Page 47 of The Texan's Secrets

“I don’t know yet.” Emilia took an experimental sip.

“Chase? This is my roommate, Emilia.”

Chase ambled up with a broad smile. “I’ve heard all about you, Emilia.”

“Good, I hope,” Emilia joked.

“Absolutely.”

Emilia offered Paris a sip of the drink. “I like it.”

“Well, there was that one story about your banana cake,” Chase said.

Paris nudged Chase with her elbow. “Hey.”

“You told him about the banana cake?”

Paris gave a sheepish grin as she lifted Emilia’s drink from her hand. “It’s funny. You come off looking—”

“Like a dork,” Emilia interjected.

“Endearing. Thisisgood.” Paris held the drink up to show Chase. “I’ll take one of these, please.”

“It’s called a River Fizz,” Emilia offered, reclaiming her drink.

“I thought it was a sweet story,” Chase said to Emilia.

She frowned and muttered into her glass, “A dozen bananas later.”

“It speaks to your tenacity. Most people would have given up after the first three cakes.”

“It was Paris’s birthday.”

“One word,” Paris said, stifling a laugh. “Bakery.”

“No, no.” Chase jumped in on Emilia’s side. “Only a quitter would have gone to a bakery.”

“The cream cheese icing was to die for,” Paris said.

“I’m sorry I missed it,” Chase said. “I’ll be right back with the drinks.”

“I can’t believe you told him that,” Emilia muttered with a shake of her head.

“Chill. It wasn’t the first thing I told him about you. And it wasn’t the only thing I told him. I also told him you were brilliant, hardworking and creative.” Paris glanced around. “Where’s Nick?”

“He went to look for friends.”

“Friends?” Paris looked appalled. “He ditched you to find his friends?”

“I don’t know if he ditched me or not,” Emilia admitted. “I said I wanted to come talk to you and he just...decided to find his friends.”

“You think it was me?”

“No.” Emilia regretted the way she’d put that. “He’s never even met you. But it was a little weird.”

She replayed their conversation in her mind. The only other thing going on was the interview. But that couldn’t have been a surprise. All the Surprise Me! contestants knew there would be social media coverage of their dates at the launch party.

Chase returned. “One River Fizz.” He handed Paris her drink.

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