LITMIR.BIZ

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as the boots would have.

      She made her way downstairs, walking through the large, empty house, taking in the details. They spoke to the fact that it was now her house, and not a shared dwelling.

      Her foot hit the landing and she made for the front door.

      “Good morning,” came a scratchy, male voice coming from the direction of the dining area.

      She jumped, pressing her hand to her chest. Then she remembered that she wasn’t alone.

      “Dane,” she snapped, making her way from the entry and into the dining room, where her brother sat, his hat on the table in front of him, a cup of coffee on his left. The table was long, and always far too formal-looking. But with Dane at it, it bordered on ludicrous. “I forgot you were here.”

      “Sorry.”

      “Then don’t look so amused.”

      “Sorry,” he said again.

      “When are you heading out?”

      “In about an hour. It’s a bit of a drive.”

      She nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “I know.”

      “Where are you headed? In jeans,” he said, lifting his brows.

      He had known her when they were kids. When holey jeans and sneakers were her uniform. If even Dane was surprised to see her dressed down now, she truly had changed.

      “I have to go in to my office.” Her office, which was just across the property in the back of the Grassroots dining room. “And then I’m going for a sample trail ride.”

      “A sample trail ride, huh?”

      “Yes. I need to know exactly what we are offering our guests, after all.”

      “Very responsible.”

      “I like to think I am.”

      “Are you happy?”

      She blinked, regarding her younger brother closely. “What does that mean?”

      “Exactly what it sounds like it means. Are you happy?”

      “No,” she said. “I mean... What’s happiness, Dane?”

      “If I remember back to what they taught us in kindergarten, it’s a feeling.”

      “You know what I mean. I’m tired right now. This has been a stressful couple of years. I’m not going to lie to you about that. But I’m accomplishing things. I’m taking this... I’m making it mine.” Suddenly, she realized how important that was. To be more than Damien’s creation. For this winery to be more than his creation.

      For her life to be more than his creation.

      “Sure,” Dane said, reaching out and pressing his hand over the top of his cowboy hat. Then, he lifted it and put it on his head. “Just don’t forget to have fun sometimes.”

      “You have enough fun for the both of us, I think.” She tried not to sound bitter about that, she really did. She was pretty sure she failed.

      “No one said you couldn’t have fun, Lin,” he said, standing up and moving over to where she was rooted by the doorway.

      “I ...” She sighed, feeling defensive and hating that she did. “It’s not the same. For me. You’ve made success out of being kind of a rebel. That’s not going to work for...”

      “For someone who wasn’t a bull rider.”

      “For a woman,” she finished. “Anyway. I already have enough working against me. I can’t go out and be crazy. I just... I want to make this place so successful that people forget what I used to be. I want to go so far beyond what Damien ever would have done that no one will think of it as something I took from him. Because they’ll know that he could never have achieved all of this.”

      “That’s a tall order.”

      “I’ve never been afraid of a challenge.”

      “Now, that is true,” Dane said. “If you were a rider, the bulls would be afraid of you.”

      “Thank you,” she said, not caring if he meant it as a compliment or not. She took it as one.

      “You’re scary.”

      She sighed heavily. “Thank you. Again.” She edged toward the door and Dane took that as a solid cue.

      “See you later,” he said.

      “See you.” She hesitated for a second, and then she stepped forward and gave him a hug. “Be careful, okay?” Dane went tense for a moment, then rested an uneasy hand on the center of her back, his interpretation of a hug, she supposed.

      “Lindy, I can’t be careful. It’s literally my job to go out and do something stupid now.”

      “I know. I love you, Dane. I want you to be safe.”

      “I’ll be as safe as I can be.”

      He tipped his hat, and she shoved his chest. That was about as sincere as they got.

      She walked out of the house, and made her way down the beautifully manicured cobblestone path that led to the main grounds of the winery. A place like this... It would have been beyond her wildest dreams to even visit when she was growing up. Now, she lived here.

      The fact that she lived here alone was something she preferred not to focus on.

      She took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of pine, the cold, fresh smell of the river beyond the grove of trees that enclosed Grassroots Winery.

      The sun filtered through the tops of the evergreens, making the needles look like tinsel. Like Christmas in June.

      This place belonged to her, not just legally, but in some real, inextricable way. The way that it wound around her soul, the grapevines entwined with who she was... The exhaustion she had felt a moment before when she had been talking to Dane seemed to vanish. By the time she got down to the dining area, it was gone.

      Sabrina’s car was already in the parking lot when Lindy arrived, and she pushed the door open to find her friend sitting at one of the tables working on inventory.

      “Taking orders down to Copper Ridge?” Lindy asked.

      “Yes, ma’am,” Sabrina said, looking up and smiling. Then, she got a look at Lindy’s outfit and frowned. “You’re wearing jeans?”

      “Weirdly,” Lindy said, “it’s only 8:00 a.m. and you’re the second person to comment on that.”

      Sabrina’s eyes widened further. “I’m the second...”

      “Dane is staying at my house,” she said. “Whatever you’re thinking...stop it.”

      “Okay. I was wondering if I had missed more not going out last night than I thought.”

      “You didn’t miss anything,” she said.

      “We were going to come,” Sabrina said. “We got...distracted.” The word was laden with meaning that was impossible to miss.

      Lindy rolled her eyes. “Spare me.”

      “If you’re jealous, you could always find someone to deal with your physical frustration...”

      “I’m not physically frustrated enough to deal with the emotional frustration that comes with having a man in your life.”

      That much was true. Anyway, she was so exhausted she couldn’t fathom trying to make room in her life for a lover.

      She gritted her teeth, trying to keep visions of Wyatt out of her brain.

      Wyatt Dodge, and the fact that she found him attractive, had nothing to do with that.

      “Indulge me,” Sabrina said. “Why are you wearing jeans?”

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