Lauren
“Jean-Luc? Jean-Luc?” my friend Rose called out. “You’ve got some thirsty tasters out here. And where’s that candied bacon you promised?”
The shop appeared deserted even though wine bottles marched in a line down the long high bar on the right, each in its own anonymous brown paper bag. Long-stemmed glasses sat next to small plates of sliced baguette and bacon bites, along with a pitcher of water.
To the tune of another clap of thunder, I struggled to pull off my raincoat. We were all soaked, despite our vow to run between the raindrops from Rose’s Chocolate Lab Café to Dogwood Wine Merchants a few blocks down the street.
I was up from Sonoma to Portland for the winter dog show, and Rose had invited me to join her and her friends for a Valentine’s Day blind wine tasting at her neighborhood wine shop.
The love is blind theme worked for me. Turned out, the other four women were unattached on this most romantic day of the year. But I was happy to take a break from…all the pre-dog-show schmoozing.
Except now I’d lost track of the dog in question.
“Baby? Oh, Baby, come back.”
The moment I’d set my giant yellow tote on the floor, my little girl had jumped out and raced toward the back of the shop, her nails ticking against the wood floor.
Crackles and pops sounded overhead as I wove between stacked open boxes and crates, pursuing Baby to the back. She disappeared through a door, and I pushed it all the way open when I reached it.
My breath caught in my throat.
The tiny Papillon had crowded between two monsters…in size, at least. Though at five foot nothing, I saw monsters everywhere.
But my Baby was fearless. She stood facing a humongous Bernese Mountain Dog, her butterfly ears perked forward, her tail on the wag, ready for anything. When she didn’t get the expected play bow, Baby sat down and scooted closer, tilting her head in inquiry.
I started forward to rescue my girl, then stilled. The poor big baby had wedged himself between two rows of wine crates, shivering and whimpering and whining at each blast of thunder.
A monster of a man knelt in front of the Bernese, crowding Baby from the back. A fine sheen covered his face, even under his closely trimmed dark beard. His corded and veined forearm, visible below the rolled-up sleeve, trembled as he reached around Baby to offer a bacon chunk to his pup.
Thick, longish, midnight-black hair glimmered under the harsh bright light, like it had a life of its own.
Even kneeling on the floor didn’t disguise his brawny shoulders, towering height and muscular thighs.
“It’s all right, ma petite,” he rumbled, wrapping his other huge hand around Baby to prevent her from getting closer. “Cab’s just afraid of loud noises.”
Baby resisted his efforts to hold her back and moved forward to nudge the big dog’s throat with her muzzle. Cab gave one last shudder and settled down on his stomach, head on paws, peering at this new part of his world.
The man swung his head toward me and then jerked back, like I’d surprised him. At the same time, a boom shook the walls around us. Had lightning struck nearby?
I met his stare in alarm and was instantly sucked in. Sooty thick lashes surrounded eyes so black they seemed out of this world. The intensity of the moment must have caused his pupils to dilate, drowning the more common brown beneath.
Nobody had eyes like that in real life, right?
Jean-Luc
I couldn’t tear my gaze away from la belle who stood frozen at my side. The reverberations from the thunder rolled right through me, shaking me to my core.
Sleek honey-blonde hair curved around her cheeks, framing delicate features in a heart-shaped face…delicate except for her generous mouth. Even though her lips clenched together—in concern? in fear?—there was no mistaking the plump, sensuous Cupid’s bow.
Made for kissing, for…sucking.
Her petite yet perfect form shivered once, then twice. Was she cold from the rain? Where was her raincoat? Did she need a jacket? Mine was upstairs in my apartment… I’d get it, but I couldn’t leave Cab when he was like this.
All I really wanted to do was gather this beautiful stranger in my arms. Wrap her close to my heart. Make sure she was safe.
What stopped me? Aside from the whole stranger part.
Her eyes. The shadows of bruising beneath, the lines knifing from the corners. The denim blue lurking under half-lowered lids. All still vivid against her pale skin, damp from the rain.
Like she hadn’t gotten a good sleep in a long time. Like she had too many worries to share. Like she hid secrets I wanted to uncover.
Was the fabled French coup de foudre—love at first sight—a real thing? The thunderbolt to the heart? Or was I exhausted from the usual memories, the usual panic, that came with a storm and not thinking clearly?
I shifted to face la belle, never breaking eye contact, when Rose, the café owner from down the street, burst through the door.
“There you are, Jean-Luc. Have you met my friend Lauren? She’s visiting from California for the dog show.” Rose paused for breath. “Besides dogs, you guys have a lot in common. Lauren and her husband own a vineyard in Sonoma County.”
I blinked. Struck down before I could even rise to claim her.
