Page 22 of Wedding Bet

Both of us lapsed into a comfortable silence for a moment, taking in our surroundings. I was definitely aware of my bodybeing pressed up against his, but for once, I didn’t feel shy about it.

We were at the top of the Ferris wheel’s arc now, and the view below was spectacular. The entire resort was in sight now, as well as the ski lifts and slopes where I’d made a fool of myself attempting to ski.

“I realized something tonight,” Landry said a minute later. “We’re going to be totally screwed the moment Parker mentions our fake relationship to Chase or Adam.”

“Maybe,” I said. “And I think Chase would be very curious if he somehow thought we were dating each other after only meeting two days ago.”

Landry stared up at the sky. “God, I don’t always think things through. I mean, I do when it comes to work, or investments, or the setting on my rowing machine, but not this kind of stuff.”

“Well, we’re in a perfect little world, here,” I told him. “After the wedding, we’ll all be gone, and none of it will matter.”

A dip of disappointment hit me.

I… really didn’t like the idea of all of this being over.

In fact, freezing this moment and making it last as long as possible was a whole lot more appealing to me right now.

Right now, home made me think of my stack of bills, which was only going to feel worse after this expensive trip. Home made me think of my job, and all the extra hours I’d have to put in, on my feet, cooking breakfast for snooty tourists who looked at me like I was a roach.

Right now I could live in a dream with Landry, pretending this was the kind of leisurely life I got to live all the time.

“Jamie,” Landry said in a soft voice. “You still with me?”

“Oh,” I said, coming back to reality. “Distracted. I apologize.”

“Sorry if I derailed your evening,” Landry said as the Ferris wheel made another turn.

“Derailed?” I balked. “Since you came and found me, it’s gotten a whole lot better.”

His eyebrows lifted. “Really? It looked like you were having a great time talking with that guy, earlier.”

“Oh, Elias? Sure, Chase introduced us. He’s a nice guy.”

“He’s a very cute guy, too,” Landry said, his eyes searching my face.

I shrugged one shoulder. “He’s… fine.”

“Just fine? Something wrong with him?”

I struggled to come up with a good answer for that. “Just a feeling I get,” I said. “There was nothingwrongwith him. Just like there’s nothing wrong with the last few guys I went on dates with, before work got crazy. But I could tell Chase was trying to set us up, kind of like a blind date, because he knows Elias travels to California a lot. But I don’t see that kind of a connection forming with him.”

Landry hummed. “I’m starting to think no one is your type.”

I furrowed my brow. “Wait. What isthatsupposed to mean?”

He glanced over at me, a glimmer of mischief in his eyes. “When was the last time you went on an actual date? Before work got crazy, like you said?”

I stared off at the mountain peaks. “I don’t know. Six months ago? No, wait, six months ago was when we redid the patio at work, and that was total chaos. Shit. Maybe it was the year before that.”

“So you haven’t been on a date, or focused on your personal life at all, for at least eighteen months?”

Suddenly my body was feeling a little warmer, maybe from embarrassment or maybe because I’d been sitting too close to Landry for too long.

“I don’t want to think about that,” I finally told him.

“If you haven’t even cared about dating for that long, it sounds like some part of you isn’t ready for more.”

Suddenly I felt like every part of me was retracting internally. Almost recoiling from him after he’d said it.

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