Intoxicating Read Online Free Page A

vocabulary.”
    â€œRegular Groliers, us two.”
    He was funny. And smart. Dangerous combo. Don’t forget gorgeous. See. Too perfect.
    This time, she noticed the shape of his lips. Angular. Wide and welcoming. Very kissable lips. Helplessly, she felt her attraction to him grow. This was definitely out of the ordinary for her. She wasn’t the kind of woman who did anything heedlessly, much less indulged in lusty impulses, but she could not stop herself from tracking down his strong masculine chin, to his broad shoulders and chest. Good thing he was sitting behind a table, otherwise, she would have been tempted to let her gaze stroll even lower.
    What in the hell was wrong with her? She needed to take control of the situation, and take control of it now.
    â€œI have another taste test I want to give you,” she said.
    â€œBring it.”
    She held up one finger. “I’ll be right back.”
    Kiara took off from the lab, more as an excuse tocompose herself than anything else. This intern had potential, but her physical reaction to him scared her. She needed to make sure he was the one before she offered him the job as her assistant. She had a test in mind to see if he really did have a discerning tongue and olfactory sense or if he was just a great pretender. She suspected the latter.
    When she was in grad school, she’d been involved in a study based on a blind taste test featuring two name-brand colas. In the original experiment, all the blindfolded participants preferred the taste of the lesser-known brand to the best-selling soda. The researchers wanted to understand why the best-tasting cola was not the best-selling cola so they did a second test where they performed an MRI on the subjects as they drank the colas and discovered the “reward” center of the brain lit up when they drank the lesser-known brand.
    In a clever twist, the researchers repeated the experiment a third time, informing the participants that they were drinking the name brand even though they were not. This time their brains lit up in the “reward” region, the same as they had previously done with the brand whose flavor they had enjoyed more.
    Kiara’s scientific mind found the results of this experiment both fascinating and frustrating. It meant that for most people, brand loyalty trumped quality. Given human psychology, how did an upstart winery compete against the big labels? It was a question that had plagued her for years, but now that she was in charge of Bella Notte it had become the paramount question.
    She needed something— someone —to help her bridge the gap between the myth of a name brand’s superiority and the science of truly good wine. She hadto believe that some level of objectivity could be found and exploited.
    But how?
    Test this guy. See if he truly is discerning enough to differentiate between taste and brand.
    All right, so it was a bit underhanded. She’d admit it. But if she was going to let this guy into her lab, take him on as an assistant, she needed some assurance he was the real deal.
    Or was she simply kidding herself? Was she just trying to find an excuse to keep the super-hot guy around?
    Kiara’s cheeks flushed. No, no, that wasn’t what she was doing. She wasn’t the kind of person who allowed something like sexual attraction get in the way of her goals. She wanted him because he had exhibited a rare talent for detecting the subtle smells and flavors of wine.
    She was focused. Resolute. Her goal was single-minded and lofty. Consistently produce the best dessert wine in California, and if Wyatt Jordan could help her do that, well then, she would use him.
    Yeah? So why are you standing out here in the corridor?
    She shook her head and took the steps down to the wine cellar. The cool, earthy smell enveloped her. She loved it down here in this old-fashioned cellar with stone walls and a floor of ram-packed earth. When she was a child, this