Maybe I really did need to get out of my house more.
“I don’t believe I got your name,” I blurted as she began sifting large, deep green leaves in between the peony blooms.
“Oh!” she said with a little giggle before she turned to face me. “Ella. The second youngest Delatou, at your service.”
She let go of the flowers long enough to extend a hand, and I captured it with my own. A jolt shot up my arm, and I once again experienced that same sense of time crawling, warping around us until it was only me and her. Everything narrowed to that single point of contact.
“Pleasure to meet you, Ella. I’m Liam Danvers.”
“Mom and Dad’s vintner,” she said with a nod. “I know.”
Time sped again, and with it, some of my old charm seemed to return.
“So you’ve heard about me.”
Ella only lifted a shoulder. “Some.”
“All good things, I hope.”
Ella grinned, showing off a straight, bright smile that punched me in the gut. “My parents have done nothing but sing your praises. From what I hear, you’re damn good at your job, an impressive feat for someone so young.”
“I’m thirty,” I grumbled. “That’s hardly young.”
“Still awfully young to be head vintner at a winery as old as my family’s.”
Well, she wasn’t wrong there.
I’d always felt a kinship with nature. After shunning the expectations my father had placed on me to study business and join him at the family company, I’d gone to college for bio-agricultural engineering. Creating a top notch product was important to me, and I knew that started with providing the best growing environment for the grapes. I worked tirelessly year round—yes, even in the winter when several feet of snow blanketed the vineyards—to ensure Chateau Delatou maintained its liquid excellence. And I’d cut my teeth in the Willamette Valley near Portland, where I’d accepted a job fresh out of college and worked my way up the ladder.
In comparison, Chateau Delatou was actually relatively small, but only on the surface. We distributed across the country as well as the world, and business was booming. It was exactly where I wanted—andneeded—to be at this stage of my life.
Had I considered moving onto something else now that I’d secured a position at the top of my field? Of course I had. But I wouldn’t do that. Not now—maybe not ever.
Both because I loved my job, loved Leon and Lena for taking a chance on a kid who’d never headed his own operation before, and because I’d made a home and a family within the winery andApple Blossom Bay—despite all their misconceptions of me.
And now? Even if I’d had to content myself with being on the fringes of her life, I wouldn’t leave.
As long as Ella Delatou remained, so would I.
Biding my time until it’d be safe to make my move.
I only had to hope she’d be ready for me when the time came.
FOURTEEN DAYS BEFORE THE TRIP
Walking into the greenhouseat the winery was a breath of fresh air…literally. Everything in me settled with the first inhale of the plants that rested inside, waiting for the day when they’d be placed in their forever home on the vineyard.
“Hey, Ella,” someone said from behind me, and I whirled to find Liam standing at the side entrance, smiling softly at me.
I grinned when I faced him. “Hey. Fancy seeing you here.”
Liam paused for a beat, eyes wide and darting across my face. I lifted my hand to my cheek, wondering if there was something there, but he moved on before I could ask. With a snort and eyeroll, he said, “Please. I practically live here.”
That wasn’t a lie. As the winery’s head vintner, his job was never done. He spent more time at the winery than anyone I knew—including my sister Amara, the CEO of the entire company.
“What’re you working on today?” I asked him.
Liam inclined his head to the back left corner of the space. “Getting those new white wine grapes ready to be planted next week. They were looking a little dry when they arrived, so I’m trying to perk them back up.”
