“Didn’t I hear Alexis’s voice last night? Where is she? I want to thank her for making me a birthday cake.” Raf says from his perch on the island. He glances past a scowling Levi into the hallway, trying to catch a glimpse of my girl. Not that he will.
I’m hoping I can convince her to stay up there and relax for as long as possible, maybe even blow off that cooking class the contest is forcing on us. I reckon we can have a lot more fun right here.
Raf’s words do give me a pause, though. Between Alexis and the contest and all the added hockey practices I completely forgot about his birthday coming up.Idiot!I need to find something to give him, something that shows I care about him even if I’m forgetful. I just have to figure out what.
Would he accept it if I bought him a car? It certainly would make going home easier for him, letting him skip the bus and train rides I know he hates. I don’t think it would go over well, though. What about a city trip? He could take Nico to Paris, maybe. I’ll have to think about it some more later.
About the gift, that is. Not Raf and Nico in Paris.
There’s some pancake mix left, so I whip up a few waffles with a glass of fresh orange juice and a hot cherry tea on the side. It’s far from flashy, but it’s made with love nonetheless.
“She’s curled up in my bed where she belongs,” I say, and the wince on Levi’s face only spurs me on. “She’s sore from last night—a bit hard to walk.”
“Watch it, Taylor. That’s my sister you’re talking about.”
I can tell by the tone of Levi’s voice that I’m walking a dangerous line, but even he has to see I’m stuck in an impossible situation here. These guys don’t know about our deal, not even Raf. They all think me and Alexis are actually together, which would make it suspicious if I didn’t allude to having sex with her at least once. Especially because riffing Levi is one of my favorite hobbies.
“Has anyone seen the syrup?” I ask. Raf gives a low whistle and punts the bottle straight at my head. “Thanks, man.”
Levi shakes his head as he watches me shove the breakfast onto a makeshift tray. “Alexis doesn’t like syrup on waffles.”
“Oh, I know. The waffles are her breakfast. The syrup is part of mine.” I wink at Raf as a lowOh!goes through the kitchen. Levi looks like he might be sick.
As a hockey player, I have never been graceful, so it takes considerable effort to keep the tray—fine, it’s an old pizza box—straight enough not to spill a thing. Still, I make it a point to stop briefly at Levi’s side. “Might be best not to think about it.”
I hurry up the stairs before he can retaliate.
Despite my best efforts,Alexis insisted we go to the cooking class.
I tried everything short of barricading the door, but if I did she’d probably climb out the window just to prove a point. My girl is stubborn like that.
It’s not all bad, though. Alexis is a skilled baker and I found her a stool to perch on while she watches me knead the pizza dough. She tries to hide it, be discreet, but I catch her staring at my arms enough that it makes me regret hiding them under a sweatshirt. I flex them just the same.
Alexis busies herself with roasting tomatoes for the sauce while I try to copy our instructor’s moves for shaping the dough in the air. I can catch the blob of dough before it has a chance to fly off, though thankfully no one saw it. Aside from the cameras.
The cameraman closest to us—Noah, his name tag says—seems to have taken a liking to Alexis and me. He kept close by at the aquarium, and today he hasn’t been more than a few paces away from us at any time. It seems the crew is unchanging, as they are all familiar faces. Though it seems there are more of them now that there are less of us.
They weren’t kidding when they said they would vote two couples off after every date. With two dates behind us four couples are gone, drastically improving our odds of winning. There’s no time to slow down, of course, but it’s nice to know people believe in us just the same.
“Remind me to find a boarding place for Lucky for next weekend.” I rummage through the mess underneath our workstation to find something to blend our sauce with and set it on the bench before grabbing the rest of our ingredients. Cooking is kind of fun.
“No need. I’ll look after him.”
I raise a brow. “How can you take care of him if you’re in Vermont with me? It’s not like we can sneak him into the hotel. We couldn’t even sneak him into the house without getting caught.”
“Yeah, I’m not sure me coming on your trip is a good idea,” Alexis says quietly. “It’s probably best if I hang back.”
I slide my arms around her waist and pull her close, minimizing the odds of someone—like Noah—overhearing as I say, “You have to go. All the guys’ partners are going. Don’t you think it will look suspicious if you are the only one who isn’t there?”
“Yes, it probably will.” Alexis doesn’t look up from the cutting board, the herbs sliced so thinly it’s impossible to make them out. “But going on trips isn’t that easy when you’re with me. I can’t just do things on the fly; they need to be planned out with structured breaks for resting on bad days. And even then it’s a fifty-fifty shot of my body giving up and me ruining the whole trip.” Alexis draws a shaky breath and instinctively I hold her tighter, letting her know that I’m here. “With this much on the line…I don’t want to be the reason you’re too distracted to win.”
There’s a camera on us now, I just know it. I run my thumb along the length of her cheekbone, cataloging every freckle. “You should know by now that I will be thinking of you whether you are there or not. The only difference is if you’re with me, I’ll get to dedicate every goal to my gorgeous ray of sunshine, and you get to enjoy seeing me fall on my ass.”
“That does sound enticing,” Alexis teases.
“So you’ll come? Pretty please?” I put on my best impression of sad puppy eyes. “I promise I’ll get you anything you need to be comfortable. I just…I want you there with me.”
Alexis stares at me for a moment, her conflict clear in the way she furrows her brows and does that lip-biting thing she knows drives me wild. But I know the answer the moment her expression softens.
