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Chapter One

Marina

“TELL ME YOUR name”

A shiver runs down , deep voice that sounds inwe’re surrounded by at least a hundred people, but oh, hoant to

If I could, I’d throwfar too close toto know my name as if I owe him some sort of favor, which I can’t help but find hot

Irritating, but hot

“Tellmy head in the opposite direction, so it appears I’ to hi in his immaculate black suit and crisp white shirt—the silvery tie he wears perfectly knotted at his throat

Iat this veryabout hio He’d drawn plenty of attention without saying a word, striding into the rooaze upon everyone in attendance Looking veryhis lowly subjects—until his eyes lit upon me

He watchedminutes Butterflies fluttered in ry eyes rake overhht, but I held firm I refused to react

I still refuse to react

“You don’t knoho I am?” He sounds amused at the notion, and I’m tempted to walk aithout a word My earlier nerves evaporate, replaced by a steely spine and an even steelier attitude He’s so confident, so arrogant, I’m sure he believes he has me

He doesn’t knoho he’s dealing with then, does he?

We’re at a local wine- and brewery-tasting, and I’ the bakery my family owns The one I was recently allowed to take over and run since I’d graduated college The business they all believe is going to fail So why not give it to Marina? She can’t screw it up too badly

That’s what I overheardht to the bone

Finally I chance a glance at the old, the way it tureen eyes, the faint sives him a boyish appearance It’s a co boyish about this virile man before me

“Perhaps you can enlighten me” I offer a carefree s tenfold when he takes a step towardmy personal space His scent hits me first: clean and subtle, a ne that I can detect

Rather unusual Most of the men I know slather the us silly wo us

With the exception of this

A slow se Emerson” He thrusts his hand toward me “And you are?”

He’s not very subtle And he’s exactly who I suspected, not that I had any real doubt The very ht up what feels like half of the Napa Valley, all in the hopes of turning it around and selling it to God knoho just to earn a hefty profit

Not caring in the least that he’s forever changing the landscape of the very place I’ve grown up in And devastating my family in the process

“Marina Knight,” I say God, I sound breathless, and I want to sht because of him I came for other reasons To prole with local business owners, many I consider friends My life in the Napa Valley is all I know

And this gorgeousto take what I knoay froood

His ser, which h my veins I inhale sharply, desperate to control the unwanted e, well spoken I’d recently doneto find any sort of weakness—since he certainly knows my family’s—but it appears he has none Like he’s some sort of untouchable superhero

I didn’t expect ht places at his closeness My skin literally tingles, and when he clasps my hand in his to shake it, my knees threaten to buckle

“A pleasure to ht” His voice rumbles from somewhere deep in his chest and he draws his thumb across the top ofit

He’s just a man, I remind myself A dreamy, sexy man, in that polished, overtlyway that I don’t normally find myself drawn to, buthmm

A girl is always allowed to change her mind

“Lovely tojust likefoolish I’st the revered social circles in the Napa Valley all my life My family is one of the most well known in the area You’d think I’d kno to handle , ruthless men

But I don’t kno to handleGorgeous Captivating

I should run Right now Just turn tail and run I don’t knohat I was thinking, hoping to talk to hihout the valley And I want so from him too