Page 56 of The Love Trick

“I have a window seat in first class, and I’ll happily trade you.” I give him the bestplease acceptsmile I can muster, and he hesitates for a moment.

He narrows his eyes. “Why would you do that?”

“It’s a long story.” I chew on my bottom lip. “But you’ll get to sit next to one of the Glaciers’ NHL players…”

His face lights up. “No way!”

“Yeah, way,” I tell him, smiling. “And it would just bereallygreat if you would switch seats with me. I don’t mind an aisle seat. In fact, I’d prefer any other seat than the one next to him today.”

“Ah, you’re in one ofthosesituations.” He chuckles. “Consider it done.”

“Thank you,” I breathe as he turns back around. I glance in Blaze’s direction. His eyes are suddenly on me, a peculiar look on his face. In fact, he almost looks worried. I give him a blank expression and then proceed to board, switching seats as planned, which puts me three rows behind where I was originally supposed to be.

A woman who’s probably in her mid-to-late fifties slips into the window seat beside me. Her Hawaiian dress screams tourist—but hey, just about everyone on this plane is a tourist.

“Hi.” She gives me a slight nod as she settles into her seat.

I smile at her and then watch as Blaze boards, has a conversation with the guy I switched seats with, and then searches for me, his eyes scanning each row. I ensure I’m looking away by the time he makes it to my row. In fact, even when I can feel his gaze, I just stare at my phone, pretending not to notice him at all.

Am I being a little vindictive? Maybe. But honestly, I just don’t want to cry. My feelings are all mangled right now, and it’s harder than ever to combat my emotions. Blaze has been in my life for a decade. But now that I’ve felt his lips on mine, I don’t know how I’m supposed to act normal around him anymore.

My phone buzzes in my hand.

Blaze:What are you doing? I got us seats next to each other… Why did you switch rows?

I almost ignore the message, but I decide that’s probablytoocruel. I quickly type back a reply and thenswitch my device to airplane mode.

Me:I was just trying to do that guy a favor. He hates aisle seats.

With a sigh, I put my phone back into my backpack and pull out my Kindle, hoping to distract my mind with a great novel—one that’s not even remotely like the beachy fake dating to real dating romcom that I started reading on the plane ride here. That’s not going to work.

“Oh, what are you reading?” The woman next to me asks.

“I’m not sure yet. But definitely not a romcom,” I say with a forced chuckle. “I need a break from all that mushy stuff.”

She laughs, and her smile highlights her green eyes. We continue some small talk about books, and then the plane takes off without a hitch.

I glance toward Blaze and his new buddy, who are seemingly deep in conversation. Well, maybe it’s deep. I can’t hear anything, so I really don’t know. I’m trying to focus on my Kindle—by reading a thriller—but it’s not really serving as the distraction I had hoped it would.

Maybe I should’ve just sat next to him and slept.

Except I know that wouldn’t have happened, either.

I barely slept last night, tossing and turning with a pillow barricade between Blaze and me. And you know what’s worse? Blaze hadzeroissues sleeping. He snored the whole night, completely unphased by everything that happened between us.

And that only made me feel worse.

“Are you alright?” the woman’s voice cuts into my thoughts, and I turn to face her.

“Yeah, yeah,” I say, suddenly realizing there’s a tear rolling down my cheek. I bat it away, embarrassed. “It’s just been onereallyweird vacation.”

“Hmm,” she hums. “Wouldn’t have anything to do with the man that keeps looking back here at you, would it? Not to be nosy or anything.”

“Yeah, it does,” I admit with a shrug. “I switched seats with a stranger so I wouldn’t have to sit next to him on the flight home.”

“Oh my.” She takes a sip of her drink and then flags down one of the flight attendants. “Get this woman whatever she wants and put it on my tab, please.”

“You don’t have to do th—”

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