Page 31 of Bordeaux Bombshell (Sunshine Cellars #3)

Nate

The glass double doors of the Mailbox, Inc., building swing silently shut behind me. The lobby is bright and open, with a large double desk in the center, blocking access to the elevator.

A pair of women sit behind it, a brunette on the phone and one with bright blue hair, typing at the computer beside her.

The blue-haired one looks up after I clear my throat, her eyes dropping to my shoes and back up, appraising me.

Suddenly, my jeans and flannel feel very out of place, even if I made sure everything was clean when I got dressed this morning.

“Can I help you?” She tips her head to the side, watching me, clicking without looking at the screen.

I clear my throat again. “I’m here to see Theo.”

Her eyebrows shoot up at the name.

“Uh, Mr. Sutton, I mean.”

I stumble over my words, and her eyes narrow, making me feel like an awkward teenager all over again.

“We’re meeting at two o’clock.” I hadn’t thought much about this meeting until she reacted that way. Am I missing something?

She sniffs, glancing at my boots again. “What was your name?”

Jesus Christ, judgment is rolling off her in waves, triggering a nervous tic in my gut. “Nate.” She gives me another look. “Nate Ridgefield.”

“Let me just check…” She holds up a finger and scrolls through something on her screen. “Hmm, I don’t see anything on Mr. Sutton’s calendar. It is Thursday, after all…”

She looks up at me like I should know what’s significant about Thursday afternoons around here. “He told me to be here.” I glare at her, but she isn’t fazed by it, which would be impressive any other time, but right now, it’s annoying.

“Sir, if you’ll just give me a moment to contact his assistant, I’ll see if there’s—”

An elevator opens behind her, revealing a tiny woman with bright orange hair. She half jogs toward us, calling out, “I got it, Tina. He can come with me. I’m going that way.” She wraps a hand around my elbow and drags me toward the elevator bank she just came from.

“But—” the blue-haired Tina protests, but the tiny woman, who I now recognize as one of Sophie Sutton’s girlfriends, keeps moving with surprising strength.

“I was just meeting with Mr. Sutton in his office. He sent me down to get Nate.”

We’re already at the elevator, the doors opening as Tina waves something in the air. “But he needs a visitor badge!”

I’m shoved inside as the orange-haired one, whose name I’m trying desperately to recall, waves her off. “He’s definitely not planning to steal company secrets—I promise to deliver him myself.”

She pushes the button for the top floor, scanning her badge on a keypad before collapsing against the mirrored wall.

“Thanks, uh—” I pause, hoping she’ll take the hint.

“Frankie. And you’re welcome.” She goes silent, arms crossed and apparently lost in thought while the elevator climbs. Now that she’s quiet, she’s more familiar. I often see her lurking with Sophie and Lauren at the winery, but in all the time I’ve been back, we’ve never talked.

Not that I’m much of a conversationalist myself.

The silent elevator ride is getting awkward after she rescued me from the overly suspicious receptionist, so I clear my throat and say the first thing that comes to mind. “I didn’t know you worked here. For Sutton, I mean.”

She starts, then looks up at me. “What? Oh. Yeah, that’s how I met everyone. Lauren and Sophie adopted me when I first started working here. Theo’s been mentoring me and helping me and Julian work on a side project.”

“Julian? He’s the really big guy, right?” Last time we had a wine-club event at Sunshine, the dude single-handedly pushed a food truck out of the mud when it got stuck in the parking lot. He’s hard to forget.

She gets a soft look on her face as the elevator dings. “My husband.” She leads me toward a secondary reception desk, waving at a few people we pass. An older Black woman sits behind the desk, exuding competence.

“Hey, Mercedes. Nate Ridgefield is here to see Mr. Sutton. I rescued him from Tina and Stacia. I gotta get going, but I’ve delivered him as promised.”

Frankie turns to leave but stops a few steps away. “He’s a good guy, you know.”

“Sutton?”

She nods. “Yeah. He’s not perfect, but underneath it, he’s a good guy.”

Confused, I turn back to the receptionist. She doesn’t wait for me to say anything, just gestures toward the chair against the wall. “He’s wrapping up a phone call.”

I sit, fiddling with my phone. The quiet of the office is so different from the quiet of my winery.

Instead of the bird sounds I’m used to, there’s a slight buzz from the fluorescent lighting and muffled conversations.

I’ve never worked in an office—never wanted to.

Just imagining being stuck inside here all day long gives me the shivers.

Even when the weather’s cold and wet, I’d still rather be outside working with my hands than staring at a screen all day. No wonder the Suttons spend so many weekends out at Sunshine—it must be a nice break for them.

“It looks like he’s off his call. Mr. Sutton will be with you in a moment.” Mercedes indicates to the door, and a second later, Theo throws it open.

He’s wearing a suit, complete with tie. I’m used to seeing him dressed more casually, calling his dog and staring lovingly after his wife. This Theodore Sutton is a whole different man, and I’m starting to understand the receptionist’s reaction to my casual reference to him.

He is far more intimidating in this setting than covered in sweat and leaves after helping with harvest.

“Nate, good to see you. Come on in. Mercedes, I’m heading out after this meeting, unless you need anything from me.” He waves me in, stepping away from the door to speak to the woman.

“No, sir,” she says. “I wasn’t expecting you to stay this late as it was. I have everything under control for the rest of the day.”

His office has the big dark bookshelves and desk that I’ve seen in every fancy office on TV.

Picture frames sit in front of rows of books.

Sutton’s still outside talking to Mercedes, so I peek at a few on the nearest shelf.

There’s a photo of him and Sophie at their wedding, Sophie and a much younger Emma on a beach with flowers in their hair, a couple of kids I don’t recognize playing with his dog.

“Thanks for coming all the way downtown, Nate. And apologies for the mix-up at reception—I usually only work a half day at the office on Thursdays.” Theo joins me in looking at the photos.

“My niece and nephew,” he adds, pointing at the picture.

“I’ll have to bring them to the winery next time they come visit. ”

He clears his throat, indicating I should take a seat before he slides into the executive chair behind his desk.

I settle back into the plush leather, feigning confidence I don’t feel.

When we spoke on the phone, Sutton didn’t tell me why he wanted to meet.

I’ve been trying to figure it out all day and coming up empty.

“I don’t mind,” I offer. “Not very often I have an excuse to wear my good flannel.”

He smiles at that and leans back, folding his hands over his belt buckle. “I’m sure you’re curious why I asked you to come here instead of meeting at Sunshine.”

“I assumed you didn’t have time to drive all the way out there and back.” I avoid driving into downtown—unless I’m going to Sydney’s place—and was once again reminded why I prefer to stay home.

“You’re not wrong. I don’t have time, and I wanted to meet with you alone before I spoke to Sophie.”

Sophie? I can’t say I’ve ever truly understood how and why they bought my home the way they did. But my understanding was always that Sophie was the owner and made all the decisions. So why is he going behind her back?

I shift in my seat, leaning forward, my hands braced on my thighs. “Is everything okay? The harvest is going to be smaller than normal this year because of the frost, but it doesn’t look like anything else was affected.”

“I can see that I’m making you nervous.” He chuckles. The serious expression on his face relaxes, a small smile replacing it. “Apologies. I’ve been working on being less intimidating—easier done out at Sunshine than here in the office.”

“I think I made the receptionists nervous when I asked to see ‘Theo’ and not ‘Mr. Sutton.’ Is everyone here really that scared of you?” The difference between the aura this man gives off here versus at Sunshine is impressive. I wonder if I could pull it off?

“I prefer to think they have a healthy respect for me, but they generally only see me like this”—he indicates his suit and tie—“as opposed to how you usually see me. Anyway, back to the reason I wanted to meet with you.”

He leans forward, hands resting on the desk as he continues speaking. “Emma showed me the report she wrote up about Sunshine. Thank you for your assistance with that, by the way. I was ready to email her professor about his comment, but she handled it herself like a pro.”

I laugh at that. The nepo child seems perfectly capable of handling a rude professor. But I throw a compliment his way, since I’m still not sure what’s going on here, and Theodore Sutton is a man I would prefer to be on my side. “I would expect so, with you and Sophie raising her.”

Sutton actually blushes at that, something I never expected. “Oh, I’m just the stepdad. Her mother did all the hard work of raising her. Sophie is truly amazing.”

I’ve seen the way he looks at Sophie when they’re out at Sunshine, like she’s the sun and the moon and every good thing on the planet. But the way he’s talking now? The man is deeply in love with his wife, and it hits me like a blow to the gut.

The way he’s talking about her is exactly what I want. It’s like someone took everything I feel about Sydney and put it on display. The tight feeling in my chest that hasn’t left since I woke up alone in bed last week ratchets up another degree.

I clear my throat, but no words come out.