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Chapter One
LIV
Thisisthebiggestapartment I’ve ever seen in my life.
But as the party rages on, I realize I am all by myself. Bella disappeared, probably with some random guy, and left me alone to watch the stars on the balcony, drinking and trying to ignore the urge to just go home.
Bella and I are a college friendship that surpassed the campus. She studied journalism, I studied photography, and we decided to become a dynamic duo in investigative reporting and move to San Francisco to pursue the dream.
Her brother lives here too. He’s a former Navy SEAL turned billionaire thanks to cybersecurity and solar panels. This is his penthouse, apropos of nothing. We were supposed to meet him here to discuss an interest piece on him for the magazine we work for, but so far, he’s a no-show.
Whodoesshow up, however, is a tall, dark, and handsome stranger. I see him coming my way with two glasses of red wine in his hands. He’s older than me, but his smile is so entrancing that I can’t help but reply to it with the same intensity, which only seems to pique his interest.
He leans over the railing of the balcony by my side, and it makes my heart skip a beat.
“Wine?” he asks in a deep voice and a thick Southern accent, offering me one of the glasses in his hands.
“Don’t mind if I do!” I say, full of enthusiasm. I’ve already had one too many, so what’s another one? Especially if it’s to make acquaintance with quite the hunk.
“With the risk of soundingextremelycliché, it’s a shame to see such a beautiful lady all alone,” he says, very lovely. “Mind if I ask why?”
I laugh, crystal clear and straight to the point. “My friend dumped me!” I continue, “She disappeared with God knows who and left me here all alone.”
“And you don’t know anyone else here?” He keeps on being a charmer.
“No!” I shrug, sighing. “In fact, I was just about to leave, but then you appeared…”
I go all sheepish, feeling my cheeks turn red. He smiles at me broadly, lifting my chin with two fingers, and then takes a sip of his wine. I drink a little more myself and feel the wine go straight to my head. Maybe I should quit while I’m ahead, but not in front ofthisman.
“That friend of yours sounds like a fool,” he says, turning around to lean back against the railing. “I would never lose sight of you.”
I laugh, little by little wooed by the charms of this muscular, blue-eyed stranger. Either he’s amazing, or I’m the one who’s susceptible because of the alcohol. Likely both, but it’s not like I care. I came here to mingle, and I have a wonderful person here, interested in me, and I’m not about to be impolite and shun him away.
“Tell me…” he begins, scratching his chin. “Would you like to go to a more secluded place to continue our conversation?”
Oh. God.
“Oh! Of course!” I say, giddy. He offers me his arm, and I wrap mine around his.
It didn’t even occur to me to ask his name, and now I feel like it’s too late. However, I’m enjoying it — it adds to his mystery.
He guides me inside, through a series of rooms that in my state look more like a maze than anything. Expecting to be taken to one of the bedrooms, I’m surprised when we go down a few floors and enter a climate-controlled room full of shelves with exposed corks.
“You took me to the wine cellar?” I ask, amused, and then place a hand on my hip. “I have a feeling the owner of this place is not going to like it.”
But he just smiles his mellow smile and releases my arm, heading for one of the walls to inspect a shelved bottle. “The owner and I are close friends. You have nothing to worry about.”
“Really? My best friend is his sister!” I say, impressed, grabbing a bottle off the shelf and trying to read the label. “Um… Gee-weert…”
“Gewurztraminer!” he says, approaching me. “It’s German. Spicy, and light, very aromatic. Would you like to try it?”
I look at him, blinking. If he’s trying to wine me, he has already won that battle, but a part of me is curious to see how far he’ll go.
“Sure…” I say, purring.
He walks out of the cellar and into the adjoining dining room, which is empty, as is this entire floor. He pulls out a chair for me, and I down the remainder of my wine to make room for this new one, while he takes a corkscrew from a nearby drawer and opens the wine bottle with a satisfying pop.
He takes a whiff, smelling the cork. “Fresh and full.”
