Just a Kiss: The Single Girls Wine Club (A Wine Country Romance #1) (7 page)

Within a beat, Juliet and Danica simultaneously shot glances at her over their shoulders before turning back to their work.

Danica broke the silence first. “Juliet, am I losing it or did I just hear ‘Ms. through with men,’ say something about sex?”

Sarah brought her pile of sliced onions to them. “You can settle down, I shouldn’t have said sex up. I meant glam up, or fix up, or something. I’m getting tired of wearing clogs and leggings all the time. I look so bland and boring.”

“Your face is too stunning for you to be bland.” Juliet examined Sarah. “And what’s that on your chin?” she asked, turning back to the sink.

“There’s not much you can do with clogs, leggings, and a chef coat,” Danica said. “Maybe a little French maid’s outfit and some stilettos? Then again, maybe you’ll accidently off some of your older customers and give 'em heart attacks.”

“Bad for business,” Juliet said.

“Yeah, but good for gettin’ busy.” Sarah giggled.

Danica scrutinized Sarah. “What the hell?”

“What?” Sarah shrugged.

Lulu bustled into the kitchen, putting a basket of tomatoes on the table. “There’s more out there on the vine, some of the heirlooms. They’ll be ready in a few days.”

“Do you think Sarah needs to change her style, Lulu?” Juliet asked.

“She doesn’t need to change a thing,” Lulu said giving Sarah an affectionate pat on the butt on her way to the cabinet and grabbed some dinner plates.

Juliet gathered silverware and napkins while Danica busied herself with wine duty.

Starting with red wine vinegar, Sarah added grainy mustard and whisked the salad dressing. “I’m scheduling my booth at the Harvest Festival. Do you guys have plans?”

“I’m just planning to help you,” Juliet said.

Sarah added coarse salt, ground pepper, squeezed some lemon, a smidge of zest and whisked again. “What about you Danica?”

“I’m in,” she answered. “The Santino family will be there pouring. Looky what I have ladies.” Danica waved a green wine bottle with
Santino 2011 Zin
scribbled on it in black marker. “From the Private Reserve,” she said, sashaying to the table. “Will Jamie be there, Sarah?”

“I think we’re ready,” Lulu announced from the table before Sarah could answer.

Hurrying, she finished the dressing, tossed the salad and brought it to the group waiting at the table. Almost everything on the menu came from a five-mile radius of the villa.

When she sat down, Sarah immediately felt the warm sun shining through the windows directly on her chin. She moved out of the light excusing herself from the table.

Covering her chin with her hand, she headed to the bathroom. Digging through Danica’s extra makeup drawer in the guest bath, she prayed she’d find something to cover the stubble rash Jamie had given her. No way did she feel like explaining all that kissing.

Sarah recalled The Jamie Kiss for about the fiftieth time, buzzing with shock and awe over her newly discovered rampant sex drive. It wasn’t even five thirty a.m. yet. Over and over, she recreated every second they spent together from the instant she got into his Porsche, to the storage building elevator, to the drive back home, and back to the elevator. The elevator.

She turned on the ovens on her way to the refrigerator remembering the expression on Jamie’s gorgeous face when he’d said
You. Kissed. Me.
Just the thought of his sexy mouth made her wet
.

What the hell had happened to her? She’d kissed a love god and made out with a sex-crazed movie star, of all people, and now she’d have to face him. He had to have at least twenty girlfriends and who knew how many booty calls stashed away. Sarah cut another four-inch star in the dough she’d rolled out.

She’d never been a man-handler and wasn’t even close to being a femme fatale. She punched another star with her cookie cutter. Her lips weren’t even that big. They certainly weren’t qualified to have a mind of their own. Like a ping-pong tournament, the steady stream of thoughts kept going back and forth. She couldn’t make any sense of her actions.

The personal coach in her brain kept repeating
Calm Down. It’s nothing, just a little kiss.
It’s not like you slept with him. Clothes were not removed. Touching was at a minimum. Just settle the hell down and be in the moment.
She tried so hard to stay in this moment, not that moment and flipped the dough.

She shook her head in a last ditch effort, hoping the movement could rattle the thought of Jamie Santino Movie Star Love God from her mind. It worked for a second and then her brain went straight back to the elevator when she jumped him, threw him against the wall and practically humped him.

When Manny swung the side door open, Sarah jumped five inches off the floor.

“Hey, Sarah, you having a good morning?” he asked.

“Yup, it’s a great morning.”

Manny inspected the three hundred, four inch, star cookies Sarah had cut from the dough. They covered every inch of the pastry table and some of the counters. “Are we getting a head start on the Harvest Festival?”

“Ah no, we’re doing moons for the festival. Well, maybe stars too. Stars and moons go together, right?” Sarah asked. “Although, remember Jack London’s book,
The Valley of the Moon?
That was written about Sonoma, so maybe we should just go with moons.”

Manny looked bewildered as he buttoned his chef coat. “Well, whatever you decide to go with, isn’t it a little early to bake them? Don’t you want to cook them the day before, so they’re fresh?”

“Maybe we’ll just practice. Let’s put these in the pastry case today and see what the response is.”

Manny gave a once-over to the kitchen. The gleaming stainless steel counter where the morning’s pastries were usually set out didn’t have anything on it. “You want me to take the croissants and tarts out of the fridge?”

“Geez Manny, thanks, I totally forgot.”

“No prob.” He headed into the walk-in and called out, “So how long is Mr. Movie here for?”

“Hmm…got me.” Sarah loaded star cookies onto baking sheets. “I think he might give notice today. He might not even show.”

“Well, that doesn’t do me any good. I haven’t scored a date for the festival yet.”

“What does Jamie have to do with you getting a date?” Sarah put her hands on her hips. “Besides, you’re working with me that night, right? I’m going to need all the help I can get.”

“I’ll be there to help,” Manny said, raising his voice from the walk-in. “But I wanted a hookup for the after party at Brens.”

“And Jamie helps you get dates how?” Sarah put four cookie sheets in the oven and set the timer for eight minutes.

“I strictly pull from the bounty Movie Boy brings in.” Manny stepped out of the walk-in. “Let’s face it, we’ve never been this busy, and all of those hot new customers want a glimpse of Santino.” Manny placed a tray of assorted croissants, tarts and pastries on the counter. “And, I’m here to help them any way I can.”

“Uh huh,” Sarah said.

“Jamie’s cordial, polite, you know, but he doesn’t have any interest in posing for pictures all day. You’re the only one he’s interested in.”

Sarah perked up. “You don’t know that.”

“Oh yeah, I do.”

Sarah raised her eyebrows.

“It’s a Latin thing,” Manny clarified. “You see, I’m so hot, I can sense love before it even happens. But this one, with you, is too easy. Way too easy. The guy’s got it for you, Sarah, how long has it been since you had a boyfriend?”

“Maybe too long.” Sarah shrugged. “It’s six fifteen, wanna open?”

“I’ll put the pastries in the case after I unlock the doors,” Manny said as he left the kitchen.

Sarah saw the house lights flicker on and wondered what on earth she’d been thinking cutting three hundred cookie stars. She’d never sell all those today.

Manny stuck his head through the doors. “Staff is here. We’re open.”

“The entire staff?” asked Sarah.

“Yeah, the whole staff, the complete staff, everyone you had on the schedule is here.”

“Why do you have to be such a wise guy? It’s just a simple question.”

“Oh and Movie Boy wants to see you,” Manny teased. “Should I send him right in?”

“No! I mean…later would be better.” Sarah checked the progress of the cookies.

“Suit yourself. I can certainly use him as date bait.” Manny grinned and headed back to the front.

At ten thirty, Sarah still hadn’t left the confines of the kitchen. She didn’t do her usual rounds of chitchat with the regulars or talk to the staff. She didn’t even peek out of the yellowed plexiglass windows on the doors. Sarah did what any grown woman did when she was confused and didn’t want to see a guy. She hid and planned to stay stuck in the don’t-know-what-to-do zone until she figured it out. That plan tanked at ten thirty-five.

A combination of dazzle, swagger, sexual heat, and the familiar lips of Jamie Santino bolted through the swinging doors into the kitchen. Sarah managed a quick gasp and a gulp before the most gorgeous man she’d ever met, leaped toward her.

His hungry smile said
I want you, and I must have you now.
Using both hands, he grabbed her face and pulled it toward his. His deep, gravelly “hum” reverberated through her body before his mouth locked on hers. Without waiting for a warm-up, their tongues remembered where they were the last time they met.

Sarah broke from the kiss, to catch a breath and saw an expression on Jamie's face that no magazine cover could capture and no actress in any film would ever see. It was sweet, simple, and maybe, just a little, scared.

He pulled her close and the safety of his arms protected her from any doubts. All of her
what did I do
thoughts from earlier went away. Jamie leaned back without letting go, studying her. He didn’t say a word, reached and cupped her cheek with his hand. Then, taking all the time in the world, he twirled a strand of her hair that had fallen out of her scarf, leaned into it, and inhaled. He brushed his mouth against her face and gently tucked her hair behind her ear and into her scarf.

Sarah gasped softly, flabbergasted by his tenderness.

“Do you know how beautiful you are Sarah?” He waited, entrapping her in a stare.

She parted her lips to say something but didn’t.

“Do you know just how much I think about you? Sarah…Sarah. What am I going to do?”

She kissed him softly.

“Give me more Sarah,” he whispered gruffly into her ear. “I want more.”

Sarah didn't have the wherewithal to respond, he was so incapacitating-ly sexy. She couldn’t help remembering that Jamie did this sort of thing for a living. He made big bucks making women swoon, and he’d be leaving soon.

“Jamie,” she said softly.

He pulled her into him again and with his thumb guiding the outside of her lips, kissed her deeply while cradling her head in his hands. He broke from the kiss. “I don’t want to stop,” he said. “I’ve been thinking about your mouth since the first day I saw you. And yesterday, Sarah, yesterday. I haven’t been able to think of anything else.”

She couldn’t believe what he was saying, and she wanted him to say it again just to be sure. He could talk her into walking away from work, her kitchen, her life, her career. If Jamie kept talking like that, she’d follow him into the walk-in freezer and stay there with him. Her sigh mixed with a moan and surprised her back to reality.

“What are we doing Jamie?” Sarah asked.

“Well, I know what I’d like to do but I don’t think the kitchen is the best place for it, at least not with customers out front,” he teased. “Let’s get out of here. Let me take you away, or on a date or anywhere, anywhere you want to go.”

“Now?” Sarah asked. “You want me to just pick up and leave?”

“Whenever, it doesn’t matter. But make it soon.” Jamie tossed a killer mischievous grin. “I can only take so much dreaming Sarah. And I have dreamed about you. From the second I went to bed last night, to the moment I woke up, and all the hours in between. That’s what your kisses do to me.”

Sarah’s core temperature rocketed at the thought of being alone with him again, and her heart palpitated in a way that scared her, it beat so fast. She broke his gaze and stepped back, embarrassed by how much he turned her on.

“I’ve got a super busy week with the Harvest Festival,” she said. “I don’t know when I’ll have even a second to do anything.”

“Then let's go to the festival together,” Jamie said. “There’ll be lots of people there. You won’t be all alone with me.”

Sarah contemplated his mouth. Remembering the very talented way he used it the last time they were alone, made her skin hot.

“My family will be there. We donate wine and serve every year. That’s not too scary, is it?”

“It’s just that I’m serving at the festival. I’ve already committed and practically do the whole thing myself. I start the night before and bake all the way through.”

Jamie reached for her hand, brought it to his lips and kissed it. “Then I’ll come in the night before and help you.”

“You really want to stay here all night baking?” Sarah moved her hand away. “I’m serious. Are you sure about this?”

“I am.” He took her hand.

She tried to pull away again, but Jamie held on. She gave him a sideways glance. “It’s not for the weak. It’s not even that fun. I have to make fifteen hundred cookies.”

“You can’t talk me out of it, so stop trying.” He reached his arms around her waist and pulled her into him. “You, me, here, with no customers, all alone. Sounds too good to be true.” He looked at the pastry table, started to say something and stopped.