Eli flipped his card around. “Author.”
I flipped mine to reveal that they matched.
“Alright, that’s a point for everyone except for Grant and Sofia. Now onto the next question.”
She asked the women the same question next and Eli and I scored another point when I wrote “writer/director.” The next question was,where did your partner grow up?Eli got us a point with Chicago, and I got us one with LA. An array of casual questions followed.
What’s your partner’s favorite season?
What’s your partner’s favorite food?
What’s your partner’s biggest fear?
Everyone got some right here and there, but a lot were guesses too. I answered ‘snake’ for biggest fear for Eli and it turned out to be right. I bounced up and down in my seat, smiling at him. With that correct answer, we were tied for first with Danny and Trace.
“Next question. Let’s make it a little juicier.” Rita winked at the camera. “Men, how many sexual partners has your partner had?”
A blush crept over my cheeks. Eli winced. While the idea of the show exploiting us like this was completely gross, it wasn’t worth making a scene over. Since the guys were guessing first, I wrote my number down. I looked at my number and felt absolutely fine about it, but I couldn’t help but wonder how Eli would feel when he saw it. Or worse, how I would feel when he revealed his.
Everyone revealed their numbers down the line. There wasn’t anything too surprising. Danny even got Trace’s right.
Then it was Eli’s turn. He flipped his card. “4.”
I turned my card to reveal a “1.”
The room fell silent and I prayed we’d move on quickly. It wasn’t so much the number itself that brought down the mood, it was the innuendo behind it. My fiancé had died. Now everyone was doing the quick mental calculations in their head to determine that yes, I had only ever slept with one person, who now was no longer here. Even worse, now Eli knew exactly how long it had been since I had been with a guy. I knew two years was a long time; Piper reminded me of that constantly. But I couldn’t force something I didn’t feel just for the sake of moving on.
“Alright girls, same question about your men. And remember, guys, no lying about your answers.”
I breathed a sigh of relief that she didn’t linger on my number. My marker hovered over my board as I tried to decide what number to put down. Would forty be a good guess? I knew he had a reputation, but how much of that was just the media outlets spinning a tale?
The guys revealed their numbers one at a time.
Trace knew Danny’s exactly, which made me think they had already found time for a few intimate conversations. Rachel wasn’t far off from Arnie’s, but Sofia wasn’t even close to Grant’s. I wasn’t sure if the two of them had even managed to score a point yet.
It was my turn. I flipped to reveal a “45.”
Eli’s expression was impossible to read as he flipped his card. “100ish.”
My eyebrows shot up as I tried to neutralize my expression of surprise. That was fine. He was a grown man who could sleep with whoever he wanted to. But100ish? We weren’t even in the same league. Hell, we weren’t even playing the samegame. I knew my cheeks were beet red, but I tried my hardest to pretend like his answer hadn’t jarred me.
“Wow, Eli,” Rita purred. “I think we all saw that one coming. Maybe it’s a bit of a low estimate, huh?”
“I don’t think so,” Eli said gruffly, shaking his head.
He wasn’t looking at me and I wondered what he was thinking. Did he think we were too mismatched?
“Next question,” Rita continued. “How long was your partner’s longest relationship?”
Eli got that one right, thanks to our kitchen conversation the other day. When it was my turn to answer for him I guessed six months.
Eli still wouldn’t meet my eyes when he flipped his card. “A few weeks.”
Rita snorted when she saw it. “That’s probably generous.”
I glared at her. Who was she to use that judgmental tone with him? She didn’t know him well enough to make a snide remark like that.
Then it was time for the last question.
