Wright Rival (Wright)

He stepped up to his motorcycle and opened a bag he’d left here. “I came for this.”

He extracted a few papers and passed them to me.

“What’s this?”

“Just look.”

I glanced down at the paperwork and froze. The first page was a letter of intent to sell Sinclair Cellars.

“What the hell?” I gasped.

“Keep going.”

I flipped to the next page and nearly dropped everything. This page was the deed to the winery. A deed that I’d only seen once before with my father when he showed me where he kept everything, just in case. That had been years ago. And now, it was in my hands…with my name on it.

I looked up at him with tears in my eyes. “How? How is this possible?”

“I might have applied a little bit of pressure.”

“What do you mean?”

“Might have made Daddy Sinclair realize that running Sinclair Cellars was too much of a hassle. That it might be easier and cheaper to give it back to the person it belonged to rather than, say, lose half of his fortune to his wife when she divorced him.”

I gaped at him. “He would never buy that.”

“He would if Eve agreed.”

“She didn’t,” I gasped.

He smirked at me. “A little pressure with the right tool gets the desired result.”

“Hollin, I can’t believe you did this.” I pressed the papers to my chest. “And you had it signed to me? Not to my father?”

“Like I said…the person the winery belongs to.”

Tears flowed freely down my cheeks, and I didn’t think; I threw my arms around him. He laughed softly and held me against his huge chest until the tears stilled. Finally, I wiped the tears free.

“Thank you. I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to thank you for this. It’s too much.”

He swiped one of the tears from my cheek. “Nothing is too much for you.”

“Hollin,” I said, pressing my cheek into his hand. “I can’t believe you did this.”

“It doesn’t make up for hurting you, but I couldn’t let him ruin everything you’d worked for. I had to do something.”

I met his firm gaze, swirling with emotions. I slowly lifted onto my tiptoes and kissed his lips softly. He stilled completely at the touch, as if shocked that I would even do this. Then, he relaxed into it, tugging me tight against him and crushing our lips together.

The kiss lasted for an eternity, and I had no intention of ever stopping.

But finally, he pulled back with a soft laugh. “Well, I didn’t expect that.”

“I was so mad at the wedding,” I said softly. “What you did was wrong, but I had already been so upset about my dad and the winery and the Sinclairs. It exploded out of me.” I drew a hand down the stubble of his jaw. “You’re getting help for what happened with Tori. You did this.” I gestured to the winery paperwork. “I’m still mad, but…I don’t want to live in a world without you.”

He kissed me again. “I don’t want to either. I promise that I am going to keep working to be the man that you deserve.”

“You already are.”

He grinned down at me. “Well, I wasn’t sure how this was going to go down, but I have another surprise…if you’ll come with me.”

I arched an eyebrow. “What other surprise? Bigger than this?”

“Maybe not bigger, but you’ll like it.”

“All right,” I agreed. “Just let me tell Blaire.”

I rushed back down the lawn, handing off my keys to my best friend, who squealed with delight when I told her the news. Then, I rushed back into his arms. He passed me a second helmet, and we were off into the wind. The motorcycle handled the canyon better than I’d expected, and I let all the stress melt off of my shoulders.

We drove back into town and south toward the wineries. I straightened in my seat, wondering what he had in store. I couldn’t imagine anything I wanted more than what he’d already given me.

Finally, he approached the Sinclair Cellars property. This morning, I’d woken up, thinking that it would be my last as a Sinclair Cellars employee. And now, I was driving here as the owner. It felt unfathomable.

But before we reached the entrance, Hollin slowed. My dad’s truck was parked near the entrance. What was my dad doing here on a holiday? Had Hollin told him about what he’d done?

Hollin parked in the field next to my dad and killed the engine. He helped me off the motorcycle. My dad stood there, as if waiting for us.

“Hey Dad.”

“Mija.”

“What’s going on?”

He smiled. “You have a good guy here.” He clapped Hollin on the back. “I’m glad you came to me.” His eyes met mine. “He did what I didn’t know how to. But it’s settled now. The winery is yours. And…he had another idea.”

I looked between them. Hollin looked ecstatic. My dad as proud as I’d ever seen him.