Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Texas with a Twist

  by

  C.C. Wood

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  Copyright © Crystal W. Wilson 2014

  Kindle Edition

  Editing by

  Tania Marinaro, Libros Evolution

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Contact C.C.

  About C.C.

  Titles by C.C. Wood

  Chapter One

  ‡

  Logan Westfall was home.

  For fourteen years, he’d limited his visits to twice a year in spite of his mother’s unrelenting schemes to get him back more often. He loved his family, but his demanding work schedule rarely allowed for days off.

  Now that he was home for good, Enid Westfall was ecstatic. Of course that enthusiasm was dampened considerably by the fact that his father’s triple bypass was the reason for his return.

  The doctors tending to his father insisted that he make some serious lifestyle changes. No more heavy lifting, working out in the heat all day, or spending 12 hours on his feet during the summer months. And most importantly, no stress of any kind, even the non-physical kind. Considering Darren Westfall owned and operated one of the largest landscaping businesses in the county, his only options were to sell, close it down, or have one of his sons take over.

  Though he wasn’t the oldest, the family assumed Logan would be the one to step into his father’s shoes. He was the only one who ever showed an interest in the family business, working for his father every summer and enjoying it.

  Grant, at thirty-eight, was footloose and fancy-free, traveling the world and working odd jobs to pay his way. Grant was the eldest son, born to Darren and his first wife, Glenda, who died in a car accident when he was only two years old.

  Darren met and fell in love with Enid Kressler three years later. After a whirlwind courtship, they eloped and had Logan the following year. Two years after that, his younger brother Brayden was born. As a resident physician at the local hospital, Brayden was already fully committed to a career he loved. Medicine was his calling, his passion.

  No one in the family asked Logan to step up. He just did it. Like everything else in his life, when Logan Westfall made a decision about something, he didn’t hesitate, procrastinate, or question. He dove right in to the deep end.

  However, he wasn’t impulsive. Every move he made was well thought out and well planned. It was what made him so successful as vice-president of finance at the Fortune 500 Company he worked for in Dallas. Well, used to work for. Within a week of his father’s heart attack, surgery, and instructions to completely overhaul his entire way of life, Logan had packed up his condo and begun the process of looking for a place to live in his hometown.

  While it wasn’t as large as the Dallas area, Diamond, Texas had around forty thousand residents. When he was a teenager, Logan couldn’t wait to escape the city that felt more like a small town.

  Now it appeared he had come full circle.

  He pulled up in front of his parents’ house, noticing that the yard looked pristine and well kept as usual. Logan hoped his father hadn’t harassed his employees too much when they took over the job he typically handled.

  Bounding up the front steps, he knocked on the door of his childhood home before walking inside.

  “Mom, why is the front door unlocked?” he called out. “It’s not the 1950’s anymore.”

  “It’s unlocked because I was expecting you,” she retorted, walking out of the living room. “And your father is being a pain in the ass, so I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to answer the door.”

  Darren Westfall’s voice drifted out of the living room. “I heard that.”

  “I meant for you to,” Enid answered. “Please go in there and distract that miserable man. He’s not used to being cooped up and he’s driving me nuts.”

  Grinning, Logan nodded and left his mother in the front hall.

  “So I hear you’re doing your best to send Mom to the funny farm,” he quipped.

  His father muted the television and tilted his head back from his position in his recliner. “Yeah, it’s kinda fun to torture her now that I’m home all the time. Reminds me why I married her.”

  Confused, Logan frowned. “What?”

  “She’s feisty.”

  Shaking his head, Logan sat down on the couch, leaning back against the cushions and throwing an arm along the back.

  “How’s the new place?” Darren asked.

  “Not bad. It’s on the outskirts of town, so it’s nice and quiet.”

  “So I guess you’re still determined to throw away everything you’ve built so you can take over my dream.”

  With a sigh, Logan answered, “It’s not just your dream, Dad.”

  “Then why didn’t you work with me after you graduated college. You know I would have given you a job.”

  “I needed to leave this place, at least for a while. Everyone knows everyone else’s business and I felt like I was suffocating all the time.” Logan chuckled. “Plus there were Mom’s crazy attempts to set me up with an ‘appropriate’ girl.”

  His father grinned. “And you don’t think any of that will bother you now?” he asked. “You know that’ll be the first thing she does as soon as I’m back on my feet.”

  Logan shook his head. “Nope. I’ll tell her I’m more than capable of picking out my own dates and I don’t care who gossips about me.”

  “You’re dating?” Enid asked as she swept into the living room. “When can I meet her?”

  Logan’s father leaned back in his recliner and laughed. Then he flinched. “Damn, don’t make me laugh. I’m still sore.”

  “I don’t understand why that’s funny,” Enid stated.

  “I’m not dating, Mom. I was just telling Dad that I’m capable of picking my own dates.”

  “Oh, was your father trying to set you up with someone?”

  Darren snorted, but didn’t say anything.

  “No, Mom. We were talking about your, uh, tendency to try to find me a girlfriend.”

  “I haven’t said a word,” she sniffed. After a short pause, Enid asked, “Have you seen Phoebe St. John yet? I know y’all used to be close in high school. And, bless her heart, she’s just getting over a nasty divorce.”

  Logan shook his head again as Darren guffawed before choking back his laugh to put a hand to his chest.

  “Woman, don’t make me laugh! It hurts!” he complained.

  “Oh, you’re fine, you big baby.”

  Pointing at his wife, Darren asked Logan, “Do you see how she talks to me? I just had major surgery.” His voice lowered to a grumble, “When I was out of the house all day every day, she never spoke to me like this.”

  Logan stood up. “I’m not getting in the middle of this,” he muttered. “Dad, I’ll swing by tomorrow afternoon. Make me a list of everything that needs to be handled immediately and I’ll get started at the office on Monday.”

  Darren waved a hand. “Griselda has all that. That girl has really stepped up to the plate since all this happened.” He paused. “Actually, what you need to do is give her a raise. The only reason she needs you is because she can’t run the office and manage the crews at the same time.”

  “Ouch. I see where I rate,” Logan answered with a smirk. “And Griselda is only ten years younger than you, so I don’t think she would appreciate you calling her a girl.”

  “Whatever. I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon. You should stay for dinner and protect me from the Dragon Lady.”

  “I’ll walk you out,” Enid offered, smacking her husband’s shoulder lightly as she walked by. “You behave.”

  Darren grunted, picking up the remote to turn the volume up on the television.

  Enid followed Logan out onto the front porch, pulling the door shut behind her.

  “You know your father really appreciates what you’re doing, right?” she asked.

  “I want to do it, Mom. I was getting sick of the rut I was in while I was in Dallas. I needed a change.”

  Pulling him down for a hug, Enid stated, “Well, I’m glad you’re home. I’ve missed you.”

  He squeezed her back. “I missed you, too.”

  “Now, you come for dinner tomorrow. And bring some white wine,” his mother suggested. “Not the cheap stuff from the grocery store. We have a wine bar and shop in town, The Wild Vine. They sell local wines and a few others.”

  “Yes, ma’am. Where is it?�

��

  “Downtown, on the square. You’ll see it. It’s usually pretty busy.” She glanced at her watch. “If you head over there now, you can grab a bottle before they get too full with their evening crowd.”

  “Crowd?”

  “Yeah, they serve tapas and wine by the glass, flight, or bottle in the evenings. It gets pretty hectic on the weekends.”

  “Sounds nice.”

  His mom grinned slyly. “It is the date night place in town.”

  “And on that note, it’s time for me to leave. I’ll go pick up a bottle of wine and see you tomorrow.”

  “White wine.”

  “Yes, ma’am. White wine,” he answered with a smirk.

  “Don’t be a smartass. Bye.” She gave him a kiss on the cheek and stepped back into the house.

  Logan headed to his truck. It looked like he had an errand to run before he drove home and unpacked a few more boxes.

  Chapter Two

  ‡

  “Gabby!” Phoebe called.

  With a sigh, Gabrielle St. John gave up trying to rinse the wine stain out of her white shrug. Whatever possessed her to wear white to work, she didn’t know. Inevitably she ended up dripping red wine or spilling brine from the olives all over her clothes.

  “GABBY!” Her sister’s voice had taken on an annoyed edge.

  “Crap,” she mumbled, throwing the shrug in the trash. It was ruined anyway. “Coming!” she called, walking out of the bathroom toward the front of the shop.

  She paused and made sure the neckline of her dress wasn’t gaping. The long tropical print maxi dress she wore had a halter neckline. She felt it was a little too revealing, which was why she had worn a shrug over it. Now she felt exposed and it wasn’t a feeling she liked.

  While she always tried to look nice at work because she was a businesswoman now, Gabrielle preferred not to show a lot of skin. It irritated her to no end that, after a few glasses of wine, some of the male clientele thought making lewd comments about her attributes would flatter her.

  Either way, Gabby learned over the years it was less trouble and better for business if she adjusted her wardrobe rather than educate the male customers on ridiculous double standards and misogyny.

  When she stepped out of the hallway into the main dining and drinking area, Gabby’s feet suddenly felt as though they were glued to the floor.

  It had been fourteen years since she last saw him, but she immediately recognized him. Or at least her hormones did, anyway.

  Logan Westfall, the star of most of her teenage fantasies, stood next to her sister, and he looked even better now than he did when he graduated high school. If she was going to be honest, he was the star of many of her fantasies during college too. Thank God neither of them were looking in her direction to see her gawking.

  Gabby finally moved when Phoebe turned and waved her over.

  “Look who just dropped in!” her sister announced gleefully. “And guess what? He moved back to town.” With her back to Logan, Phoebe wiggled her eyebrows at Gabrielle because she knew about her younger sister’s crush on her friend in high school.

  Gabby kept the smile on her face. No way was she going to give Phoebe the satisfaction of a reaction to her teasing.

  Turning her smile to Logan, she held out her hand. “Hi, Logan, it’s good to see you again.”

  When their fingers touched, electricity zinged up her arm. His hand engulfed hers, his palm almost twice the size of her own.

  “Gabby, you look great,” he responded.

  Cursing the wine stain that caused her to throw away her shrug, Gabby hoped he couldn’t see the fact that her nipples were hard. The combination of his deep drawl and the sensation of his hand holding hers were enough to make her body go haywire. The naïve and romantic teenage feelings she once harbored were morphing into something much more sexual and dangerous.

  Her skin heated as he continued to cradle her hand in his. “Uh, thanks,” she murmured, carefully extracting her fingers from his grasp. “I was sorry to hear about your father’s heart attack. How’s he doing?”

  “He’s definitely feeling better. I can tell because he’s trying his best to drive my mother completely crazy.”

  Gabby and Phoebe laughed.

  “I’m glad,” Gabby replied. Glancing at her sister, she stepped back. “I’ll go pull some bottles from the back for tonight and let you two catch up. Welcome back, Logan.”

  The skin between her shoulder blades itched intensely as she turned and walked away. Without looking back, Gabby knew that Logan was watching her leave.

  Though her legs were shaky with nerves, she managed to make it behind the bar and into the back room without falling on her face. Once she knew she was out of sight, Gabby wrapped her arms around her jumpy stomach and leaned against the wall. She was relieved that, not only did she not trip, she didn’t say anything completely stupid. She had a tendency to stick her foot in her mouth at the most inopportune times. Especially if she was nervous. It was a curse.

  How could the sight of a man she hadn’t seen in over a decade turn her into a nervous, shaky mess? Even when he lived in Diamond and Gabby saw him all the time, his presence didn’t affect her like it did today.

  Sucking in a deep breath, she straightened from the wall. Now was not the time to dwell on the fact that her high school crush still had the power to make her weak in the knees after a fourteen-year absence.

  Gabby ran a hand through her hair, pulling the long mass over one shoulder. Her skin still felt hot from the crazy rush of attraction, a slight sheen of sweat shimmering on her shoulders and back.

  Suddenly, her wild reaction seemed silly and maybe a little frivolous. Logan Westfall never noticed her existence in high school and she seriously doubted he would notice it now.

  It didn’t matter. She had work to do and Logan was nothing but a distraction.

  Gabby walked to the back of the storeroom. She and Phoebe had arranged a makeshift wine cellar in the back for their pricier stock. It was almost guaranteed that a couple or a group would come in on a Saturday night and order an expensive bottle to share.

  After pulling a couple of bottles of chardonnay from the rack and slipping them into a case, she searched for a bottle of a specific petite Syrah. Finally, she located it on a shelf above her.

  The step stool was nowhere to be found, so Gabby sighed and stretched her arm out for the bottle. Just as her fingers brushed it, a large, masculine hand closed around the bottle, followed by a hard, warm body crowding her from behind.

  “What the hell?!” Gabby yelped, twisting her head to glare at the sneaky bastard who scared her.

  Logan Westfall’s amused grey-green eyes met hers. “Here, let me get that for you.”

  “Uh. Ah.” Gabby cleared her throat. “Um, thanks.” She tried to step to one side and put a little space between them, but Logan’s body was too close, crowding her against the shelves. His other arm was braced against the wood to her left, right by her rib cage, and when she shifted, the side of her breast brushed his thumb.

  Though the slight touch sent shockwaves through her body, Gabby managed to feign composure.

  “Here, let me move out of the way,” she suggested.

  “I’ve got it.”

  He was standing so close she could feel his breath on her cheek as he spoke, and he smelled like summer and sunshine.

  Finally, he stepped back. Gabby turned, pressing her back against the shelf, and took the bottle he held out.

  “Thank you,” she muttered, holding the bottle against her chest.

  “You’re welcome.”

  Since he seemed completely unaware of his effect on her, Gabby squared her shoulders. If he hadn’t noticed that she could barely string together a sentence, then there was no need to draw attention to her nervousness.

  Logan looked around the storage area. “You and Phoebe have done a great job with this place. And The Wild Vine. That’s a great name.”

  Gabby smiled. “Thanks. Our dad suggested it.”

  “Really? I would have thought he would want you to name it after the vineyard.”

  Blake St. John was a second-generation Texas vintner. St. John Vineyard was one of the most successful in the state.

  Gabby smirked. “He suggested it. Then we told him that we intended to sell other wines in addition to St. John’s.”

 

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