AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I sit up, my annoyance forgotten. “Shit, Han, what’s happened? Is everything okay?”
“Yeah,” she says, letting out a breath. “My boss is just becoming more and more of a dick every day. I think I might need a change of scenery.”
“Done,” I immediately say, wondering if it would be totally unprofessional if I talked to Leo about getting my sister some work. “I’ll keep an eye out and if I can, I’ll talk to my bosses too.”
“Thanks, brother,” Hannah says, and I can tell she’s smiling again. “And of course your secret is safe with me. Although, I am going to want details with how this all pans out. This is like a real-life Netflix show or something and I fucking love it!”
I stand from the bed, knowing I need to get moving. “Ugh, whatever. You’re a pain in my ass, but I love you.”
“Love you too!” she shouts as we end our call.
Twenty minutes later, I’m pulling up ten minutes late to Tessa’s place. When I knock on the door, she opens it immediately and I grin. “Someone’s excited.”
“Someone’s late,” she replies, crossing her arms over her chest.
Laughing, I lean in and press a kiss to her cheek, lingering a little as I inhale her scent. She’s wearing a dress, her hair is down and damn if she doesn’t look and smell amazing. “Not as late as you were when you came to my place.”
“Whatever,” Tessa mutters, her hand on my chest as she pushes me backward, following me out and closing the door behind her, clearly not inviting me in. “Where are we going?”
I take her hand as we walk the short distance to my car. “It’s a surprise.”
Tessa rolls her eyes. “You’re big on being secretive, aren’t you?” she says.
As we stop beside the passenger door, I turn to face her, her hand still in mine. “Am I?” I ask, giving her a playful smile. Tessa raises a brow and I laugh. “I see you’re not above trying to find out my secrets though. My sister tells me she had an unexpected friend request.”
“Did she now?”
“Uh huh. You wouldn’t be fishing for information now, would you?”
She smirks at me. “Maybe,” she says, her voice low. “Can you blame me though? You’ve got me intrigued.”
I take a step closer to her, our bodies almost touching as an intoxicating heat now swirls between us. “I like you intrigued,” I reply, staring at her mouth. “And I told you, I’ll tell you everything on our fifth date. I promise.”
Tessa’s tongue pokes out to wet her lips and a low groan falls from mine. Fuck, I want to kiss her so bad and I think she knows it, but it can’t be me who starts this. She needs to want this too. “Fifth date, huh?”
I swallow hard, resisting the urge to lean closer. “Yep.”
She smiles now, her hand squeezing mine. “Well then, I guess we better get our second one started.”
“I guess so,” I say, opening the car door for her.
We drive out of town, heading toward the huge French style winery outside of Napa. It’s hard finding things to do here that don’t involve wineries and considering we both work at one, that makes it even harder.
“Is this okay? You going to the competition?” Tessa asks as we get out of the car.
I smile at her across the roof. “Figured you wouldn’t want to get the gossip mill started by having dinner at Somerville’s.”
Tessa lifts a shoulder in a shrug. “You think people don’t already know considering Jack’s behavior yesterday?”
“True,” I reply, taking her hand as I lead her down to the gardens where there’s an outdoor concert playing tonight. I stop by one of the food vans to grab the picnic I’d ordered and then we make our way to a patch of grass. “Okay?” I ask, as I spread out the blanket I brought.
Tessa stands still, looking around and taking in our surroundings. “You’re really going all out here, Dylan.”
Laughing, I grab her hand and pull her down beside me. “Maybe, I’ve probably got my work cut out for me though, haven’t I?”
She gets herself comfortable as I open the bottle of wine and pour us both a glass. “Yeah, you kinda do,” she admits, giving me a smile. I clink my glass against hers and take a sip before pulling the rest of the food from the basket and arranging it in front of us. “Why are you trying so hard?” she asks.
I exhale, lying on my side and propping myself up on my elbow as I try to get comfortable. “Is me trying so hard a problem?” I eventually ask.
