Page 15 of Love Among Vines

He offered his hand, and she took it to jump down.

She staggered on her heels, and he steadied her.

His touch burned through the thin fabric of her dress.

They made eye contact again. Something nameless passed between them, and a shiver racked her body.

His hand rose, and her breath caught in her chest. Was he going to tear this stupid dress off right here in the garage?

She’d never been banged against a pickup truck.

“I think you have…yep, that’s mashed potatoes.” He pulled something white from her hair.

“Oh.” She was an idiot to think he was interested in her. The kiss from the night before had meant nothing. He had probably learned all kinds of acting tricks from his Hollywood mom. “Thanks,” she added.

“Come on.” He led her inside.

Even the mudroom was fancy. Not like golden Dalmatian statues and crystal caviar dishes fancy, but quietly expensive. He put his keys in a dish on a console table and removed his shoes. She bent to do the same, but Penny lunged forward and she was still holding the leash.

She screeched and nearly hurtled to the floor.

“Whoa.” He caught her arm.

“Sorry. I can’t walk in these things.”

“Really? You were dancing in them just fine.”

“Well. I wasn’t dancing with a golden retriever who’s searching for some balls to put in her mouth.”

That made two of them.

He chuckled. “Here, let me.”

He kneeled and set his nimble fingers to the buckle on her heel strap. His head was basically at vagina level. Down, girl .

“You are suspiciously adept at removing women’s shoes,” she said. “Fetish?”

“Definitely. I have a whole room of severed feet in the basement.”

His hand glided up her calf before tugging her shoe off, and she bit her lip as her foot planted on the floor. That amount of calf stroking was not strictly speaking necessary for shoe removal. Was he making a move? Or was her drunk brain just interpreting everything as a green flag?

“You can drop the leash,” he said. His green eyes stared up at her as he moved on to the other shoe. “Penny has free rein here.”

“Oh. Thank you.” She unclipped the dog, and Penny gamboled into the house and disappeared.

Her other shoe came off, and Rett stood. There was a sparkle of something naughty in his eye as he shot her a half smile before turning away.

Jade took a second to survey her surroundings as he flicked lights on. The kitchen was predictably massive. Was that a pasta arm? Who lived here, Emeril?

It was also shockingly clean for a bachelor pad. Either he had a dedicated housekeeper, or his list of hobbies did not extend beyond cleaning and winemaking.

Jade’s apartment, on the other hand, was more…free-spirited. It wouldn’t be unusual to find a towel on the floor in the bathroom, or dishes from the night before in the sink. But her apartment was homey, charming, and beautiful in its own way, even when it wasn’t surgically clean.

“Your house is beautiful. Very clean for a bachelor. Not a single discarded Solo cup or bong.”

He smiled. “Thanks. I have a cleaning service in twice a month. They were just here, so I can’t take credit for it.”

Thank god. She had already been half worried he was going to make her wear flip-flops in the shower.

“Let me show you to your room.”

She put a hand on her rolling suitcase, but he tugged it away from her.

“You’re my guest. Come on,” he said, wheeling the suitcase through the kitchen. A dining room stood to their right, lined by floor-to-ceiling windows. It was hard to tell in the dark, but the view of the lake must have been spectacular.

Her bare feet padded over the hardwood floors. They passed through an absurd living room—lots of neutral tones, definitely needed more color—with a double-sided fireplace and what looked to be a very nice patio before finding the stairs.

“You don’t have to take the stairs.”

“Are you going to throw me over your shoulder and carry me? Is that part of the patented Rhodes Hospitality Fake Girlfriend Package?”

He smiled again. “No.” He walked to a bit of molded paneling next to the stairs and pressed a button.

“Your house has an elevator?”

Her apartment building barely even had an elevator. It only worked for one week out of the month if she was lucky. And it was never when she had an armful of groceries.

“I know it’s absurd. In my defense, my grandmother had it installed when they both still lived here. My grandfather had mobility issues.”

She eyed it suspiciously. “Have you ever been trapped in it?”

“Only twice. And it wasn’t for very long.”

“Well, then how can I refuse?” She sidled inside. The quarters were cramped with the two of them and her suitcase.

His eyes locked with hers as the elevator inched up. Her cheeks grew hot. Why did he have such an effect on her? Maybe it was just the wine.

The door slid open, and she shuffled out into another hallway. There was a railing next to her with a view of the living room down below. A framed print of an antique-looking wine bottle hung directly in front of her. It was nice, but it had no personality.

“This way,” he said, leading her past the loft and down the hall. “You’re across from me if you need anything tonight.”

He opened a door and turned the lights on. There was a king-sized, four-poster bed with elaborate blue damask drapes.

“I see your grandma decorated this room,” she said.

Rett rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “I haven’t had a chance to do many updates since moving in. But I think you’ll be comfortable here.”

“Oh, I was not throwing shade on your grandma at all. This room is amazing. I immediately feel eighty percent more royal just by stepping inside. It just definitely wasn’t designed by a twenty-nine-year-old straight man.”

“Definitely not.” He stepped further into the room and reached for another light switch. “You have your own bathroom.”

There went her half-formed drunk plan to walk in on him naked. It was for the better.

“I don’t know about you, but I could use a shower.”

She nodded vehemently. A cold one would be best.

“I’ll leave you to it and meet you downstairs when you’re done. There’s something I want to show you.”

What else could possibly be left to show her? An indoor tennis court? A chocolate fountain?

“Sounds great. Thank you so much again for letting me stay here. I honestly think I would have rather slept in the party bus than under Ashley’s roof.”

“I’m just excited to have a chance to use the guest room. Most of my friends live here so it barely gets used. I’ll see you downstairs.”

He closed the door behind him and left her in silence. She took a moment to center herself. A cold shower truly was her only option.

The guest bathroom had great bones but was also in need of a slight update. Some navy, maybe. A nice set of pendant lights.

She reached around to her back and groped for the zipper. Shit. It had taken Kenya to zip her into this wretched satin nightmare earlier. Even with years of CrossFit, she couldn’t reach the damn thing. She had no option but to ask Rett for help.

“Really, universe?” she muttered to herself as she stepped out of her room and crossed the hallway.

His door wasn’t completely closed. She knocked on it, and it drifted open.

He stood across the room with his back to her, and he was shirtless.

He whirled around. A chiseled six pack and biceps for days greeted her. The universe was enjoying her suffering.

“Everything okay?”

“Uh.” She seemed to have lost all of her vocabulary. All she could do was stare at this stupidly hot winemaker like a googly-eyed goldfish.

“Do you need help with your dress?”

She snapped her eyes back up to his. “Please. I almost dislocated my shoulder trying to unzip it.”

He smiled and crossed the room. Good lord. She spun around and moved her hair out of the way.

As he tugged the zipper down, the straps fell from her shoulders. In an instant, her dress was puddled on the floor.

“Shit, sorry,” he said.

“It’s okay. Satin’s slippery.” She stepped out of it and bent to pick it up. Of course she was wearing unflattering undergarments—a nude strapless bra and matching thong.

“Thanks for your help.”

She turned to look at him, and his eyes snapped up to meet hers.

“Well, we couldn’t have you dislocating an elbow. I imagine you need those for work.” As he spoke, he reached a hand out to stroke the offending body part.

Her breath caught in her chest. They were standing half-naked in front of each other, and he was stroking her arm. This had to be a move, right?

She took a step closer to him and looked up at him. Fuck it. She had to shoot her shot. If she didn’t, she would regret it every day for the rest of her life.

She had just reached out one hand to plant on his abs when he cocked his head.

“Do you hear that?”

She turned to look over her shoulder. “Oh shit. It’s?—”

At that moment, Penny, apparently unable to stop her momentum, crashed into her with the force of a furry freight train.

Jade shrieked and hit the carpeted floor with a muffled thump. Every part of her had probably just jiggled like she was an elaborate Jell-O mold from the fifties.

“Zoomies,” she whispered. The wind had been completely knocked out of her. Her thigh stung where a shockingly solid doggie skull had collided with her.

Rett’s concerned face appeared above hers. Penny popped up next to him, panting happily like she had just hit a zoomies PR. She licked his cheek.

“I’m fine,” Jade said, rolling onto her side and clambering to her knees. She reached over and grabbed her dress.

That had surely been a sign from the universe. She was not meant to jump Rett’s bones tonight.

“Are you sure? That was a pretty hard fall.”

“All good.” She crawled into her room and shut the door.

“Fuck,” she whispered. She had made a damn fool of herself.