Page 51 of My Forbidden Boss

Hollis’ voice was soft, hollow, resolved.

“Tisha, I…”

“I like the wine.”

I squinted sideways, finally letting the sneer curl devilishly up the edges of my lips.

Hollis looked at me in utter disbelief.

I nodded, trying my best to appear academic and assured. “No, I’m serious. I’ve given it a good bit of thought, and… Yep. I think it’s a good one.”

He was speechless. Inwardly I cackled.

“Would you care to try a taste, monsieur?”

Almost suspiciously, he nodded and reached for his glass, the second taster poured from the bottle before decanting.

Hollis held the glass to his chin but paused. For a moment, I imagined him wondering if I had somehow poisoned it.

But his neck tipped back to sip, regardless. I stopped him with no more than the sound of my own voice.

“Have you had this one before?”

He stopped, bringing the glass back to the table.

His brow furrowed as he looked aimlessly from side to side, thinking. “Um, I don’t think so.”

I nodded, understanding. “So, you don’t know what it is? Where it’s from? Anything like that? They didn’t tell you when they served it, and you don’t remember seeing it on the menu?”

Hollis was clearly confused at that point. It took him considerably longer to answer than before, even though the answer was bound to be the same.

“Tisha… No. I mean, no, I have no idea what this wine is.”

I nodded patiently. “Good. Neither do I. Well, what I mean is, I didn’t hear the name, and you wouldn’t let me look at any of the menu, so…”

He broke in defensively. “Hey, wait a second, I just wanted to surprise you! I didn’t mean that you couldn’t look at the menu if you wanted. It’s…”

I stopped him with a smile. “Hollis. It’s not a big deal. Here, let me put you out of your misery. I have a proposal.”

“A proposal?”

I nodded slowly. “Yes. You can sit as close to me as you like… well, within reason and decency… and I will even admit that this is and always was, will continue to be a date. If.”

So many emotions flashed across his face that it was hard to keep track.

“If?”

I nodded again, letting my confident smile show. “If.”

I explained, “Neither of us knows with any absolute certainty what this wine is. Neither of us has seen a label or listing… nothing. All we have is the actual wine here in front of us, decanted. I propose a competition – you and me. If you can describe more true things about this wine than I can, I’ll do what I said. And we’ll say… You have to guess with confidence, so there’s no getting lucky. If one of us guesses something and it’s wrong, that’s minus one point.”

Hollis perked up. “Alright, um… I could get behind this. But what kind of things are we supposed to describe? Isn’t taste kind of subjective?”

I tilted my head from left to right, compiling a few in the front of my mind.

“Year, country, primary grape, whether it’s a blend or not… whether it’s considered old world or new… Those are a few that aren’t too subjective. As far as taste, aroma, and that sort of thing, I would just go with your gut. If it’s important enough to notice, then it’s probably worth sharing.”

Hollis suddenly looked skeptical. “You know that I own literally thousands and thousands, probably hundreds of thousands of bottles of wine, right?”

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