Secrets and Seduction: Solacia Cellars Page 2

  “There’s more in store,” he told her. “Lots more.”

  “Do you need anything from me?” she offered.

  Rafe stretched and yawned. “Not tonight, Terra dear. I’m saving the best for later.”

  Terra wanted to answer, but she was already falling asleep.

  They slept on the deck that night, and when Terra awoke the next morning, he was gone. Her skirt and her wet bikini were hanging neatly on the chaise lounge next to her, along with a fluffy white spa robe in her size. She hunted for a note, but there was none.

  Chapter 3Terra walked back to the cottage, hugging the white spa robe around her nude body and humming to herself as she remembered the way Rafe’s tongue had sinuously wrapped around her pussy the night before. Damn, some guys just know exactly what to do, she thought. Most of them could be taught the basics, but in her experience, real expertise at going down on a woman came from instinct. Rafe gave head last night like he absolutely loved how she looked and tasted and smelled. Terra was certain that if she hadn’t come right away, Rafe would have kept sucking on her pussy and clit until she did, even if it took half the night, and he would have enjoyed every erotic second of it as much as she did.

  Of course, there was one small problem: he was her boss.

  Terra wasn’t sure how she felt about that, or anything else in her world at the moment. She hadn’t even been there twenty-four hours yet, and she had already multiplied her monthly salary by five times, moved into a new house, and taken a new lover. It was still bewildering and would take some time to sort out.

  In her career to date, her approach was to at least try to stick to a no-fishing-off-the-dock policy and not sleep with men she worked with, but she had broken her own rule a few times with no major problems. LA was pretty casual. If it didn’t work out, there were always other possibilities around the corner and no hard feelings on either side.

  But sleeping with her boss was something Terra had never done before. She liked her independence and had always been privately disdainful of actresses who agreed to be the kept woman of some powerful man in the industry. She understood the advantages well enough, the lavish dinners, the jewelry, the unlimited clothing budget, the pent-house apartment with a view of the mountains. And the price didn’t seem all that steep: be a man’s trophy girl, show up when told to, and no complaints about the wife or the other girlfriends. You could even have a boyfriend on the side yourself if you were discreet about it.

  Terra knew she had the looks to play that particular role. Men had told her so on several occasions since she came to LA. She had avoided it because it seemed so insecure to let a man have complete power over her by controlling the purse strings. She liked strong and powerful men, but financial survival was another story. She had vowed she would never give anyone she slept with that much control over her. Until now.

  Looking forward to a shower and clean clothes, Terra opened the door to the cottage. As she entered, she had a feeling that something was out of place, a sixth sense that she wasn’t alone. It was the same prickly sensation she’d had the night before, when she heard footsteps on the deck stairs. She wished she had locked the door last night before setting out to find the hot tub.

  As she entered the kitchen, she saw a short, curvaceous woman with curly brown hair standing at the sink with a coffee cup in her hand. Terra gasped involuntarily and the woman turned around.

  “What are you doing here?” the woman demanded.

  Terra was roundly pissed off at this interloper who had barged into what Rafe had told her was her new home. “I live here,” she said, making no attempt to hide her annoyance. “Are you the housekeeper that Rafe told me about?”

  The woman’s brown eyes smoldered and her face contorted into an angry grimace. “Of course I’m not the housekeeper. Don’t you know anything? I’m Caterina. Rafe’s friend.”

  Terra’s skin prickled under the robe. The expression on Caterina’s face was positively evil. Terra had met her share of women like this on the sets of films she had worked on. Mostly they were little fish pretending to be big fish: makeup artists, wardrobe assistants, secretaries, girls who liked to throw their weight around.

  She wished she knew how much weight this particular girl had to throw around, but there was no way to tell. The immediate plan was to get her the hell out of the cottage, take a shower, and put some clothes on.

  “At least you could show some manners and tell me your name,” Caterina said.

  “Rafe’s in charge here,” Terra said. “Maybe he told you my name already and you forgot.” Her mind was a jumble of possibilities. If Rafe had been with Caterina this morning after leaving her side the night before, Terra would be back in the Miata driving south before you could say the word dog.

  “Nice try, honey,” Caterina shot back. “He must not have thought you were important enough to mention.”

  This is going to be ugly, Terra thought. She was trying to place the woman’s accent. “Look, Caterina, I need to get to work.” She nodded in the direction of the computer in the living room. “So I don’t have all day to chat with you. Is there anything else you’d like me to know before you leave?” She let her dismissal hang in the air between them.

  Caterina didn’t budge, but her ugly expression evaporated and her voice became silky. “Oh, so you’re working for Rafe,” she crooned. “He must have already told you everything about his winemaking business, then.”

  She’s from Brooklyn, Terra decided, looking directly at Caterina without saying a word.

  When Terra didn’t answer, Caterina went on in a cheery voice. “Poor Rafe. His business dealings had that big setback a few years ago. He told you all about it, I’m sure.”

  “Of course,” Terra said noncommittally. She would have liked to know more, but no way would she stoop to fishing for information from Caterina, especially since she didn’t trust a single word coming out of the woman’s mouth.

  “All of his cash frozen,” Caterina prattled on. “It would have been fine if the law hadn’t gotten involved. Now he’s stuck trying to run his operation on a shoestring with all kinds of government people snooping around.” She grabbed a glass out of the cupboard, filled it with water, took two sips, and set it on the counter half full. “Rafe. He’s such a great guy, but when it comes to doing business, he just hasn’t kept it together. I don’t know why I put up with him. But I do. There are certain advantages, you know?”

  She looked quizzically at Terra, as if expecting agreement from her. When none was forthcoming, she gave an airy wave with her hand. “Oh well, I have to be going. I imagine we’ll have a chance to get to know each other better if you stick around. Rafe’s here, so I’m here a lot too.” She breezed past Terra and exited through the front door, leaving her dishes on the counter for Terra to clean up.

  Terra shuddered and quickly locked the front door, then checked to make sure the back door was locked too. As she stepped into the shower at last, she tried to sort through everything she had just heard and separate the fact from the fiction. Frozen accounts? Government agents? If what Caterina told her was true, then where was Rafe getting the money to pay Terra’s salary?

  Well, he hasn’t paid me yet, she thought. She briefly thought of the possibility that he wasn’t ever going to pay her, and he would simply keep her in the cottage and use her for his sexual gratification when he wasn’t with Caterina. Drying herself off, she dismissed the idea as ridiculous. She was free to leave, and Rafe knew it.

  Or was she? Still nude from her shower, Terra hurried to the bedroom and checked her purse, then breathed a sigh of relief as she saw her car keys and her wallet with her credit cards and cash untouched.

  Satisfied that her personal safety wasn’t at risk, Terra felt her emotions pushing their way to the front of her mind and demanding to be heard. Were Rafe and Caterina really a couple? If they were, they were an odd one: a mellow California guy with a perfect body paired with a scheming Brooklynite packing a good forty extra pounds. Terra
shrugged. She had been around Hollywood long enough to know there was no accounting for taste.

  Still, it bothered her. She tried to imagine Rafe going down on Caterina the way he went down on her last night. She thought of Caterina wrapping her spiky claws around Rafe’s gorgeous cock and stroking it. The images made her angry, and she felt a hot rush of jealousy and possessiveness over Rafe.

  “Stop it, Terra,” she told herself out loud, got dressed, and sat down at the computer, eager to get to work and stop her mind from churning. She spent the afternoon online researching the organic produce industry, ignoring Caterina’s voice in her head and the question of why the government would be interested in Rafe’s vineyards.

  At four o’clock she stopped for a break and heard her cell phone ring. When she picked it up, she heard Rafe’s sexy voice on the other end, and the first word he said was her name.

  “Terra.” He said her name as if it tasted good. “How are you doing today?”

  “Great.” Between the intimacy of the night before and the twisted conversation she’d just had with Caterina, she couldn’t think of anything else to say.

  “Me too,” he said. “I had a wonderful time with you last night.”

  Terra thought about mentioning Caterina’s visit and then dismissed the thought. “I enjoyed you too,” she said, and added, “All of you.” If she was going to be a kept woman, she decided she had better act the part.

  Rafe laughed happily at her straightforwardness. “Come up to my place for dinner tonight,” he said. “Business for five minutes, pleasure the rest of the night. What do you think?”

  “It’s a deal,” Terra said. She didn’t have to force herself to sound enthusiastic. She wanted to see Rafe, and this time she wanted him to fuck her.

  “Seven o’clock for cocktail hour. Dinner at eight. See you then, dear.”

  Returning to the kitchen, Terra noticed that Caterina had dumped a pile of coffee grounds in the sink. My God, she thought, what an evil bitch.

  Chapter 4After hanging up, Terra rummaged in her suitcase and put together the evening’s outfit: a pair of slinky black capris, black thong sandals trimmed with sparkly beads, and a lime green tank top with a built-in push-up bra. The top set off her black hair and green eyes perfectly, and it showed off her cleavage so that only a blind man would fail to notice it.

  She added silver earrings and a single silver bracelet, applied a dab of mascara to each eye, and took a deep breath. She was ready to go.

  When she rang the doorbell, there was no intercom this time. Rafe answered in person, wearing low-slung jeans with a jet black t-shirt tucked into them. Terra had nearly forgotten how attractive he was but remembered immediately when he stepped forward, gave her a hug, and planted a lingering kiss on her mouth. She caught a faint whiff of scent, probably Kouros. The man had perfect instincts.

  “Come join me in my kitchen,” he said. “They it’s where a woman’s place is, but I think you’ll find it’s a pretty good place for a man, too.”

  Terra had to agree when she saw it. The countertops were tiled in shades of terra cotta, and pots and pans hung from racks suspended from the high ceiling. A kettle of some kind of Italian dish simmered on the commercial grade range.

  “Here’s a seat for you,” Rafe said, pulling out one of the two bar stools at the counter for her. “I hope you don’t mind that I picked out our wine for tonight. I can’t seem to follow my own rule about quitting work after five o’clock.”

  He uncorked the bottle and poured a glass for each of them. Terra noticed that the label said Solacia.

  “Are you sure this is work?” she teased. “When I think of wine, I think of play.”

  “It’s both,” Rafe said. “If you’re going to work for me, you’ll need to learn everything there is to know about wine.” He clicked glasses with her. “But not tonight. Do you like it?”

  Terra took her first sip. “It’s lovely. Fruity but not too sweet. I’d recommend it to all the wine snobs I know and I bet they wouldn’t make fun of me.”

  Rafe laughed. “Those wine snobs are a tough crowd, for sure.” He stepped over to the stove, stirred the sauce, and set a pot of water on to boil. “We’re having puttanesca. Do you know what that means in Italian?”

  “No, I don’t speak Italian.”

  “I won’t tell you yet. I want you to think I’m a gentleman.”

  “I do think you’re a gentleman,” Terra said. “How did you learn to make this?”

  “I was trained as a master chef. I managed a restaurant for a while before figuring out my heart was in winemaking. Better hours, too.” He measured out the linguine by pinching it between his thumb and forefinger. “It didn’t take me long to figure out that there’s a huge market for wine made from organically grown grapes that are free from additives. And not just here out here in the state of crunchy granola, either.”

  “I know,” Terra said. “I have sulfite allergies. The last glass of wine I drank was so full of them that it sent me to the hospital. If I had known about Solacia, I would have been drinking a lot more wine.”

  “Well, now you do,” Rafe said, refilling her glass.

  He served their food at a table for two next to a wide expanse of windows. The pasta dish was excellent, a medley of scallops, lobster, shrimp, and fish in a light red sauce with capers.

  “Take a break from the internet tomorrow and I’ll show you the winery,” he told her. “I want to make sure you believe it exists.”

  “Oh, I believe you,” Terra said, taking another sip from her glass. “The proof is in the bottle.”

  Rafe looked across the table at her. “I like to have a policy of total honesty in all of my relationships,” he said. “Friends, lovers, employees. Do you think that’s a good idea?”

  Terra shrugged. “Sometimes the truth hurts,” she said. She was thinking about Caterina and her cryptic hints about Rafe and his money. “By the way, I had a visitor at the cottage today.” She tried to sound casual.

  Rafe looked startled. “Who?”

  “Someone named Caterina. Said she was a friend of yours.”

  “Actually she’s a relative. Caterina Francesca Colizzi.” He had an odd look in his eye as he said her last name.

  “I didn’t know you were Italian,” Terra remarked. She was surprised to see mellow Rafe look uncomfortable for a moment.

  “I’m not. I just know how to cook like one. Do you think the sauce could stand a little more oregano?” He had obviously moved on from the subject of Caterina, and Terra didn’t bring it up again.

  After dinner, Rafe cleared the table. Terra watched him and was already excited at what she knew was soon to unfold.

  He took her hand and led her into an enormous living room with a cathedral ceiling and a huge leather sectional sofa, but didn’t stop there. Terra was glad. The room was beautiful, but it wasn’t intimate and didn’t give her a sense of cosiness or safety.

  Rafe continued to lead her through his house, down a long hallway, and finally they reached a screened porch. Candles flickered under glass chimneys in each corner and on the coffee table. A comfortable sofa faced towards the ocean, and she could hear waves in the distance. In the corner was a large bed with a luxurious brown comforter and fluffy pillows.

  “This is my room,” Rafe said. “I live, work, and sleep here, and I don’t invite anyone in unless I really like them. I’m glad I’ve invited you.”

  He pulled her close and kissed her. His hands wrapped around her waist, then slowly roamed down to her ass.

  He took off his shirt to reveal his smooth chest and hard abs, then slipped Terra’s tank top off over her head to reveal her bare breasts. He knelt down, held a breast in each hands, and took each of her nipples into his mouth, one at a time. Terra gasped as she felt the touch of his teeth on her nipple, like he was rolling a grape around in his mouth without breaking the skin.

  Rafe continued to play with her breasts, squeezing them close together so he could suck on both of them at th
e same time. Terra could feel her hot juices seeping out between her thighs.

  Still kneeling, Rafe slowly rolled her capris down over her hips, revealing the plain black spandex thong she was wearing. Still moving with excruciating slowness, he stripped her pants down to her ankles and supported her as she stepped out of them.

  Rafe stood up and embraced her. “Bare assed,” he said, stroking and squeezing her naked butt with his hands. “Your bottom is so sexy. Turns me on.”

  He stepped back from her, unzipped his jeans, reached in, and took out his cock for her to look at. It hung out of his pants half-hard. Terra couldn’t take her eyes off it. It was huge, and she wanted it.

  “Come here,” he said.

  She stepped toward him, accepted his kiss, and ran her hand up and down his hard, meaty shaft, stroking its head with her thumb. He moaned and kissed her so hard that her lips felt burned.

  Rafe reached inside her thong and felt for her pussy. When he found her dripping wet, he chuckled. “You’re like me, Terra. No inhibitions. The body never lies.” He tugged at the thong. “Get rid of this and come to bed with me.”

  She took off the thong as Rafe turned back the covers and lay down, then took her hand and pulled her down on the bed next to him. She smiled approvingly as he deftly unwrapped an ultrathin condom and rolled it down over his hard-on.

  “I told you I’m a gentleman,” he said.

  He cradled her against his hard body and kissed her with his lips and his soft, warm tongue as he expertly reached between her legs and stroked her wet pussy with his fingertips.

  Terra’s breath quickened as he caressed her clit, and she recognized an orgasm building inside her. “Don’t make me come yet, Rafe,” she pleaded.

  “And why not, Terra dear? I know you like to come.” He kept stroking her sex but lightened the pressure of his fingers until she could barely feel them, just enough to keep her hot.