Karma’s Kiss

Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Sawyer’s family has owned and operated Starlight Vineyards since his great grandfather realized there was more money to be had selling wine than selling Texas peaches. As far as I know, their family owns more property surrounding Oak Hill than any other private landholder outside of the LBJ family, but who knows, that could just be talk around the town.

As Sawyer’s truck dips beneath the wrought iron entry gate, I realize I’ve never been on the property. David practically lived here as a teenager. He and Hunter used to work alongside Sawyer in the summers, and by late August the three of them would be so muscled and tanned the ladies in town would fan themselves when they walked past.

It’s fitting that Sawyer would bring me here of all places for our first date. I’m disappointed I didn’t put the pieces together earlier. What better place to woo unsuspecting females than to show them the wine empire your family owns? I bet hearts go aflutter when Sawyer lays out the acreage. It must be his go-to.

“Yeah, someday all of this will be mine. Should we make out now?”

Yuck.

I mean, c’mon . How pompous! How conniving! It’s so smarmy and lazy to use this vineyard to do the heavy lifting for him.

It’s breathtaking, I’ll give him that. A long country road lined with grapevines on both sides takes us deep into a valley bordered by low-lying hills. Though it’s the last thing I want to do, I compliment the vineyard, acting like I’m really blown away (I hate that I actually am).

“It’s really special” is his canned response. Then he looks out onto the landscape as if taking it in with fresh eyes, and I all but puke. How stupid does he think I am? How many pairs of work boots has he purchased in bulk from Costco? He probably buys them by the pallet. They give him a steep discount because they know he’s good for a few dozen pairs.

The road eventually dead-ends in the center of the property into a large concrete pad with industrial buildings arranged around it in a semicircle. They’re huge and look new, all except for a small wooden structure on the far left, all on its own.

Sawyer sees me eyeing it. “That’s the vineyard’s original barrel room, but we don’t use it anymore. It’s too hard to control the temperatures in the summer. Not to mention, we’ve expanded some since my grandfather originally built that.”

Expanded some . Hilarious.

“Where’s the new barrel room?”

Sawyer points to one of the large buildings in front of us. “The barrels are all housed in there now.”

I’m drawn back to the old wooden building. “Is it empty?”

“No, we use it as a venue. Ready to go on our tour?”

Ten minutes later, I’ve got my new work boots on, and Sawyer and I are strolling between the rows of grapes as he explains to me the best time to harvest them (on a warm, sunny day after the morning dew has dried), how to tell if they’re ripe (full color, plump berries, and a slight loosening in the cluster), and what they’re looking for the most (sugar content).

“We measure sugar content after fermentation. Higher sugar levels determine higher alcohol levels in the wine. Am I boring you?”

“No,” I respond quickly and genuinely. “It’s interesting. You have to remember who raised me. Wine has a very special place in Queenie’s heart.”

He grins as he toys with one of the grape leaves over his head.

“Can we try one?” I ask. I’ve been tempted to pull a grape off the vine since we started our walk.

He inspects the green cluster near his brow and plucks off the perfect one to hand to me.

“ Oh. ”

Fresh off the vine, the grape is sweet and tart.

Sawyer’s studying me, watching for my reaction.

“It’s really good. What wine will these make?”

“Chenin Blanc, one of our most popular sellers.”

“I could eat that whole cluster.”

He smiles proudly. “You can have a few more if you want, but I have dinner set up a few yards that way.”

Of course he’s set up a picnic in the vineyard! I’d forgotten for a moment what this is all about: his careful seduction plan . He’s walked me through the romantic grapevines and now the sun is setting just as we reach a picnic table lit by candlelight. Someone has made the effort to chill wine and leave out a cooler. From inside it, Sawyer retrieves a charcuterie board and salads, delicate finger sandwiches and cheesecakes baked right inside mason jars. Our two chairs aren’t positioned on opposite sides of the table but rather side by side so neither of us has to have our back to the sunset.

Wow, this is so well thought out. What’s next from here? Will a trail of rose petals lead me straight to a bed?

“Do you always bring your dates here?” I ask as I allow him to pull out my chair for me.

“Dates?”

“Yeah, the girls you see…”

He scrunches up his face, confused. “Who?”

“Just the girls .” It’s infuriating that he acts like there’s not a line of them he’s left in the dust. “Charlotte, for example.”

He laughs at this. “I’ve never dated Charlotte.”

I roll my eyes and disregard his comment with a wave of my hand. “Whatever you want to call it then. Hooked up with , flirted …god, what is it with guys and labels?”

“There’s nothing to label between Charlotte and me.” I frown at how sincere he sounds. Even more so when he tacks on, “Sorry if that’s disappointing.”

I realize I’m being too conspicuous. I’m showing him my cards, and if Kendra were in my ear, she’d be shouting at me to stop jeopardizing the mission. GET IT TOGETHER, MCCALL. YOU’RE TAKING THIS TOO PERSONALLY!

“Right. Of course.” I smooth a napkin onto my lap. “Well this is really nice. I can tell you’ve gone to a lot of effort.”

Better.

Now, how would a normal date act? Charlotte, for instance, would be beside herself if Sawyer had set up a candlelit vineyard picnic for her. She’d be chatty and complimentary, so I’m chatty and complimentary. She’d be touchy-feely, using any excuse at all to brush her hand against Sawyer’s arm, so I do the same. I hate to admit it, but of course his muscled forearm is divine.

Sawyer leans back in his chair, and with the vineyard behind him, he looks like the king of grapes. He doesn’t need the sunset to cast him in golden light, but it sure doesn’t hurt.

“What?” he asks after I’ve been staring too long. He has the audacity to wipe at his face like that ’ s the problem.

“Why’d you ask me out?”

The question springs out of me before I truly consider the consequences of hearing his answer.

He unfurls a secretive smile. “Why do you think?”

Probably: he has a mild interest in getting into my pants, and/or I’m an interesting conquest for him because I’m David’s little sister. Either that or I’m just the newest, shiniest object in town.

The answer I give: “I can’t even guess. To be honest, you didn’t really give me the time of day back in high school.”

He laughs like this isn’t the cold hard truth, and I almost want to push him on it. He didn’t notice me back then. He had his hands full—quite literally—with senior girls like Summer Collins and Layla Hendricks. Kendra only caught his eye for a few weeks because she was so obvious about it, hunting him down between classes, leaving love notes on his car. I thought the mixed CD she slipped into his locker was one step too far, especially adorned with all the hearts and XOXOs, but I was proven wrong. The day Sawyer asked her out or agreed to go out with her—the details are fuzzy—Kendra ran into our pre-calculus class and started screaming so loudly Mr. Garcel threatened her with detention. She didn’t care.

“This is it,” she exclaimed once she reached our table. “Destiny!”

“What is?” I hissed, trying to be quiet now that I knew Mr. Garcel already had his detention notepad locked and loaded.

“Sawyer and I are going out . We’re going to fall in love, get married right out of high school, and have so many babies we can field our own football team.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? Surely that’s too many kids.”

She laughed, which drew Mr. Garcel’s attention, and we both ended up serving afternoon detention.

“You were too busy to notice,” Sawyer tells me now.

I can’t hold back my sarcastic laugh. “Yes. That makes sense. As a lowly freshman I would have been too busy to notice the hottest senior boy in school. A tale as old as time.”

He doesn’t even gloat about this title I’ve given him. He pushes forward with his point. “You were already running track, heading up the debate team, studying every second of the day. And if I remember correctly, freshman year you were dating Cory Keller.”

“Nope. I didn’t ever date Cory. We just went to homecoming together.”

Ha! I use this slip-up as proof he wasn’t paying attention to me back then, at least not like he’s claiming. Does he really think I’m that gullible?

“My mistake,” he says good-naturedly. “I could never keep it straight which guy liked you which week…”

“Because there were so many.” I roll my eyes.

Believe me, if I’d been Ms. Popular at Oak Hill High, I would have known it and exploited it!

“Oh come on. You were everyone’s dream date,” he insists. “Weren’t you voted that in the yearbook or something?”

How embarrassing.

“ Yes , because Kendra and Jessica thought it’d be funny to fudge the votes. I also won Most Likely to Succeed and well…” I toss out my arms. “Look at me now.”

“Doesn’t seem like you’re doing too bad for yourself.”

My jaw drops. He can’t be serious. “I almost married a cheater. A liar. A-A despicable human being.”

“You tell him all those things?”

I rear back, confused by the question.

He doesn’t take his eyes off me. “Just the way you said it…it’s like you were needing to get that off your chest.”

I sniff in annoyance. “He’s not worth the effort.”

“So you didn’t.”

I pick up my wine glass. “There’s always tomorrow! What does it matter to you how my engagement ended? Whether or not I ripped him a new one?”

“I’m just a little curious about how it all went down.”

“Don’t act like David didn’t tell you all the sordid details.”

“He didn’t, actually. He’s not that kind of guy.”

I know that. I’m being nasty for no reason.

I sigh and let the worst of my anger burn off. Another sip of wine won’t hurt, so I go back for one more. God, it’s good.

“Matthew was having an affair for at least a few months, if not longer. It was his secretary, which is just… trite is what it is. And now”—I perk up, getting to the juiciest bits—“the two of them are getting married in a few weeks. Matthew never wanted to set a date for our wedding but apparently he’s all in with this girl. Is there more wine?”

He pours and listens as I detail everything I already told Kendra over the phone, about the stolen wedding plans and the absurdity of using all the same vendors.

“Well how do we sabotage it?” he asks with a playful twinkle in his eyes. “Obviously, we can’t let them use your wedding.”

“Well the florist can’t create the bouquets and centerpieces without flowers…so we’ll buy up every peony in the state.”

He grins, understanding the game right away. “We’ll slip Matthew’s tailor a hundred and have him hem his tuxedo pants to midcalf.”

“A buzz cut on the morning of the ceremony ought to do. For the bride. ”

Neither of us stops coming up with ridiculous suggestions until I have an ache in my side from laughing so hard. I’m about to topple out of my chair when Sawyer reaches over to catch my shoulder. His face is so close to mine. He laughs and I giggle.

GIGGLE.

Like Charlotte.

Like a girl with her heart fully intact.

Sawyer’s soulful brown eyes meet mine, and then they drop ominously to my lips. I know he wants to kiss me, and because this is all one big game, I let him. Beneath the twinkle lights, his mouth touches mine, and we taste just like Chenin Blanc, sweet and crisp. I kiss him back too hard, too eager. His hand comes up to wrap around my neck—it tightens—and he nearly tugs me off my chair and onto his lap.

The kiss should end, but neither of us pulls away. I’ve had too much wine and not enough of the delicious food, too much good conversation and laughter that’s done the exact opposite of what I was hoping. I’m supposed to be keeping my wits about me and twisting him into knots, and instead I let him slip his tongue into my mouth and make me shiver.

“ Madison ,” he groans.

Then he pulls back before I can, interrupting what is hands down the best kiss of my life. I blink as if coming out of a daze.

What have you done to me?

“It goes without saying that the man was out of his mind for letting you walk away.”

I want to fall under his spell so badly it scares me.

REMEMBER WHY YOU’RE HERE.

I shake myself out of my stupor and tack on a teasing smile. “His loss is your gain, I suppose.”

Then I lean in and kiss him again, this time ensuring I’m the one to pull away first. It’s the last time I allow myself to touch him. Otherwise, I’ll jeopardize the mission. If Kendra wanted me to go out on one date with Sawyer, flirt with him, and wrap him around my little finger—I’ve done it.

When he drops me off back at Queenie’s house, he walks me right up to my door before he turns and looks at me with blatant desire.

“When can I see you again?”

So direct. So sexy.

“Guess you’ll just have to wait and see” is the flirty response I toss back because I’m not sure what else to say.

I don’t want to ruin everything now, on my doorstep. He’s been a gentleman tonight, ensured it was a date to remember, but now I have to hold up my end of the bargain.

“Night, Sawyer.”

I smile coyly then slip inside feeling none of what I was hoping (a surge of strength, triumphant glee) and everything confusing (guilt and longing). I slowly trudge up the stairs, glad Queenie’s already gone to sleep. I don’t want to have to fake it anymore. I dropped my mask the second I closed the door, and now it’d be too hard to put back in place.

In my bedroom, I check my phone to see I have three missed calls and a slew of text messages from Kendra.

How’s it going?

Is he eating out of the palm of your hand?

OMG I’m dying here.

It’s too late to call her so I text instead.

It’s done.

Then I toss my phone on my nightstand, disgusted. Agreeing to Kendra’s plan wasn’t the strong moral choice, but I went through with it anyway, rationalizing my decision because I know Sawyer hurt Kendra in the past and deserves karmic justice. Not to mention, I know the kind of guy Sawyer is. Right? Everything about him from his easy charm to his dripping confidence makes it clear he’s a heartbreaker. He had it coming, surely.

Didn’t he?

Oh god…

No one told me being a vigilante hero would be this difficult.