Be Mine Forever (A St. Helena Vineyard Novel) Read Online Free Page A

appointed position as VP of Sales for DeLuca Wines, no less—he came home to realize he was still several steps behind, and now even playing in the wrong game. A place he’d spent his entire life trying to outgrow. Without much luck.
    “Yeah, well, do real men walk around with babies attached like accessories?” Trey asked, flagging down the bartender to order a real drink.
    “Says the man who uses the word ‘ accessories, ’” Gabe, the oldest brother, laughed. “Besides my girls are the cutest damn accessories I’ve ever had.”
    “Real babe magnets too,” Marc laughed. “Lexi sees me cuddling Baby Sofie and she is yanking me out the door back to our place.”
    “Holding Baby Sofie and Holly’s hand at the same time, potent stuff.” Nate and Marc high-fived and Trey wanted to punch someone.
    “ This is my problem.” He dropped his head to the counter, everything making sense. His dry spell, why he was so drawn to Little Miss Manners the other night, why he couldn’t even look at a baby without breaking out in a sweat. “This is why I haven’t gotten laid in three months.”
    “You haven’t gotten any in three months?” Marc asked, sounding pretty damn shocked. That was all right, Trey was shocked himself. He hadn’t gone this long without a woman since high school.
    “How can I, when every time I meet someone, we start talking, vibes start flying, she gives me the look, and before I know it, my sexy one-nighter suddenly morphs into a pregnant woman in a wedding dress?”
    Although Sara hadn’t morphed and she had given him the look. Then again, she was too sweet to morph and too nervous to follow up on the look. Hell, she couldn’t even follow up with returning his call.
    Still, as far as Trey was concerned, there was nothing settling about the idea of settling down. In fact, he was pretty sure he’d developed a severe allergic reaction to commitment, compromise, and kids the day his parents died.
    The bartender set down his beer and Trey took a large swig. “I don’t want to talk about this. I came here tonight to let you all know that I can’t escort Nonna to the Gala.”
    “Sorry, bro,” Marc shrugged. “Rules are rules, you drew the short straw.”
    “Rules my ass,” he mumbled. “We all know there was only one straw. And I’m turning it over to Nate.”
    Nate was the peacemaker of the family, the problem-solver go-to guy. There was no way he would say—
    “Nope. Sorry.”
    Trey choked on his beer. “What?”
    “Frankie’s my date. I’m still making it up to her for taking Sasha Dupree to the prom. And since Frankie already has a dress for the waltz, and I like my nuts right where they are, I’m taking my fiancée. Sorry, bro,” Nate said, not sorry at all.
    “Marc?” Trey asked, his voice sounding a little desperate.
    “I filled in for you last year and, I believe, three years ago as well. Plus, Lexi is really looking forward to this, and I am looking forward to her in red.”
    “Nonna expects me to brush up on my ballroom. By taking dance lessons,” he explained.
    Marc flashed a smug-ass grin and added, “Time to man-up, Trey.”
    “Don’t look at me,” Gabe said before Trey even had the chance to look his way. “Regan is convinced that this is her last time to dance before she looks like a beached whale, her words not mine, because if you ask me, when she’s pregnant—”
    “I’m not asking you, nor have I ever asked you, so can you—not.” Trey held up a hand. He couldn’t do it. He just couldn’t listen to one more detail about married, pregnant sisters-in-law who rocked his brothers’ worlds. Tonight was supposed to be bro-time. And bro-time didn’t include talking about feelings, swollen feet, or color palettes—ever. “Bottom line is, I can’t stay.”
    “It’s three weeks, Trey,” Nate said as though Trey could just clear his schedule at will.
    “I don’t even have three days. I walked out of a meeting with one of our biggest French