Page 11 of The Love Wager

For some reason, she was surprised to see a guy like him on the app. He’d seemed too confident and dashing to be single.

But then she remembered.

Holy God, the man had bought an engagement ring and planned to propose aweekago. A week ago he’d been in love enough to pop the question, and now he was already on the app looking for ladies?

Clearly there was something majorly wrong with him.

She didn’t know what possessed her, but she wanted to mess with him. Hallie clicked on the message box and started typing.

Hey, Jack, it’s Hallie, the bartender from your sister’s wedding! Why haven’t you called? I really thought we connected and you were going to call, but... did you lose my number?

She sucked in a breath when she saw the conversation bubbles. Holy crap, he was responding! He was probably freaking out at the thought of a throwaway one-nighter coming for him, and something about that idea made her cackle.

After a few minutes, a message popped up:

Jack:Hey there, Hallie. I had a lot of fun with you after the wedding, and you seem like a cool person.

Oh, dear God, he thought she was serious. She typed:

God, Jack, relax. I’m just messing with you. I DO NOT WANT TO DATE YOU.

Jack:Uh wow ok.

Hallie:I saw your profile when I was shopping for soul mates and thought it would be fun to give you a heart attack. I never gave you my number and I didn’t expect you to call.

Conversation bubbles popped up and went away. Popped up and went away. Finally he messaged:So... you’re on here legitimately looking for love?

Hallie:Pathetic, right? But don’t worry, you’re not on my list.

Jack:First of all, I’m doing the same thing, so I’m going to go with no, that’s not pathetic. Second of all, I can’t believe I’m not on your list after our amazing night together.

Hallie groaned and looked up from the phone; she couldn’t believe he brought it up. But she also couldn’t hold in the smile as she typed:We were just so hammered—it’s all kind of a blur.

Jack:But...?

She let out a little squeaking sound and kicked her feet against the mattress, unable to believe they were having this conversation.

Hallie:But what? All in all, it was a fine time.

The reality was that the night had been red-hot and so good, but she’d also been crazy drunk, so that meant nothing. Kermit the Frog might’ve been able to scratch her itch if enough whiskey had been involved.

Jack:Fine?? Come ON, Hal.

For some reason, his usage of her shortened name did something to her stomach as she messaged:Not talking about this. I remember nothing.

That was a bald-faced lie. She remembered absolutely every minute of that night, from the very first kiss in the kitchen, to her hand on the elevator stop button, right down to the feel of his callused palms as they gripped her hips in that king-sized hotel bed.

Jack:You don’t want to hear about the adorable noise you make when you...

Hallie:PLEASE GOD NO

Jack:I was going to saysneeze. But I do have your bra if you ever want it back.

Hallie:Where was it??

Jack:Underneath me. It was there the whole time you were belly-crawling around the bed.

Hallie did scream then, but quietly enough so Ruthie didn’t come running in with one of her fencing foils.

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