Page 25 of Reluctantly Married

Adam fished around in the bowl, prolonging the drama of the date drawing. “And the winner is…” He pulled out a card. “Alisha from Sacramento! Her date suggestion is: ‘Play Walmart Bingo. Create a bingo card for each other. Fill the squares with something you might find at Walmart. Be creative. When you see an item listed on your bingo card, cross it off. Loser buys dinner.’”

Megan smiled for the camera. “Sounds like an interesting date, Alisha. We’ll be filming it tomorrow, so be sure to tune in online.”

The on-air light went out, and Leon waltzed onto the set. “Great show today. And what a fun suggestion for a date.” He looked down at the fishbowl filled with index cards. “When did you do that?”

The hungry look in his eye didn’t go unnoticed by Adam. He hugged the fishbowl to himself protectively. “Last night. Thought it would be fun to draw one each week.”

“Yeah.” Leon stared at the bowl until Adam decided he was going to keep it under lock and key. The last thing he needed was to have Leon tossing in his own date suggestions.

Megan bit back an evil grin as they pulled into the Walmart parking lot. Adam frowned. “When are you going to show me my bingo card?”

“We’ll exchange as soon as we’re inside.”

He swung his Mustang into a space, and they all piled out of the car. The warmth of his hand on the small of her back radiated through her. The doors swished open as they neared. When they entered the building, she pulled out his card and handed it to him.

His eyes grew wide. “These aren’t things you find at Walmart.”

She grinned. “Sure they are.”

“A crying baby?”

“You can find that one without even trying.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Someone wearing slippers?”

“I’ve seen it.”

He smirked. “Okay, fine. Here’s your card.”

She stared at the paper, a myriad of words too long to pronounce staring back at her. “What is acetylsalicylic acid?” Then one she recognized jumped out at her. “Monosodium glutamate? That’s MSG, isn’t it? What did you do, give me a list of impossible to pronounce ingredients I have to go find?”

A smug smile settled on his face. “Everything on that card can be found at Walmart. You just have to find out which product has it.”

She whacked his arm. “This will take me forever.”

He laughed. “No longer than me trying to find…” He searched his card. “Someone sporting a mullet.”

She giggled. “Okay, you’re on.”

“Rule number one: We must stay together.” He slipped his hand around hers.

“That’s not fair. You’ll just pull me away from the right products.” She couldn’t hide her smile. Darn him. Why did he have to be so handsome? And why did she turn into a nitwit whenever he was around?

“We’ll take turns leading the way.” He looked at his watch. “Five minutes each. You can go first.” A woman brushed past them, two small children in tow. Dale stepped back to let them through.

“Deal. And we’d better get out of the way, people are trying to get carts.” She tugged him aside. “What’s rule number two?” Her hand tingled where his skin touched hers.

“No googling stuff on the Internet.”

She pretended to pout. “Fine. Rule three?”

“We both have to see the item before we can cross it off.” He took a pencil from his shirt pocket.

“Makes sense. Any more?”

“Maybe we should set a time limit.”

She peered up at him, brushing a strand of hair back over her ear. “Why?”

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