Crush on You Read Free Page B

head. There were like a million little buttons trailing down the back of that crazy outfit—only half of them fastened—and the almost-undressed aspect ignited his imagination nearly as much as her generous breasts and pretty mouth. He could see his fingers working on the remainder of those tiny pearls, his calluses catching on silky fabric as he hurried to bare her for his eyes. For his touch.
    His thickened blood moved southward and he groaned. “Lord help me.”
    Liam glanced over. “What’s wrong with you?”
    “Wedding Dress Girl—Alessandra. She’s one hot little mama, isn’t she?”
    Liam’s eyes widened. He looked almost . . . shocked.
    Okay, from the get-go the other man had struck Penn as somewhat unbending, but at the basest of levels XY was XY, wasn’t it? He cleared his throat and snuck a quick glance at the swinging hips receding in the distance. “I mean, surely . . .” It was just two guys, so he plowed forward. “C’mon. The body. That mouth. I’d like to—”
    “Stop,” Liam said. “Stop right there.”
    Something shot through Penn—disappointment? Nah, he wasn’t really interested in the youngest Baci sister, so it made no difference to him that his half brother had a prior claim. “Sorry, I didn’t know you and she have a thing.”
    “We don’t. No one does, not with Alessandra. And you won’t be messing with her, either. Not with the Nun of Napa.”

2

    “Disaster averted then?” Clare asked.
    Alessandra nodded, squinting a little as the bright sunlight coming through the beauty shop’s wide front window glinted off her friend’s space-Afro. There was no other way to describe the do created by the layered sections of Clare’s foil-wrapped hair. Though Alessandra wasn’t here for her own appointment, she’d taken the neighboring stylist’s chair in order to keep her friend company during the chemical process. “I promise the cottage will be ready for your wedding day.”
    It had better be, that was sure. Clare’s “I do” would be the first uttered at Tanti Baci this summer, but Alessandra had hopes that there would be bookings for most every weekend in the months ahead. Of course, that couldn’t guarantee the winery would be saved, but she avoided that uncomfortable truth by gazing out the window onto the quaint main street of her birthplace. Located toward the northern end of Napa County, Edenville, population 6,100, was a one-square-mile walking town, with a block-sized central plaza of grass, paved paths, and shaded benches. The downtown’s wide sidewalks were edged by mature trees and ran along the clapboard storefronts, some fancied-up with eye-catching paint and Victorian embellishments.
    Bright color and ornamental woodwork signaled the more upmarket establishments. A gourmet food shop was in avocado and lemon, the trendy bistro painted a silver-touched salmon, the owners of the homewares boutique on the corner had chosen the blue and white of a willow pattern. These tourist magnets shared space with the more modestly decorated county library, small grocery store, and no-frills deli patronized by the town locals.
    Clare raised her voice over the sound of gushing water from the shampoo sinks at the rear of the salon. “So what did you think of the bastard Bennett?”
    Alessandra winced. It wasn’t a very sensitive way to refer to him, though they’d begun calling him that when he was nothing more than tantalizing gossip. Now that she’d met him . . . “I don’t want to think about that man,” she told Clare, “or ever see him again.”
    But life hadn’t been going her way the last five years, and as if she needed more proof of that, she noted a shiny truck pulling into a parking space in front of Oliver’s Ristorante across the street. “Though you can check him out yourself. Looks like he’s heading for Overpriced Ollie’s.”
    Clare wiggled in her seat. “That’s what I love about small towns and big picture windows. Sooner or later everybody