As my alarm sounded, I groaned.Partly because this bed was so comfortable, I hated the thought of having to leave it, but mainly because I knew it meant that I had to face an entire day with Jake.Getting through that dinner was hard enough.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.
I thought that I’d be spending my days gazing into the beautiful eyes of my match, skipping along the beach hand in hand and being ridiculously loved up.Not sitting at a table glaring at him like I had last night.
Okay, if I was being totally honest, on a purely superficial level, when I was glaring, I noticed that his eyes actually were annoyingly beautiful.They were a greenish-brown golden shade and all sparkly.And of course, he had long lashes.Ugh.
When he’d made that joke about me having a poster of him on my bedroom wall, I wanted the ground to swallow me up because I’m embarrassed to admit that there may have been a point that I… fancied Jake.
And shamefully, Ididhave a poster of him on my bedroom wall.A fact that he mustneverknow.
Jake used to be in a boyband, The Real-Lists, and they were huge.So in my defence, it was probably easier to find a teenage girl whodidn’thave a poster of them on their wall.
And I was young and stupid back then so it was different.Now I knew better.
Been there, done that, worn the T-shirt, got zero interest in dating a popstar ever again, thank you very much.
That was why I was so grumpy last night.Normally, I was a softie and although I wasn’t the life and soul of the party, I could hold a decent conversation.But when I saw Jake, my walls instantly went up.When everything imploded with my ex, it nearly destroyed me and I couldn’t risk getting hurt like that again.
After I’d left the restaurant last night, I wanted to call Vanessa to talk it through.Then I remembered that New York was three hours ahead and I didn’t want to wake her up, so I’d left her a voice note explaining what had happened and asked her to call me whenever she was free.
In the meantime, I’d speak to Sammie and ask for a different match.Their database must be huge and everyone on the dating scene wanted to come to this hotel, so hopefully it’d be straightforward.
Once I’d showered, I headed to the restaurant for breakfast.
‘Morning!’ Sammie said as I walked in.She was standing next to a good-looking guy with olive skin.
‘Hi,’ I said.
‘How’d you sleep?And how was your dinner last night?So cool that you’ve been matched with Jake Myers!’
My stomach twisted.Sammie made it sound like I’d been paired with LA’s most eligible bachelor.More like Mr Community Dick.
‘I slept really well, thanks.’
‘The mattresses and pillows are so comfy, right?When I stayed at the Love Hotel, I was tempted to buy an extra suitcase just to steal the pillows!’ She laughed, then her face fell as she realised what she’d just said.‘Not that I’m encouraging you to do that, of course.’
‘Don’t worry!The pillows are safe.I didn’t realise that you stayed at the Love Hotel too?’
‘Yep.The Italian one.That’s where I met the love of my life!’ She turned and smiled at the man beside her.‘This is my other half, Romeo.He’s also a Love Alchemist here.’
‘Oh!’ My eyes widened.‘Hi, Romeo.I’m Halle.’ I stretched out my hand.
‘Nice to meet you.’ He smiled and shook my hand.
‘It’s so cool that you guys met there and now you’re working together.I’d love to hear more.’
Sammie and Romeo looked at each other and grinned.
‘It’s a long story… Best to save that for another day.’ She flashed Romeo a knowing smile which immediately piqued my interest.‘So?You didn’t tell me how it went with Jake.’
‘Er… actually, if you’ve got a second, I wondered if we could have a chat about it.’
‘Course!Honey, can you cover for me?’ she asked Romeo.
‘Sure,’ he replied.
‘Let’s go for a walk,’ Sammie said, heading through the doors and down towards the beach.‘So, what’s up?’
