Page 22 of Reluctantly Married

She laughed. “You don’t even know what kind of soup.”

“I’m sure it’s delicious.” He followed her into the kitchen and pulled out a chair.

She served up two bowls and set them on the table. Then she scooped the Alfredo pasta onto plates and got out some cold sodas. When she’d seated herself, her curiosity got the better of her. “Okay, why are you here?”

He picked up his fork and pushed the food around on his plate. “I need to apologize.”

That was the last thing she expected him to say. She stared at him, trying to figure out what his motives were. “For what?”

“For today…for everything.”

“Way to be specific.”

He blew out a breath. “I made a mistake. I tried to humiliate you. But it only made me feel terrible.”

Unable to fully trust him, but curious as to what he wanted, she decided to play his game for a while. See what he was up to. “Everything worked out in the end. No harm done.”

A look of relief flooded him. “I want you to know, I don’t agree with everything Leon’s doing.”

The mention of their boss made her stiffen, and she tried hard to keep a scowl off her face. “Neither do I.”

“I don’t think we need to argue to get good ratings.” He shoveled a forkful of pasta in his mouth.

She thought about his words. “Then how do you propose we get people interested in the show?”

His smile turned her middle into Jell-o. “Our online dating. It’s skyrocketing the popularity of the morning show.”

“Won’t that get boring, though, after a while? Just watching us go out on dates?”

“That’s why I think we need to mix it up a bit.” He took a swig of his soda.

“Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” She stopped eating and waited for him to drop the other shoe.

He grinned. “Don’t look so worried. I was just thinking that having our fans write in and make date suggestions might be fun.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Date suggestions?” It didn’t sound that bad, but a foreboding feeling settled in.

“Sure. I’ll ask our viewers on Monday where we should go for our next date. It’ll give them a chance to participate.”

Warning flags popped up. “What if they suggest something we don’t want to do?”

Steam rose and curled up from his spoonful of vegetable soup. “We can weed out the bad suggestions.”

“Heights are off the table.” She gave him her best ‘you’ll die if someone suggests bungee jumping’ glare.

“Of course.” He tipped his soda can up, taking another swig. Why was that so sexy on him?

She looked away. “I guess. If we have full control over what we end up doing…”

“Great!” His smile gave her goose bumps. “One last thing.”

Oh, heavens. What now? “Hmm?”

“I don’t think we should tell Leon yet.”

“I agree with that. He’ll find a way to turn it into something horrible.”

“I’ll sneak it into the show on Monday. Leon will love it anyway, it will draw people to the website.”

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