"Is this really how people live around here?" she asked. "Or are you just showing me a fairy-tale day in Napa?"
Jack grinned and swallowed his final bite of a crisp cracker loaded with a sun-dried tomato spread. ''A little of both, I guess;' he admitted. "Everyone you've met today works incredibly hard. But since making cheese and wine and olive oil is their passion, I've found that more often than not, everyone really enjoys their job. And their life. People are forever making up reasons to get together. The harvest, the crush, the first new buds of spring." He refilled her glass with cool, bubbly lemonade. "I don't know if people who live in Napa are so happy because we're surrounded by so much beauty-the vines, the hills, the oak trees-or if we're so happy that we help to create and preserve the land around us:' He cut a ripe, juicy, yellow-and-green zebra tomato into fourths.
"I've never seen a tomato that big:' She took a bite, the juice dripping down her chin. Jack caught the brightly colored liquid with the tip of his finger before it dripped onto her skirt. "Or had one this good; she added, although one touch from Jack made her forget all about the sweet, tangy tomato.
"Organic farms do well here in the country' Rose wasn't sure that Napa, a bustling town with world-renowned restaurants, wineries, and artists qualified as "the country;' but it sure sounded fun. "Even some of the wineries are going organic. Like Green Vineyards, for instance. Tyson Green is a great guy who's really a pioneer in the industry. Anyone who's willing to forgo big profits for a few years to get his techniques down is a hero in my eyes."
The name Tyson rang a bell in Rose's head. Wasn't that the name of the vineyard owner that Carrie had mentioned in her voice mail?
Thinking about Carrie's weekend fling brought Rose full circle to her own. "I've had such a wonderful time with you today' she
said quietly. "Move here, Rose." Rose knocked her glass over and the lemonade seeped in between her toes in her sandals.
"I want to be with you. Napa. San Francisco. I don't care where.
I want to learn everything about you:'
She got up so abruptly that she knocked over a platter of cheese and crackers. "Stop asking me to stay' "Why should I? I want you with me'
"I can't, Jack. I can't' She turned to look for the exit, for her, so that she could pedal away from him and his hot eyes, his insistence that he wanted to be with her. She knew better than him what he needed, couldn't he see that?
But he was quicker than she was, and he blocked the door before she could get to it. "Tell me why you refuse to believe me when I say how much I care about you."
Frustrated at everything, at her whole life, at the lesson she'd been forced to learn so many goddamn times, she yelled, "Because you won't want me forever, Jack. Okay, so you think you want me now. Fine. It won't last. It never does. And if I'm stupid enough to quit my job and move here to be with you, how are you going to feel when you want to dump me in six months for someone younger? Prettier. Thinner. Someone who fits into your life better than I ever will?" She didn't give him time to answer. "No one will ever understand why we're together. I don't understand it," she said, trying to keep the stupid sob that was rising in her throat from coming out and washing over both of them.
Jack stared at her with eyes as dark as the dead of night. She didn't want to hurt him, didn't want him to think she didn't appreciate this glimpse of paradise, no matter how brief. Because she did. "I'll always remember this weekend with you, Jack, as one of the most special times in my life. But it won't last. It can't. I'm not going to let you make a mistake you'll regret. And blame me for later."
Out of breath, out of energy, Rose got to the end of her soliloquy. She stood silent, wishing Jack would let her go back to the hotel, back to her life, without making things any harder on her.
But he didn't move, didn't speak. He simply stared until she grew horribly uncomfortable beneath his heated, all-seeing gaze. "Say something!" she demanded, unable to stand his ongoing silence.
"You're so unbelievably sexy, Rose. And you don't even realize it. I know you've been hurt before. I don't know anything about your ex-lovers, but I do know that they didn't deserve you:'
Rose looked up into eyes that she knew would never lie. That would never look at her to say, "Why don't you go on a diet this week?" She felt herself crumple and reached out to steady herself, but Jack was already there.
"I won't let you fall, Rose;' he said. "I'll never let you down."
She felt so safe in his arms, and loved, as he cradled her like a baby. She was finally ready to knock down the last of the walls that she'd constructed around her heart.
The sun was starting to set as they rode their bikes back to his house. Rose felt freer than she'd ever been. Lighter. More joyful. Jack was better than Disneyland and Christmas all rolled into one.
They put the bikes away, and Jack gave her that look that made her stomach turn to jelly. "What do you say to a long, hot bath?"
He'd been so kind, so understanding about her insecure "moment" earlier, and she was able to let the playful Rose emerge again. "Now how'd you know I've always preferred baths over showers?" He rubbed his chin as if he were giving her question deep thought. "Must be that I've been picturing your skin, damp and pink, all day long."
Her grin faded, replaced by desire, and she boldly led the way back into his house, through the kitchen, down the hall to the master bedroom, straight for the enormous tub in the corner by the over-sized windows. The moon lit up the black sky and , streamed into the room. Jack lit a match, and a second later, " vanilla perfumed the room as a dozen candles shone from every counter and corner.
Rose had never felt so good. And she wanted nothing more 'than to share her happiness with Jack. In every way. And so she decided to thank him for his beautiful words to her in the barn by giving him a show that she hoped he'd never forget.
He'd already taken off his shirt, and she was made momentarily speechless by his hard, muscular chest. She wanted to throw herself into his arms, tackle him to the ground, make him hers again and again. Instead she said, "Have you ever watched a woman bathe before?"
His hands stilled on the button at the top of his jeans. His Adam's apple moved in his throat as he swallowed before he said, "No:'
His reply was hoarse, and Rose smiled a purely feminine smile, the one she seemed to have permanently on her face since he'd slipped his hand inside her panties on Friday night.
"Good' she said as she pointed to the upholstered chair in the corner of the room. "Why don't you go sit over there and we'll both pretend that you're not here. I've always wondered what it would be like to be secretly watched while I was ... "