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“The only way I’ve seen you is in your jeans and boots or in nothing at all,” Colt offers. “I prefer nothing at all.”
I roll my eyes and pull out of their grasps. “Not happening.” Then I stride carefully toward the winery entrance.
“We’ll see.”
“Back off, asshole.” Sean’s voice is more of a growl. “She doesn’t want you anymore.”
“She doesn’t want you either.”
I turn to face them both and cross my arms over my chest. “Stop this. You two are acting like cavemen right now. I’m sick of it. We all have histories, I get it. It’s awkward and confusing. But neither of you gets to fight over me, you understand?”
They both deflate a little, their defensive postures changing to more relaxed ones. Neither says a word, they just start walking with me.
Colt gets the door and they wait for me to enter. Playing at being gentlemen now. I wasn’t a fool. Both of these men were dangerous to my heart. They were bad boys in the bedroom, gentlemen in public, and heartbreakers everywhere else.
I stride to the tasting bar and say, “We’re with the Bloom and Clayton wedding, and I’m going to need you to double the size of your pours for me.”
“Well,” the server says. “I can’t really—”
“We’re both her exes and she’s stuck with us for the weekend.” Colton drops a few twenties on the counter. “You can.”
The woman grabs three wine glasses and nods. “Sure. What the hell.”
Over the next forty-five minutes, the three of us try six different wines, and by the time we leave, we’re laughing instead of tense. They both touch me tentatively, soft brushes of fingers over mine, gentle nudges of elbows. We don’t argue, or dwell on our history. Instead, we joke and play together. All three of us. It’s like the moment I told them how crazy they were acting, they understood.
“Ready to get going?” Sean asks, taking my arm gently.
“Sure. Maybe this time we’ll run into my aunt and she’ll finally figure out what happened between us.”
“I don’t want her to until we figure it all out first.”
Colton tucks a lock of hair behind my ear and shakes his head. “Is there anything to figure out?”
I don’t answer because I can’t. I walk with them to the waiting SUV and slide into the middle seat. When Sean takes his place at my left side and Colt at my right, I shiver with longing for them both. “Maybe there is more to figure out than we want to admit.”
The men stay silent as the engine starts. The driver pulls onto the road and the last thing I want is to have to go through another tasting. I think it’s time to clear the air with these two.
“How many wineries are we supposed to visit?” I ask, leaning against Colt with each sway of the car.
“There are six on this list.”
I don’t know if I can stomach five more of these visits. “How about this…we go rogue.”
Sean narrows his eyes and grins. “Rogue?”
“Yeah. Let’s hit up a distillery, grab some lunch. We don’t have to do what Karen laid out for us. How will she know?”
They both nod and grin before I tell the driver to take us to the closest distillery.
The day goes by with us falling into an easier, more friendly rhythm. All three of us laugh together, joke and tease, get to know each other again. Or, in the case of the guys, for the first time. But every time Colt touches me, I see that flash of jealousy in Sean’s eyes. And when Sean puts an arm around me to nestle me into his side, Colt narrows his eyes.
We take a picnic lunch out to a hillside and eat in companionable silence, taking time to appreciate the quiet of the rows and rows of grapes that make up the tapestry of the landscape. But when Colt takes my hand to help me up and tension crackles between us, I feel a change in Sean’s energy.
I back away from Colt and stand between the two men. “You know, maybe we should talk. Work out our issues.”
Colt chuckles. “I’m pretty sure we worked those out last night.” He crosses his arms over his chest and looks completely unaffected.
My cheeks burn, and from the look on Sean’s face, he wasn’t expecting that.
