Blush - Jamie Brenner Page 0,78

seems to be leading us apart. We just started working together.”

“Steven, you retired. You put in a lot of years, you had a great career, but law was your day job. It wasn’t your ultimate passion.”

“So? What’s your point?”

“The cheese shop is my day job.”

“How can you say that? You love cheese. It was your dream to have a cheese shop.”

“No,” she said. “My dream was the winery.”

Thirty-six

Sadie was in a fever. She’d never experienced anything like the physical longing she felt for Mateo Argueta. She had no appetite, she couldn’t sleep. Her thesis work was nonexistent.

All she could think about was sex. Everything she looked at seemed erotic: the fruit on the vine, the flowers unfolding to the bees, even the shape of the wine bottles at dinner the night before was suggestive of the curve of a body.

It was Sadie’s nature to try to understand and master anything that was taking up space in her head, and this consuming lust was no exception. Why had she never felt this way before?

She theorized that the intensity of her attraction to Mateo was partly because they were strangers and partly because they were opposites. When you met someone at college, you had enough in common that you both chose the same school. With Holden, there was nothing unexpected or clandestine about their hooking up, and that precluded the dangerous, sharp-edged feeling that she got from Mateo.

The night before, she’d barely been able to function at dinner. It seemed incredible that no one noticed the change in her. She felt sure it showed on her face, in her voice. How could the molten lust she felt inside not reveal itself to the world? Fine, it was just one kiss. But it was something. It was an opening. It was the beginning of something—she could feel it. He might still have issues with getting involved with her, but she knew they could get over them. She was going to do her best to at least try. How could she not?

The novel she’d downloaded onto her phone didn’t help; Scruples was just as erotic as Lace and Chances. Maybe more so. How was she going to discuss them with her mother and grandmother?

“There you are,” her father said, appearing out of nowhere.

Sadie closed her reading app. “Oh, hey, Dad. What’s up?”

“I wanted to talk to you before I left.”

“You’re leaving? I thought you were here for the weekend?”

He sat on the edge of her chair. “Yes, well, your mom is busy, and I don’t want to be in her way.”

Sadie felt a flicker of concern, but only briefly; it couldn’t compete with her own self-absorption.

“Do you want a ride back?” he said.

“Um, no thanks, Dad. I’m going to stay a little longer.”

“Sadie, you don’t have to babysit your mother.”

“That’s not what I’m doing.”

“I don’t want you getting distracted from your own work. What happened to the research position with Dr. Moore? I thought that was going to be all summer.”

“Yeah, well . . .” She was surprised her mother hadn’t told him about her thesis problem. She’d asked her not to say anything, but her parents talked about everything. Or at least they usually did. “I’m taking a little break. What’s going on? Are you and Mom not getting along?”

“We’re fine,” he said in a way that told her they were anything but. “What do you mean, you’re taking a break? I’ve never seen you take a ‘break’ from writing since you were old enough to hold a pen.” He squeezed her arm.

She sighed. “I don’t know. I guess writer’s block isn’t a myth.”

“That doesn’t sound good. You are getting distracted. Come on—pack up. It’s time to get back to reality.”

“No, Dad. I was stalled on my thesis before I came out here. I missed deadlines, and now Dr. Moore won’t let me be her assistant because I have to be in good standing with my honors work for the research position. So honestly, I came out here to regroup. Dr. Moore told me I had to ‘get out of my comfort zone.’”

He rubbed the stubble around his jawline. “I’m sorry you’re having a rough time. I know it’s important to take a breather sometimes. I just want to make sure you’re out here for you and not because you feel like you can’t leave Mom.”

“You don’t have to worry.” She smiled to reassure him.

“What happens if you don’t get back on track with your deadlines?” As a lawyer, her father was a