Page 14 of The Wedding Jinx

More like a lose-lose-lose-lose-LOSE.

“But … I have so much to do here,” I tell him, trying to hold back the desperation I’m suddenly feeling on the inside. It’s not a lie—I’m the project manager on this app; I need to be managing all the things I manage.

“So do I,” he says, his lips curling up on one side, the echo of a dimple on his cheek. “I figure we can work while we’re there. In between trying some of the activities GlobeTrotter suggests.”

“Activities?”

He shrugs one shoulder. “Yeah, maybe snorkeling, go to a luau or something. Maybe a hike, so we can test the map feature. Have you ever been?”

“No,” I say. “Have you?”

He shakes his head. “Blind testing will be even better.”

I twist my lips to the side as I peer out the windows of his office that overlooks downtown Denver. I need an excuse, a reason, something … anything.

My eyes dart back to Grayson when my brain conjures up an idea. “Simone is going. Couldn’t she do the testing with you?” So far, she’s the only other person on the leadership team that can go.

He gives me a closed-mouth smile. “Simone is in HR. You’re the project manager. It makes more sense if you do it. Besides, she asked for the week off to make a trip of it with her husband. I just approved her vacation request.”

Freaking Simone. How dare she want to spend time with her husband on a tropical island.

“This is outside our budget.” I jump right in with my next excuse and feel a tiny ping of hope in my stomach because this is a good one. The budget for GlobeTrotter has been tight. Part of my job is to make sure we stay within it. This would definitely be outside the amount we’ve allotted.

“I was worried about that as well, but seeing that Shane is paying for our flights for the wedding, we should be okay.”

Stupid Shane and his bags full of money. Why can’t he be broke like the rest of us?

“This is terrible news,” I say, and when Grayson laughs, I realize I’ve said it out loud.

“I mean, it’s not the best timing, but it makes going to the wedding feasible,” he says, placing his hands in his lap.

I don’t want it to be feasible. I want it to be impossible. I can’t tell him this, though. How would that even sound?

I know I seem like a terrible friend right now, doing everything I can to get out of going to this wedding. But I cannot express enough that I am seven out of seven for ruining weddings. I am a wedding ruiner. The best place for me to be isnotat a wedding. I vowed to never be in another one as long as I lived, and I really want to stick to that. It’s for the betterment of society.

Grayson’s brows pull inward, concern washing over his face. “Are you … not comfortable going with me?” He presses an index finger to his chest.

My eyebrows shoot up my forehead. “No,” I say emphatically. “I mean yes. Or, no.” I close my eyes and let out a breath before looking at Grayson again. “What I mean to say is, I’m comfortable with it. Super comfortable. All the comfort.”

Oh, Mila.It would be great if a black hole would just open up underneath me right now and save me from myself. As an added bonus, I’d also get to miss Nadia’s wedding. That would be arealwin-win.

My heart does a little sputtering thing when I return to the present and realize what he’s just said. I’ve been so stuck on the fact that because of this new twist I’ll probably have to go to the wedding that I didn’t comprehend what this all means: I’d be going on a work trip to a tropical island to test a vacation app with my boss. A.k.a. the BILK, a.k.a. the star of 94 percent of my romantic daydreams. What did he say we’d be doing? Snorkeling? Hiking? Oh … gosh … I’d have to see him in swim trunks. SWIM TRUNKS.

And then, like, what if we were swimming and those swim trunks just happened to fall off and … Heaven help me, it suddenly feels twenty degrees warmer in this office.

This can’t happen. None of this can happen. Oh my gosh, I’m actually going to have to throw myself down some stairs, aren’t I?

“Are … you okay?” Grayson asks, that concerned look on his face again. Obviously, my internal struggle was making an outward appearance.

“Totally,” I say, sounding totally not okay with the word barely audible through my clogged-feeling throat.

He scratches the side of his face in a sexy way. I don’t know why it’s sexy—it just is. “It’s … a work trip, so that’ll be okay with Dave, right?” he asks.

“Dave?”

He angles his head slightly to the side. “Your … boyfriend?”

“Oh right, Dave,” I say and shake my head likesilly me. “My boyfriend. Of course. Whose name is … Dave.” I let out a very fake-sounding chuckle. “Um, no. He’d be fine with it.”

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