“He’s well-known for being sort of a jerk and overprotective of his plants. Doesn’t like to see any of them die after all the work he puts into them. Sorry, I should have told you. I just got distracted—”
She didn’t finish her thought.
“But how’d you know about those specific flowers?”
Ani shrugged. “I’m in the wedding business. I know plenty about flower varieties, and these back here, we actually grew one in my parents’ backyard. When my family and I went to the nursery, the blooms caught my eye, but the person at the gardening center warned me how tricky they are to take care of. So I read up, tried those methods, and so far the plant has doubled in size, so I must be doing something right.”
It seemed Ani kneweverything. Who needed the internet when you had the world’s most brilliant woman by your side?
They were taking a back road through Napa County, with massive bare oaks like sculptures erupting out of the earth and lush green wild grass blanketing the hillsides. It was beautiful out here. He was glad he’d moved to Napa. Yes, he liked flashy things, but he’d soured on city life. Give him a nice glass of wine on a quiet balcony overlooking the Silverado Trail instead of sitting in traffic on Van Ness behind the 30X bus belching its exhaust over his hopes, dreams, and freshly dry-cleaned blazer any day.
Then, Raffi’s throat began to itch. He needed, very badly, togive a loud and unbecoming hack to clear it, but he wouldn’t dare with Ani one foot away from him. He dealt with the discomfort.
“So, you know about rare flowers, sun and light, Photoshop, landscaping, how to deal with surly old men. What else?”
His voice sounded odd to him, strained, but he hoped it was one of those things that he noticed but she didn’t.
“Nothing else. Those are my only areas of knowledge,” Ani deadpanned.
“Uh-huh, don’t believe that for one second.”
Raffi smiled, but then it dropped immediately because his throat felt tight. Was he gettingnervous? What was this? Oh God, was this what a crush felt like? It’d been years since he had a real, bona fide crush. Kami was probably the last—
Against his will, Raffi let out a choked cough.
Ani turned toward him, alarmed. “You okay?”
“Yep, fine,” he said.It’s just a crush.Oh God, his budding feelings for Ani were affecting his physiology. They didn’t teach this shit in med school.
Then his windpipe constricted dramatically, and when he tried to breathe he could hardly draw any air, and his face itched like it was covered in hives. Oh no, this wasn’tfeelings; he was having a full-blown allergy attack. A serious one. What the hell—he didn’t know he was allergic to anything. And the culprit? The fucking flowers.
He wheezed and began to slow the van, readying to pull over.
“Allergy attack. Flowers.” His voice came out horribly, so weak and strained.
They were about twenty minutes from the nearest clinicwhere they’d have an EpiPen. Way too far. If he pulled over and got out of the van, the allergy symptoms could subside, but he was really far gone, about to lose his ability to breathe, so leaving the flowers might not be enough. They could call 911 and the fire department would be here in about ten minutes, considering how far out they were from civilization. Hopefully he’d survive by then. Oh God, he was going to die on the side of the road. He, a doctor, totally unable to help himself. Death by flowers. God, his father would hate that. So unmanly.
He hadn’t even made the winery a success yet, hadn’t really accomplished anything in his life except half efforts. He saw that now, so clearly, how he had to—if he was granted another chance—do better.
Even with the fear of imminent demise hanging over him, Raffi managed to pull over to the side of the dirt road. He was about to get out and instruct Ani to call 911 when he saw what she was doing.
She’d unbuckled her seat belt and in her hand, like a warrior goddess, was the shining tube of an EpiPen. Her expression was completely focused on his thigh.
Then, because one of the many Moonlit Cascades towered between them, she stood, her back hunched, shimmied over, and then was straddling him—straddlinghim! He literally could not breathe anymore and he could feel his face purpling, but holy shit, this miracle woman was on top of him, arm raised, and then with a hard whack, she stabbed him right in the upper thigh and let the epinephrine flow into his bloodstream.
Within seconds, the pressure in his throat loosened and he could breathe again, great gasping breaths.
And he couldn’t help himself; he put an arm around Ani and felt her warmth, her own breaths quick, up and down.
“Thank you, thank you,” he said quietly.
“Of course,” she replied, not taking her eyes off him.
It was then he allowed himself to feel her legs, and most especially, the heatbetweenher legs pressing against his thigh. He swallowed and knew that if his body wasn’t coursing with epinephrine, constricting his blood vessels, he’d be sporting a partial boner. He had a mental one, despite his body’s suffering.
He was mute, his heart absolutely racing and mind jumping between physical agony and a surprising bliss. Also he was still coming to terms with the fact that he had nearly died and that this incredible woman had just saved his life.
“You okay now? Did it work?” Ani said while she climbed off him, his hand sliding along her back, and returned to her seat, careful to avoid crushing the flowers. He felt her absence acutely. If he was being really honest with himself, he wanted her back on his lap, wanted to grab the back of her head and kiss her.
