It had been a good day.
Stephanie Peach, a bond enforcement agent in Hoboken, New Jersey, had finally gotten cuffs on mob boss Lance Risko. After depositing him at police headquarters, she collected her “body receipt” – that meant she could pay rent this month. And this was the fourth day in a row she hadn’t wrecked a car. When her Honda was burnt to a cinder, Scout had lent her a brand new, jet-black Jaguar I-Pace. I mean, how could you burn this one? It was an electric car…. There was no gasoline, right? To top it all off, her wine club shipment of 2019 Complant Linda Vista Chardonnay had arrived and she couldn’t wait to share it with Scout in celebration of her victory.
Scout, an ex-Navy Seal, ran a security company in Hoboken and was a constant temptation to Stephanie. He was waiting in her apartment when she tossed her messenger bag on the couch and pulled the cork on a chilled bottle of Chardonnay. As she handed him a glass, he was characteristically terse. “Babe,” he uttered, before taking a sip. Stephanie was a little taken aback when he said to her, with unusual intensity, “Babe this is the best Chardonnay I’ve ever tasted. I didn’t know they could make wines like this in California. It has a straw yellow color and a nose of honey, Bosc pear and ginger. This vibrant wine has a rich entry and great mid-palate weight balanced by bright natural acidity. On the palate, there are echoes of honey and green pear, and the wine finishes with notes of persimmon, jasmine and ginger. It’s delicious.”
Stephanie couldn’t decide if she was more surprised by this outburst of wine knowledge or by the fact that while speaking, Scout had managed to pull her toward him and had already unclasped her bra and drawn her into a passionate, Chardonnay-infused kiss.
And that’s when the Jaguar in the parking lot exploded.