Page 57 of Matched with Her Runaway Groom

He pulls away, his smile bright, as if he just won the lottery or something. “Still ticklish, huh?”

I tilt my head to the side, embarrassment burning my cheeks. “Yes, yes I am.” It’s not even like that’s a normal spot to be ticklish, but it’s my curse, I guess.

Landon reaches forward and takes my hand in his, intertwining our fingers together. My brain is only half-heartedly objecting to this amount of touching, probably knowing it won’t be heard over the thunder of my heartbeat.

“Was there somewhere you wanted to eat?” I ask, realizing after I say it, I’m practically inviting myself to lunch with him. But there are so many feelings swirling, like it’s the first of everything all in one day.

“Any of these places look good. How’s your stomach feeling?” He gives me a small grin and I glance away.

“I won’t be repeating the process from earlier, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Let’s eat at that taco place. My treat.” He squeezes my hand a couple times.

I shake my head. “I can pay. Just because I quit my job doesn’t mean I’m destitute.”

“I know, but it’s something I can do.” We walk into a restaurant and he scoots in my chair. Why does he have to be so good?

“You know where I live, but where are you staying?” I adjust the silverware on the napkin next to me, hoping to keep my attention there rather than on his handsome face. I might not stop smiling if I stare at him all day.

“With Dani. She’s got a little apartment by her school, but I’m thinking she’s going to need something different after she graduates. It’s a shoebox, and there was a shooting just down the street last week.”

I frown, surprised by his revelation. “You’re a real estate agent who doesn’t have his own place?”

He raises his hands and says, “I know. It sounds crazy. But I haven’t had time to look for anything I love.”

Everything inside me freezes. “Are you still thinking of a fixer-upper?” It was something we’d wanted to do together, since those were the houses in our price range at the time, just like the home I bought.

“I don’t know. I mean, I think I’ll be in Boston for a while. My original boss in Chicago helped me learn a lot and then I applied for a transfer when a team manager position opened up in Boston.”

He hadn’t just left me, he’d left everything he’d known. And for Landon to leave his mother without help, aside from his sisters, is a big deal. It means whatever scared him away had him running for another state.

The server walks up and takes our order. The good thing about Latino food is I usually stick to the same thing no matter where I go. I’m able to avoid at least one of the awkward moments with Landon by responding quickly.

“So what made you decide to come on a cruise?” Landon asks, fiddling with the ring he wears on his middle finger.

I lean onto the table and hear a mental rebuke in my mother’s voice to not slouch at the table. “I actually won it.”

“That’s way cool. What did you have to do to win?”

“Sign up for a matchmaking app.”

“No way. They had a sign-up when we got on the boat. Was it Love, Austen or something like that?”

I nod and smile. “I signed up because Tiffany is the social media manager for the company and she needed more testers. That was back when Hillary fled her own wedding.”

Landon’s face freezes and his gaze locks on me. “What?”

“Hillary was going to get married at the same place that, uh, we, um, you know. The lodge. She set it for six months after we were supposed to, um, anyway. She literally left him at the altar.” A long silence descends over us, and I can tell with a quick glance that this information is new and it’s eating him up.

Landon’s jaw tightens and looks like he’s ready to hurt something.

I’m not sure whether there was something between him and my sister, so I keep talking. “She ran off with some guy who said he was buying an island. I haven’t heard from her since.”

“What an idiot.”

That wasn’t the response I expect. “Are you talking about Hillary? I thought you got along with her when we dated.” At least I can talk about one part of our relationship without stumbling over the words.

“I’m just saying she’s good at wrecking things. She rarely cares what or who is in her wake.”

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