Page 52 of He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

McKenzie grins. ‘Welcome to the show,’ she says with a smirk. ‘How do you feel Dax did?’

Man alive, Hollyn. Pull yourself together and stop trying to figure out what him holding your hand means. It’s nothing!

‘I uh – he’s beautiful.’

McKenzie raises an eyebrow, an awkward smile on her face as Dax glances at me, clearly confused.

‘He is quite handsome, isn’t he?’ McKenzie says with a laugh. ‘But I meant the flowers.’

‘Holy.Hell,’ I say, Dax now laughing nervously next to me. ‘Imeantthe flowers. The arrangements are beautiful.NotDax.’

Ugh, don’t say that either!

‘Er, well, I uh—’ I need to stop talking.

Dax squeezes my hand tightly again and there’s no misreading this message. He needs absolutely no support right now, just please, for the love of God, woman:Shut.The.Hell.Up. Message received, big fella. My lips are sealed.

McKenzie laughs. ‘I love you two. You did amazing. Now, go. Relax and get ready for the filming tomorrow.’

I nod my head, biting my bottom lip to keep me from saying anything else stupid. How embarrassing was that? It’ll add itself to my nightmares; that’s how much.

When McKenzie clicks out of the call, Dax hands the iPad back to Ian and he laughs to himself.

‘What, uh – what was that?’

‘I…’ I glance down at my hand, now free from his. There’s nothing I can say but the truth. I drop my head towards the ground. If only the power of invisibility was a thing already. You led me on, Harry Potter.

‘Well… would you rather know the truth or something similar to the truth?’

He chuckles. ‘Let’s see what the truth gets us.’

‘OK.’ I shove my hands into the pockets of my jeans. ‘I seem to have lost all the power to my brain when you held my hand. I don’t understand why either.’

An adorable bashful grin hangs at his lips. ‘My fault, and I’m sorry. I got nervous; it felt right. Now that I know it affects you physically for reasons you don’t understand, I promise, it won’t happen again.’

My heart slows. Don’t promise that. Wait,what?

‘I wouldn’t want to melt your brain or anything,’ he says, a cocky grin on his pretty face. ‘What do you say we get the hell out of here and grab something to eat?’

He’s just going to pretend it never happened? That I didn’t just ramble on like a braindead dummy and embarrass us both in front of God and the entire YouTube world?Whois this man?

13

DAX

The Next Day…

We flew into California this morning and we’re now standing at a restaurant in Ocean Beach. We didn’t exactly get a tour, but from what we did see, it’s a very southern California surfer town.

Hols fell in love with the place immediately and has requested we not leave until she’s put her feet in the ocean and now I’m looking forward to seeing that more than anything else we do today.

‘Hi.’ A tall woman with waist-length strawberry blonde hair approaches us. ‘Where are you two from?’

‘Suburb outside Portland, Oregon,’ I say. ‘You?’

‘I live here. Ocean Beach. Born and raised. Isn’t it just the cutest town?’

‘I’m ready to pack my bags and move,’ Hollyn says.

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