Page 70 of Playing With Matches
“I’m totally tone deaf, trust me, nobody wants me to sing,” Isla laughs.
“I beg to differ. I’m pretty sure I could scare up the karaoke version of Veruca Salt’s song for you,” I offer. “It doesn’t require a huge vocal range.”
Isla rolls her eyes at me. “We could make it a duet. You can sing the grumpy Oompa Loompa parts.”
“I’m so sorry, orange is not my color,” I mock apologize.
“How about you Marco?” Isla asks. She spies Rob on his way in and waves him over to the table.
“Morning, All!” Rob says. He’s freshly showered and shaved and appears to be crackling with energy, as usual. “I am so happy to see my three awesome musketeers all bright and bushy-tailed and ready to rock it today! What are you chatting about here?”
“I just asked Marco if he was planning to sing at karaoke tonight,” Isla says.
Rob rubs his chin, considering Marco, then he turns back to Isla. “I sure hope so! There is nothing more romantic than a man serenading a woman, is there?”
My heart quickens.
“Yes! Yes! Marco agrees,” Marco bobs his head enthusiastically, as he smears butter onto a bacon slice. “Marco is trying to choose which song. I cannot decide between ‘Isla Bonita’ and ‘Rock You Like a Hurricane.’”
He waggles his eyebrows as he says the second title, and I find myself clenching my fists under the table.
That’s it. It’s on for karaoke.
Marco is going down.
isla
“It’s not everyone’s idea of a perfect first date, but I’m partial to axe throwing. There’s no need for reading the tea leaves. It’s a hit or miss kind of situation.”
~Jackson Porter, Playing with Matches Confessionals
“OMG you guys,”Rory says when we meet her at the production tent before dinner. “We got some great footage today. Hopefully, you’ll both have some thoughts about the way the individual dates went. But try to save your comments for the confessionals? Rob would prefer it if we don’t discuss too much amongst ourselves.”
“Okay, Mom,” Jackson rolls his eyes like a teenager.
“Now I’m a mom? I thought I was too young for you,” Rory replies tartly. Jackson pays her no mind, but I see her watching him. I can almost feel the acidic burn of unrequited longing that’s stuck in her throat. Too bad there’s no antacid to cure that.
If there were, I might have to procure some of it for myself at some point soon. I want Jackson Porter so badly. But not in any kind of way that I can realistically have him.
I’m still not sure who that chemistry lesson on the beach was for. Which one of us was I testing?
I know Jackson wants me. I even know some of thethings he wants to do to me.And, shockingly, none of them bother me. Normally when I catch a guy thinking about something naughty involving me in a fantasy, it’s a complete and total turn-off. It isn’t actually about me – theperson –at all. I feel like I’ve clicked into an awkward porno starring the puppet version of me. I can’t close that window fast enough. It’s the opposite of intimate. It makes me feel objectified and dehumanized. Gross.
But when I catch a glimpse of what Jackson’s thinking? It’s different. I want to do the things to him that he’s imagining. I want him to do those things to me. Thoseexactthings. So much so that I’ve lost track of where his fantasies stop and mine begin. The line is fuzzy like the overlap of our auras. Green.
Green for horny, he thought. I didn’t dare tell him it’s the color of the heart chakra. The color of love. It would have made him bolt. Instead, I was the one to step away.
“Whose date do you want to start with?” Rory asks.
“Lacey and Ryker,” Jackson says. “They are the couple that I’m the least hopeful for.”
“This should be good,” I clasp my hands together. “Did they enjoy going to the spa together?”
“Uh… you might say,” Rory says, pulling up the footage on the computer. “We’ve got a few great clips. I’m not even sure what trope these two are, but it’s steamy.”
“Princess and Sasquatch, clearly,” Jackson supplies. “It’s one of the Beauty and the Beast variants.” When Rory stares open-mouthed at him, he holds up his hands and shrugs. “What? I am an expert. I do a podcast about this stuff, remember?”
Rory rolls the tape. The footage on the screen shows the two of them getting a couples massage.
