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He shook hands with Pops and smiled at Vickie and her friends. They were mesmerized. I knew the look. The same stupid look I constantly tried to hide on my own face.
“Sorry for the interruption, folks. Don’t mind me. I’m just the friendly neighbor coming over to enjoy some fresh air and beautiful scenery. You don’t mind if I join you, do you?” His gaze landed on me. I tried my best for a neutral, unaffected look.
I heard Vickie and her gal pals giggle in amusement as they agreed. They clearly weren’t immune to the physical beauty of Michael either. Everyone was looking at me again.
And I was at a loss for words.
“Sorry, Siena. Please, continue,” Michael prompted.
I had to clear my throat to get my voice back. “Yes. So, Salvatore Moretti immigrated to America in the early 1900s. He came here from a small village outside of Florence—”
“Honey, you already told us that,” Joanna, Vickie’s friend, said, a knowing laugh in her voice.
Michael rocked back and forth on his feet, what I had already come to know as his cockiest, self-satisfied smile in place.
“Oh, right.” My cheeks heated, and I swore they were flushed bright red.Get a grip. Him being here isn’t a big deal.“Sorry. Where was I?”
“At the part about how he saved all his lira,” Vickie reminded me.
“Yes, right. So, he was in love with the daughter of the man he worked for, a wealthy and prominent Tuscan winemaker. Knowing his beloved was already betrothed to another and that he could never offer her the kind of life she deserved, he tried to break things off. But Giuliana was determined to marry for love, not obligation. And so, she convinced him to elope with her and start over in America. For weeks she saved seeds and protected them inside homemade envelopes or stored them in glass jars. She spent the last week at home, secretly meeting her husband-to-be in the vines, late at night, cutting and pruning branches they would bring to America. Salvatore and Giuliana finally left Italytogether, determined to develop wines that reflected and honored their Italian heritage and their love. Two things they always held near and dear to their hearts.”
The women swooned, dabbing at their eyes as I turned toward the vines. “Let’s head out to the vineyard and look at the original vines Salvatore and Giuliana planted.” I led the group, quickly turning away from Michael’s stare. He was watching me a little too intently, looking through me. But I didn’t know if it was me overreacting to him being here or if I was just insecure.
I took the group through the most historic portion of our tour first, explaining how my great-great-grandfather had planted the first vines in the north. “Grapevines are incredibly vigorous, so cutting and transplanting from his original plants resulted in the expansion of more live grapevines. As you can see, he started here with these first plants, and then expanded bit by bit over time toward the edges of the property lines.” I let my arms direct our group’s attention to the flow of vines.
“It’s so beautiful,” Vickie sighed.
A throat cleared. “Yes, beautiful. Over there is where the vineyard connects to my property.” Michael pointed to the divide. All heads turned and followed his gaze.
“What’s your property?” Clara asked, confusion evident in her question.
I snorted a bit too loudly. Michael turned to look at me. His eyes narrowed under his baseball cap. “Well, right now, it’s just a lot of dirt and debris. The original building burned down.”
“Oh no, what happened?” Georgie asked, genuinely concerned. She had no idea it wasn’t his property that had been destroyed.
“Oh, he’s building a huge, massive hotel,” I butted in.
“I’m going to be building anewhotel. We just bought the land a few months ago and have been in negotiations with developers, contractors, etcetera.”
“So, what burned down?” Georgie asked.
“The former hotel,” I said.
“Inn,” Michael amended. “It burned down in the wildfires. We purchased the land with plans to renovate it and transform what was there into a spacious and luxurious hotel,” he explained as he produced his business cards from his pocket and handed one to each lady. “Blaire Enterprises will be happy to welcome you on a future visit. Please feel free to contact me, and I will upgrade you to one of our exclusive suites.”
The women giggled enthusiastically, taking the proffered cards.
“That would be amazing,” Vickie said.
“It’s gonna be something,” I added sarcastically, quickly covering my snide tone with a cough, so my guests wouldn’t detect my bitterness.
Michael chuckled, picking up on it. “Yes, it is,” he agreed. And something about the way he said those words made my skin heat.
Feeling flushed with excitement again, I turned my focus back to the group. I began walking, telling them, “When the vines were strong enough to be transplanted without damaging them, Salvatore and Giuliana cut and transferred the larger ones to different areas, which enabled them to grow more grapes. And over his years of developing the land, he added more varieties. Year after year, our friends, family, and employees, worked hard to cultivate our vineyard into what you see today.” I extended my arms, gesturing to the expanse of land in front of them. From this vantage point, they could see almost every acre we occupied.
Michael was walking a little too close for comfort, and I was nervous he’d be able to feel the heat emanating from my skin. When we stopped again, his arm brushed up against mine, and I could feel the wispy hairs on his arm tickle me. His dropped hand brushed against mine as he maneuvered to the side of the group. “Sorry,” he said as our eyes met and held for a moment longer than necessary.
I was both excited and irritated by his flirtation. Something about him triggered the woman in me. I tried reminding myself that I should be turned off by him because, technically, he was the enemy. Or something akin to it. Even though I had sworn off men, and even though this man infuriated me, I couldn’t help the flutter of butterflies stirring inside me. My feelings were at war, and I didn’t know what I should do about them. Roll over and surrender, or stand up, fight, and never back down? I stole a glance at him.
