Autumn in the Vineyard (A St. Helena Vineyard Novel) Read Online Free PDF Page A

you made bail so she can stop trying to hide a fingernail file in one of her éclairs,” Marco said, a goofy grin on his face. The same grin that had taken up permanent residence ever since his high school crush Lexi moved back to town—and into his bed. Now that Lexi was wearing his brother’s ring, she was about to become family. And Nate couldn’t be happier for them. Although right now, he had a hard time feeling happy about anything.
    “He’s been texting her all evening,” Trey said, exasperated.
    “Yeah, well what the hell have you been doing?” Nate challenged, stealing his beer and draining it in a swallow.
    “Besides trying not to gag on the level of domestication sticking up the family?” Trey didn’t even balk at the emptyglass Nate set back down; he just flagged the waitress for another mug.
    “What’s that supposed to mean?” Marc shot back.
    “I’m in town for two days,” Trey pointed out. “Two days, Marc. I haven’t seen Gabe since Sofia was born. Nate spent his day playing domestic dress-up with Frankie—”
    “I was in jail.”
    “And I wasted most of today trying to convince you to meet me for a drink,” Trey said to Marc.
    “It took you all day to convince me because Lexi was cooking up something sweet in the kitchen.” Not only was Lexi a great chef, she was great for Marc.
    “I thought the bistro was closed on Wednesdays,” Trey said.
    “It is.” Marc grinned, way too big. His phone pinged. There went the thumbs again.
    Trey shook his head. “Come on, I leave tomorrow and you haven’t stopped sexting since you got here.”
    “I’m not sexting,” Marc said eyes glued to his screen. He smiled. The phone pinged. Fingers back to work. “I was just telling her that I miss her.”
    “Aw, man don’t admit that,” Trey groaned, shaking his head. “At least sexting sounds manly.”
    “Nope. Being a man is having the balls to admit that I’d rather spend the day with Lexi in the kitchen than drinking beer and watching ball.”
    Trey froze, his eyes wide and accusing. “You drank the Kool Aid didn’t you? How many times have I told you sip, but never swallow?”
    “If you two are done acting like a bunch of little girls, we have a problem,” Nate snapped.
    “Wow, man.” Marc looked up from his phone for the first time since Nate sat down. “Jail made you hard.”
    “Yeah,” Trey agreed. “You don’t have to yell.”
    “I’m not yelling,” Nate said, using every ounce of control he had not to do just that.
    “Okay, so you’re not yelling, but your eyes are all mean and there’s a hard edge to your voice. It’s hurtful.” Trey shrugged and Nate wanted to punch him.
    “Kind of like how he was acting after the showdown when he kissed Frankie and she rammed his left testicle into his throat.”
    Yeah, that had been a bad call. Not the kissing part, but the forgetting to protect his package part.
    “This is serious. Can you focus for just one minute?” Nate ran a hand over his face and willed himself to focus. Problem was he’d been on edge since his encounter with Frankie. An afternoon arguing with the planning commissioner and an ill-equipped legal team hadn’t helped.
    “Right. Sorry.” Trey elbowed Marc and they both bit back a smile. “What’s on your mind?”
    “While you were here ignoring my calls, Charles snatched the land right out from under us,” Nate said, happy to see their stupid grins fade.
    “What? But we close escrow Friday,” Marc said. “Wait, start from the beginning.”
    Nate unrolled the assessor’s map and spread it across the table. His brothers huddled around. “Tanner delivered this earlier this morning.”
    Jack Tanner, NFL legend and home-grown celebrity, was not just a booming land developer in the Napa Valley. He was also, luckily,
not
a DeLuca or a Baudouin, which was why afterSaul’s wife filed for a divorce, Saul quietly approached Tanner and offered him Sorrento Ranch. Tanner had no interest in a twenty-acre