“So it’s honor system?”
“Yes.” I returned to the bed and looked at the screen. “Winnie called back. Hang on, let me listen to her voicemail.” I put the phone to my ear and heard Winnie’s voice, frantic with concern.
“Ellie! Oh my God, I can’t believe you’re out in this storm, it’s so bad! Please get off the road and don’t worry about anything here. Desmond is all set to cover your eleven o’clock tasting tomorrow, and he can cover the one o’clock too if necessary. But call me when you get this, or text me or something, so I’m not awake all night worrying about you!”
I looked at Gianni. “I should call her back. Do you think we’ll make it home by noon tomorrow? I have a one o’clock tasting.”
“If it stops snowing and the roads are plowed, yeah. We can leave first thing.” He crumpled up the empty bag of chips and picked up a protein bar. “Can I have this?”
I nodded and dialed Winnie’s number. She picked up immediately.
“Ellie?”
“Hey.”
“Thank God! You guys okay?”
“We’re fine.” I watched Gianni unwrap the bar. “We found a motel with a vacancy.”
“You mean you’re staying in a motel room together?” she asked, loud enough for Gianni to overhear.
“Yeah. And there’s only one bed.”
She laughed. “How’s that going?”
“Fine.”
“You guys are getting along?”
Gianni made a lewd gesture involving his fist, his tongue, and his inner cheek. I gave him the finger. “As well as you’d expect.”
“I can’t wait to hear about it.”
“We’re going to try to get out of here as soon as we can in the morning. I’ll let you know when we’re on the road.”
“Sounds good.” She laughed again. “Sleep tight.”
“Oh. We will.” I eyed the length of the bed. “We have no choice.”
After ending the call, I opened the Truth or Drink app on my phone and picked up my wine. “Ready to play?”
“Hit me.”
I scrolled through the options. “Do you want to play normal mode, party mode, or dirty mode?”
Gianni looked at me like I was crazy. “Duh.”
I sighed and reached for my wine. “Okay, fine. I feel like I’m going to regret this, but dirty it is.”
“Can I take my pants off?”
“No. What’s your age range for a one-night stand?”
“Hmm.” Gianni thought for a moment.
“Please say at least eighteen.”
“No teenagers. I’ll say twenty to forty-five.”
“Forty-five? Really?”
He shrugged. “I think mature women are hot. But I can’t go near fifty because that’s my mom’s age and then it would be weird.”
“Right.”
“So what about you? Same question.”
“I’d have to say . . . thirty to forty.”
He looked offended. “Why thirty? You’re only twenty-three.”
And so was he, which was why I’d said it. “I know, but I think older men are just better in bed.” I’d actually never been with anyone over twenty-eight.
“In what way?”
“Just . . . more patient. More knowledgeable. More generous. Guys in their twenties think they’re all that just because they have younger bodies, especially if they’re—you know—well-endowed. But it’s not just the size of the boat. It’s definitely the motion of the ocean.”
He harrumphed. “You’ve been in the wrong boats.”
“Next.” I glanced at the screen. “Describe the perfect foreplay.”
“What’s foreplay?”
I looked up at him and blinked.
“I’m just kidding,” he said, laughing. “God, you should see your face. The perfect foreplay, hmm. I mean, it’s different every time. As opposed to whatever twenty-something two-pump chumps you’ve been with, I think I’m very patient and generous. I try different things and see what she responds to.”
“Like what?” The words were out before I could stop them.
His mouth hooked up on one side. “Just . . . different things. With my hands. Or my mouth.” He took a sip of his wine. “My tongue.”
I couldn’t stop staring at his lips on the rim of the glass. Beneath his sweater and my blouse, my skin was damp with heat. I struggled to breathe quietly.