Love in the Vineyard (The Tavonesi Series Book 7) (39 page)

Adrian carried her into the apartment. His swift kick at the door she’d left open closed it behind them. He glanced around her living space. No couch.

“Bedroom,” she said, already undoing the buttons on his shirt. “To the right.”

In the bedroom, he set her on her feet.

“I want you in my life, Natasha. You
and
Tyler. I want a future with you as well as a now.”

She backed away from him and put her palms to her face.

“I—” He what? He cursed his timing. What else could he say? Nothing was happening as he’d imagined. As he’d hoped. Sure, they were in her bedroom, but he didn’t only want to be in her bedroom, he wanted to be in her soul.

When she lowered her hands, he saw tears in her eyes. His heart sank when he saw the anguish there. He was too late.

“Adrian…”

“No, Natasha, you don’t have to say it. I have eyes. I can see.”

He wasn’t going to force her to tell him what he could already see in her face.

She narrowed her eyes. “Oh no, not again. This time I will say what I need to say. And you will listen.”

“I’m listening.” He dreaded her words.

“I once told you that all my life I’ve been afraid of my past,” she said, surprising him.

She walked to the window and then spun on her heel to face him.

“But now I know that I had to face my fears so I could put them behind me. Let myself feel the terror and then move on. I don’t believe the past determines the future anymore. I agree with you; now I believe our dreams determine the future far more than the past could ever do.”

He resisted the urge to take her in his arms, to stop the flow of words with a kiss that didn’t want to wait.

“
You
showed me that I wasn’t broken, Adrian. You helped me not to despise my faults.” She crossed her arms and held her elbows. “You helped me to find the strength to do that. Everything you did bolstered me so I could take steps I never could before. You helped—”

“
You
did that, not me. You showed that to yourself.”

“Do Italians always interrupt like this?”

“Okay.” He crossed his arms, mirroring her stance. “I’m listening, Tasha.”

“Can’t you for
once
accept thanks without sloughing it off? What
is
it about you that runs and deflects when people try to thank you?”

“I…” He searched for the words. His father had said he ran from happiness. Well, he wasn’t going to run now. “It’s just that I—”

“No, that answer can wait. I want to hear it, but not right now. If I don’t say what I have to say, I never will.”

She let out a long breath. He waited in the silence.

Whatever else haunted her, he was powerless in the face of it. He wasn’t accustomed to losing, especially not when it counted. But he’d sworn that this time she was the one making the calls.

She crossed to him and touched her hand to his face, surprising him. “I
love
you, Adrian. More than I thought I could love.”

His heart did a triple beat. He closed his fingers around hers and drew her hand to his lips. “That’s great news. The best news.”

“No, please, listen to me. I have to say this. I have to get it out in the open. My brain says I can live with being some part of your life, but I’m afraid. Afraid that my heart will break if I can’t have all of you. If I have to watch other women come into your life.”

“
Other
women? Do you understand that I love you, Natasha? I
love
you.”

“I do, but—”

He pulled her to him, and she let him hold her close. “There can’t be any buts. And if I have my way, that won’t be the only ‘
I do
’ being said between us.
Marry me
, Natasha. Please.”

He felt her stiffen in his arms.

He tipped her face up and saw tears.

Her eyes clouded. “You’re serious.”

“Completely serious.” What the hell else could he say to convince her? He felt as if his future hung in the balance of the right words. But in the face of the stormy look dawning in her eyes, no right words came.

She pushed out of his arms and stomped away from him. His stomach clenched. He’d waited too long. Done too many stupid things. He’d lost her.

“I didn’t expect you to say that,” she said.

He reached into his pocket and handed her his handkerchief.

“That I’m serious?”

“That you want to marry me.”

“I’ve wanted to marry you since the first moment I saw you.”

She smiled, and life returned to his veins. “You warned me that Italians like to do things slowly,” she said. “But maybe you should consider clueing a woman in on such important issues in the future.”

“Marry me, Natasha.”

If she said no, the rest of their conversation didn’t matter. He couldn’t be her friend. Hell, he wasn’t even sure he could continue working with her; it’d be torture. Maybe he’d go back to Rome, start over.

“Nothing in my life will matter if I can’t live it with you,” he added. It was his deepest truth. He only hoped he wasn’t telling it too late.

She put her hands to her hips. His handkerchief rested like a white flag not yet put to use.

“If I marry you, I want to run the native-plant business. On my own. I mean I’ll take advice from you, but I want it to be my business.”

He wasn’t sure he’d heard her right. “What’s business got to do with it?”

“I have to meet you on equal ground. Have an endeavor of my own. I have to prove myself.”

“Okay.” He reached for her, but she stepped back. “But you don’t have to prove yourself. The evidence is already in.”

“No, I mean it. I can’t just melt into your world and take it on like a cloak. I have to prove myself to
myself
. To do that, I need a project of my own.”

He smiled as he began to understand. “Now who’s focused on projects?” he said, hoping that humor might dissolve some of the tension arcing between them.

She didn’t crack a smile, just crossed her arms, waiting for his answer.

“Okay, the native-plant business is all yours. Would’ve been anyway. What else?”

God, all he wanted to do was kiss her and tumble her across the bed behind her and make love to her until they couldn’t breathe. But he got it. This was important to her. She didn’t want to be beholden to anyone. Especially not him. He of all people understood that drive, the drive to stand on one’s own merits, one’s own accomplishments. But something else lurked under the surface of her words, something that scared her.

She pulled the handkerchief through her fingers and then shook it out and began to fold it. She was stalling.

“For God’s sake, Natasha, what else? You’re killing me here.”

She handed him the handkerchief and held his gaze. “Eddie will be in our lives. I don’t know how much or on what basis—I mean as Tyler’s father, nothing more. They both deserve that.”

“I considered that. I agree.”

“You do?”

“I do.” He tipped her face to his. “
Will
you marry me?”

“Maybe we should have a trial run?”

“A trial what?” His English, along with his dissolving restraint, was failing him.

She motioned to her bed. It was all the invitation he needed.

Clothes flew in their hurry to join their bodies. But when she stood before him, naked, beautiful,
his
, he slowed the pace and showed her love that he’d waited all his life to share.

As their breath returned, she lifted away from him and sat at the side of the bed. The light danced across her skin, and Adrian was sure he was the luckiest man in the world. But as she pressed her lips together and turned to him, he wondered what issue they hadn’t yet resolved.

“There’s something else you should know before you decide you want to marry me.”

“I’ve already decided.”

“I need for you to know this, then you can decide.”

“Nothing you could say will change my mind.”

“I have family. Quirky family.”

“Come again?”

She told him about the surprise visit from her grandmother. “But before you think the worst of me, I found out only yesterday.”

“I don’t care if Saint Nicholas turns up and claims family ties, Natasha. I love you. These are details. And no one has a quirkier family than mine.” He stroked his hand along the curve of her waist. “I need you. You make my life worth living. And I love Tyler.” He stopped, his words crashing hard against the truths behind them. “How will Tyler take all this?”

“He’ll be thrilled. If you haven’t noticed, he’s been trying to push us together from the start. I think it’s your baseball connections,” she said with a giggle.

He hadn’t heard her giggle for ages. Its gentle sound told him the future he’d hoped for was becoming a reality.

“Tease,” he said as he took her wrists in his hands and pressed her back across the bed. “You haven’t answered me. Marry me?”

Her lips curved into an irresistible smile. “I thought we just answered that question.”

“I’m not letting you go until you say you
do
want to marry me. I’m quite literal when it comes to agreements.”

“I do.”

He bent down and kissed the tender skin of her neck, breathed in the scent of her.

She tried to wiggle away, but he held her pinned in place as he tracked kisses along the curve of her shoulder.

“We have
work
, Adrian. It’s Wednesday.”

First one and then the other, he released her hands and then kissed the smile still curved into her lips.

“Tavonesi national holidays, Wednesdays,” he said between kisses. “Ask any of my siblings or cousins. But ask them later. Right now we have some celebrating to do.”

<<<<>>>> 

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Thank you!

Thanks for reading
Love in the Vineyard
. I hope you enjoyed it!

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You’ve just read the seventh book in the Tavonesi Series. The other books in the series are:

Love Bats Last
(Book #1, Alex and Jackie)

Thrown By Love
(Book #2, Chloe and Scotty)

Fielder's Choice
(Book #3, Alana and Matt)

Love on the Line
(Book #4, Cara and Ryan)

Aim For Love
(Book #5, Sabrina and Kaz)

The Heart of the Game
(Book #6, Cody and Zoe)

Love in the Vineyard
(Book #7, Adrian and Natasha)

A Very Daring Christmas
(#8, Cameron and Jake)

·
        
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, have the power to make or break a book’s reputation. Reviews help other readers find books they love. I appreciate reviews from all perspectives and would love to hear your opinion. If you have the time, please leave a review and let me know what you think about
Love in the Vineyard
.

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Thank you
so much for reading and for spending time with me.

In gratitude,

Pamela Aares   

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