“No. Before that. These were my grandfather’s.” Judging by the way he handled the object, he cared about it. “I’ve bought a few since then, but they’re mostly his.” He glanced at her. “I never took them out of their box. Left them in the barn. They’re the only thing I have left.” He paused. “That and a quilt made by an incredible woman.”
Oh, why did those words constrict her chest like that? Maybe it was the image of Luc as a little boy, lost and alone with nothing but his grandfather’s music to comfort him. Nothing to do with him cherishing her gift.
“I will be back,” he said and went outside. A few minutes later, he returned with more electronics, all of which took him some time to set up and turn on before he pushed every stick of furniture away from the center of the room. “First of all, there are things I want, but if you don’t want them, then you don’t have to say yes.”
“What kind of things?”
“I want you in my tasting room, selling the wine.”
She suppressed the wave of hope that worked its giddy way out of her heart.
“But first…” When he dropped the needle onto one of the disks, it let out a funny tearing sound, which made her jump slightly, before the notes emerged from two speakers he’d put on the counter.
The music started. Violins swelled, and a man’s voice, melodic and crackly, started singing.
Luc looked her in the eye. “May I please have this dance, Abby?”
“What are you—”
“May I have yourfirstdance?”
Letting out a hot whoosh of air, she nodded. One of his arms circled her, while his other hand grasped hers—warm and firm—and he twirled her into the center of the room.
It was an entirely different sensation from what she’d experienced with those men encroaching on her downstairs. That had been sexual, sweaty and frenzied in a way she hadn’t been comfortable with. This, while still sensual, was…beautiful.
As he led her around the room with nothing but the palm of one hand and the length of his body, Abby felt herself getting more than swept away.
“I danced once before.”
“Oh?”
“Downstairs, one night, with George and another friend.”
“Did you enjoy it?”
“It was freeing, I suppose.”
He smiled.
With a hard sigh that he had to have felt through her chest, she said, “But this, this is better.”
“Good.” After a few more turns, he asked against her ear, “Do you know what else I want, Abby?”
She shook her head.
“I want to be your first again. From now on, I want to be the one you do new things with. Forever.Always.”
She was breathless. “That’s…that’s sweet, but—”
“I also want to be the last. The last one to touch you and make love to you. I want to be the first and the last. The only one for you. Will you let me? Will you let me be that?”
Abby looked away, her eyes alighting on that mountain through the window before he turned them and it disappeared from view. Goodness, she wanted him. Only him.
A smile lit her face, and she whispered, “Yes.”
* * *
They danced for another three songs before the heat between them got to be too much. A different heat than what they’d had before. All the shame, the fear, and the doubt was gone, and in its place was a hot, hot tenderness.
