Page 27 of The Romance Rivalry

“...a fucking amazing idea. I’m impressed, Irene. You’re right, not safe at all. You took matters into your own hands. And using tropes, the thing you know like the back of your hand. That’s actually genius.”

I turn to stare at him, making sure he’s not mocking me. I’m both shocked and satisfied by this response. I open my mouth to say something, but no words come out. Well, shit. He’s rendered me speechless.

“It sucks that it took comments by total strangers to motivate you. But I can get behind the execution. Wait, your date with Garrett?”

“Age-gap,” I answer.

“Yeah, okay, I can see that. And that guy at the coffee shop everyone was talking about?”

“What? When? Where?”

“After orientation,” he says.

I turn beet red and look around the quad for a hole I cancrawl into. I groan before explaining. “Okay, so I was going for small-town romance. But turns out it was just a poorly executed attempt at fake dating on his part.”

He nods, examining me with a look I am not trusting right now. He narrows his eyes. “You know, I really like this idea. It’s brilliant, actually. Fuel for some really prime content. You should post about it online. Let your followers come along for the ride. They would eat this up. And I bet SKCupid would love this shit. In fact...”

I do not like where this is going.

“...what if...”

Nope, not liking the sound of this at all.

“...I do this too?”

“What?” I look around to see if my screech has disturbed or garnered the interest of any other students walking around campus. No one looks, except a frightened squirrel who books it up a tree to get away from me.

I turn back to Aiden, wondering if both my hands would fit around his neck. If I just squeeze tightly enough...

“What if I do the trope-to-find-a-mate plan, too? At the same time. We can make it into a challenge or something. It would be fun. And I bet we both get a huge bump in views and followers from it.”

“Absolutely not. This is my idea. My plan. And it’s, it’s... personal.”

“You’re not doing it because you want to find love. You’redoing it to prove to your followers and SKCupid that you can, that you really are the expert in all things romance.” He’s calling me out.

I hate that he thinks he can read me so well. And I don’t correct him that it’s actually his followers I’m trying to convince.

“I most certainly am not,” I object. To what, I’m not sure.

“What, are you afraid I’ll find love first?” The challenge in his voice is unmistakable. He’s goading me.

“Yes. Obviously. Good-looking guys always have the leg up. And you’ve never had trouble dating.”

He guffaws. “How do you know? I’m not exactly some dating expert. And excuse me, but have you seen yourself, Irene? You’re stunning. This is gonna be so easy for you. But you’re emotionally stunted, clearly. And shy. So, I might still have a chance.” He winks, and even though my eyes only see red, I can admit that winking works for Aiden way better than it did for Garrett.

My mind is reeling. What is he talking about? “Stunning”? “Emotionally stunted”? Rude! I can’t let him find love before I do, not with a plan thatIconcocted!

“Why are you doing this? What do you get out of it?” I ask.

“Well, first, it could be a lot of fun. Second, I’m actually not opposed to finding my first love. That’s what college is for.”

First love.

My eyebrows lift of their own accord. That’s surprising.

“And third, well, what if we make it easy on everyoneinvolved and the loser bows out of contention for the SKCupid deal? Clearing the way for the winner to take it all.”

My jaw drops to the ground. “What? I worked hard for that deal. No way!”

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