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For one batch, I’m trying a no-aging technique where the wine could be ready in a matter of months. I’m also trying for a more complex wine that will age for over a year. Only time will tell which I like better.
Which brings me to why I’m up so early. I’ve started fresh with new viniculture, and today is the day I need to test the sugar levels. I intend to do it right. No distractions. No mistakes.
I pull the containers from the darkest corner of my closet, where they’ve been working quietly for weeks. I’m about to run a test when there’s a knock at my door.
Six sharp. Odd hour for a visitor. The guest cottage where I’ve been staying is barely more than a bedroom with a bathroom and kitchen, so there’s no mistaking the light rapping of knuckles on wood. I can’t imagine who’s coming to see me this early, but several other employees live in the neighboring cottages, so it could be anyone.
Glancing down at the oversized tee I slept in, I grab a pair of shorts from a chair next to my bed and wriggle into them on my way to the door.
Jackson’s smile greets me when I swing the door open, and I reflexively mirror it because it’s impossible to look at his beautiful face and do anything other than smile and tip my head up to kiss his lips. Especially when they’re mine to kiss.
“Hey,” he says softly after a good morning kiss that practically takes us into afternoon.
“Hi.” Staring up at him, I notice that he hasn’t shaven, and the ruddy shadow on his face only makes him look more handsome. His blue eyes sparkle like Fiona’s do when she’s dying to tell me a secret. “You good?”
“Better now.” He smiles but I know him well enough now to see there’s something troubling him, and at this hour, I can’t imagine what it could be.
“What’s going on? Your dad?” His health has been in a holding pattern—no better, no worse—but I always worry.
“Indirectly…” He closes his eyes for a moment. “I just got word that some New York journalist is sniffing around. Knows about the financial discrepancies somehow. This is all going to blow up.”
He looks pained, shaking his head.
“Yuck. You’ll get ahead of it—I know you will. Just one more challenge.”
Jackson reaches for my hand and pulls me one step forward. Now I can see the faintest warm light coloring the vineyards behind him. “I know, and that’s why I needed to see you.” His eyes haven’t left mine, and I know how much he loves to look at the vineyards. “I just feel better when I’m with you. Which is why I want to be with you all the time.”
My heart squeezes, just as his hand squeezes mine. “Just so we’re clear…” He drops to one knee.
The breath leaves my lungs in a whoosh. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t imagine this day or hope for this day, but we told each other we’d take things slowly. For Fiona’s sake. For our sake. Just to be sure.
“Jax…” My hand comes to my chest like I’m holding back my heart from jumping free.
“I can’t take it slow anymore, Ruby. I tried. But you’re all I want.” He takes a deep breath and presses his lips together as though he’s trying once more to stop himself. But his smile takes over, warming his face and heating my bones.
“Just like I couldn’t stop thinking about you from the day you stormed into my life in a gorgeous cloud of fiery hair and sass at six in the morning, I haven’t been able to stop thinking aboutthismorning ever since.”
He holds up his wrist, where his watch shows the six o’clock hour. “This will always be our hour of the day. The coincidence of me oversleeping and you thinking a normal person would interview you at six in the morning.”
I can’t help but shake my head and laugh at the recollection. Ridiculous in hindsight. “But it brought us here,” he says. “Where I want all of my six o’clocks to include you. If you’ll marry me and hand over your calendar.”
I nod, and Jackson opens a blue velvet ring box, where a square-cut solitaire sparkles in the sun. Slipping it on my finger, he tells me the only thing I really need to know in order for my life to feel complete. “I love you.”
Holding both of my hands, Jackson stands and pulls me close, our hands sandwiched between us. His kiss pulls the breath from my lungs, and I was already unsteady to begin with. The ring effect, the Jackson effect, all of it.
“Love you more,” I say when I can come up with a clear thought. My arms loop around his neck, and he tips our foreheads together.
“Not possible.”
“And yet, true.”
“We could do this all day long,” he says, eyes soft, willing.
He cups my cheek with his hand. His lips brush against mine, and my nerve endings flare to life. I doubt that will ever change when he touches me.
“I’d rather do this all day long.” His voice rumbles against my mouth.
“Works for me,” I tell him.
In the distance, I see movement, and Jackson follows my eye to where Archer is rounding the backside of the lake. “Always out on his damn run,” he mumbles, but the smile on his face softens the grump of his words.
“Only the best people are up at this hour,” I remind him, arms around his neck.
He returns his gaze to me, and he nods. “Only the best.” He kisses the tip of my nose, my forehead, my lips.
I love that six in the morning will always be our time.
Always.
* * *
