talk to Jeff first, have him explain a few things so that Marc had the facts straight before he went to Lexi. Because the more time he spent with Lexi, the more he began to understand what had gone down in the divorce, the more Marc got just how instrumental a role he’d played in Lexi’s situation.
And if that was the case, he didn’t want to tell her. Ever. Didn’t want to be another guy to drop a load of BS in her life that she’d have to deal with alone, because once she knew, there was no doubt in his mind that she would send him packing.
“It’s all right,” Gabe said, and for a moment Marc feared that he had spoken aloud. Then Gabe sipped his tea and, after a grimace, continued. “Tanner needs to know what’s going on since he’s staking his company’s future on this.”
Yeah, well, Marc knew what the women of St. Helena said about Hard-Hammer Tanner. He also knew that the guy was not only financially set, decent enough looking for a dude, and kind of ripped, he was—Marc froze, reassessing his earlier assumption—one of Lexi’s intended bachelors. What if he’d been checking out Lexi instead of Abby?
Oh hell no. There was no way Marc wanted Tanner’s tool belt stinking up the air when Lexi was around.
“Well, if sitting in as a celebrity judge is too much for you, man, I can just find someone else,” Marc said, standing and ready to show him to the door.
When he’d asked Tanner to help him out and fill the empty tribunal position, he hadn’t thought of how much additional time the former football star with mammoth biceps and a fancy Super Bowl ring would be spending with Lexi. He’d not only be nailing her walls and fixing her pipes, he’d be tasting her damn food, something that Marc had started to consider his job.
“You lose him and we lose half the ticket holders,” Gabe said, his voice full of exasperation and a little humor.
After word got out that Hard-Hammer Tanner was the celebrity judge, ticket sales exploded, and as of yesterday the Showdown was officially sold out. Not that it surprised Marc. Back when Tanner was in the NFL, he couldn’t walk down the street without being mobbed by locals and tourists. Retirement might have softened the fanfare, but he was still a beloved town figure, and if word got out that he was off the tribunal, Marc might have to start refunding some of those thousand-dollar-a-plate tickets.
“So take a seat,” Gabe said, his expression making it clear he wouldn’t continue until Marc did as he said. So Marc sat. And stared down Tanner, who smiled back.
“Seems that Saul Sorrento is getting a divorce and moving to Florida,” Gabe began.
“Holy shit.” Nate sat up. “What’s he doing with his land?”
“His kids aren’t interested in running it, so he’s going to sell,” Tanner supplied.
Nate smacked his hands together and did some stupid happy dance in his chair, knocking over Nonna’s statue of St. Christopher and nearly taking out his glass of wine. He was so wound up he didn’t even notice.
Not much got their tight-ass brother excited, but everyone in the room understood. The Sorrento family owned the largest parcel of virgin soil in the St. Helena appellation region. Used as a pasture for Saul’s organic cow and alpaca farm, it had never been planted on, meaning it was the perfect soil for a new vineyard. It was also the land that Geno DeLuca had been in the middle of buying when he’d won the hand of Miss ChiChi Ryo. Since Charles Baudouin had lost the girl, he made sure that Geno never got the land. But what started out as a way to stick it to a former friend had ended up making Saul owner of one of the most exclusive parcels of land in the valley. And he was finally selling.
“Wait.” Marc paused, taking in the way Tanner and Gabe were sharing a knowing smile—a smile that was usually reserved for him and his brothers. “What does that have to do with Tanner?”
“Saul and my grandpa play poker. The other night he asked if I wanted to take it off his hands.” Tanner’s lips twitched. “Even though he’s moving, he still has kids in the area and doesn’t want them to get caught in the middle of the great feud of St. Helena.”
“My thought was, we partner with Tanner and let him work as the go-between