Page 42 of The Spare

“Of course it’s real!” He appears appalled. “Nothing but the best for Queen P.” He winks.

Ugh. I hate this fucker. Or I wish I did. It would be so much easier.

“Samuel Lee, I told you⁠—”

“I know, I know. Sorry.”

Just when he surprises me in a good way, he goes and says something that makes me want to kick him in the nuts. Oh, yeah. But then I’d have to take care of them, urologist and all. And there’s no way I’m getting anywhere near his naked parts. I draw the line there. Not that I haven’t imagined him in all of his glory over the years. But this is going to be hard enough to walk away from in a year’s time without having that permanently etched in my brain.

“I say we make the announcement next weekend,” he adds. “Once the contracts are official, and we’re moving full steam ahead, text me a copy of your schedule, and I’ll book the vineyard for our wedding around your work schedule.”

Looking at the ring on my finger, I swallow the nerves before I can talk myself out of this. Glancing at the unreasonably attractive asshole across from me, I shake my head, wondering what I was thinking when I agreed to the year ahead.

Oh, yeah. The vineyard. Pop’s legacy. And keeping any other woman from saying I do.

Sam saunters toward the door. “Oh, and, Lex.”

“Yes?”

He turns, giving me a glorious smile. His deep blue irises are sparkling, and his dimples are on full display. “Is Chincoteague still okay for our honeymoon?”

I gasp. He remembered.

All of those years ago, lying in the tall grass under the grapes, staring up at the clouds as we laughed about the future. How we both wanted to go to the beach on our honeymoon. Him wanting to spend his days on a boogie board, and me searching for wild horses. We clearly had no idea what honeymoons were really meant for.

“Yes.” My voice comes out weak around the boulder stuck in my throat. “That would be perfect.” I stand needing him to leave before I do something truly stupid, like wait for him to kiss me.

Been there, done that.

“I’ll be in touch once everything has been notarized. Please don’t make any public announcements until the contract is official,” I add walking to my front door and holding it open for him. Looking down, I bite my lower lip. The ring feels awkward and heavy on my hand. My heart is racing at a dangerous rate, while my mind is already calculating the risks of what I’ve agreed to.

What the hell have I done?

What was your hurry to say yes, Lex? I should’ve said I needed to think about it for another month or two. Determine what I would and wouldn’t agree to before I accepted the ring. Was I worried he’d ask someone else if I said no? Because I just agreed to marry my arch-nemesis to save a vineyard I don’t own and a man I shouldn’t want.

You’re a smart woman, Alexis. There is virtually no way you make it out of this with your heart intact.

Chapter Nineteen

Sam

I step out onto my porch, drawing in a breath of fresh morning air. In the distance, the vineyard stretches out in rolling green ribbons, guarded by clusters of towering oaks and maples. The deep emerald of the evergreens anchors the horizon. Stretching my arms overhead, I link my fingers behind my head as I take in the familiar landscape. Above the rows of vines, birds dart in low arcs and butterflies dance, mindless of the mess I’ve made of my life.

The sky is a brilliant blue, scattered with the kind of puffy white clouds that always seem to pull me back in time. Standing here in the stillness, the echoes of Lexi’s high-pitched laugh from summers long ago wrap around me like a dream. My hand moves to rub my chest, hoping to alleviate the ever-present ache that occurs whenever I find myself longing for days gone by.

Am I making the biggest mistake of my life by doing this with her?

I can almost feel the ghostly weight of my grandfather’s hand on my shoulder. “Don’t let me fuck this up too, Pop. This place is all I have left.”

And her.

Not that she was ever really mine.

Making my way from my home to the Sutter Creek visitor’s center, a sense of trepidation envelopes me. As the wind shifts, the silence of the vineyard, which is usually the only thing keeping my head on straight, suddenly feels like the suffocating quiet before a storm.

I enter the main tasting room, the same one where Sebastian recently pointed out the leaks and the peeling furniture. I’ve spent a week trying to scrub away the scent of neglect, but you can’t hide the truth from family. Especially a brother who made his living fixing microscopic flaws in human anatomy.

I’ve invited Sebastian and his entire brood for dinner. Luigi’s is catering it. I’m supposed to be watching my expenses, and Sebastian is going to call me on it the second he sees the spread. But this is an important evening. If we can’t convince my brother, the one person who knows me best, then my mother won’t stand a chance of believing this marriage is real.