Intoxicating by Lori Wilde

in the extra door so they could take tourists into the cellar without having to lead them through the family’s main residence. She needed a dose of fresh air before getting into the confines of the cellar with him. Needed to clear her head of sticky, unwanted thoughts, like, how good he smelled and how cute he looked without the scraggly beard. Take away the glasses and he’d be a knockout.
    Why had she suggested going to the cellar? She’d just made up some job for him because once she’d peered into those mesmerizing brown eyes, she couldn’t remember what she had planned for that day. This wascrazy, the way he robbed her mind of all rational thought.
    â€œHey.” Wyatt sprinted after her. “Wait up.”
    She forced herself to slow down and let him catch up. She didn’t want to slow down but running off and leaving him felt as if she was losing control again.
    You are losing control. Snap out of it. Do whatever you have to in order to fend off this…this… This what?
    â€œDo you always walk like you’re on your way to put out a fire?” he asked.
    â€œI’m not a leisurely person. I don’t do anything slowly.”
    â€œNothing?” he drawled, his tone full of innuendo.
    â€œNothing.”
    â€œThat’s a shame.”
    â€œWhat’s a shame?”
    â€œThat you don’t know how to slow down.”
    â€œSlow is for slackers,” she retorted.
    â€œTouché,” he said, “but slacking can be fun.”
    â€œI don’t do fun,” she said. “Fun is a waste of time. Fun is what causes trouble.”
    â€œTrouble? How does fun cause trouble?”
    â€œIdle hands…” she began.
    â€œEnjoy themselves,” he finished.
    Kiara frowned. “Life isn’t about enjoyment.”
    â€œNo?” He sounded as if he were trying not to laugh at her. “What’s it about?”
    What was so funny? “No. It’s about hard work and sacrifice and doing the right thing.”
    â€œHmm, doesn’t sound like my kind of life.”
    â€œWell, it’s the life of a winery owner and if you don’twant to work hard, then you don’t belong in the wine-making business.”
    â€œAnd yet, the product you make is all about relaxing and having fun. Isn’t that contradictory?”
    â€œLife is full of paradoxes.”
    â€œI don’t think that’s it at all,” he said.
    She paused with her hand on the combination lock of the door that led to the cellar and turned to glance at him. “You know what? It really doesn’t matter what you think.”
    â€œNo?” He sounded as if he was struggling not to laugh.
    â€œNo.”
    He grinned at her, sunlight dappling through the leaves of the cottonwood tree planted next to the house. “Chicken.”
    Her pulse skittered at the challenge in his eyes. She dialed in the combination to the lock and yanked open the cellar door. She rushed down the steps only to stop at the bottom when she saw that Maurice was showing a group of tourists around.
    Kiara backed away, hooked her hand around Wyatt’s elbow and pulled him up the steps with her and into the sunlight. “It’s too crowded down there. Let’s wait for them to finish,” she said, feeling oddly breathless.
    He nodded, and seemed breathless too. She wondered if he felt as overwhelmed and off-kilter as she did. Maybe giving him a second chance had been a big mistake.
    She realized then that she was still holding on to his elbow. She inhaled sharply, the sound a harsh rasp in the clear morning air. Hand trembling, she let go of him and moved to one side. They stood there a long moment,saying nothing to each other and then, in hesitant increments, her gaze shifted to meet his and time spun out endlessly between them.
    Wyatt’s gaze stabbed hers.
    She saw it in his eyes, the same wanting that was eating her up inside.
    The door opened and Maurice