“Yeah. I’m glad she was honest with me.” He squeezes my hand. “And, in the spirit of honesty, she calmly told me I need to callMadcap Marketand tell them the truth.”
Dropping his hand, I grow scared the longer the silence stretches on without explanation. “Well? Did you?”
He bites his lip and nods. “I was raised to do what my mom tells me to.”
“Oh, my God!” I stand and start pacing.
“It was an awkward conversation.”
I tug at my hair. “What? Are they going to retract our win and make some public statement on the next episode? We’re going to be a laughingstock. I already spent some of the money. I can’t just go back to the Breast Cancer Association of America and be like, ‘Hey, sorry. That actually wasn’t my money to spend.’ Why didn’t you call me and tell me?”
“You explicitly told me not to contact you,” he says firmly.
“Okay! But this is an emergency situation. I would’ve understood. I would’ve—” In my panic, I register what Leo’s wearing again. “Wait, how could you afford that suit if—”
That shit-eating smirk from the very first day we met stamps itself onto Leo’s face. “I’m fucking with you.”
I gasp and throw one of the nearby decorative pillows at him. Gah, I’d be madder if he weren’t so infuriatingly handsome and here and wonderful in every way but this one. “So you didn’t tell them?”
“No, I did,” he admits. “But they said to me what I said to you, they don’t care. As long as we weren’t going to go blabbing about their less than scrupulous casting process, they didn’t see a problem. They said others have fudged their relationships before, too. It’s about looks and chemistry, not history.”
“Oh.” I start to wonder how many of my favorite contestants over the years weren’t actually who they said they were to each other. I suppose the artifice should’ve been more obvious. It’s a fake grocery store after all!
Even still, it warms me to know they cast us because of chemistry. The chemistry that’s reprising itself now that we’re back in the same room.
“Seriously, they said we were the most talked about contestants online this whole season. We’re the reasonMadcap Marketwas trending on socials for the first time this year. They loved us. Didn’t you see the influx of followers we both got?” He turns so we’re eye to eye. “We’re good. If this whole experience taught me anything, it’s that telling white lies and withholding information are fine with people who don’t matter like the mega-wealthy producers atMadcap Market, but they have no place between you and the people you love.”
“Love?”
“Yeah, love.” Leo smiles. “You signed your goodbye note with it, and even though you were running away—maybebecauseyou were running away—I knew you meant it.”
Huh. I honestly don’t remember doing that, but maybe my subconscious did me a solid favor by putting the word I was most afraid of out there.
I can’t rip my gaze away from Leo. He has a way of locking me in, and I love it. I lovehim. “I did and still do mean it.”
“I mean it, too,” he says, appearing a bit bashful.
“Okay,” I say a little breathless over this massive revelation but not wanting to rush this important conversation. “You came all this way to see me, to let me apologize in person, but I have a feeling there’s one more thing left. What is it?”
“Know me that well already, huh?” he asks.
“Honestly? Not as well as I’d like to.”
He blushes at that. “Your note told me to use my half of the winnings to chase my passions, so yesterday morning I had an audition.”
“An audition?” I ask. “Oh, my God! For what?”
“To be a background dancer for a newbie pop singer going on her first tour,” he says, sounding proud. “Don’t get too excited. I got cut third round, but I made it pretty far and I got some good feedback. I think I’ll try again the next opportunity I get. I promised my mom that if I was going to forgo a nine-to-five to pursue a passion, I had to go all in. I couldn’t half-ass it like my other jobs.”
“That’s incredible, Leo!” I want to throw myself on him and kiss him, but I know we’re not there yet. Forgiveness was given and love was broached, but that doesn’t mean we’re automatically going to try again. “Wait, isn’t there more of an industry for that out in Los Angeles?”
He half shrugs. “Yeah, but your note said chase mypassions. Plural.” The back of his hand strokes down my jaw. I could break into a million happy pieces when I fully digest his meaning. “I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to knock out both in one trip.” Like he’s a magician, he snaps the napkin up between us. “What would you say if I told you that I—Leo Min—was your prize for winning the scavenger hunt?”
I pretend to consider this. “I—Holden James—would say that I graciously accept.”
Our lips collide, and it’s like our hearts merge. As our tongues tangle up, I’ve never known two hungrier mouths. Leo’s palms scoop up around my ass until he’s hauling me off the couch, holding me tight, my legs wrapped around his sturdy waist. It’s distilled paradise.
In our closed-eyed frenzy, Leo bumps the remote that controls the karaoke machine. The electronic beat and ghostly backing vocals for “Breathe On Me” by Britney Spears filter through the room.
