“Nothing,” she said quickly. “Nothing happened.”
“You two were in there for a full seven minutes, and you’re telling me nothing happened? He didn’t even kiss you?”
“Nope. He didn’t kiss me.” She took another drink of her wine. “We spent most of those seven minutes fighting. Now let’s talk about this beer bottle situation.”
“I’m probably making a big deal over nothing, but . . .” Bringing my fingers to my lips, I remembered his eyes on my mouth and the light-bellied feeling it gave me. “It felt kind of dirty. In a good way.”
Her eyes gleamed. “So now what?”
“Now nothing. Even if he is interested, he won’t act on it.”
“So maybe you need to act on it.”
I shook my head. “No way.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m off men, remember?”
“You’re off relationships. You’re off falling in love. You don’t have to be off the fun stuff.”
“That’s not what you said the other day,” I reminded her. “You said I couldn’t handle doing the fun stuff without falling for him.”
“Well, I changed my mind. I think this could be good for you. A test of sorts. You can prove to yourself—and to me—that it’s entirely possible to mess around with someone without falling in love with him. A sort of neighbors-with-benefits arrangement.”
“Won’t that mean I’ve lost the bet?”
“No. As long as you keep things casual, you haven’t lost.” She hesitated. “But if you can’t keep your feelings out of it, then don’t do it.”
“I think I can,” I said. “I mean, it’s not like I’m in danger of mistaking his intentions. I know exactly how he feels. Love would never even enter the picture. It would just be for fun. A good time.”
“There you go.”
“I’d still be independent.”
“Exactly, you’re just adding a dick and some orgasms.”
Laughing, I fidgeted nervously on my chair. “But how do I let him know that I’m up for it? I’ve never made the first move before.”
“Easy.” She snapped her fingers. “Get naked and set off your smoke alarm.”
I set my glass down and pulled out my laptop. “Very funny.”
“Just go out on the patio when you get home tonight,” she said with a shrug. “If he’s out there again, he’s definitely into you, and you should be brave and make a move. Sit in his lap.”
“I’ll think about it. Now let’s get some work done—I talked to Henry, and he’s totally cool with whatever we want to do. I also spoke with our chef briefly today, and she’s got some great ideas. What do you think about bourbon braised pork belly?”
We went over the ideas for each course, and Ellie took notes on what wines from each vineyard she thought would pair well with every dish. At one point, her mom and dad came in and said hello, offered a couple suggestions, and said how happy they were about the event.
We talked about how many tickets we should sell in order to keep it intimate, and what our roles would be that evening. Both of us agreed we wanted to keep it small and exclusive, a little pricier than we were comfortable with but not so expensive it was prohibitive. Ellie would talk about the wines, I’d talk about the food, and we’d oversee the servers together.
“I wonder if we could do it outside in mid-October,” Ellie said. “Do you guys have a tent? Some heaters?”
“We have a tent for the stone patio that overlooks the vineyard. We had to use it a couple times this summer because of rain. But I don’t know about heaters,” I said, making a note. “I’ll find out.”
“Why don’t I come by Cloverleigh tomorrow and we can scout out some possible locations?”
“Sounds good,” I said, pulling up my calendar. “I have a meeting with Millie at ten and then I’m at the front desk after lunch.”
Ellie checked her phone. “I don’t have any tastings until two. I’ll come around eleven?”
“Perfect.”
On the drive home, Dex refused to leave my mind. Could I really seduce him? What if he turned me down? What if he laughed at me? What if I made things so awkward between us we could never look each other in the eye again? Was it worth the risk?
Was I confident enough in myself to go after a man like Dex?
A man with experience. A man who looked at me and saw a young, innocent girl. A man who’d made my nipples hard with a look and a glass bottle.