Page 15 of Reluctantly Married

A tiny part of her felt bad for him. But only for a micro-second. He and Leon were planning on humiliating her. Adam was no friend, and she needed to keep that in the forefront of her mind.

“Now, Adam.” She put her hands on her hips and scolded him like a child. “No one can misunderstandthat.”

The shade of red on his face deepened. He stared at her, his mouth slightly open. Then he plastered on his fake camera-smile, threw out his arms, and chuckled. “Well, you can’t blame a guy for trying.”

She figured he’d slip into his male chauvinistic role. Jerk. She folded her arms across her chest and started across the parking lot. He fell into step beside her, and as they neared her car, he slapped her behind, hard.

Adam tightened his seatbelt as Megan drove like a crazy woman through the streets of Omaha. In fact, ‘crazy woman’ seemed to be the theme of the night. What had gotten into her? It had to be Leon. That was the only thing he could come up with. Leon had said something to make her mad.

He thought maybe she would confide in him. He hoped, anyway. But obviously she wasn’t going to be reasonable. Hopefully, this would be over soon. She had slapped him. If he kept up his act, she’d tell him off. They’d be done dating.

Breaking up on-air wasn’t a bad idea. It would force Leon to give up the charade. And it wouldn’t be that hard. She was already pretty mad at him.

Megan sighed and put her hand on his knee. “Hey, I’m sorry I slapped you. I shouldn’t have taken your comment so seriously. You were only joking around.” She flashed a cheesy smile.

So much for breaking up. Leon probably would have fired him anyway. Maybe it was better to go out a few more times and then convince Leon to give up the gig.

“No worries.” He slipped his arm around her shoulder. She bristled but didn’t shrink away.

As they approached her apartment complex, indecision swirled around in his head. What was he supposed to do? Kiss her goodnight? Brush her off? It was such a crazy night, he had no clue.

After a few moments, they stood in front of her door, staring at each other. He waited to see what she would do. A smile crept onto her face. “I had fun tonight.”

“I bet you did,” he said under his breath. Then loud enough for the camera, “I think you’re going to enjoy our next date.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“I mean, a little stretching is good, right?”

She took a step back from him, and instinct kicked in. He moved closer. “Yes. We should try to move past some of our weaknesses.”

Another step back, and she hit the door jamb. Nowhere to go now. He put his hand on the wall above her and leaned down. “I’ve got the perfect idea for our next date.”

The color drained from her face, and she swallowed. “You know, I already planned—”

He silenced her with a finger on her lips. “Oh, no. It’s my turn.” Lifting her chin, he leaned so close their lips were almost touching. “It’s payback time,” he whispered.

Without another word, he turned and left her in the hallway.

Adam thought he was used to quickly changing temperatures, living in Nebraska. He was wrong. The frosty greeting he got from Megan the next morning at the station about froze his buns off. But as soon as the camera started, she was all warm sunshine and flirtation. Of course, as soon as the on-air light went out, he was once again thrown into a sub-zero climate.

After their show, Megan scampered off the set before he had a chance to say a word. He sighed. A part of him felt bad for last night. The rest of him wanted to get back at her for trying to humiliate him. Twice.

He spent the remainder of the morning at home on the Internet researching. A few phone calls later, he had the perfect date set up. He dialed Megan’s number. While he waited for her to answer, he took a glass out of the cupboard and filled it with water.

“Hello?” Her voice was guarded.

“Hey. I wanted to let you know I’ve got our date for Saturday arranged. I’ll pick you up at ten.”

A pause. “What are we doing?”

“Not singing.” He swallowed the tepid tap water. Maybe he should have put some ice in the glass.

A longer pause. “You’re a jerk.”

For some reason, that made him smile. She was the one that started it. She could take a little payback. He opened the freezer, but his ice tray was empty. “Wear something athletic,” he said, his tone light.

The phone beeped in his ear. She’d hung up on him.

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