Page 54 of A Heart to Find
Smiling to herself, she prepared to turn away when he walked her way.
Never one to play games, she couldn’t resist the urge this time around.
He started toward her. Her legs shook, but she hoped not noticeably. After gratefully accepting a cocktail from the passing waiter, she sipped the sweet concoction and planned her sweet, sweet revenge.
Before she could exact said revenge, he outplayed her.
He stopped to also accept a cocktail, but then he lingered in conversation with the waitress who served him. Keira couldn’t hear what was being said, but from the tossed back head and the giant open-mouthed laugh on the waitress’s face, Jared must have been acting as quite the comedian.
Keira, never one to want to stomp on someone’s toes, gritted her teeth watching him flirt so wildly. He glanced her way and she flicked her hair over her shoulder.
Why should she care if he flirted with someone else? She already knew he wasn’t her match, so maybe he could find a match on his own. Not that she believed that’s what he actually wanted.
The next fifteen minutes played out the same way. Jared staying within visual distance of her no matter where she moved in the room, but flirting with whatever female stood nearby. Waitresses. Women who were with their own matches. One of the founders who made her rounds. And the best part? A dog who escaped the doggy day care down the hall and ran in to find her person.
Yup. He even flirted with the dog.
Shameless.
Keira downed another cocktail and tried to find Megan so she could more properly ignore him. But then the starting time for the scavenger hunt began, and couples poured out of the various doors on a hunt for the items on the list.
This may have been fun. If she had her match to participate with her.
The number of couples dwindled, but Keira held her ground. He’d have to come to her. She had to hold on to some level of pride.
Why did he have to look so handsome, though? So beguiling? Why did she wish he flirted with her rather than everyone else around him?
Why couldn’t he just beg her to forgive him and they could get on with playing this thing out to the bitter end?
If she couldn’t leave with a real match, she could at least leave with the memory of a bittersweet reunion and a few magical moments.
But she wouldn’t give in.
She had zero—ZERO—control of her heart, however.
As evidenced by the way the darn thing crackled and started melting at the seams when she watched from her safe distance as he seemed to take another couple under his wing.
She inched closer to hear what was going on without being too obvious. With the small number of couples that remained in the room decreasing every minute, being unobtrusive grew to be a challenge. Luckily there were those giant balloon sculptures around the room, so she slipped behind one and listened intently.
Hating herself and her pathetic nature more and more every second.
His smooth, confident voice reassured the couple that everyone was feeling awkward, and that even though they had been matched, the getting-to-know-you part of the adventure was still an awkward one.
He joked about how he was there alone, even though his match was in the same room. That maybe one of the items on the list of things they had to find should have been their other half.
With every lighthearted, heartfelt bit of dialogue, the other couple visibly relaxed. By the time he suggested they each have a drink to relax into, the once-nervous couple was holding hands. Though they looked bashful, they smiled into each other’s eyes.
Why couldn’t she have that?
She leaned forward to listen as his voice dropped to an animated whisper.
“So just remember, Barb and Neil, no matter how strange you feel during this process, remind yourself that at least your match isn’t hiding from you behind a stack of balloons.”
Fiddlesticks!
She glanced all around, searching for an escape. Pressing her frigid hand to her flaming cheeks, she fought the instinct to run, run, run when he appeared on her side of the balloons.
“Fancy meeting you here, my lovely match!” He overemphasized every syllable, drawing out her humiliation as his new BFFs chuckled behind him. “Come, I’d like you to meet my friends.”
