Sweeter Than Wine (8 page)

"Oh it's beautiful out here, and the weather
couldn't be better." Lacey murmured against his ear, sending shock
waves of awareness through him. Didn't the woman know better than
to whisper in his ear like that? Didn't she have any idea, how she
was affecting him?

Yet, how could she? He wasn't reacting to
her, at least not on the outside.

It dawned on Sam that being a gentleman was
not as easy as it looked.

Sam frowned and tried not to let it get to
him. After all, she didn't know what she was doing to him. Did
she?

Of course not. She's the one who didn’t want
an affair. He could keep it light; he'd just stay away from her as
best he could.

She had no idea what she did to him, and he'd
keep it that way or things would get way out of hand. And in the
long run she was right. He would go back to his world soon and she
to hers, so why get involved. All these things made the best of
sense to him, but telling his libido that was another thing.

As they reached their destination, they
carried their supplies to the shore of the lake. Birds chirped in
the tall pines, as squirrels bustled about the trees and calmness
settled over them.

He halved all the supplies with her and
showed her where she was to fish, took some pictures of her in her
gear and then he left her and moved a ways down the shoreline. She
looked and waved at him.

He wondered if she could bait her own hook.
He wondered if she would squeal when she slid the worm on the line,
or put the minnow on the hook.

Nevertheless, he heard nothing, she seemed to
be doing just fine without him, and it frustrated him a bit to know
she could get along without him. After all her inabilities, he
figured she would need help with everything, but not once did she
ask for anything, and before long she had maneuvered a old log
close enough to the shore that she could sit and fish.

He turned his back on her several times and
just as he did again, he heard her yelp, he was about to go running
down to see what was going on, when another man ran to her aid, the
same man that had flirted with her in the lobby as a matter of
fact.

Sam stood a ways a way in the shade and
watched the man, he waited to see if she reeled the fish in, then
when she did and she showed it to him he smiled and patted her on
the arm.

They stood there talking for some time. Sam
was so mesmerized; he couldn't continue his own fishing. She was
chuckling and talking up a storm and the man seemed to enjoy every
minute of it.

He patted her on the arm once more and
left.

The old geezer was after more than her arm,
and Sam knew it. He probably had a wife sitting at home, alone. Sam
grumbled to himself, but Lacey wasn't a fool; she'd catch on to him
sooner or later.

Sam started to go over, but she hadn't so
much as looked his way, so he did his best to ignore her.

She caught a fish, a good size too. She'd
reeled it in herself with no help from the man. He'd give her that
much. The fact that she stood there and talked to the man for so
long irritated Sam. After all, it was he, that had brought her
here, to enjoy herself, and she practically shunned him.

Maybe he was over reacting. Maybe he
shouldn't care that she smiled back at the man and encouraged
him.

It was absolutely none of his business.

He determined to not worry about her till the
end of the day.

He'd bought snacks and drinks and they needed
nothing.

He had to admit, he missed talking to her. He
missed her laughter.

Bent on not missing her, he turned his full
attention to fishing. He was a good fisherman and he knew it. He
cast his line out and waited, leaning against a large rock. The
weather was beautiful, not too hot or cold and just enough breeze
to be comfortable.

He heard her laughter several times during
the day, but he had made sure he didn't watch any longer. It didn't
matter if she flirted with all of California. He didn't care. Did
he? Of course not. She was nothing to him. In fact, he wasn't sure
why he had hooked up with her in the first place.

Come to think of it, what was he doing?
They'd end up spending another night together and she probably
already wanted to be with someone else. From the sound of it!

He should let her know that if she wanted to
have dinner with the other man she was free to do so. Yeah, he'd
let her know that, even if it didn't sit well with him.

Suddenly his line jerked and he reeled in a
big one, he examined it, knowing it was bigger than the one Lacey
had caught. He suddenly thought about that. Why should he care if
she didn't get a trophy? It wasn't his problem. He'd shown her a
good time, he was still planning on showing her the redwoods close
up. Wasn't he?

He looked at the fish, the fish wiggled; he
cut his hand on the fin. It stung him. With a huge sigh, he threw
the fish back in.

What was he doing? He could take a trophy
home. Couldn't he? However, he wasn't the trophy type. He knew he
was good at these kinds of skills; he needed no trophies to
announce it.

Still, the woman wanted a trophy to take
home. Okay, so he would let her win. Winning wasn't why he'd
brought her here. In fact, he realized that he'd brought her here
with the best of intentions. And he'd be the gentleman if it killed
him.

It was the incident on the bridge that had
him off kilter. Why had he let it go so far? That wasn't like him.
However, he had to admit, he'd never enjoyed kissing a woman so
much. Yet he enjoyed kissing Lacey and he had wanted to go on
kissing her, and wondered where it would have led them. Everything
about this vacation was totally out of character. No wonder he was
acting weird.

He stopped what he was doing for a moment to
reflect on his own actions. He had somehow become attracted to
Lacey. How had that happened? She wasn't like the women he was used
to dating. That in itself could have attracted him to her.

Maybe he should cut his trip short and go
home!

That would be the coward's way out. No, he
needed this time away to get his mind focused on the things that
were important to him. And the most important thing to him right
now was finding out who he was.

About noon he started to take over his
crackers and cheese and join her, but thought that maybe she'd
rather be alone. He opened his and ate them. He kept glancing over
his shoulder, but he couldn't see her all the time, she wandered
out a little into the water, and he'd keep an eye on her so she
didn't get hurt, but he wouldn't bother her.

The sun was getting low when he heard her
approach.

"Sam, I got one," she said triumphantly.

"You did…well, let's see?" he turned with a
smile.

She held it up, her face beaming.

Sam looked at her and something inside him
melted into a million pieces of chocolate. Good grief, he was
losing it.

"That's a fine catch, well, it's getting
late, I'll pack up my gear and we'll go weigh in." he said.

"Okay, do you think it has a chance?" she
asked.

"I'd say you are definitely in the running."
He smiled.

"So where's yours?" she asked when she didn't
see his stringer.

"I didn't catch much of any size. I threw
them back. No use keeping something that could grow into a
king-size fish."

"I guess your right. But…now I feel silly.
Catching the biggest fish isn't really anything but luck…like
poker."

"Lacey, enjoy it. Okay."

"Okay."

She helped him gather his gear and they
returned to the hotel where everyone was weighing in. He'd been
right; hers was the biggest catch of the day. She was beaming.

The man that had talked to her earlier
approached her, "That was some fish…you will probably get a trophy
out of it."

"You think so?" she raised her voice in
glee.

"Most definitely." He smiled.

"Well, then this day has been very much worth
it," she smiled.

"I'd love to take you to dinner…" The man
grasp her hand.

Lacey glanced over at Sam, who pretended
disinterest…again.

"Well, actually, I'm with someone," she
began.

"Oh…well, lucky man…" the man grinned.
"Another time…maybe?" he smiled.

"Maybe…" she smiled back and returned to
Sam's side.

Sam noticed she was silent as they went to
their room. As he let her in, he watched her. Then he sank onto the
edge of the bed. He couldn't gauge her reactions. He wasn't sure if
she had wanted to go to dinner with the man or not, but he figured
he'd better find out.

"You want to shower before dinner?" he
asked.

"That would be great." She nodded. "I'm
pretty exhausted."

Sam nodded.

He looked down at his jeans and shirt and
realized he smelled like fish. "Ya know…I heard that guy ask you
out for dinner."

She shrugged.

"If you want to go…go ahead."

Lacey paused for a moment by the bathroom
door, and then turned to look at him. He saw her eyes going over
him slowly. Almost as though she were hungry for the site of him,
but that was just wishful thinking on his part. Her smile was shy,
"Yes, well, I didn't bring anything really nice to wear. And I
really don't know the man."

"I can give you enough money for a dress…if
you want to go find something. They have a nice shop here in the
hotel…," he offered.

"We agreed we'd go Dutch, right," she
insisted.

"Fine, whatever…"

"You seem angry that I'm not going out with
him…" she began coming closer. " Do you want me to?"

He shrugged, "It's not that…" he assured her.
"I just I thought you might want to…"

"Oh did you…you're forming a lot of opinions
about me, not to know me any better than you do. Just because I
came with you doesn't mean I'd go out with the first strange man I
met. I’m not some cheap pickup lady."

"Lacey, I didn't mean anything, okay, I
certainly know a lady when I see one." his voice was low, seductive
and close to breaking into a rage he didn't quite understand. His
libido was doing overtime, and he didn't understand that
either.

"Let's forget it and go to dinner, okay…" she
bargained.

She turned and went to shower. He slumped and
then fell back against the bed. He was so tired, so keyed up and he
didn't understand why.

The lights were low in the restaurant, there
was a piano bar, and everything was set for romance. Sam wished it
wasn't. He'd done good not to touch Lacey any more. He'd kept his
hands off. She had let her hair down and it draped over her
shoulders in curls, and his fingers itched to run through the
strands as it glittered red and gold in the lights. He wasn't sure
how any woman could go from a fishing mongrel one moment to a
completely sexy lady the next, but Lacey had managed it, and with
very little makeup and help with her wardrobe, too.

Although she wore the capri's and t-shirt,
she looked lovely. She'd relaxed today despite the tension between
them. Sam was determined to try that himself. There was no need
being so uptight about keeping his hands off. He had disciplined
himself long ago where women were concerned not to grab, but to
invite a woman into his arms and heart.

However, it was a blow to his ego that she
seemed to prefer every man around, rather than him. And he had been
nice today.

They ordered fried catfish and as they waited
she seemed to avoid eye contact with him, looking about at everyone
in the restaurant.

However, that could only last a short while,
as there were only a handful of guest eating here. The prices were
astronomical and most people opted for something much cheaper down
the road.

"Sam, exactly how are you going to explain to
these people who you are? Your new folks, I mean." Lacey asked,
suddenly turning her attention on him full blast.

Sam twirled his fingers around his wine
glass, as he contemplated her question. They had ordered a light
white wine with their meal and he was hoping it would settle his
nerves some.

"I don't know. How do you introduce yourself
to people, when you are kin to them and they don't know it?" Sam
frowned. "Or is there any need to do so? Perhaps just seeing them
will be enough…"

"I'll do everything to make things easier for
you; you've certainly been a good sport and shown me around the
area. The least I can do is help you with this." Lacey said and
reached for his hand.

She was merely trying to make him feel
better, but the touch of her hand was warm and he glanced up into
her face and realized how serious she was.

"Do you think it's wrong to tell them? They
have no idea about me. Maybe we should just go up to them and tell
them we had car trouble on the road and need to use the phone or
something like that. Kind of get the feel for who they are and what
they are."

Lacey smiled sadly, "It's very hard to
believe a man could live his entire life and then tell you
something like that. After caring for you, loving you, and then to
lay something that astounding in your lap."

"I've gone over all the reasons he might have
had. I understand his reluctance to change his life, and his fear
of my not loving him any longer. However, had he told me when he
was healthy we could have sat down talked it out and found out
things much easier. Now things are different. My real father isn't
alive any longer. Neither is my mother. And the sister I spoke of,
is married and settled down. I hate to burst in on them with this
kind of thing. You wonder if you should tell them at all. After
all, if they are happy and you can resume your life the way it was,
perhaps it's better to not disturb things." Sam admitted.

"Can you go back to your life, Sam? I mean
now that you know."