Page 75 of The Love Rematch
And yet, when she opens her mouth, something else tumbles out instead. “I’ll keep him.”
“What?”
“Ethan,” she explains, her mind clear for the first time in weeks—heck, years. She doesn’t want to hurt Jake. She never did. “I’ll pretend to forgive him. I’ll let him paint the whole thing as an accident. I’ll keep him until the end like Trish wants.”
“Em.” He steps forward and she holds up her hand to stop him.
“I didn’t say he’d win, I just said I’d keep him until the end, and then I’ll send him home on my terms. Trish will get her show, I promise. You don’t have to worry.”
“Fuck it, Em. I don’t care about the show.”
Jake steps closer, until the hand Emily raised to stop him is pressed firmly to his chest. His heart thuds against her palm, the pace increasing the longer they touch. He reaches up to gently cup her cheek, his thumb scraping over the same line of skin Cooper touched back in the puzzle ceremony room. Her bruise. She shivers, not from pain, but from how deeply the tenderness in Jake’s caress penetrates. He misreads her and drops his hand away immediately.
“Don’t keep him for me.”
“Maybe I’m keeping him for me.”
Jake arches a brow. Emily arches right back.
Voices filter in from the hallway, reminding them both of the timeline Trish gave. Emily melts back into the closet, out of sight.
“Go, Jake. And send Rita away if you can. I’ll walk out the door as soon as the coast is clear.”
“The door. You promise?”
There’s a slight twinkle in his eyes that makes her heart sing. She shoves him playfully on the shoulder.
“Just go.”
He chuckles softly. The deep, throaty sound stays with her long after he leaves. It makes home in the spot where her anger once lived like a new sprout after a forest fire, the first sign of life in a once-barren place.
CHAPTEREIGHTEEN
jake
Jake emergesfrom the van completely confused. He sweeps his gaze along the steep cliffs fanning the road, then down to the deep ravine echoing with the splash of rushing water, then back to the arch bridge stretched before him. One lane is closed to traffic, filled instead by his crew. Emily and Ethan have the first solo date in Italy, and they’re going bungee jumping. The location isn’t what’s confusing him—he was briefed this morning. The question running through his mind is,Why the hell am I here?
Nina handles the solo dates.
Jake stays back at the house to handle the men.
That’s how it is. That’s how it’s always been as long as he’s been working for the show—the suitor handler stays with the suitors. The fact that he’s here means Nina is up to something, and it can’t be good.
“Jake!”
Speak of the devil.
Nina signals him over to the production tent near the foot of the bridge. It’s currently filled with four different displays all showing various camera angles of the site. Fred and Trish are deep in discussion, pointing at something on the screens. A pit forms in Jake’s stomach.
“Jake, how tall would you say Ethan is?” Nina asks when he steps beneath the awning.
He furrows his brows. “I don’t know. Six-two?”
“And how tall would you say you are?”
He narrows his eyes at her.
She grins. “How tall?”
