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“What?” Morgan said incredulously.

“I . . . I think we might try this thing out—being together back home.” Maddy faltered a little. She heard Morgan inhale sharply.

“Maddy. I love you, and as one of your best friends, I have to tell you when I feel like you’re about to do something stupid. And this is really, really stupid!”

Maddy didn’t respond.

“Look, you’ve spent the whole summer mucking out stalls or whatever you’ve been doing, and you and that guy have been all alone up there, so it’s natural something would’ve happened with you guys.”

“Well, yeah, but it’s been more than that—”

Morgan let out an a

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“I don’t really know . . . ,” Maddy said slowly. It was true that Napa wasn’t like the rest of the world—the ordinary rules didn’t really apply. She felt so close to David now, but could they maintain that when they weren’t in Napa? They were from very different worlds. Her head was starting to pound. “Mor, I have the worst headache. I’m going to get off and find some Advil.”

“Wait! I totally forgot the whole reason I called!”

Maddy groaned. “You mean it wasn’t to tell me that I was making all the wrong decisions?”

“No, but I’m glad I did. I’m having a party at Tangerine for my birthday on Wednesday and you have to come. I can’t celebrate without you!”

“And I can’t let you celebrate without me! But we’re not supposed to get back from Napa until Thursday,”

Maddy told her.

“Beg! Maybe they’ll let you come home early,”

Morgan insisted.

“Maybe,” Maddy said without much hope. “They’ve mellowed out a lot since we left. I’ll have to get them at the right moment.”

“Well, at least try, okay?”

“Okay. Bye, babe.”

“Bye.” Morgan hung up.

Maddy dropped the phone on the floor and closed her eyes just for a second, the warm afternoon sun streaming from the balcony doors onto her face. David’s 230

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image floated in front of her. They were standing in the tasting room again. He had his arms around her, but this time he was kissing her. His lips were warm and delicious. Maddy felt herself relax, the stress of the conversation with Morgan floating away. She and David were walking through the grapevines. She could feel his strong hands on her waist. . . .

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Chapter Twenty-seven

!

The radio in the kitchen was on when Maddy knocked softly at the porch door of the cottage. She hadn’t been able to decide between the ultra-casual faded jeans and a white gathered eyelet tank top or the more flirty pink jersey sundress. She’d gone with the jeans in the end. David had seen her at her worst; selfconsciousness was out the window.

“Come in,” she heard David call. Sufjan Stevens provided the background music as she opened the screen door. The little kitchen with its neat wood cabinets and long marble countertops smelled like warm chocolate. David, wearing an army green T-shirt and jeans, stood at the counter, mixing something in a bowl, a striped dishtowel flung over his shoulder. He looked incredibly 232

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sexy. He glanced up as she entered, his hair falling in his eyes a little, and gri

Maddy held out a tub of strawberries. “I thought maybe we could use these.” The little red heart-shaped berries looked gorgeous. “I picked them up at the farm stand.”

“Well, well, maybe you’re not a hopeless cook after all,” he teased. He motioned her over to stand next to him and examined the berries while she examined him. She stared at the muscles in his arms as he dumped the berries into a colander and ran water over them. “So, we’re making chocolate mousse cake,” he explained.

“Strawberries will go great with that.”

“That sounds so good. . . .” She laughed, inhaling another strong whiff of warm, rich chocolate.

“It is—the chef at Mondavi used to tell me that he would serve this when . . .” He stopped and smiled mischievously. “Let’s just say this was a dish to impress the ladies.”

She laughed. “I’m impressed.”

“Come here—I’ll show you how to mix this,” he offered.

“Okay.” She stood close to him at the counter, watching as he poured a stream of melted chocolate from a small saucepan into a bowl of smooth, shiny batter. His strong arm blended the chocolate in streaks.

“See, you want to sort of fold it in very gently in kind 233

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of an oval shape, instead of mixing around and around.”

He glanced at her and smiled. “You want to try?”

“Sure.” She took the spatula and tried to imitate him.

“Here, try it like this,” he said after a minute, and she felt his hand close around hers. He moved so that he was standing just behind her.

“Like this?” she said, though she wasn’t paying the slightest attention to the batter.

“Mmhm,” he said. He sounded like he wasn’t paying attention to the batter either. She leaned back into him just the slightest bit, still folding the batter, though by this time the chocolate had long since disappeared. She could feel him inhale at her touch, and the muscles in his chest tensed a little.

Ping-ping-ping! The timer on the stove sounded. He exhaled and stepped away from her over to the stove.

“The layers are ready.” The scent of cake filled the kitchen as he pulled a pan out of the oven. Maddy wandered over to the refrigerator and peered at some photos stuck there with magnets. She squinted at one of two tall guys with their arms around each other’s shoulders, standing in the sun at the top of some mountain.

“Is that you?” she asked.

He turned around to see what she was looking at.

“Yeah. That’s my buddy Jim. We hiked to the top of Bismark Peak in Utah last summer.” Something started bubbling in a copper saucepan on the stove and David 234

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quickly bent over to reduce the flame. Maddy eyed his turned back. The temptation was just too great. She plucked a berry out of the colander, took aim, and pitched it at him. It bounced off his head and fell to the floor.

“Hey!” He whirled around to face her, already laughing. She giggled and threw another one, this time catching him on the chest.

“Okay, I see how it is,” he said. “Well then, how about this?” Before she could react, he scooped a spoonful of batter, closed one eye, and took aim, catapulting the cake across the room and catching her right in the face.

She squealed and wiped her eyes. “You jerk!” She darted across the room, scooped up her own glob of batter, and let it fly, splattering his shirt. He dove across the kitchen table, trying to catch her, but she slipped away from his grasp and ran to the other side. They faced off, gri

“Okay.” She relaxed and turned away before feeling something soft hit the back of her head. A strawberry fell at her feet. “Ooh! You’re going down!” she yelled. In one quick movement, she grabbed the colander out of the sink and, evading his hands, dumped the entire contents on his head. Strawberries fell pattering at their feet like fat red raindrops and rolled to the far corners of the room. 235

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Maddy stood, hanging on to the counter, trying to catch her breath from laughing so hard at the sight of David with the colander still on his head. With dignity, he removed the metal helmet and placed it on the counter. “Do you know you look like a raccoon?” he asked, pointing at the mask of shiny brown batter now begi

“I know,” Maddy gasped, starting to regain control of herself. “Help.”