Page 58 of You're The One
“Slow is good, but he’s practically a tortoise,” Victoria quips. “Did you hear? He kissed Ashley last night?”
She kissed him.
Hell, I guess Dominic really hammered that point home this morning.
River nods, and Summer chimes in, “Brave move, doing that so close to the rose ceremony.”
“You think she’ll get sent home?” Victoria asks, but their eyes land on me like I’ve got the inside scoop.
“How should I know?” I blow on the liquid in my cup, despite the lukewarm temperature. Only Summer knows about the deal between Dominic and me, and I don’t think she would’ve told the others without checking first.
“C’mon. You guys are like besties now,” Victoria teases as I take a sip.
I make a sound somewhere between a laugh and a scoff, coffee dribbling down my chin. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
I look around the table, seeing nothing but raised brows—even Summer is in on it.
Best friends with Dominicare words I never thought could be true, but I can’t think of anyone I’m closer to at this point. Which, honestly? Freaks me out, so I try to push the thought away.
“If I had to bet, I’d put money on her going home,” I finally say. Mostly because I told him not to, and he hasn’t taken my advice since my initial matchmaking sabotage.
The conversation keeps going around me, but I’m suddenly over it. I just want to crawl into bed and sleep the day away. Too bad that’s not an option with today’s group date looming.
Summer’s watching me, her head tilted slightly. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Just tired.”
“All right,” Bodhi announces over the chatter, “today’s going to be a fun one.”
Is it, though? An escape room isn’t exactly my idea of a greatdate. Under normal circumstances, with friends, sure, I’d probably love it. Which, I guess, is technically who I’m with—friends.
This is sure to bring out everyone’s competitive streak, not their heart eyes.
“You’ll be split into two teams,” he continues. “But Dominic needs a teammate, too, and he gets to choose who he’ll spend most of the day with… locked inside a room.”
Bodhi chuckles, likelocked in a roomis the height of romance, and Dominic tips his head back as if asking the universe for patience.
“Whichever team wins gets extra time with Dominic tonight,” Bodhi explains. That gets Emma’s attention. Summer catches her little hop of excitement, too, and shoots me a look.
Not that Iwantthe extra time. But itwouldmean more time out of the house.
The heavy feeling I confessed to Dominic this morning is still clinging to me, and I’m itching to shake it off.
“But don’t worry, ladies,” Bodhi adds. “Everyone will get equal time during the second part of today’s plans.”
He turns to Dom. “So, who will it be, Dominic?”
It’s fairly obvious who he’s going to pick. And I can’t exactly complain about being stuck in a room with Summer.She’s my first choice, I remind myself.This is good.
“Mia,” Dom says, without hesitation.
Emma’s eyes widen slightly, and I’m sure mine are doing the same. Summer glances over at me with a slight smile and gives a not-so-subtle thumbs-up.
I follow Dominic into a room designed to look like the inside of a submarine, with rippling blue lights, faint underwater sounds, and walls painted with coral and kelp. It only takes a second to realize it’s Atlantis-themed.
“Didn’t want to be on the winning team?” I ask once the door clicks shut behind us. “Bold move, choosing me over Emma. She looks like she came here to win.”
Dominic grips my wrist and pulls me toward a smaller alcove sectioned off from the rest of the room. He scans the instructions out loud, then gestures to the wall of spinning blocks. “We line these up to spell a word, then use the music key to play it on that giant xylophone.”
