Tempting Playboy
By mid-afternoon, the sun was a pale gold disc hanging low over the western ridge.
The air smelled rich and sweet, crushed apple skins, wet oak shavings, and the pungent tang of cold river mud. They had cleared three crates of apples, turning the iron flywheel of the press by hand until the sweet, cloudy amber juice ran steady into glass carboys set on the flagstones.
Gia’s arms ached from loading the hopper. Her fingers were sticky with apple juice, her cheeks flushed red from the biting wind.
She sat down on an overturned cedar crate by the barn door, letting her hands rest on her knees.