Something in the Wine
Something in the Wine
© by Jae
ISBN epub: 978-3-95533-006-4
ISBN mobi: 978-3-95533-007-1
ISBN pdf: 978-3-95533-008-8
ISBN printed version: 978-3-95533-005-7
Published by Ylva Publishing, legal entity of Ylva Verlag e.Kfr.
Ylva Verlag, e.Kfr.
Am Kirschgarten 2
65830 Kriftel
Germany
First Edition: November 2012
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, events, and locations are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons or events, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Credits
Edited by Genni Gunn and Judy Underwood
Cover Design by Krystel Contreras
Table of contents
Acknowledgments
Dedication
Author’s note
Something in the Wine:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
About Jae
Other books by Jae
Coming from Ylva Publishing in spring 2013:
Crossing Bridges
Hot Line
Acknowledgments
A big thank-you to my critique partners:
Melanie—for your endless patience and support during half a dozen read-throughs.
Astrid—for your well-balanced, positive feedback, including a lot of smileys.
RJ—for keeping an eye on the dialogue and internal monologue and making sure it sounds natural.
Thank you to Carol, Laurie, Lee, Nanc, Nicki, Nikki, Peggy, and Sue for lending me a fresh set of eyes.
A special thank-you goes to Erin for her enthusiastic and helpful feedback and to Patty for keeping an eye on overused words.
I also want to thank my friend Marion for test reading.
Thank you to Krystel, graphic designer extraordinaire, for spending a lot of hours creating the wonderful cover. It’s much better than a blue unicorn.
Last but not least, thanks to Genni Gunn, my editor, and Judy Underwood, my copy editor, for their great work.
Dedication
To Melanie—for helping me understand Annie better.
Author’s note
I know I’m not normally known for writing short novels. Well, considering I started writing about Annie and Drew with a short story or a novelette in mind, I think my reputation is still firmly intact. After all, 99,067 words is quite long for a short story. No matter what story length you usually prefer, I hope you enjoy
Something in the Wine.
Chapter 1
Elbow-deep in financial reports, Annie nearly bit off the rubber eraser on the end of her pencil when the phone rang.
The ringing sounded overly loud in the otherwise silent office. Everyone else had gone home hours before.
One eye still on her reports, she snatched up the receiver. “Cargill & Jones. Annie Prideaux speaking.”
“Annie, you’ve got to come!” her brother Jake’s breathless voice came through the other end of the line.
She threw down her pencil. “What are you talking about? I’m still at work and can’t—”
“Please,” Jake said. “It’s really urgent. I need you here.”
Annie’s heart started racing. The last time he had sounded so desperate, he’d called her after crashing their father’s car. She shut down the computer and locked her notes in her desk. “What happened?” she asked. “Are you hurt? In trouble? Did you—?”
“Please, just get here as quick as you can.”
“Where are you?”
“At home.”
“I’m on my way.” Annie hung up the phone, grabbed her keys, and rushed out of the door to find her car.
For the first time in her life, she broke the speed limit in her hurry to get to Jake. In front of his house, she brought her car to a screeching halt and jumped out.
The building wasn’t on fire. No ambulance in the driveway either. Instead, a few sports cars and SUVs were parked out front.
Not sure whether that was a good sign or if something even worse awaited her, Annie raced to the front door. Blood rushed in her ears. She rang the doorbell several times in succession, hoping Jake was well enough to open the door since she had left his spare key in her apartment.
When the door swung open, she froze.
Rob stood before her, with two ample-busted women hanging on to his muscular arms. Music and laughter came from inside the house.
“R-Rob?” Annie stared at her brother’s best friend and business partner. “Where’s Jake?”
After letting go of one woman, Rob pointed over his shoulder. “In the living room.” He stepped forward and wrapped one arm around Annie. “Come on in and celebrate with us. There are a lot of guys here who’d love to meet you.”
Celebrate?
Annie dug in her heels and shook off Rob’s grip.
He tricked me. Again.
Her heart hammered against her ribs, this time in anger—anger not just at Jake, but at herself too.
I should have known better.
The last time he’d tricked her, she had sworn she would never fall for one of her brother’s pranks again. But how was she supposed to know that he would stoop so low as to imply there was an emergency and scare her half to death? She whirled around to stride back to her car.
“Hey! Where are you going?” Rob called.
When he grabbed her arm, only years of self-control prevented Annie from slugging him. “Home.”
“Oh, no, come on, you can’t go home just yet. You’ve got to celebrate with us.” Rob pulled her around and gave her his most charming smile. “It’s not every day I come back from conquering Mount Everest.”
Annie pressed her lips together. Now she remembered that Jake had invited her to the party weeks before. She’d declined, knowing she would stick out among the climbers, jocks, and adrenaline junkies like a mule at the Kentucky Derby. But for Jake, a “no” was never a no—just an invitation to get what he wanted in a more creative way.
“Congratulations,” she said, trying not to take her irritation out on Rob, “but you’ll have to celebrate without me.”
“You know you could really give a man a complex,” Rob said. “Why come over when you don’t even want to have one drink with me?”
Annie suppressed a snort. None of Jake’s friends had ever suffered from lack of confidence. “It’s got nothing to do with you. Jake has ...” She let her voice trail off. If she told him how Jake had lured her to the party, she would humiliate herself even more. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and when she opened her eyes again, she gave Rob a nod. “Okay. One drink, but then I go home.”
She regretted her decision the second she stepped into the living room. The screeching of electric guitars and the deafening crash of drums made conversation nearly impossible. But apparently, Jake’s guests weren’t there for the conversation anyway. Most of them were too busy drinking and gyrating to the beat even though it was too fast to really dance to.
The two women on Rob’s arms pulled him toward the improvised dance floor. He followed them, walking backward for a few steps so he faced Annie, and said with a broad grin, “Duty calls. Get yourself a drink and toast my success. Your brother is paying.” He turned around before Annie could answer.
That was typical of Rob and Jake’s other friends. They could charm the socks off a nun, but their attention was fleeting. The women at Jake’s parties weren’t any better either.
Just decoration hanging on the arm of the next best guy. What a waste.
Annie shook her head and looked around. Her eyes narrowed when she spotted Jake. He was holding court in a corner of the room, lounging on his black designer couch and impressing a gaggle of women with his stories.
Maybe stories of how he had tricked his stupid sister.
Annie clenched her teeth. Her first impulse was to storm over and give him a piece of her mind, but she didn’t want to cause a scene in front of his friends and employees from the gym. Besides, if she shouted at him, it would let him know how much he had gotten to her, and she didn’t want to give him that satisfaction. She turned away and made her way toward the bar Jake had set up. One drink and she’d be gone.