St. Helena Vineyard Series_A Perfect Proposal Read online

  Lysia sat in a small skiff. It rocked slowly, lazily. Seagulls cried out. A large seal rubbed its face up and down her arm. Suddenly the animal jumped out, and the boat tipped to the side. Lysia woke up. Craig sat next to her stroking her arm.

  His voice was quiet.

  “I have to leave. School.”

  She started to pull the blankets aside to crawl out of bed. She didn’t want to get up. It was warm and comfortable where she was. Right, Craig’s bed. They had slept together last night. Keyword, slept. She had pushed his skinny ass up the stairs after he fell asleep watching TV, and he had pulled her into bed with him.

  “I should go, too.”

  “No, stay. Sleep in,” he countered.

  “I have to go to the library and apply for jobs again today.”

  “You can use my computer. I’ll leave you the log-in. Besides…” His smile led to a slight blush. “We didn’t finish our date. I thought it would be nice if you were still here when I got home.”

  Lysia returned his smile. “No, we didn’t, did we? Okay, I’ll stay.”

  Craig leaned over and kissed her temple before he left her.

  She rolled over and returned to her dreams. She never did find out what the seal was all about.

  As promised, Craig left the log-in for his computer. He also left coffee in the coffee pot. She poked around in his kitchen. For a bachelor, he kept it well stocked. There was actual fresh food in the refrigerator and labeled containers of leftovers in the freezer. No ice cream, though. They had eaten that last night. Craig had taken her out for an easy dinner of burgers and fries, where they talked about everything including Lysia’s failure of a job hunt.

  She had already hit all the shops on Main Street to see if anyone had any openings. And they both agreed it was probably time for her to broaden her search into surrounding towns

  She hated to admit it, but she was going to have to ask her parents for rent money for Christmas. She declined Craig’s gracious offer to loan her the money.

  They had returned to his house for the expected third-date sex, but neither of them seemed overly motivated. More like they were both too nervous to make the first move. Instead they watched television until Craig started snoring.

  Lysia logged in and did a quick search of openings in the area. From what she found online, it looked like she was going to have to commute into Napa. Not that she minded the drive, but she liked the option of walking to work if she really wanted to.

  She would rather stay in town where she could be closer to Craig. She smiled as she remembered pushing him up the stairs and into his room. He slumped onto the bed before she managed to get his tie off. Fortunately she hadn’t choked him removing it. She couldn’t help but notice how long his feet were as she took his shoes off. He had pulled her into bed and used her like a teddy bear, snuggling and holding her close. She had fallen asleep moments later, relaxing into his comforting embrace.

  She found a place that was hiring for what might be an interesting job, and she began the application process. The application indicated she passed an immediate assessment and forwarded her onto a long questionnaire that seemed to take forever and asked over a hundred and fifty questions that kept repeating the same four questions in different ways: Would you hit a coworker? Would you hit your boss? Would you hit a client? Would you steal from the store?

  She hit submit with aggravation. “I’m not likely to deck my boss, but if I ever meet the person who wrote this, yeah, I’ll punch them.”

  The monitor pinged with a message. “Congratulations, you’ve made it to the next level.”

  “What the hell is this, a video game?” Lysia didn’t want to keep going, but she needed a job, and this was the pathway to employment.

  She clicked the prompt, and the screen changed, taking her to a new set of instructions. “Oh, it is a video game.” She sneered with dripping sarcasm.

  The instructions indicated she now needed to watch a series of video scenarios and make decisions and answer questions based on what she saw. The next phase should only take her forty-five minutes. Please take a break before hitting start as this may not be paused once begun.

  Lysia, thankful for the warning, used the bathroom and got herself another cup of coffee before she hit “agree and begin.”

  “This is stupid!“ she yelled at the monitor almost two hours later. The video and response section of the application lied. This portion of the application was taking way more time than forty-five minutes, more like forty-five minutes per video.

  “I hate you,” she said as she clicked submit reply at the end of another video. If this wasn’t the end of the application, she was going to walk away. These videos and questions were too much monkey-see-monkey-do work for filling out an application for a minimum wage job.

  The computer pinged, and the screen changed.

  Thank you for your application. We will contact you if you meet our requirements.

  Three hours. It took three hours to apply for a job where she would be making photocopies. It wasn’t rocket science. She bet the application to be a rocket scientist was easier. She leaned back in the chair and rotated her stiff neck. She couldn’t face another application, not like that one, and not right now.

  She stared at the Christmas tree in the other room. It twinkled with preinstalled LEDs, but it was naked without any ornaments. Lysia twisted the chair around and spotted a box of recycling.

  She jumped out of the chair with an idea.

  ***

  Craig had an urge to call out, “Hey, honey, I’m home!” as he walked into the kitchen and tossed his keys into the hand shaped bowl on the counter.

  Sounds from the living room indicated that Lysia was watching TV. Returning to noise was nice. It made this house not so empty and lonely.

  He paused when he entered the living room. Lysia had been busy, and she still was.

  Colorful paper chains and garlands of popcorn and cranberries covered the tree. Small origami ornaments hung from the branches.

  “It’s beautiful. How did you do all of this?” Craig stepped up to his tree, admiring all the work that Lysia had put into decorating it.

  Lysia hummed, her mouth full of twisted paper clips that she pinched between her lips.

  Craig turned to gaze at her.

  Her hair was a mess, half in and half out of a ponytail. She had flecks of paper shavings on her cheek. Inch long flags of tape hung off the edge of her hand. Magazine clippings surrounded her. A stapler lay on its side. The tape dispenser was almost empty. Paper clips were scattered everywhere. Popcorn spilled out of a microwave bag and onto the floor. A hotel-room emergency sewing kit lay open on top of an empty plastic bag that used to contain fresh cranberries.

  Focused on the construction in front of her, Lysia made humming sounds that might have been words Craig watched her hands fly over aluminum foil, coffee filters, and cardboard. It was sheer magic. Lysia constructed an angel from recycling and found objects.

  “There,” she said triumphantly, her mouth finally empty of paper clips, as she placed the last piece of tape along the back between wings she had formed from…were those feathers?

  The smile she gave Craig robbed him of coherent thought. How had he managed to pass on the third date sex last night? Oh right, he had fallen asleep like a dork.

  She bounced up and presented him with the angel. “You’re home just in time to place her on top of the tree.”

  Home. It sounded warm and inviting coming from her lips. This was just a big house. She was making it a home by being here, by decorating his tree, by bringing her presence into his life.

  He took the angel from her and pulled her to him for an embrace. She tipped her face to him, and he took her lips. “This is beautiful. Thank you,” he said after ending the kiss.

  He slipped an arm around her shoulders before he reached up and crowned the tree with her art. “It’s perfect.”

  Craig stared deep into her eyes. Two thoughts slammed into him at once.
If she could do this with no money, what could she do with money? More importantly, it was time to make good on the end of the third date.

  His body surged. Finding the answer about her creative use of money would have to wait. His lips claimed hers again.

  Lysia snaked her arms around his neck and returned the kiss. The kiss deepened, and tongues found each other. Craig slipped his hands up the back of her shirt. He caressed her skin.

  She tugged at his tie until he had to free his hands and remove the damned length of silk before she choked him. Her fingers fumbled with his buttons.

  “Bedroom? Upstairs?” he asked against Lysia’s mouth.

  “Yes.” It was hard for her to talk with his lower lip in between her teeth, but she was clear.

  Clothes dropped as they kissed and fondled their way upstairs. His shirt fell off at the landing. His belt landed somewhere in the hall. Shoes lay where they were kicked off. Lysia was almost entirely nude by the time they crossed into the bedroom. Craig had no time to look and admire. He was too busy touching and feeling. Her breasts were warm, and her nipples tickled his palms as he held and massaged her flesh.

  Craig shucked the remainder of his clothing as he pulled Lysia down onto the bed. She lay across him, pressing against his skin. His hands tried to touch everything. His mouth consumed her lips. She kissed him back with a sucking need.

  She pushed up so that she straddled across his hips. His male anatomy throbbed and pulsed against her hot butt. She was a glorious angel hovering above him. Her dark, wild hair had completely escaped the ponytail, and her green eyes blazed. Her nipples were bright pink ends to pert breasts.

  Craig spayed his fingers across her tummy and caressed up, cupping her breasts. He toyed with her nipples, rolling them into hard nubs. She felt like silk clouds under his fingers. Smooth and soft and perfect.

  Lysia moaned and rocked her hips. She braced her hands against his chest and shifted.

  “Steady there. I’m not dressed for success.”

  She laughed. “Right.” She reached behind herself and found him. She stroked his length and hissed appreciatively. “Yes, let’s get this covered. I’d like to take it for a ride.”

  “Lysia, you are a…” Craig cut himself off as he rolled, dumping Lysia off of his lap.

  “What? I’m a what?”

  Craig stepped over to a tall dresser and rummaged in the top drawer. He slid the drawer closed and crawled into the bed next to her. “You are a temptress, a dream, a wonder.”

  She took the condom pack from his hands and ripped it open. “Let me.”

  A moan escaped him as she slipped the condom down his length.

  Craig rolled over her and pulled her leg up to his hip. “My turn.” He slid into her and was rewarded with wet heat and moans.

  As he expected, this house needed her cries of ecstasy as she came loud and joyfully. His release wasn’t nearly as loud, but easily expressed as much pleasure and satisfaction.

  ***

  “If I asked you what you wanted to do when you grew up, what would you say?”

  Lysia gazed across the table at Craig. This was a loaded question, and after their afternoon, there were entirely too many ways of responding.

  “Do you want my body’s answer or what I tell the career counselor at the unemployment office?” She bit into the gooey pizza they’d had delivered. Neither had the wherewithal to actually cook, and going out required too many clothes.

  “I want your heart’s answer.”

  She sighed. Right now her heart said she wanted to do him, but Craig wanted a career counselor type response.

  “I want to be creative.”

  Craig nodded. “Good answer.”

  He didn’t say anything more and continued to eat his pizza. He sat in plaid boxers, his skin exposed. He had large, capable hands. Lysia remembered how they felt across her skin. Now they cradled his pizza. She wanted to be that piece of pizza right now, in his hands with his mouth on her. His arms were strong and lean. His chest was defined with muscles, but not large and bulgy ones. Rangy. And yes, all appendages were on the large size. He fit the skinny man big package stereotype nicely. And he knew how to use his physique well. He knew how to get responses from her, and she wanted yet another repeat performance.

  She wore a t-shirt and undies. This was probably the most perfect third date she had, ever had and right now she hoped it lasted forever.

  Craig deliberately set his pizza crust down. “I have a proposition for you.”

  Lysia squirmed. This could be good, or not. Please be good.

  “You are very talented.”

  “Why, thank you.” Lysia twisted in her chair. She was rather pleased that their bedroom skills had meshed so well.

  Craig blushed. He actually blushed. It was adorkable and added to his charm. “I wasn’t referring to that.”

  Before she could complain, he continued, “You are skilled in the bedroom, and I cannot wait to see what else you can do. But that’s not where I was going with this. I was talking about what you did with my tree.”

  She felt an immediate pull of uncertainty in her gut. “You don’t like it?”

  “What? Are you crazy? I love it. Lysia, it’s amazing what you can do without a budget. If you can do that with limited supplies and no budget, what can you do with resources and money to spend?”

  “You want me to redo the tree?”

  “No, I want you to do my house.” His eyes bored into her. He was so earnest.

  Lysia released the air in her lungs through pursed lips. “Wow, really? I thought your sister was your decorator?”

  “Once upon a time she was. But you see how far she has gotten. She told me to put a wreath on my door and get a tree. But the rest of it… In two years she has managed to paint her bedroom yellow and buy towels. I still have the hand-me-down furniture my mom gave me when I bought my first condo. You are creative and have skills. I want you to help me turn this house into a home.”

  “You want me to go to the paint store with you and help collect ideas on what furniture to buy? You buy pizza. I help paint? I can do that, but I don’t know how much time I can put in while I’m searching for a job. I mean, that one application took three hours today. Three hours for one freaking application. And I don’t know what my schedule will be like once I get a job. I might need to get two if I can only find part-time.” Annoyance washed across her shoulders as she remembered being asked over and over if she would punch a coworker.

  “I’m willing to pay you for your vision and ideas. I want to hire you to be my interior designer and decorator. I’ll pay you to paint and shop for me. I’m offering you a job.”

  Lysia’s insides flipped. “A real job?”

  Craig nodded. A smile spread across his face.

  Lysia leaped out of her chair and kissed his smile. Her hands held his face. “A real job?”

  He nodded. He slipped his hands into hers, removing them from his face. “We’ll do this right, too. We’ll figure out a salary or hourly if you’d rather, sign a contract, all of it.”

  “I’ve got a job!“ Lysia pulled at Craig’s arm until he stood. She wrapped herself around him. “We need to go back upstairs and celebrate.”

  Chapter Five

  Lysia had a job, and Craig was back to coming home to an empty house. They had celebrated until he needed to go to school the next morning. That was yesterday. Last night they’d yawned through dinner. Today, he stood alone among the buzz and excitement of a wedding.

  “Please have a seat anywhere,” he instructed the next couple..

  After two nights of having her in his bed, it was painful to be relegated back to sleeping alone. Lysia had gone home after dinner. She needed to be up early to help with the parade float for St. Paws. Apparently being in his bed was not conducive to sleeping. All while making jokes about not sleeping with the boss.

  His balls did not find the joke funny, and neither did his arms. His body parts missed her. He missed her, and it had bare
ly been a full day. His whole being hated that he was here while she was off working on the float. By the time he knew he wanted her to be around all the time, she had already committed her full weekend to volunteer work.

  “Anywhere but the first two rows, thank you.”

  He wiggled a finger between the collar and his neck. The tux was a bit itchy, but what did he expect from a last minute rental suit? He was in the middle of a love-hate relationship with the garment. It was uncomfortable and poorly fitted, but he’d met Lysia because of this suit.

  More people entered, and Craig grew more miserable. He barely even knew the couple. The groom and best man had been in the same fraternity. Craig, as a senior, had been focused on his degree and graduating, Mike and Danny were freshmen pledges. Their paths crossed enough to remember each other, and as fraternity brothers, he felt bound to help them out in a pinch. Craig knew no one else here, and the only person he would have brought as his date was elbow deep in papier-mâché right now.

  Wedding music swelled, and the procession began. He stepped back and watched the bridesmaids enter. The bride was lovely, but wasn’t she supposed to be? All brides and all babies, that was the rule. He watched the wedding ceremony, but his brain wasn’t engaged. The whole thing made him miss Lysia deep in his chest. Was he in love with her already? It was possible. He wanted her in his life. He wanted to watch her walk down an aisle toward him.

  He had never been able actually to imagine that part of the process with Miranda. She had plenty of pictures of what it should look like. She had told him what she had wanted, but he couldn’t see it in his mind’s eye what marrying her was going to look like, not even after planning that fiasco of a proposal.

  With Lysia it was completely different. He could see her smiling at him while dressed in a cake-frosting concoction of a wedding dress, he could see her holding babies, he could see her in their home surrounded by noise and kids and dogs.

  Yes, he was in love with her already. For once he could visualize what his future looked like, and Lysia was in the starring role.