Chronicles of a Hot Mess Read online

  “Guess,” Amery said with a smirk.

  Lyla rolled her eyes. “Can I ask what kind of food it is?”

  “Nope, more fun that way,” Amery teased.

  Lyla decided to play his game. She rattled off a list of restaurants she knew, but none were correct. He got on the interstate and they drove for a while longer before he exited and took little country roads. The sun was beginning to set and as they went over a hill she took in a breath at the beauty of all the colors filling the sky behind the mountains.

  “We’re almost there,” he said.

  She was really turned around but knew they were in wine country. “A vineyard?” she finally guessed as he pulled down a path that had them entering a vineyard with rolling hills. It was beautiful.

  “I may have called in a favor,” he explained with a shrug as he pulled the car up to a small building. He helped her out of the car and offered her his arm again as they walked down a path lit with small lights and entered the building. There was a fireplace with a crackling fire on one side of the cozy room and a wine bar on the other side. Small tables dotted the space, but one near the fireplace was set for two people.

  “You rented the entire vineyard?” Lyla asked in shock.

  Amery smiled. “I called in a favor,” he reiterated as a middle-aged woman came out from a back room to greet them.

  “Amery!” she exclaimed, and he released Lyla to take the woman into a giant bear hug.

  “Hattie! How are you?” he greeted her.

  “Wonderful, and you?” she asked.

  “Fantastic,” he answered. “Thanks for doing this by the way.”

  “Sure, no worries. For you anything. You going to introduce me to your friend?” she asked, focusing on Lyla, who blushed.

  “Hattie, this is Lyla. Lyla, Hattie,” Amery introduced.

  Hattie pulled Lyla into a hug. “So nice to meet you, honey. Have a seat. We’ll get you kids a glass of wine while Paul whips up dinner.”

  Lyla raised her eyebrows at Amery who smiled. “Paul and Hattie own the vineyard and Paul is also a chef and owns a restaurant nearby. How long have we known each other now? Three or four years?”

  Hattie nodded. “This one came in with his friends on one of those booze rides and when his obnoxious, but loveable, teammate broke a chair, Amery not only bought a new one, he bought all new tables and chairs for the entire tasting room. And we’ve been friends ever since.”

  Lyla grinned. “Kent?”

  “Ward,” Hattie said with a laugh. “It was before he was even part of our team. Kent and he go way back, and he was here visiting when we decided to do a vineyard day.”

  Lyla laughed.

  “Red or white?” Hattie asked her as Amery pulled out a chair for Lyla. She took a seat and looked back up at Hattie, who was placing bread on the table with a bowl of olive oil filled with herbs and spices.

  “Red,” Lyla said.

  “OK, and I know what you like,” Hattie said with a laugh as she looked at Amery and then went back through a door in the far side of the tasting room.

  “Wine, huh? No brewery?” Lyla questioned.

  Amery shrugged. “I thought this might be more fun, more private.”

  “It’s charming. I like it,” Lyla admitted.

  “Hattie and Paul are great and wait till you taste the food,” he raved.

  She grinned and started to speak but then Hattie came out with a bottle of wine. “Here, you want to do the honors?” she asked Amery who nodded and opened the bottle.

  He poured a little into their glass and Hattie instructed them on tasting. They each took a sip. Lyla moaned as the berry undertones of the wine hit her palate. She noticed Amery’s eyes flicker over her face.

  “That is delicious!” she exclaimed.

  “Excellent. It’s Amery’s favorite. And this is a particularly good year of it. Well, I’ll leave you to it. Dinner should be out in...hold on. Paul?! How much longer?” she called into the back room that clearly was a kitchen.

  “Twenty minutes,” a baritone voice yelled back.

  She smiled at them. “OK then, twenty minutes. Do you need anything else?”

  “No, thank you, Hattie. This is great,” Amery said, and she nodded and headed back to the kitchen.

  “To meeting new people,” Amery toasted as they clinked glasses.

  “To no more embarrassing moments,” Lyla said with a laugh.

  Amery chuckled. “Your embarrassing moments are what make you so endearing, Lyla,” he told her.

  “Well, I, for one, think I’ve maxed them out over the past two weeks,” Lyla lamented.

  Amery reached across the table and placed a hand over hers. “I’m glad we met, Lyla. You’re a breath of fresh air,” he said to her.

  “Ha! You clearly haven’t spent enough time with me then,” she teased.

  “You’re right, but I’m about to rectify that,” he agreed.

  She blushed and took a sip of her wine. She cleared her throat and looked around. “So, what’s for dinner?” she asked, changing the topic.

  Amery

  Amery sensed her discomfort at the direction of their conversation. For someone so beautiful, she seemed so unsure of herself. He was intrigued by this. He would have assumed that men fell at her feet, and she was batting them away daily, but the more he spoke with her the more he was beginning to think it was the opposite and he wasn’t sure why.

  “It’s Italian. I’ll let Paul explain,” he said, as he took a sip of his wine. He watched as she took another sip of wine and licked her lips. She had beautiful lips, he noted. They were dark pink, full, and perfectly shaped.

  He asked her about her blog she had mentioned, and she launched into a post she had recently done on the use of GIFs on social media for marketing purposes. He listened intently, studying her face as it lit up with her enthusiasm for the topic. She was so raw and real. He hadn’t had real in a woman in a long time.

  Before he knew it, Paul and Hattie were crossing the room with plates of food. It was a family-style dinner.

  “Paul, this is Lyla,” Amery introduced as Paul set down a platter of ravioli.

  Paul shook hands with Lyla and gave her a wink. “I’ve been pestering this guy all week to bring you out here. He never mentions ladies, so you must be pretty special,” he said with a warm smile as he wrapped an arm around Hattie.

  Lyla blushed and looked at the food. “I’m excited to try whatever it is you’ve made,” she said, steering away from talk of their relationship. Relationship, he tossed that word around his brain as Paul launched into explaining what was for dinner.

  Paul and Hattie left them to eat, excusing themselves saying they needed to attend to some things.

  “I like them,” Lyla said as she lifted a forkful of ravioli to her lips. He sat mesmerized as she inserted the fork and food into her mouth and her lips came back together as she pulled the fork away. Her eyes closed, and she moaned. He had to grip the table to keep from launching himself at her. He wanted her so badly, but he also didn’t want to rush this. He knew with Lyla that he couldn’t rush this. Every fiber of his being told him he needed to take this slow.

  “Good?” he asked. He realized his voice was way too husky as he said the word.

  Lyla didn’t seem to notice. “Oh my God, yes,” she said. “It’s soooo good! Can I take Paul home with me?” She giggled, and he couldn’t help smiling.

  “I think Hattie might object, but we can definitely come back here another time. They have a local band that plays in here on Fridays.”

  “Really?” she said, practically clapping her hands.

  “Really,” he answered with a grin and took a bite of the ravioli. He moaned his appreciation as well. Paul was a fucking cooking god!

  Lyla

  She tried not watching Amery as he ate, she really, really tried, but it was just so difficult. He made the sexiest noises when he moaned with appreciation and they made her imagination run wild in ways she didn’t know possible.


  By dessert, she was afraid to stand because holy hell maybe she’d left a wet spot on the chair.

  “You hot?” Amery asked her, and she realized she was blushing just thinking about what his mere presence did to her body.

  “A little,” she murmured as she opened her mouth to accept a spoonful of chocolate mousse.

  Hattie came out to collect their dishes. “You all finished?” she asked.

  “Yep, that was amazing. Give Paul our regards,” Amery said as he stood and gave Hattie a hug and kiss on the cheek.

  “Will do, you kids have a good night,” she said with a smirk as she walked back to the kitchen.

  “Shall we go for a walk?” Amery asked, and she nodded. She slipped her arm through his, and they walked out to the vineyard.

  She shivered as they walked between the vines.

  “Cold?” Amery asked. He shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. She looked up at him, smiling shyly.

  “Thanks,” she whispered. He nodded and then wrapped an arm around her. “Where are we going?”

  “Just up the hill here. With the moonlight tonight, it should be a very nice view,” he explained.

  She walked carefully beside him. She hadn’t planned on climbing hills and these were definitely not the shoes to do it. With every step, her heels sank into the ground.

  “I have an idea,” Amery said with a grin and he leaned down. “Hop on!”

  “What? On your back?” Lyla gasped.

  “Yeah, I’ll carry you up the hill. Those shoes don’t exactly work for hill climbing, killer,” he teased.

  “I...uh...OK, I guess,” she stammered as she crawled on his back. Thankfully, the skirt of this dress was not too short nor was it too tight. He wrapped his hands under her ass to support her, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. She couldn’t help it as she took in a whiff of his cologne. She leaned in and kissed his cheek. “Thanks,” she murmured in his ear.

  “You’re welcome,” he answered, his voice sounding out of breath and she wondered if she was too heavy.

  “We don’t have to—” she started.

  “Yes, we do. You’ll see,” he cut her off and walked quickly up the hill. When they reached the top, he set her down and turned her around to look at the view. He pulled her back against him, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. “See,” he said.

  She looked out at the vineyards that seemed to glow blue in the shimmering moonlight. The moon was so bright, in fact, that she could make out details she wouldn’t have suspected possible, the grapes hanging on the vines, rose bushes at the end of the rows, the leaves of the trees dotting the horizon. She took in a breath as she examined the beauty of it all.

  “It’s so...so beautiful,” she whispered, words failing her.

  “Yes, it is,” Amery agreed. They stood there like that for quite a while, listening to the soft hum of frogs and crickets. It was a quiet night, and they might as well have been all alone in their own universe. They watched Hattie and Paul close the tasting room and get in their car to drive to their home down the road.

  “I should get you back,” Amery finally said, breaking the silence.

  “Right, yeah,” Lyla searched for words as reality came back to her.

  He released her and went to bend down, so she could hop on his back for the return trip down the hill. She stepped forward and just as she did so, she lost her balance and went tumbling down on her knees. She managed to stop herself from rolling down the hill, but her knees and hands bore the brunt of the impact.

  “Lyla, are you alright?” Amery asked as he turned and took her in his arms looking up and down her body.

  “Yeah, I’m fine, well my pride just took yet another hit, but I’ll survive,” she grumbled.

  He chuckled. “You really are accident prone,” he said.

  She nodded embarrassedly. “Always have been, I’m afraid. People used to say I’d outgrow it, that I’d find my equilibrium, that I was due for a string of good luck, yadda, yadda...” She sighed as she looked down at her hands. They weren’t too bad, just a few scrapes and scratches, but as her eyes drifted farther down she could already see blood spilling from cuts on her legs.

  “Shit,” she cursed. Amery’s eyes followed hers. She went to brush off the blood but found herself swept up into Amery’s arms before she had time to react. He jostled her as he practically ran down the hill.

  “Amery! Amery, stop, I’m fine. It’s probably just superficial wounds,” she protested as she struggled to free herself from his hold.

  “Lyla, stop moving. I’m not setting you down until we get back to the car. I can see better under the light,” he said as they approached his car and the one street lamp that was in front of it. He set her down on the hood of his expensive car and bent down to better examine her knee.

  “Well, I think you’ll survive,” he declared as he rose up and opened his car door. He leaned in and pulled out a first aid kit.

  Lyla opened the clutch she had with her and was about to just blot away the blood with a tissue when Amery gently took her hand away from her leg.

  “Let me clean it,” he said softly. She looked up at him. He crouched down in front of her and she followed him with her eyes. He opened an antiseptic towelette and began to clean her cuts. She hissed from the sting, and then he gently blew on her knees and she all but forgot about the damn cuts. She gripped the hem of her dress and stilled, afraid if she moved it would be to launch herself at this man who had shown her more caring and compassion in two short weeks than any other male in her life, even Nate. Well, to be fair, Nate didn’t openly show compassion to anyone, well maybe dogs, but that is where he drew the line. And once upon a time, she did have a father and a grandfather that would have done such things for her, but that was another lifetime ago.

  “Better?” he asked as he put a bandage over each cut.

  She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

  “Let’s get you home, killer,” he said as he helped her to her feet and into his car.

  “Thanks,” she whispered as he shut her door.

  “You’re welcome,” he said as he slid into the car and proceeded to drive them back to her home.

  He didn’t say much on the way back, and she suddenly felt like their connection had been lost. Maybe they hadn’t even had a connection. She could have just been making that up in her mind. Damn it, why was she such a klutz?! She wished she could have rewound the evening and put on flats instead of heels.

  Amery pulled up to the house and turned off the car. Lyla quickly got out of the car and started for the front door. Perhaps Amery wouldn’t follow her up to the door. Perhaps he’d spare her the embarrassment. Then she heard him open his door and she felt him behind her as she climbed the front steps.

  She looked down and saw a box addressed to her. Distraction! She quickly set about opening it. Perhaps it was those new leggings she’d ordered. Nope, she thought, too heavy. Then she smiled, it had to be her new headphones. She had been wanting to upgrade for a while and now she would be motivated to hit the gym tomorrow. She contemplated the holiday schedule at the gym while she used her house key to open the box. She felt Amery’s presence behind her, but she knew this would calm her, and she needed to give herself a moment before facing him.

  She ripped open a smaller box inside and literally froze.

  “Everything alright?” Amery asked. She heard him take a step forward. Oh God, she was cursed, yes that was it, cursed. She stared down at a giant, black butt plug, one size smaller than the 747 version that had been lodged up Nate’s ass a few nights earlier. Fucking Nate! This is what he had ordered on her account, a fucking butt plug! She was going to kill him! Several hundred ways to potentially murder her best friend flew through her mind. She was so fixated on causing death and dismemberment, she had failed to quickly close the box back up and suddenly she was rocketed from her thoughts as she felt Amery’s body heat against her back.

  Amery cleared his thr
oat. “The Kegel balls didn’t work out, then?” he asked deadpan.

  “What?” she said, distracted by his comment.

  “I just didn’t peg you for—” he started.

  “It’s not...,” she interrupted him, but then trailed off as words failed her. How could she explain this in a way that didn’t seem completely fictitious?

  She wanted to melt into the front porch. She knew all the blood was now evident through the complexion of her face as she turned to face him. She bit her lip as she forced her eyes to slowly meet his. When she did, she found his eyes creased with humor and something else. Before she could try to explain, he took the box from her hands and tossed it onto the bench by the door. Where it landed with a resounding thud. Then she was in his arms and his lips were on hers. She couldn’t think past how he tasted, smelled, felt. He consumed her body and mind.

  She lost track of time, space, and reality until the front door flew open, and they sprung apart like two teenagers caught making out.

  “Oh, sweet, that came fast,” Nate said as he picked up the box and examined its contents. He paused and looked up at them.

  “What? Seriously, you just missed the best ‘that’s what she said’ like ever. What gives?” Nate asked.

  If Amery still hadn’t had his hands strongly holding Lyla’s upper arms, she would have launched herself at Nate, so she could properly pummel him to the ground.

  “What?” Nate prodded and then examined them more closely. “Oh, sorry, did I interrupt something?”

  “I am going to kill you!” Lyla said through gritted teeth. “Why in the hell would you order that with my account?”

  “Sheesh, woman, it’s just a—”

  “Nope, no. Don’t even!” Lyla yelled. “Nathan, you better run and hide and pray to the gods that I don’t find you for the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours because I am going to kick your motherfucking ass!”

  Amery stifled a laugh, and Lyla swiveled around and gave him a death stare. He promptly stopped laughing and released her arms.

  Nate backed up and then took off sprinting up the stairs. “I’ll leave you two alone. Have a good night,” he yelled through laughter as he slammed his bedroom door.