Elle laughed and said, “I had a couple of martinis at dinner.”
“You didn’t drive, right?” Jim asked, concerned.
“Nope. Sara picked me up. I think she may have planned to get me a little drunk. She seemed genuinely sad when I stopped at two drinks.”
“Yeah?” Jim asked.
“She’s nosy. She’s been pumping me for details about us all week,” Elle said. “I’m pretty sure she was hoping I’d be more forthcoming with a few drinks in my system.”
Jim laughed, then asked, “And were you?”
“No. I kept it classy. It wasn’t easy though. Chloe is a world-class interrogator,” she said on a laugh.
“She’s relentless,” Jim said. “She called me on Monday night and asked me a ton of incredibly nosy questions too. She should have been a lawyer.”
“Like what?”
Jim laughed and said, “Hmm. Let’s see. Did we finally go on a date? How did it go? Do I like you? Are we a couple? Do I think it will last? Am I seeing other people? Are you seeing other people? Did we sleep together yet? Is it serious? Do I think it could be serious? She wouldn’t let up on me.”
Elle slowly said, “She mostly asked me really direct sex-related questions.” After a moment, she said, “That leads me to believe you might have caved to the pressure and answered her questions. She would have hounded me about those too, otherwise.”
“I might have,” he admitted. “What did she ask you?”
“Just basic stuff. Did we sleep together? Were you good in bed? Are you as hot without clothes on as she thinks you’d be? Then she started asking for details about size and specific acts. That’s about the time I shut down.”
“Oh, really? And what did you say?” Jim asked, grinning.
“Yes. The best I’ve ever had. Probably hotter than she imagined,” Elle said.
Jim grinned and then asked, “Really? The best?”
“It’s not even close. You’re incredibly attentive and that’s rare.”
“I’m glad you enjoy yourself. It wouldn’t be any fun if you didn’t,” Jim said, slightly mystified.
“Believe me. I appreciate that about you,” Elle said, the smirk in her voice evident. “Since I told you what I told Chloe, it’s only fair that you tell me what you said.”
Wincing, Jim said, “Well, you already know the answers to some of it. Yes, we went out. It went really well. I told her that I liked you. She assumed we slept together and I didn’t really dissuade her of the notion.”
“Oh, come on, Jim. You can’t just answer the questions I already know the answers to. That’s no fair,” Elle said with a slight pout in her voice.
“Fine, fine. You’re right. That was cheap. I told her I didn’t know if it was serious yet, but that I thought it could be. I told her I hoped it would last. Also, I told her we hadn’t discussed the whole concept of seeing other people but that I di
dn’t want to and hoped you felt the same way about it.”
Elle said, “I wouldn’t really have the time, even if I wanted to. But I don’t.”
Jim smiled and said, “I feel the same way. The connection between us is worth exploring. I’d like to give that my undivided attention.”
“Agreed,” Elle said. After a long pause, she asked, “How was your day? Was your flight okay?”
Jim replied, “Flight was good, but there was about a half foot of snow on the ground last time I looked outside. I was going to go for barbecue, but that didn’t work out. I hate driving in the snow.”
“I’ve only driven in it once. It snowed in Bakersfield a couple years before I left. There were accidents all over the place. No one knew what the hell they were doing. It was the same way it is when people drive in the rain here, only multiplied,” Elle said.
Snorting, Jim said, “They didn’t really know what they were doing here either. I was stuck in traffic for over an hour. The nav system said it was a ten-minute ride from the airport to my hotel.”
“Ouch. That sucks. Did you get any sleep on the plane?”