He slowed as we reached my door. The brass number on it gleamed in the dim hallway light. My hand shook a little as I reached for the knob. He saw. Of course he saw.
“Chrissy,” he said quietly.
I looked up.
If I wasn’t careful, I could drown in the way he was looking at me.
“You know this is still a Game, right?” he asked. The words sounded like they cost him something. “None of it is… binding. Not yet, anyway.”
I let out a rough breath that wasn’t quite a laugh.
“Tell that to my nervous system.”
A corner of his mouth twitched.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re not,” I said, but there wasn’t heat in it. Just tired honesty. “But thank you for saying it anyway.”
His gaze dropped again to my hand. Slowly, he curled his fingers like he was resisting the urge to reach out and touch the ring again.
“Get some rest,” he said. “There’ll be another challenge tomorrow.”
“Like today’s wasn’t enough?”
His expression turned wry.
“Something tells me the hardest ones are still coming.”
A shiver crawled down my spine that had nothing to do with the cold.
“Goodnight, Jacob,” I whispered.
“Goodnight, Chrissy.”
I slipped into my room and closed the door before I could say or do something even stupider, like ask him to stay.
The quiet pressed in around me. The air smelled faintly like the lodge’s cleaning products and my own soft, rosy perfume. I leaned back against the door and stared down at my hand.
The ring caught the low lamplight, the green stone glowing like its own little secret.
If this were real… I would marry you.
I’d said that. Out loud. In front of everyone.
My stomach flipped.
“You’re an idiot,” I muttered at myself, pushing away from the door. “You came here to win money, not catch feelings.”
Still, I couldn’t bring myself to take the ring off. Not yet.
I crossed to the bed, planning to flop down face-first and scream into the pillow until I felt less like I’d just signed my own emotional death warrant. The sight of something resting dead center on the duvet stopped me cold.
A black strip of silk.
A blindfold.
Beside it, a cream-colored card with my number — 18 — inked in elegant script.
