Be Mine Forever (A St. Helena Vineyard Novel) by Marina Adair Page A

breath, but when she exhaled it sounded more like a huff than a sigh. “I never really thought about the questions when I wrote them, but they’re hard to answer.”
    “Yellow-and-white polka dots, playing hooky, and anywhere with you,” he rattled off then smiled. “Nope. Easy. Your turn. Dream date. And be specific.”
    “I haven’t had a lot of time to date, let alone think about what a dream one would be. But an empty tasting room with a charming,” she looked up at him, “wine sounds pretty dream-worthy.”
    Before he could have her elaborate, or ask if she was interested in a replay—like now—the music stopped. She stepped back, signaling that the dance was up and so was his time.
    “How about that private?” he asked. “Tomorrow night?”
    “I’ll think about it,” she said and, oh yeah , he was in. The smile on her pretty face told him as much.

CHAPTER 6
    W ith Italian families, there’s a fine line between being brotherly and being blackmailed. Trey was being blackmailed. Plain and simple. The embarrassing part was that his blackmailer was a five-foot-nothing of a sister-in-law and her baby bump.
    “Those are your choices, Trey,” Regan said for the third time, as though he were the one not listening. “Either take me to Lamaze orientation or pick up Holly and drive her to dance.”
    Pregnancy made women crazy. Period. That was the only explanation he could come up with. Three minutes ago, Regan had plopped down next to him at the pub in Marc’s hotel, a carton of rocky road in hand, Baby Sofie strapped to her front, asking him for a favor. Only when he’d regretfully passed, she got hostile. Then she ate all of his fries.
    “Shouldn’t Gabe be going with you to um…Lamaze?”
    “He’s in Italy with Abby,” Regan said, placing the palm of her free hand on her lower back and exhaling.
    Abby had negotiated the terms of the deal, everyone was in agreement, then they’d hit a snafu. So she called in the big gun—aka Gabe.
    “Maybe Lexi could take you,” Trey said in a soothing voice he’d heard Gabe use. He even set his burger down to show Regan she had his full attention.
    “Lexi offered to watch Sofie while I’m at Lamaze. With you. Unless…” Regan looked down at the drool monster, who was babbling at a level that would scare off rabid dogs, “you want to switch and be on diaper duty and handle breast milk?”
    Trey pushed back his plate. He was done. Lunch ruined. Day ruined. His innocence ruined. “What about Frankie?”
    “In a class with babies? Are you kidding me? They’d kick me out and never invite me back.”
    Trey saw her point. Frankie was worse with kids than he was. Last time she was left alone with his niece, Holly ended up with a new haircut. “I’ve been on the waitlist for this class since we discovered I was pregnant. With Sofie.”
    “Plus, Frankie can’t,” Lexi said, flopping down next to Regan, her eyes narrowing in on Trey’s plate. Whereas Regan looked like she was carrying half-a-basketball under her billowy blouse, Lexi appeared to be concealing an entire NBA team in her belly—a team that obviously needed feeding because she wouldn’t take her eyes off his burger. Or her feet off the chair next to him. “She’s taking everyone to the airport.”
    “Everyone?” Trey shoved his plate toward his sister-in-law. “What the hell do you mean ‘everyone’?”
    “She and Nate picked up Marc about an hour ago.” Lexi snatched his burger, poked it, sniffed it, and then put it back. Her face went a little green and she started wafting her hands. “Oh, God, can you move…that?”
    Why not? It wasn’t like he was going to eat it now.
    “Dooz-dooz-doozzzzzzz,” Baby Sofie sputtered, her legs flapping and a whole lot of pissed-off female in her voice. Regan handed the ice-cream carton to Lexi, shoved her way to standing, and started pacing.
    “Marc went too?” Trey asked, that familiar pang of disappointment pushing at his chest.
    He wasn’t