Page 92 of The Dating Contract

He rang the doorbell, took a few deep breaths and waited.

The squeak of the door opening made his heart pound again, but Nathan’s clear and obvious smile made him feel better.

“Oh good,” Leah’s older brother said. “You’re here. I’ll get…”

“Not necessary,” Asher said as he appeared as if out of nowhere. “She’s on her way; I hear the footsteps I think. All we have to do is look like we’re talking and she’ll…”

“What the heck is going on?”

And there she was—resplendent and gorgeous.

“You’re here,” she said.

“I’m here,” he began, the words he wanted to say tripping on his tongue, wanting to get out. “I…”

And that was when Leah shook her head, her hair flying back and forth.

“We’ll let you take over,” Asher said, making his presence known as if he’d turned invisible for a moment.

“I’ll deal with you two later,” Leah said as he watched Asher and Nathan leave, Nathan giving a weird-looking thumbs up as he left.

“Don’t mind them,” she said.

And now he was alone with Leah, in the alcove of her brother’s house, for the first time since the museum.

*

It was thenoise she heard first as she emerged from Shayna’s study, voices: Nathans and Asher’s and Samuel’s. There were people separating them but none of them mattered in this context.

She somehow managed to convince Nathan to leave, though Asher’s involvement in this and that tie back to Judith had something to do with it for sure. But there she was, standing in front of him, his eyes wary, quizzical.

Samuel had never been quizzical before.

And he was holding a package.

“Leah,” he said, “I…”

“Don’t say anything,” she said, “let me talk. Because if you start talking I’ll never be able to get this out. And I have no idea what my brother-in-law or nephew did to get you here and I don’t want to blow this.”

He was silent, which was good.

“Come with me.”

She didn’t want to reach out her hand because hands before conclusions would always make her a terrible deal. So she took it for granted that he was following her through her brother’s house, tried to focus and not listen to his footsteps.

Except this wasn’t working either.

So, like Orpheus, she held out her hand. “Not looking back,” she said, “but I’m hoping for a better ending.”

Once again he didn’t respond, but she did feel his fingers wrap around hers, giving her this ridiculously false sense of security because she knew that at any second, all of it could fall apart and no amount of armor would fix that.

Finally, she arrived at Shayna’s study and she walked in, his footsteps behind her, her fingers wrapped around his because she didn’t want to let them go. Or him go, even.

And in the end, because she knew he needed to let go, she said, “You could close the door, if you want.”

He let her hand go, and the door closed and because she wasn’t looking, she didn’t see his face.

Until he turned and met her eyes. “Leah, what is this…?”

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