Page 136 of The Hopelessly Bromantic Duet

Why does he have to smell so good? All clean and fresh. It shoots me back to the first night we were together. Vivid memories snap before me. Our flat. London. Hot water beating down.My stomach swoops, and I hate how my body responds to someone who never felt as intensely about me as I did about him.

As I pull back from his hand, his breath catches slightly. As if he’s holding in a gasp.

Maybe he is affected?

But TJ clears his throat and focuses on the story. “Hate to be a downer, but that plot has some holes.”

Slade tilts his head, curious. “But there are photos of you at Jude’s play in LA when you met Robert from Webflix. We can easily spin that as the night you met.”

I burn at the mention of the start of our end.

“Yes,” TJ says. “That’s my point. Those pictures exist. That’s a fact. And if I were an enterprising reporter looking to expose a fake boyfriend ruse, I’d hunt out other facts. For instance, I’d research whether the two of us knew each other before.”

Holy shit. He is Agatha Christie. “You’re good,” I whisper.

He steals a glance my way, a sliver of a smile teasing his lips. “Right, Jude? Someone will find out, so we want to cover our butts,” he says, a little tender, like he wants to protect us.

Times like these, I like his protective side. “You’re totally right,” I murmur, then meet Slade’s gaze. “We roomed together in London once upon a time.”

“And someone will find out. Someonewillresearch the three weeks I worked in London eight years ago,” TJ says to the press agent.

“Well, I’ll be damned. We had no idea you were once roomies,” Slade says.

“That’s how we met,” TJ says like he’s reminiscing.

“Sort of. Don’t forget TK Maxx,” I say, remembering that day fondly too.

“I haven’t. We hit it off right from the start,” he says, and for these few seconds, we’re not cold. We’re warm, stoked by memories.

Slade points at TJ. “And you always carried a torch for Jude.”

“I did. I was totally taken by him,” he says, sounding infatuated again, and I’m as toasty as the equator. Perhaps Olivia was right when she said he was crazy about me in London. Well, it went both ways.

“That’s absolutely believable. Say it just like that,” Slade urges.

“I will, because it’s true,” TJ says.

“The press is going to eat this up.” Slade grabs his tablet from the table and types on the screen. “Let’s just add a few layers.”He directs his gaze to me. “When you two met again in Los Angeles, you were so floored that TJ appeared at your show that you asked him to come backstage. You went out for drinks. And you two hit it off. But you lived on opposite coasts. So when TJ returned to New York, you stayed in touch via phone and text, getting to know each other,” he says.

We could have done that.

If only TJ had called me back. If only I’d had the chance to apologize.

I wither a little inside as he rewrites our story into what I wished we’d had in the months apart.

“And when Jude relocated to New York recently to begin work onUnfinished Businesson LGO—bam!” Slade continues. “This was the perfect opportunity to really give it a go. You took things slow over the last several weeks, keeping it quiet and under wraps as you reconnected here in New York, learned all that chemistry from the texts and calls was real, and now you’re ready to share your romance with the world. How does that sound?”

Too good to be true. That’s the trouble. We were great in London. But terrible when we ended it in LA. I’ve got to be careful not to be seduced by the past.

Best to end this meeting fast. The longer I stay here, the stronger the lure of days gone by grows.

That’s dangerous for my heart and my head.

“Believable,” I say, then glance at the door, eager to get far away from my ex and the tempting memories of when we were good together. “So, we’re all set for our first public appearance then?”

Slade checks the screen on his tablet. “You have tickets Thursday for the opening night of the adaptation of Nick Hammer’s TV show into a musical. Damn, you lucky devils. I might need to score some tickets too forAdventures of TheLast Single Guy in New York. Then, maybe some dart and pool with a couple players on the New York Leopards for a fun Instagrammable date. That team has some hotties. So we’ve got a little Broadway, a little hang with some out pro athletes. We’ve got some other events planned for you,” he says, then shares details of those—a film festival, as well as a press junket. “We even have a perfect breakup planned, but let’s get through your first event. And with that yummy backstory, I don’t want to wait to debut you two. We have a client who’s opening a new restaurant tomorrow. I’d like to send you to it.” There’s a question in his voice, but it’s clear the question has only one acceptable answer.

“Tomorrow?” TJ’s voice shoots up.

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