She thought for a second.
“Well, the last day I didn’t go into the winery at all was the day before I met you.”
They grinned at each other.
“See, you’re trying to get me sidetracked here,” he said. “Weren’t you on a work trip then?”
She sighed again.
“Yes. Okay, fine, I was still working that day. I don’t know, maybe sometime in January?”
He got out of bed and went over to her.
“January? It’s June! You haven’t taken a day off in almost six months? Mondays are quiet at the winery anyway. Is Taylor working today?”
He reached for the tie of her dress, but she put her hand on his to stop him.
“Yeah, but with the party coming up, and everything, I just have so much to do.” She raised her eyebrows at him. “Why do you have today off, anyway? Is your mom well enough to drive now?”
He dropped his hand from her dress. Right, of course she’d ask that.
“Oh. It’s . . . my birthday.”
She looked startled.
“Your birthday? Today? I didn’t know.”
He nodded.
“I know—I don’t like to make a big thing about it. But my mom ordered me to take today off, said Beth could cover and could call her if there was a crisis.” He grinned at her. “It already started off great, though.”
“Well, happy birthday.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “Glad I could start your birthday with a bang. So to speak.”
He laughed, and so did she.
“Your birthday,” she said again. She bit her lip. He could tell she was thinking. “Well. I guess I will take the day off, then.”
“Does this mean you think Taylor and Elliot can handle everything for one day?” he asked her.
She smiled.
“Well, the last time I left Elliot in charge, he hired you.”
He dropped a kiss on her lips.
“We both know what happened after that. Do you regret leaving him in charge that day?”
He’d said it as a joke, but now he wanted to know how she would answer. Did she regret that? Did she regret sleeping with him that first night, which she definitely wouldn’t have done if she’d been at the winery that day? Did she regret letting Elliot hire him in the first place, so she’d have to work with him? Because despite how much every moment of that time, of having to stay an arm’s length from her, had killed him, he didn’t regret a second of it.
“No.” She pulled him closer. “I don’t regret leaving him in charge that day.”
“Excellent,” he said. “Let’s go to the beach.” His hands went to her waist again. This time she let him untie her dress. “This dress, as much as I love it on you, is not beachwear.”
She smiled at him.
“It’s going to be foggy at the beach, you know.”
He stepped closer to her and slid his hand around her waist.
“That’s okay. We can huddle for warmth.”
She burst out laughing as he kissed her neck.
“The beach it is, then. It’s your birthday, after all. Let me call Taylor. And Elliot.”
In less time than he would have expected, they were in his car, on the way to the Sonoma coast. He kept waiting for Margot to say no, wait, she had a call she had to take at the winery that day, there were VIPs coming that she had to do a meet and greet with, but she seemed content to sit in the passenger seat of his car, with the windows down and the music up.
Granted, she checked her phone more than once, but he’d expected that.
“Speaking of that first night, which we were an hour ago,” he said, when they were on the way, “I’ve been wondering. Were you ever going to text me?”
He felt her eyes on him, but he didn’t look at her. He knew she would tell him the truth either way, but it might be easier if he wasn’t looking at her.
“I hadn’t decided,” she said. “I mean, I was still deciding, when you and Elliot walked into my office.” He waited. He knew she wasn’t done. “But probably not.”
“Why not?” He looked out at the vineyards lining the roads, forced himself not to look at her, tried not to care too much about her answer.
“That night was—talk about taking a break—that night was the first time in a long time I felt like I had a real break. I had a great time with you, but it was more than that. I didn’t think about the winery the whole time we talked at the bar, that whole time at your apartment, not until morning. And you were so . . . The whole night just felt perfect. And I didn’t want to spoil it. To text you and have you never text me back, or for you to end up being an asshole, or not actually like me, once you got to know me. So. That’s why I was leaning against it.”