Zuri Day - Solid Gold Seduction

The song ended. Warren stepped back, his hands on her arms, his eyes boring into her. “Charli, are you all right?”

“I can take care of myself,” she replied with a defiant lift of her chin.

“That’s not what I asked you.”

For an awkward moment they stood there, something indefinable yet palpable passing between them. Another song started, this one upbeat, and soon more couples swirled around them.

“Thanks for the dance,” he said with one last squeeze of her arm. And then he was gone.

If he’d waited a second more he would have seen that Charli didn’t stay alone for long. She felt a lone finger run down her bare back and wheeled around. “Stop it!” I should have known he’d hound me. “Look, Cedric. I don’t want any trouble out of you. I just want you to leave me alone.”

“Or what?” Cedric looked around. “Is that your boyfriend? He doesn’t scare me.”

“I’m no longer that little girl that you cornered in the barn,” Charli said with a sneer, as rising memories pushed her past the point of worrying about decorum or caring for her safety. “The friend who’ll keep me safe from you isn’t walking on two legs.”

“Oh, you have a guard dog? I’m scared.” He faked a shudder.

“You should be.” Charli’s voice was low, her smile menacing. “Because I believe in the Second Amendment, and if you come near me again my guard dog—” she looked loathingly up and down Cedric’s five-nine frame “—will have no problem relieving you of your family jewels. I’m sure they’re so small that shooting them may be difficult. But I’m a pretty good aim.”

With that, Charli calmly walked away.

Two pairs of eyes followed her over to the table, where she joined the woman who Warren had learned from his mother was named Alice Witherspoon.

Niko looked at his brother. “Looks like your neighbor might be in trouble.”

Warren took a sip of his drink, watching as Cedric exited the building. “I’m not worried about Charli. I think she can hold her own.”

Chapter 9

As it was harvesting season for their first yield of grapes, the week following the town of Paradise Cove’s celebration went by in a blur. Warren had his hands full, his attention going from the crash course on grapes he was getting from his cousin Dexter Drake to checking the progress on his dream home that Jackson was building. There weren’t enough hours in the day. He was exhausted, and at times had to remind himself that this was a madness he’d created.

“Hey, cuz.” Warren walked up to his cousin Dexter, who was standing in one of the vineyard rows, talking to the manager.

Dexter turned to him. “Perfect timing, Warren. I was just suggesting to Eduardo that since all of the table grapes have been gathered these grapes, the chenin blancs, should be harvested next.”

“Whatever you say, Dexter. I’m here to follow your lead and learn all that I can.”

“Eduardo here is highly knowledgeable. For years his father managed a large vineyard just down the road from ours. He’s a wine country son through and through. Instead of milk, they put grape juice in your bottle, huh, Eduardo?”

“No,” Eduardo replied, his dark eyes twinkling. “Wine.”

The Drakes laughed.

“I think you’ve got a stellar crop here,” Dexter continued, picking a grape and examining it closely: skin, pulp, seeds and all. “I know it’s been a long time coming—”

“Five years,” Warren interjected.

“But I think the wait will be well worth it.”

“I couldn’t have done any of this without your expertise, Dex.”

“I’m just glad that you followed my advice and planted grapes instead of marijuana.”

“Hey, don’t knock that hustle! The medical marijuana business is booming. Weed is the number-one California crop!”

“Yes, but can you imagine the money you’d have had to spend on security? There are guys who’d want that crop, and they’d have no interest in turning it over to doctors and dispensaries.”

“What really sealed it for me was all of the regulatory guidelines and bureaucratic red tape I would have had to deal with in getting the product into those authorized distribution channels. It would have been a nightmare. With my grapevines, I just have to pick up the phone, call you down from your throne in Southern California and have you oversee and execute the hard stuff.”

“Ha! I’m afraid that’s not how it works!”

“No?”

“I hope you’re paying attention to these lessons I’m teaching. Because next year it’s all on you.”

“Come on, now, Dex! I—” His phone rang. “Oh, hold on. It’s Jackson.” He tapped the cell phone screen. “Hey, Boss.” He paused, listening. “Oh, okay. Sure, I’ll be right over.” He ended the call. “The gate has come in,” he said to Dexter and Eduardo. “I need to go down to where the men will be installing it.”

“No worries, Warren. Eduardo and I will have a short meeting with the workers and that will pretty much wrap up my visit.”

“I appreciate it, man.” Warren gave Dexter a shoulder-bump hug. “If you’d like, you’re welcome over to Mom’s house for dinner. As always.”

“I’d love to but I’ve already booked a flight back to San Diego. Faye says little David has a bit of a fever. So I’m going to go on back and help her out.”

“The doctor tamed the playboy. Who would have ever imagined Dexter Drake would pass up a Friday night in San Francisco for a night with a wife and a kid’s spittle?”

“Don’t knock it until you try it,” Dexter replied.

“That’s what you did!”

“You’re right. I thought a wife and children were for other people and that my role in life was to be the cool uncle who spoiled nieces and nephews before sending them back home.”

“All kidding aside, I hope your son will be okay.”

“I’m sure he will.”

“Okay, Dex. I need to run. Give Faye my love.”

“Will do.”

The two men shared a final handshake before Warren turned and left.

After a short ride in the golf cart—another of Dexter’s suggestions—Warren arrived at the section of the fence in the area described as the “south forty.” There were four crewmen there, one wearing a gray shirt with the logo of the company that had sold Warren the gate. The gate and corresponding hardware had been unloaded and the workers were arranging the pieces on the ground.

Warren walked over to the man sporting the company logo and held out his hand. “Warren Drake.”

“Steve Humphries,” the man replied, his grip firm, his scruffy day-old beard showing wisps of gray that belied his boyishly good looks. “I thought we’d make the opening there,” he said, pointing to where one of the men had a measuring tape, marking off the fence in two places. “Would you prefer that the gate swings inward or out?”

“Which do you suggest?”

Steve looked at the fence and at the land beyond it. “How will the gate be used?”

“The neighbor has cattle that will be coming in to drink at the stream, just over that ridge.”

“In that case, I think swinging inward would be most beneficial. Are there a lot of cattle?”

Warren squinted, recalling past conversations with Charli. Then he looked at Steve. “That’s a good question.” He retrieved his cell phone. “Shoot, I don’t have her phone number. Do you need this information to get started?”

“No. But I do need to explain the automatic lock system and how it can be activated and deactivated, even from a remote location.”

After receiving a crash course on operating the gate, Warren drove the cart to where his car was parked but on second thought, continued past it to the stables. He jumped out and went over to where one of the workers was grooming Coal, his pride and joy.