Page 65 of The Dating Contract

But she had to make it worse on Monday night by saying that she’d love to debrief and talk before the party.

What the hell had she been thinking?

The problem, of course, was that she hadn’t.

She’d been fantasizing about her fake boyfriend, at the worst of all times—when she should be prepping to talk to the contracts department at the Empires, playing phone tag for Carly.

Leah had to do something. Thankfully, Naomi had called, saying that Liv had tried on a few dresses at the shop in Crystal Harbor and was impressed, and could she come over.

Usually, bridesmaids dresses weren’t her favorite way of spending time, but a mid-week break from the city was exactly what the doctor ordered; it got her away from a place where she’d be tempted to text Samuel, and keep her on her toes because she’d be around relatives.

Not to mention she liked the shop where she’d bought her dress for the gala; and Chava the tailor was lovely.

When she arrived, she saw that Shayna had come along to give Ramona a chance to try on some matching flower girl dresses.

“Is this the last bunch of dresses we’re trying on?”

Naomi shrugged. “First bunch Liv tried on, so who knows.”

“And,” Shayna said with a laugh, “our little pint-sized fashion critic has opinions as well.”

Leah nodded, considering the implications of Ramona’s fashion sense. “As long as we don’t look like look like cream puffs or Medusa or…”

“You’re all right,” Naomi said. “But Leah is closer to where we’re going. Judith’s the star and as long as the bridesmaids don’t look like the gorgon sisters and Ramona doesn’t out-glitter rainbow anybody, we’ll be fine.”

And as the parade of dresses began, Leah found herself thinking of Samuel, how it would feel to have him there with her, giving her opinions, maybe showing up unexpectedly there at the shop like he had the last time she was there, putting his hands on her shoulders, her waist…

“Leah?” Naomi’s not so dulcet tones broke into her train of thought. “You’re not here and we need you.”

Leah shook her head before she realized her cousin couldn’t see her through the dressing room door. “Sorry.”

Which she was. Unfortunately, the break in her thought process forced her to acknowledge that she’d been fantasizing about her fake boyfriend again.

And that was dangerous.

Because as much as she wanted to tamp down her emotions, and if nothing else ignore them, they were intruding. Again.

Not only intruding, but bubbling up and exploding inside of her.

And that led to one inescapable conclusion.

Leah wanted the real deal.

She wanted an actual go of it with Samuel. A real, actual, real-life, adult-sized try with him.

And that terrified her to the point where she had to hold on to the wall of the dressing room.

Which made her finally ask the question that had been bugging her. “I wonder…how you know if it’s real.”

As soon as she verbalized the question, she remembered where she was. Not in her apartment or her office or anywhere else that guaranteed her a speck of privacy.

She was in a public dressing room and she’d expressed this ridiculous, impossible question to her cousin, with her sister-in-law somewhere nearby.

Which meant she had to pull it back.

And yet she knew very well that it was too late; you couldn’t put toothpaste back into the tube and this wasn’t something she couldn’t just suck back into her mouth. At least she’d said it in the dressing room because otherwise she’d have ended up with her cousin, possibly her sister-in-law and possibly her little niece staring at her like pumpkins or Cheshire cats or whatever.

She got that anyway. Or at least she’d end up with the verbal equivalent.

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