Page 58 of Love to Hate You

“I’ll drop him off after we win the scavenger hunt,” Summer said, not slowing down.

“We can trade. I’ve got something you might be interested in. I found a signed first edition ofOutlander.”

He felt Summer stop in her tracks. “What happened to keeping the pace?” Wes said.

“It’s a first edition,” she said, sounding conflicted. She looked at Ms. Louise and then at Wes. “What do I do?”

“Are you really going to risk losing for a book?”

“I’ve been looking for this book since I was sixteen.”

“Signed book,” Louise said. “And it will walk off the shelves by afternoon. I guarantee it. The Cool Hookers Book Club meets here at three.”

“Tick-tock tick-tock,” Wes said, tapping his watch.

“Any dog-ears?” Summer asked.

“Not a one.”

She looked up at Wes with a helpless and lost expression, and he wanted to be that knight in shining armor. “I’ll buy the book. Here’s my watch, it’s worth a hundred of that book. We’ll be back.”

“I’ll pay you back,” she promised, and this time it was him that stopped in his tracks.

Women always accepted gifts from him. Even expected them. But this woman didn’t want him for his money or what he could get her. She was holding his hand just because. So she’d called him a glitch, and maybe he was. But around her he felt as if someone had troubleshooted all the bullshit out of his life.

“Let’s just get that picture,” he said, taking a large step forward and opening the back door for her.

“We’ll be back,” she said to Ms. Louise. “Don’t you dare sell that book!”

The second they cleared the exit she took off like a rocket. “There it is, and Autumn and Randy are already there! Move faster.”

“Winning!” Autumn screamed as she snapped the selfie and took off eastbound, down Destiny Boulevard.

By the time they made it to the historic theatre, which had the original verticalCINEMAsign lit up like it was 1961 andBreakfast at Tiffany’shad just been released, they were both winded and laughing.

“Okay, strike a pose,” she said, and they both did their best Charlie’s Angels impersonation as he snapped the photo.

“A pretty great meet-cute if you ask me,” Wes said when she pocketed her phone. “Boy and girl racing around town, zip-tied together, in a wedding dress and suit, to win a plastic trophy.”

“I’ve read better,” she said primly.

He slid his arms around her waist, and damn she felt good there. He was going to have to thank Autumn for the heads-up. He loved seeing Summer off balance, and this zip-tie stunt had definitely thrown Summer off her game.

She was flustered being this close to him, and that brought him a perverse happiness. She was cute when she was flustered. It was as if her body was telling him what her words were not.

She shivered.

“You want to retract that statement?”

“No time, we’re off to the next stop. For all we know your false start put us in last. And we are not going to lose to Autumn.”

He realized just how important this was for her, and more than ever he wanted to be that guy for her. The guy who crossed the finish line with her. Who held her hand while she found her independence. “We aren’t going to lose, love.”

That earned him a big smile, so bright and affectionate it warmed him from the inside out. In fact, this whole thing reminded him of earlier times with his nonna, when she’d bring out the board games. They were too broke to go to the movies or other outings. Instead they did board games, puzzles, cards. And he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had this kind of fun with someone. Actually, it was the day before he’d left for private school on scholarship. The day he’d walked away from his childhood to become a man his mom could rely on, and break the cycle of poverty.

“Now, the next clue. We have to find it.”

“Look up,” Wes said, pointing to the marquee. He read, “See a penny pick it up, and all day long you’ll have good luck.”

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