I chuckled. “Is that so? What sort of decorating are we talking about here?”
“Nothing crazy. I thought for a romantic dinner for two in that private room, it needed a little more romance, if ya know what I mean. Think candles and flowers.” I could imagine Ava waving her hand in the air as she described the room. Ava was definitely the more animated, bubbly sister between the two.
“That actually sounds great. Thanks for doing that, Ava. Here I thought I was being romantic by just surprising her with a private room at the winery’s restaurant.”
Ava laughed. “I got you, Dean. Anyway, I just wanted to give you a heads-up, so you don’t act as surprised as her when you walk into the room. Have a great time tonight!”
“Good call. Thanks again, I’ll see you later.”
“No problem. And, Dean?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m really happy that y'all found each other. I haven’t seen my sister this happy in a long time, and I feel like she’s finally herself again. The old Addison. So thank you for that.”
All the recent commentary I’d been receiving about Addison being herself again and her happiness didn’t make me feel good like it should. It just twisted the knife deeper. It only made me feel even worse that I was keeping something from her. It was almost like they knew I was hiding something and were trying to pry it out of me by drowning me in guilt. I shook the thought from my mind because I needed to focus solely on tonight, keeping it about her and her accomplishments. The past could wait.
“She means a lot to me, and I haven’t been this happy in a long time either.”
We said goodbye and ended the call. I checked the time and made my way downstairs to feed Coal. As he was eating, I stroked my hand down his back. “All right, buddy, I’m heading out. I’ll be back with your favorite person later on tonight.” Coal wagged his tail in response, not lifting his head from his dish. I grabbed my keys and headed out to my new SUV. I was tired of driving my work truck around, since it contained medical supplies, so I decided to get a second vehicle.
It only took me about fifteen minutes to get to Walker’s property, and as I pulled in front of the guesthouse alongside Addison’s SUV, she was already walking out the front door. Iquickly slipped out of the driver’s side and rounded the car to open the passenger door for her. I stood there with the door open and took a moment to take her in, all long chestnut waves and long, delicious legs. She wore a cream sweater with dark denim that showed a small sliver of her soft, touchable skin when she lifted her purse onto her shoulder. Her jeans flared out over her booties, and she wore a long dark-green peacoat. Her lips were painted a dark, sinful red, and all I could think about was how they’d look wrapped around my cock. Would that perfect mouth leave marks? She made it hard to breathe. She was pure temptation. I seriously considered canceling dinner and just driving her straight back to my house.
Once Addison was in front of me, she leaned up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to my cheek and smiled, completely unaware of what she did to me. “Don’t worry, it’s kiss-proof.”
I chuckled. “I wasn’t worried. You can mark me all over my body if you want.” I winked at her.
She smirked. “I’ll keep that in mind, Adler.” She got into my SUV. I shut the door behind her and hustled my way back to the driver’s side.
As I made my way down the drive out of Walker’s property,
. “So, new car?” she asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, I was sick of taking my work truck everywhere.”
Addison laughed. “I sometimes forget how rich you are, Mr. Moneybags.”
I looked over at her. “Okay, smart-ass.”
In twenty short minutes, we arrived at her family’s property.I led Addison toward the restaurant entrance, my hand resting on her lower back. She looked up at me with a smile. “This sounds crazy, but I haven’t been able to try my parents’ new restaurant because of how busy I’ve been with getting the farm up and running.”
“I know, your mom mentioned that to me.” I held open the door and let her walk inside before me.
Before going up to the hostess stand, she stopped and turned to me, my previous comment just registering to her. “When did you talk to my mom?” Ignoring her question, I walked over to the hostess to give her my name, and she immediately led us back to the private room.
I held the door open for Addison to walk into the room. She took only two steps and stopped dead in her tracks, taking in the room, and man, did Ava do a good job. The lights were low, with small candles illuminating the space from every corner. Ava had also placed a beautiful flower arrangement on the table. Addison whipped around to look up at me. “Dean, what is all this?” she whispered. The hostess set the menus down and smiled at me as she made her way out of the room, closing the door behind her.
I took Addison’s hands in mine. “I called your parents for a favor. I wanted you to have a night that was about you and to celebrate your accomplishments. Your mom happened to mention that you haven’t eaten here, so I figured between that and the private room overlooking one of your favorite places, it was perfect. Also, your sister may have jumped in and made the room what it is,” I said, gesturing toward the candles andflowers.
Addison’s eyes glossed over, and she shook her head with a smile. “Wow. I’m speechless. This is honestly the sweetest thing that anyone has done for me.” I puffed up my chest, feeling proud of myself, and then leaned down, placing a quick kiss on her lips before leading her to our table.Don’t be too impressed with yourself, asshole. You’re still hiding Noah from her.
The food was delicious, the wine was flowing, and the view was incredible. The view being both the vineyard and Addison. After the waiter came by to take our dessert order, I reached for Addison’s hand and brought it up to my mouth, kissing the inside of her palm. “Can I ask you something?”
Addison smiled. “Of course, you can ask me anything.”
“I’ve been told by several people how happy you are now, and that the old Addison is back, and how much they love to see it. What do they mean by that?”
Addison rolled her eyes and chuckled. “This fucking town, I swear.” She noticed I was still waiting for an actual answer, so she sighed and continued, “I guess it’s because before I always had to compromise my passion for horses, my dream of going pro. I had to tone it down in a way with Noah. It could never be my priority. He was the priority, and he was only okay with it if it didn’t take away from or affect him.”
