Whispers in the Vineyard Ch. 02

Janeen came in every day to help. One evening I ordered pizza for and opened a bottle of wine that we brought back.

"This is a wonderful wine," she said holding the glass up to the light. "Beautiful too! I think our guests are really going to like this!"

I nodded. "I brought back a bit of everything they make so we can decide what we want to include on our menu. I did get a bit of kitchen time in there, by the way!"

"You did? In the winery restaurant? Tell me!"

"Well, it turned out to be a much finer restaurant than I imagined it would. Their exec chef is an older man, but so good. And the kitchen is state of the art. The food is excellent so I can see why."

"Well that was a surprise, wasn't it? You didn't expect much of a restaurant."

"No, not at all. It's a bigger operation than Gregg indicated. Quite large. And it's all family. He's an only child, so it's all his whenever he wants to step in."

"Has he said when he might want to do that?" Janeen asked.

"Not really. He didn't' seem to know himself. I think he will eventually. He's not ready to give up his independence I think."

She nodded. "That's understandable."

"Right before I left, they did offer me a job to work along with their executive chef." I thought I might as well bring it up.

"Oh." She hesitated. "What did you say?"

"First of all, I said I loved my restaurant, and second, I'd never leave my staff high and dry. Our town is small and good jobs weren't easy to find." She agreed.

"But you can't lose sight of what makes you happy. We could all survive here, Ellie. Don't lose sight of you."

I nodded. "I know. You're right. I guess it's just as much that I'm not ready to give this up. Yet."

If he wasn't on duty at the firehouse, I was accustomed to Gregg being here every evening. In the weeks since returning from the vineyard, we had settled into a comfortable routine. He would often stay over and leave after we had breakfast to go about his day, which was when I usually left to pick up supplies.

"My lease is up in a couple of weeks," he said one morning at breakfast.

And that's how it happened that he moved in with me.

Other than making room in my closet, it was a smooth transition. He had been here a couple of weeks now and we settled into life together.

"I'm doing laundry today. Can I do your clothes too?" he said one morning.

I blinked. Something I hadn't thought of. Laundry duty. "Umm, sure, if you want to."

He laughed. "Don't worry, I know how to separate, water temperature and all that."

"No no, that wasn't what I was thinking. Just how many mundane decisions we've had to make that I never considered." I got up to rinse my coffee cup.

He was leaning against the counter, and I moved between his legs. I ran my hand over bare chest.

"I sorta like the idea of having no laundry. I like you like this," I whispered. "But these," I pushed his sleep shorts down, "Gotta go."

"Mmm, didn't you get enough last night?" His voice thick with arousal.

"Of you? I never get enough of you, babe."

"Good, because I never get enough of you either," he said, pulling my t shirt over my head.

I stepped into him, enjoying our bare bodies in the sun-drenched kitchen. My nipples hardened against his chest, and he took them in his hands and began to knead and pinch my nipples. He already had my hot spots down and it didn't take long to fire me up. Our kisses turned out and animalistic.

I turned around and leaned over the breakfast bar, wiggling my ass at him. He moaned and came up behind me.

He trailed his finger up my slit, already drenched. A few flicks of his finger had me moaning out a long loud orgasm. And that was when he slid in.

My cunt squeezed his cock rhythmically. He held my hips and thrust in faster and harder. My breasts mashed under me, but it felt oh so good. My fingers wrapped around the far edge of the bar as I sprawled my upper body across.

"Oh my god, babe... You drive me wild..." he moaned, his fingers digging into my hips as he pounded into me.

His balls slapped against my clit which sent me over the edge, and I rode each peak. I groaned, each hard thrust, "Ungh, ungh, ungh". My knuckles were white from my grip on the edge of the countertop.

He shouted just as I felt his cock throb hard and pump over and over. He buried deep and powerful when he drained his balls into me.

He collapsed over me for a moment, then stood up and pulled me with him.

"God babe, your face and front are all pink. Why didn't you stop me?" He trailed his fingers over my cheek that rubbed on the counter.

"And fuck up and excellent fuck? Are you kidding me?" I rasped, still out of breath.

He laughed. "Only you can make me laugh during sex. That's one of the reasons I love you."

There was a shocked silence. I'm still not sure if it was more me, or him. I truly thing it slipped out and he hadn't intended to tell me, although he denied it. I didn't reply because I didn't want to say it in the heat of passion. Accidently or not.

"Ohhhhh, did you get sunburnt, Ellie?" Janeen asked when I walked into the restaurant.

I tried to cover it up before I left, but apparently not very well. "I'm not sure. I think I laid on my pillow wrong or something." And I hurriedly changed the subject.

Several weeks later I walked into the restaurant after picking up vegetables and meat I needed for dinner.

"Ellie, the hospital called and said Gregg is there. He's okay but suffered some smoke inhalation."

I dropped everything before she finished talking and was out the door, in my car and at the hospital before I even knew what I was doing.

I ran into the emergency room telling them his name and they pointed at a cubicle down the hall. I raced in, pushed my way through a sea of firemen and gasped when I saw how grey his skin was. What wasn't smudged with black.

"Are you fucking kidding me," I breathed. I heard the murmurs behind me and the sound of feet shuffling out the door.

"I'm fine babe," he croaked. His voice was raspy and choked. His eyes were bloodshot and red rimmed.

I was frozen on the spot. I couldn't move. It was like a film running through my head at warp speed culminating in this moment. I had never considered how dangerous his job was until right this minute. How stupid could I be. I couldn't stop the tears from rolling. Tears for him. Tears because of my stupidity. I sobbed.

"Come here babe... I'm okay... Come to me..." he said, stretching out his hand.

The doctor came in right then. "So, how're we doing?" he asked, picking up Gregg's chart. "Great. Everything looks good. I think we can release you."

"Release him!" I screeched. "You can't let him go. Did you look at him?! He needs to stay here! He's not well!"

The doctor looked at me sympathetically and I was pretty sure he ran across a few someone like me before.

He stuck out his hand. "I'm Doctor Jansen. You must be Gregg's....?"

"Girlfriend. Ellie," Gregg croaked in the background.

"Yes, yes, I'm his girlfriend," I said, still stunned at what was happening. "But you're still not going to release him, are you? I don't know how to take care of him. He needs someone professional. Like you."

"Hey, you own that restaurant in town, don't you?" the doctor interrupted. I nodded. "Holy cow your food is astounding. So damn hard to get reservations." He glanced at Gregg, grinning. "Hey, do you suppose if I keep him overnight you can make sure I get into your fine establishment?" He ended on a laugh not being able to continue the joke further.

"Doc!" Gregg ground out.

Doctor Jansen shrugged. "Worth a tray though eh, Gregg?" He looked back at me. "We go a long way back. And he will be fine. Just make sure he doesn't overdo and gets some rest."

He looked down, signed the chart, shook Gregg's hand. "Nice to meet you, Ellie! I'll see you for dinner," he said and was gone.

That night Gregg had some residual coughing but after a hot shower, which I helped him with, seemed to be okay.

"I think that was the first time we showered together that we didn't-"

"You are in no condition to fuck!" I cut in, and he guffawed. Then had a coughing fit. "See!"

We had called it an early night and watched television in bed, snuggled under the covers.

"Mmm, this is nice," he murmured, hugging me closer. "Now I know how I can get more loving."

"That is not even funny!" I shouted. "You scared the hell out of me today."

And the tears came, and I was mortified. I scrubbed my eyes with the back of my hand trying to erase them. But it all started hitting me.

"Easy love, I'm okay. It's sort of the nature of my job though. I don't want you to worry, but it's not like I'm a schoolteacher."

Still distressed, I got control of myself and stopped crying. "I know. I guess it just didn't hit me how dangerous your job was until today. I don't know what I was thinking. Or not thinking. I was so scared until I saw you." I pushed up on my elbow to look at him. "I love you."

"I've been waiting for that, you know," he smiled and kissed me. "I love you too."

We made slow sweet love that night and my love for him grew even deeper. I began to see a future with him. I saw myself growing old with him.

~to be continued~

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