Page 65 of The Love Wager

Jamie started cackling.

“I was about to lift my head and say something charming when she literally—literally—rolled off the end of the bed.”

Hallie started laughing. “Oh, my God, you watched me roll?”

“I watched you roll.”

“Was it hot or horrifying?” Chuck asked.

“Hilarious,” Jack said, and Hallie gave him a look. Her eyes stayed on his face as she smiled, and he added, “In a hot way.”

“Oh, bullshit,” she said.

“So then...?” Chuck prompted.

Jack was having a hard time not laughing. “So then she crawled over to her clothes and—”

“Wait.” Hallie was grinning when she said, “I looked at you when I was putting on my pants, and you were sound asleep.”

That made him laugh. “I closed my eyes pretty fast when your head swiveled in my direction.”

She smacked him in the arm with a laugh, which made him grab her hand and sandwich it between his.

“She must’ve realized the bra was in the bed,” he said, “because she tiptoed over and started moving her fingers on top of the sheets like she was trying to find it without jostling the bed.”

They were all laughing. Hard.

“And then—my angel right here—she muttered ‘fuck it’ and ran out of the room.”

Jamie and Chuck started applauding, and Hallie justshook her head at him while wearing a grin. He felt her index finger slide over his palm—she was still playing—and he had no fucking clue how the weekend was going to shake out.

Because she really seemed to be enjoying the game, leaning into the fake dating thing, but he was already having a hard time remembering it was a game. Every time she leaned against his arm or held his hand, he was a little shook.

And the way she’d kissed him back at the airport—holy shit. He’d assumed it would be a flashback of their night in the hotel, but everything had changed since then, and it was totally different.

That night had been all about hot chemistry with a stranger.

Kissing Hallie in the security line—that was something else entirely.

That was like coming home.

Hallie

Jack is so good at this.

She put her head back on the seat and closed her eyes, relaxed by the sound of Chuck and Jack’s conversation. There was something about hearing the deep voices of her two favorite people that made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

But as she listened to Chuck hit it off with Jack, she wondered if she should just tell him. He wasterriblewith secrets, but she hated lying to him.

Aside from Chuck, though, she would’ve thought she’d bestressed or concerned about what they were up to, the whole fake dating bit, but she wasn’t. At all.

It felt too good.

For once, when facing a family event, she wasn’t even the tiniest bit stressed—and it was all because of Jack. It reminded her of when she was a kid and everything was somehow tolerable when her parents let her bring a friend along. He was her favorite friend, and his presence was making everything okay.

And that included the idea of seeing Ben.

She was very aware that once she was face-to-face with her ex everything might change, but at that moment, the thought of it didn’t make her lose her neurotic mind.

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