”
Mia winced. “Grandpa, you really don’t want to ask that question. I mean what if Nic answers it?”
The old man took a step back. “This is not the time, not with guests here. But soon. You and I, we are not finished.”
Nic liked the idea of a challenge. “I look forward to our next meeting.”
Lorenzo muttered something in Italian, then stalked away. Mia watched him go.
“Want me to tell you what he said?” she asked.
“No.”
“Just as well. It wasn’t very polite.” She linked arms with Nic. “This has been the best party. I didn’t expect it to be so exciting. Joe arriving, you fighting with my grandfather. So what did you think of our brand-new big brother? Isn’t he a hunk? Cute, but very annoying. He practically accused me of being a baby. I mean, come on. Do you really think it’s so awful that I want to meet some of his manly Navy SEAL friends?”
“What I really think is that I’m glad I’m an only child.”
Mia huffed out a breath. “Oh, please. I’m the best sister. I’m newly single and I’m not in school for a few more weeks. This is my time to cut loose and be wild. Once classes start, I have to be all mature and stuff. So if I can’t do the Navy SEAL thing for a while, how about a ride on your motorcycle?”
He removed her hand from his arm. “You accused me of being trouble, but you’re the one who needs watching.”
Her lips curved. “Really? You like to watch?”
He took a step back. “Don’t go there, Mia. I’m not for you.”
“Does that mean you’re for Brenna?” She laughed. “Never mind. I know you’re not going to answer that. Come on. You can dance with me until my sister returns to rescue you.”
He glanced toward the couples already on the dance floor, then back to the eighteen-year-old sex kitten in front of him. “No slow dances.”
She sighed heavily. “Fine. No touching. What is it with you older guys? You’re all so uptight.”
“Not uptight. Afraid. We’re all very afraid.”
Brenna kicked off her shoes and shifted on the top step of the porch. It was well after two and while she knew she had to get back home, she didn’t want to leave. Not that she wanted to stay. Being around Nic made her nervous.
She stared up at the night sky. They were far enough away from any large city for the stars to be visible. Hundreds of lights twinkled like rhinestones on black velvet.
“Mia needs a keeper,” Nic muttered.
Brenna chuckled. “Probably. I think she completely freaked out Joe.”
“She told me she wanted to meet his friends. She’s only eighteen.”
“Mia has always been older than her years. Don’t forget, she’s been in college since she was sixteen and she’s been engaged. She’s way more worldly than I was at her age.”
“One day someone is going to take her up on one of her blatant offers, and then where will she be?”
Brenna turned to look at the man sitting next to her. “In someone’s bed.”
He flinched. “We’re talking about your baby sister.”
“So? Her relationship to me doesn’t prevent her having sex.”
Nic glanced at her. “You okay?”
“About Mia? I’m fine.”
“Not about Mia. About Joe.”
“Oh, that. Can I say I don’t want to talk about it?”
“Sure.”
She thought about all that had happened. “His arrival changes everything. He’s interested in inheriting. Who wouldn’t be? It’s a lot of money.”
“Your grandfather hasn’t left him anything yet. Maybe you should wait to panic.”
She glanced at him and managed a smile. “Oh, sure. Be rational. So like a guy.”
He shrugged. “I mean it, Brenna. Lorenzo may be old-fashioned, but he’s not an idiot. Why would he leave everything to someone who knows nothing about the business?”
She desperately wanted to believe Nic, and in a way, what he said made sense. “Okay. I’ll try to calm down.”
“Good.”
She sighed. “Mia told me my grandfather tried to take you on.”
“She’s exaggerating.”
“I’m sorry if the situation got ugly.”
“We discussed the feud, taking opposite sides, of course. Don’t worry. I can take care of myself.”
She didn’t doubt that. Nic was more than capable.
“It’s been quite an evening,” she said as she pulled her legs to her chest and rested her arms on her knees. “So what did you think? This was your first Marcelli party and all.”
“Plenty of surprises. Your brother showing up was unique entertainment.”
“Tell me about it. I hope we don’t have an even bigger surprise at the double wedding.”
They were sitting close enough that when he moved, his shoulder brushed against hers. In the still night she could almost hear him breathing. Her skin prickled with awareness.
“We have to talk about it,” he said.
Oh, no they didn’t. “I’m not sure I have the emotional energy to deal with one more thing.”
“We didn’t use any birth control.”
Those six words exploded in her brain. Brenna swore under her breath. No way. That wasn’t possible. She was more responsible than that. Never once in her life, not even all those years ago when she’d been so in love with Nic had she ever allowed herself to be so swept away that she didn’t even think about birth control.
She straightened her legs and crossed her arms over her midsection. Talk about going from sexual interest to horrified panic in less than fifteen seconds. Thank God for modern science and birth control pills.
“There aren’t health issues with me,” he continued. “But there are other considerations.”
He sounded remarkably calm. In his position she would have been shrieking.
“I’m on the Pill,” she told him hastily. “I meant to go off it after Jeff and I separated, but my doctor warned me I would have mood swings. With all the stuff going on with my grandfather and the winery, followed by my decision to start my own winery, this didn’t seem like a good time to be emotionally unstable.”
He glanced at her. “You don’t have to justify being on the Pill to me. I’m not in a position to complain.”
“I guess not.”
Now that he’d brought it up, she had no choice but to remember everything they’d done and how fast it had all happened. One second they’d been talking and the next clothes were flying and bodies joining. Her insides quivered at the memory.
“We always did have that effect on each other,” she said, not looking at him as she spoke. “I would have thought we’d outgrown it.”
“Apparently not.”
She couldn’t tell from his tone if he thought that was a good thing or a bad thing.
“I try to keep my business life and personal life separate,” he said.
She cleared her throat. “We have a lot of history. Between working together after all this time and our past, it was probably just one of those things.”
“I’m sure it was.”
Damn. That was not the answer she wanted. She wanted their close encounter of the intimate kind to have meant something to him. If the passion was still alive, didn’t that mean that other things from their past could be lurking under the surface? Did she want that?
“Women frequently view me as a sex object, so what happened tonight isn’t a surprise.”
