Awakened (Intimate Relations) (13 page)

A few moments later, he cupped her shoulders and held her away, far enough to look into her eyes. “What do you say we take a few days and head up to Dry Creek Valley to the winery? Take care of some of that stuff that Jake and Kaz want us to do? I’ll check with Cassie and Nate, make sure we can use either the apartment above the tasting room or Cassie’s little guest cottage. We’ll check with some of the caterers, look into booking a musician, maybe even a small band or a deejay for music for dancing. Does that work for you?”

“Can you just leave?”

“I can. I pay Theo well and I think he prefers it when I’m not here.” He glanced over her shoulder as if checking to make sure his business manager wasn’t lurking. “He says I tend to meddle.”

She didn’t even try not to laugh. “Ya think? Personally, I think it’s a great idea. I’ll see if Jasper and Abdul can take Rico. They live a couple of doors down and they’ve watched him before. He even has his own pillow in their sunroom, so it shouldn’t be a problem. When do you want to go? I can be done here by about three.”

“That works. I’ll let Theo know he’s captain of the ship. And I think I’ll have him set up Ted’s office. I have a feeling Agent Robinson will be here sooner rather than later.”

*   *   *

Mandy had Rico settled with Abdul and Jasper and their calico cat, Sheba, on the pillow in their sunroom by three thirty. She and Marc were packed and on the road by four, though the traffic was awful. Mandy called while Marc drove to let Cassie, the winemaker, and her husband Nate, the vineyard manager, know when to expect them. She caught Cassie as she was making a run into town for groceries.

“Your timing’s perfect,” she said. “I’ll stock the refrigerator in the cottage so you’ll at least have snacks and breakfast stuff. In fact, I’ll make you a deal—I’ll even add real food if you guys will pick up Mexican on your way out here. Can you do that?”

Mandy laughed and turned the phone on speaker. “I can hear you salivating. Are chili rellenos good for pregnant moms to be?”

“They are for this one. You know what we like, right?”

Mandy went over the list of their favorites, wrote everything down to make sure she didn’t forget, and settled back in her seat while Marc dealt with the late afternoon traffic from San Francisco to Healdsburg.

She’d only met Cassie a couple of times, but she and Nate were already a couple of Mandy’s favorite people. Cassie’s father was the one who’d started the winery Marc now owned. It was originally called Tangled Vines back in the mid-eighties, but advancing Alzheimer’s had led to some bad financial decisions, and by the time Cassie realized the trouble her father had gotten them into, they were verging on bankruptcy.

That’s when Marc had stepped in and bought the vineyards and winery, renaming it Intimate Wines, but keeping Cassie on as winemaker. He’d hired a new vineyard manager, Nate Dunagan, from a large winery along the central coast of California. Nate was now Cassie’s husband, and they were expecting their first child.

Marc had deeded a small plot of grapes and both the family house and guesthouse back to Cassie when she and Nate were married, which kept the Tangled Vines wines alive.

Marc wasn’t able to spend much time at the place, not as much as Mandy was sure he wanted, so this totally unexpected visit was a rare chance for both of them to enjoy the beautiful wine country and actually relax for a few days. Relax while checking out caterers, bands, and anything else Kaz and Jake needed for their wedding.

“We’re going to have to look into security, too. Ben’s going to be busy as a groomsman.” Marc smiled when he said that. Jake had asked Marc to serve as best man. Even Ben had agreed. Marc had been here for Jake while his older brother Ben was soldiering around the globe.

“We’ll need someone to deal with the paparazzi.” Mandy cracked up when she said it, but it was true. Kaz’s fame had exploded across the country with two high-profile advertising campaigns, her nationally covered kidnapping and heroic rescue, and her sassy sense of humor. She’d become quite a media star in a very short time, with talk of movie deals and lots of gossip mag coverage. “I never once imagined having to worry about paparazzi,” Mandy said, “but I bet they’ll be even worse after this Italy trip.”

“You never know. Just be glad we don’t live in LA.” Marc glanced at Mandy and she laughed at the forlorn expression on his face.

“I take it you had to deal with that after the
People
article came out?”

“Oh, yeah. Like an idiot I agreed to go down for a couple of interviews. Never again. I like my peace and quiet—and anonymity—a lot.”

By the time they reached the vineyard with a couple of bags filled with Mexican food—which Mandy thought looked like enough for an army but Marc assured her was just about right for the four of them—the sun had gone behind the western hills and the valley was bathed in shadows.

Marc opened the car door for Mandy and helped her carry the bags up the steps to the house. Cassie met them at the door—a much larger Cassie than when he’d seen her last month. “Wow. You’ve grown.”

Laughing, she opened the door wide and stood aside for the two of them. “That I have, and no, there’s only one in there. A very big one, I think.”

Nate walked out from the back of the house, grabbed a beer out of the refrigerator, and handed it to Marc. “What’s scary is that she’s still got three months to go.”

“It’s going to be a long summer, my love.” She tilted her head and kissed his chin, and then she and Mandy got the food out of the bags and the silverware on the table.

Nate handed a glass of wine to Mandy. “Since the pregnant lady isn’t drinking, she wants all of us to suffer.”

“Thank you for the rescue.” Mandy held her glass high. “Here’s to little whatsit and a perfectly wonderful future for the entire Dunagan clan.”

Marc and Nate raised their bottles of beer, Mandy sipped her wine, and Cassie merely sighed and stared at her glass of ice water. Then she glanced at Nate. “Birth control, Nathan. That’s what this no-drinking policy is. It’s a subversive form of birth control.”

*   *   *

It was a long time before Marc fell asleep. Mandy slept soundly beside him, her nude body warm and damp from the sweat of their exertion, while his mind spun its usual circles as he wound down before sleep. He’d learned he couldn’t force memories, but he wondered if thinking about things before he fell asleep might help push his dreams in the direction he wanted them to take.

Mandy turned toward him in her sleep. She tucked her cheek against his throat and curled her fingers in the trail of hair heading downward from his stomach. Her intimate touch brought a bit of life back to his neglected dick. He lay there, sort of reveling in the knowledge that he loved Mandy, that she loved him, and they could make love anytime they wanted.

Well, any time within reason. She was absolutely exhausted tonight, but she’d caught up on everything in the office, and they’d had more than enough emotional stuff over the past twenty-four hours to wear anyone out. He needed answers and he wanted them now—patience was definitely not one of his better qualities. He wasn’t going to learn anything new unless he actively went looking for it. With that thought in mind, he drifted, forcing himself to think of that last night in his parents’ bedroom. Wondering what happened next.

The dream was so vivid he thought he was awake and actually remembering something he’d thought forgotten. At some point his conscious mind surfaced enough to convince him that no, this was merely a dream, but a dream he’d requested, in a way.

And once again he was that terrified little boy trying to understand what was happening.

He’d been hiding behind the bed for so long, but he thought now might be a good time to sneak back to his own bed. Mommy would come in and wake him in the morning, and everything would be okay. Well, as okay as it could be with Daddy so angry all the time. He started to crawl out of the room when the worst thing ever happened.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going, Marcus? Get back in here. Now.”

He was shivering. Shivering and shaking so hard he could barely stand, but he knew better than to disobey. Daddy had started spanking him a few weeks ago with his big leather belt instead of his hand, and it hurt. A lot. But he stood very still while Daddy stared at him. Well, still except for the shaking. He waited for Daddy to start yelling but when he talked, he was even scarier. His voice was really quiet and sort of flat, but he told Marcus to get dressed and wait in his room. Even though it was the middle of the night! Then he said, “We have to go for a ride.”

He remembered getting in the back seat of Daddy’s big car, but he must have fallen asleep, because he thought he heard Mommy talking to him, but all she said was that she loved him and that she would always love him. He already knew that. Silly Mommy.

The next thing he remembered, Daddy was turning the car onto another dark road, but this one was bumpy. When they stopped, there weren’t any lights or houses around. There was barely any light from the moon, and he was afraid. Was Daddy going to leave him here? He’d been asleep on the back seat, and he didn’t even have his seatbelt on. Mommy never let him in the car without it, but he heard a noise and peeked out the back window. The trunk was open and the light inside it was on. He saw Daddy take a shovel out and lean it against the car. Then he lifted a bundle of something heavy over his shoulder that was wrapped in the comforter off Mommy and Daddy’s bed. He picked up the shovel too,
and walked down a little trail. Marc watched him through the side window, but it was steamy, so he rolled it down, but Daddy heard him. He stopped, turned around, and stared at Marc. “Stay in the car,” he said. “Roll that window up, and don’t get out.”

Marc waited in the car for a long time. He must have fallen asleep again, because he heard the trunk slam shut, and then Daddy was getting back in the car.

“I have to go peepee,” he said. “But it’s dark.”

Daddy said a bad word, but he got out and opened the door for him and told Marc to go right there. There was enough light from inside the car to show that he peed on the side of a big rock that had a tree growing out of one side. Then he got back into the back seat, but this time he put his seatbelt on. He felt a lot braver, now that he wasn’t worried about wetting his pants, so he asked Daddy a question. “Why did we come here?”

“I had to take care of some garbage,” his father said. “I buried some stinking garbage.”

They drove again, and the road was really bumpy. Then they turned onto a smoother road. Later, he remembered a bridge that was way up high, and lights in a valley that seemed a lot lower than the bridge they crossed, but it was dark out here on this road. He must have fallen asleep again, because he didn’t have any more memories. None at all.

*   *   *

Marc thought he’d only slept for a few minutes, but when he blinked and finally opened his eyes, sunlight was streaming through the blinds over the bedroom windows, and Mandy was coming out of the bathroom. Her hair was all wet and slicked back from her face and she didn’t have on a bit of makeup. She wore one of his T-shirts, but nothing else.

His heart thudded in his chest, but he figured it had to pump like crazy to fill up his suddenly engorged dick. Amazing how that worked. Just like that, he was horny and hard and almost desperate to hold her. She could do all that to him with nothing more than a smile.

Mandy was amazing. She was absolutely beautiful, and she was smiling just for him.

She crawled across the bed, leaned close, and kissed him. She tasted of toothpaste and sex, and he wanted her. Now.

Straddling him, she leaned forward and kissed him again, this time with tongue and teeth and lips, with her hands stroking his chest, her thighs clasped tightly against his hips, and the hot center of her planted firmly on his erection.

When he finally came up for air, they were both grinning like fools. “Can we arrange for this kind of wake up every morning?” he said. “It works really well for me.”

She raised up and set his cock free before settling back down with it rising between her legs. “I sort of got that feeling. It looks a bit naked, though.” She reached for a condom, stared at it a moment, but then she handed it to him. “The last time I put one on you, it broke. I think you better do the honors. Which reminds me. Saturday it’ll be a week since that sucker broke. I’ll do a pregnancy test then to be sure, but I think we’re fine.”

He kept his mouth shut, though in the back of his mind he kept imagining her with his child growing inside. She’d stay for sure, then. He raised his eyes and watched her watching him when he grabbed the packet, opened it, and suited up. No. He wanted her to choose to stay with him out of love, not because of a child. And not because of some stupid business contract, but because she loved him too much to leave.

Still, the thought of one day making love to her without any barrier between them was his greatest fantasy of the moment, but neither of them was ready for that yet. He knew that time was coming, though. He could wait until it was the only choice they had. For now, this was truly amazing, and once he was covered, he palmed Mandy’s butt and slowly settled her back over his highly impatient dick.

She wiggled a bit to get everything where it belonged, and then she just sat there. Clenching and releasing her inner muscles.

Damn. She felt absolutely wonderful, her sheath warm and so tight, the rippling clench of all those feminine muscles doing absolutely amazing things to him. He groaned and raised his hips, lifting her, going as deep inside her as was physically possible, and then he just held her there with his back arched and his dick planted. Mandy supported herself on her knees, but those rhythmic contractions never ceased.

They weren’t moving their bodies at all, but his balls had clenched up tight between his legs and a sheen of sweat covered his body. Then an absolutely magnificent thing happened. Mandy climaxed. He hadn’t moved, but she’d climaxed merely from flexing those amazing muscles around his erection. Her back arched, her fingers tightened on his forearms and she cried out as he clasped her hips and drove into her, thrusting hard and fast, following some inner need to claim her now, to remind her that she belonged to him.