Page 75 of The Love Wager

Hallie

“That is disgusting.”

Hallie looked up from her phone and at Carolyn, her sister’s maid of honor, who happened to be standing next to her and grinning with her nose wrinkled. “What?” she asked.

“The way your boyfriend watches you. I want to vomit with jealousy.”

Hallie followed Carolyn’s gaze to Jack, who was giving her that sarcastic little smirk she loved. “He’s actually being a brat—that’s what that look is.”

“I don’t mean this minute,” she said, glancing toward Hallie’s mom, who was having a shitfit about the violinist. “I mean that since we got here, your boyfriend has been sitting there staring at you as if you’re the most amazing thing he’s ever seen.”

Hallie needed to remember to tell him to tone it down a little so he didn’t come off as a clingy creep. Hewasgood at looking at her like she was amazing, though; the look he was giving her at that moment did wild things to her stomach.

She opened her mouth to downplay it, but remembered that she did actually want everyone to think Jack was the perfect boyfriend who worshiped the ground she walked on.

“He’s just, um,” she said, trying to think of the right words. “Jack is just very focused.”

“Well, bravo, Hallie,” Carolyn said, looking downright wicked as she gazed at Jack. “A focused man is hard to find.”

•••

“Okay, so I bribed the server to put us at Chuck and Jamie’s table.”

“What?” Hallie asked as they walked into the lodge’s great room. Jack had immediately reached for her hand when the rehearsal ended, and she’d yet to find a way to one-up him in their current situation.

“The server told me that there isn’t a head table, so you and I were already seated together.” His thumb stroked over her palm and she felt it everywhere. “I just had her flip it so we get to sit by your friends instead of your uncle Marco and aunt Tam.”

Hallie looked up at his mischievous face and wondered how he could be so perfect. Marco and Tam were loud, obnoxious people, and that would’ve been the worst. She said, “My sister’s going to kill you.”

He said, “Areyou, though?”

“You are the greatest boyfriend in the world. I could never.”

He pulled out his phone and sent a text, and her phone buzzed.

She pulled it out of her pocket and read the message.

Jack:But you could kill ME, yes?

She smiled, pulled her hand free, and replied:I’ve spent hours daydreaming about that very thing.

Jack:Freak.

Hallie:I’m not, but your girlfriend told me you like teeth on your neck.

Jack:Don’t tell her what I’m about to tell you—this is just between Hal ’n’ Jack

Hallie:Yay! The country ’n’ is back!

Jack:Told you we’d revive it.

Hallie:You’re nothing if not dependable. Anyway, what don’t you want me to tell your beautiful, charming girlfriend?

Jack:When she kissed my neck today, I was *this* close to begging her to go back to the room with me.

At the thought, Hallie’s stomach dipped and she felt a little light-headed.So... you wanted her to go back for more biting?

Jack:Biting ’n’ more. ’N’ much more.

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