Page 88 of The Final Rose

I’m still laughing at the irony of it all when I hear the steps coming from the backdoor. My eyes raise the second he’s in the view.

The air leaves my lungs.

Sebastian Riggs.

He cuts through the small crowd, stopping in the middle of the room. He’s back on his mark. Every week, he stands there to eliminate a contestant.

My wobbly legs move when he calls my name.

“Callie…”

I love the way he says it. He even makes my name sound magical.

I walk to him and everything I practiced saying for the last couple of hours evaporates.

“What a way to get my attention.”

I hear a few snickers, but my eyes are fixed on him. His blue eyes are shining, and he has a little wrinkle at the corner when he smiles.

“You know me. I like to make a scene.”

“What would the King say?”

“I expect a stern-worded letter from His Majesty himself any minute now.”

“What’s stern-worded for royalty?”

He thinks for a second. “Unbelievably passive-aggressive.”

“Now,” I scoff. “That’s just British.”

He chuckles and I follow suit. Sebastian shakes his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Jesus, I’m mucking this up.”

“Why? Don’t you think the public wants to hear about us making fun of the King?”

With a serious face, he steps close and takes my hands with his. “Americans are way more sensitive about the royal family than most English I know.”

“Let’s talk about the probability of that being remotely true.”

“Let’s talk about us, Callie Sosa.”

I swallow my funny comebacks in a second. It’s easy to forget everything with Sebastian. We did that once, didn’t we? We forgot he was the Eligible, and I was a field producer. We forgot our places and why it wasn’t going to work.

And now I forget that we are mic-ed and all my colleagues are watching.

“This is not what you imagined,” he says first. “I know you never wanted to be on this side of the cameras. So, I need to apologize for that first.”

I open my mouth, but he shakes his head. “Me first.” I make a face but shut my mouth.

His thumbs play with the skin on the top of my hand. I feel his touch from head to toe.

“All I ever wanted was to find someone who truly saw me. Beyond my last name, the suits, and the charity events. I wanted someone for me and not for the Riggs’ last name. I agreed to come toThe Final Rosebecause I wanted to be surprised at least once in my life.” He smiles. “And boy, how surprised I was.”

I bite my lip down, trying not to interject as he says, “And it was there,” he points to the little alcove to the right, “when I saw you for the first time. When you said I was too sarcastic and that wouldn’t work for TV. You wanted to give me a sarcasm sign.”

I chuckle and I hear other people laughing, too.

“It was right there,” he points toward the kitchen. “When Maverick kept sending me flower bouquets, and you said you’d kill me if I had a girlfriend.”

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