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“I’m fine.” He did his best to resist checking his watch, but he’d told Tori twenty-five minutes and time was ticking by.
“Are you going for a drive by yourself?”
That was the question he’d been hoping to avoid. He didn’t want to lie. Instead, he shrugged.
A small smile played on Jacob’s lips. “I should get Becca to invite Tori to join us. No one’s seen much of her since you guys came back.”
Xander blew out a sigh. “Okay! I’m taking her out for a drive. What do you want me to tell you?”
Jacob chuckled. “The whole story would be good, but I know I’m not going to get that any time soon. Go on. It’s obvious you’re in a hurry. But you know you guys should just come out and tell everyone that you’re together. They’ll be happy about it; I don’t know why you think it’d be a problem.”
“I would love to tell everyone that – and I will, just as soon as it’s true. But it isn’t yet.”
“It’s not like you to take your time with a woman.”
Xander gave him a rueful smile. “True. But Tori’s … different.”
Jacob grinned. “I was hoping that was the case. Go on. Don’t let me hold you up. But remember – I’m in your corner, and you can bet that everyone else will be too.”
“Thanks.”
As he hurried out to his SUV, Xander wished that he could get Tori in his corner – or at least, on the same page with him. As he pulled away from the house, he turned on the radio – country music! It was all Tori’s fault. He’d grown to love it, just as he’d grown to love her. He could only hope that one day she’d love him back.
As he approached the gates to the DuPont Estate, he grinned when he spotted her. She was walking down the long driveway and had almost made it to the gates. She waved when she saw him and jogged the rest of the way to meet him, letting herself out of the little side gate.
His heart hammered in his chest when she climbed up into the passenger seat and gave him a shy smile.
“Thanks.”
“What for? I’m the one who should be thanking you; I didn’t think you’d say yes.”
She lifted a shoulder. “Like I said, I was hiding out down by the creek. I need to get out of here for a while.”
Damn. And he’d been hoping that she might be as eager to see him as he was to see her. He gave her a mock pout. “So, I’m just your excuse to escape?”
“No! I mean, well, yes, kind of. But not just that. I … I’m glad to see you, too.”
He wanted to believe that her cheeks turned pink because she was embarrassed to admit that she was happy to see him. But it probably wasn’t that. Even so, he couldn’t resist reaching across and landing a peck on her cheek. “Not as glad as I am to see you.”
He turned the SUV around and headed out of town. He hadn’t even planned where he was going. He’d texted her because he was sick of thinking about her and not being able to talk to her. He hadn’t expected that she’d agree to come out with him.
“What have you been doing with yourself?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Not much. Just trying to stay out of the way, mostly.”
He glanced over at her. “Whose way are you in?”
She made a face. “That’s the trouble. I don’t really know. I just … that’s how it feels when I’m at the house. It always has. You know that.”
He did. He’d learned a lot about her in the months that he’d stayed with her in Nashville. He’d be forever grateful that he’d had that time with her. He’d gotten to know her better than maybe anyone else did.
He’d gone there because Calypso Rayne – a big country music star, who Tori sang backup for – had a stalker. There hadn’t been any direct threat to Tori, but Xander and her family had wanted to do everything they could to make sure that she was safe. He’d recently gotten out of the Navy and so he’d volunteered his services to work as her personal protection guy.
He’d loved staying in her quirky little house in East Nashville with her – loved getting to know the woman she’d grown into, and seeing how she lived her life. They hadn’t spent much time together since he’d left for the Navy when he was eighteen, but he’d always had a soft spot for her.
They’d spent a lot of time talking when he stayed with her. She’d opened up to him about feeling like the odd one out in her family – she’d opened up about a lot of things. The more he learned about her, the harder he fell.
It might look from the outside like they couldn’t be more different. In truth, they had a lot in common, having grown up here in Napa the way they had – as part of the circle that many referred to as ‘wine country royalty.’ He’d been surprised to discover that she felt like just as much of an outsider as he did. Granted, it was for very different reasons.
