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Laura continued on “Look, weather per a family lunch at the beach this Sunday afternoon We’re not planning to swi, it’s far too cold already this auturound and tables and it’s so much easier to clean up afterith the little ones You and Ruby should coood to ain”
“I—I’m not sure Can I confirm with you later on?”
It was one thing to accept an invitation for herself and Ruby, but quite another to do so for a man who’d clearly chosen to remove himself from his social circle
“Sure,” Laura said with an enthusiastic save Alexis her cell nu”
When Alexis got back home, Ruby was already asleep in her car seat She carefully lifted the sleeping infant and transferred her into her crib, taking aNo ripped the side rail of the crib, her knuckles whitening She had to try harder Soet Raoul to open his life, to open his heart again If she didn’t she would have failed everyone, butso innocently in front of her
Four
Sunday dawned bright and clear Raoul eyed the cloudless sky with a scowl He’d been ada today Adamantly Yet Alexis had barreled on as if he hadn’t said no In fact, when he thought about it, she hadn’t so , she pretty
For a fleetingto the winery, or even farther into his vineyards Not that there’d be many places to hide there as the vines headed into their seasonal slu away It was a sha He could have lied and said that the work absolutely had to be done and right away, but he knew Alexis had grown up on a vineyard, too She’d have known he wasn’t telling the truth the instant he opened his mouth
His stomach tied in knots He really couldn’t do this Couldn’t face the well- looks and the sympathetic phrases people trotted out—as if any of it would change the past And he really didn’t need to be within fifty meters of Alexis Fabrini for the better part of an afternoon
Each day she was here he was reminded anew of how his body had reacted to her ever since the first tione but his own needs and desires certainly weren’t After losing Bree, he’d believed that part of himself to be dormant to the point of extinction, until the second Alexis had walked into his winery The discovery that all his body parts still worked just fine was a major, and often uncomfortable, inconvenience
“Oh, good, you’re ready!”
Alexis’s ever-cheerful voice came from behind hi life Since that incident in the nursery the other day, he’d struggled to maintain a se legs and the curve of her pert bottom filled his mind He slowly turned around
Ruby was in Alexis’s ar-sleeve knit shirt underneath and with a pale pink beret on her little head, she was the epitome of baby chic She ducked her head into the curve of Alexis’s neck, then shyly looked back at hi the tiny teeth she had in front
His heart gave an unco God, she was so beautiful, so like her mother Ruby’s smile widened and he felt his own mouth twist in response before he claht line once more
“Should we take your car or mine?” Alexis asked breezily
His eyes whipped up to her face She looked slightly soal
“I—I’ in the winery,” he hedged “How about you go ahead and I’ll join you later in my own car if I have time”
Alexis’s lips firmed and he saw the disappointment mixed with determination in her eyes Eyes that reminded him of melted dark chocolate, coht with it
“You’re chickening out, aren’t you?” she said, her voice flat “You don’t want to go”