“Sometimes,” he admitted, “but our personalities are pretty different, so she could usually tell.”
“Huh. That’s wild.”
He nodded, looking stuck in thought. “You know, Zander…he’s—in a lot of ways—more sensitive than I am.”
Kat lifted a brow. “Really?”
“He donates to about a million causes. We all do, but he gives the most, I think. And kids…they like him way better than they like me. Kids hate me. I say it all the time. Because it’s true.”
Kat couldn’t help but laugh at his confession. She was also amused by the way he was talking up his brother. It was sweet. “I guess when you’re a twin, you’re pretty close, right?”
“Yes,” he said with a nod.
The conversation that followed covered a lot of small talk. Details of her family and his, what it was like growing up in a small family versus a large one. She was surprised to discover how normal his upbringing seemed to be in a lot of ways. It was obvious he’d been raised with a good moral compass, and she admired that.
Yet as soon as they were done with their lunch, he gave her a look that said he was ready to go deeper. He held her gaze, those blue eyes nearly hypnotizing as he leaned back into the chair, and tucked his hands behind his head.
“So why’d you do it?”
Kat knew without further prompting what it meant. It was the question she’d been waiting to ask him. She hadn’t felt right asking at the wedding or even on the plane; if the groom was anything like her, he’d have a complicated answer. One that was better suited for a private conversation.
She blew out a breath while contemplating. Just as an onslaught of nerves began mounding within her, she caught sight of Savoh heading toward them on the boardwalk.
Duke glanced over his shoulder. “Should we move to the pool while he cleans up? Maybe dip our feet?”
“Sure,” Kat said before greeting the young attendant. Savoh was quick to clean up as they removed their sandals and sat on the edge of the pool. He left them with glasses of chilled coconut water before heading back to the resort.
“So,” Duke said once they were alone again. “You were just about to tell me why you signed up for the show.”
“Yeah,” she said, letting her gaze drop to the water as she swayed her feet back and forth. It was the perfect blend, warm sun on her skin and the cool water on her feet.
“I guess you could say that I’ve been burned in the past. To the point that I lost confidence in my ability to pick the right guy, you know?”
“Tsk, I know, alright,” he said under his breath. “So did a friend tell you about it or did you find it yourself?”
“I saw some pamphlet about it at work, which is kind of odd if I think about it. But then again we have a lot of students there doing intern work. It probably belonged to one of them.
“I dismissed it at first. I think I laughed out loud even, thinking, what kind of crazy person would sign up for something like that?” She laughed at herself, and he joined in.
“Very crazy,” he said with a nod.
The camaraderie made her tummy warm. “Yep. I forgot about it until I found a coupon book in the mailbox. My ex boyfriend…well…” She shook her head, not wanting to go into too much detail about her unpleasant past.
“Let’s just say mailers can be a trigger where my ex is concerned. So then I got thinking about how horrible my judgment is and how was I ever supposed to find a good guy when I had done such a poor job at it with the only man I’d ever loved?”
Kat dipped her fingertips into the water next, watched ripples form as she skidded them over the surface. She almost regretted admitting that last part—that Bradley was the only man she’d fallen in love with. But as she glanced up, met eyes with her groom across the reflective pool, Kat sensed only concern. And kindness, like when he’d spoken up at the altar while she was having her freak-out moment.
She felt her lips curve up as she set her gaze back on the water. “For whatever reason, the social experiment came to mind. I didn’t remember much about it except for the name—Married at First Meet. I looked it up while I ate, just for fun, and became intrigued by the science behind it. I liked that they had three specialists from different fields using their skillset to match up the couples.
“They said only those who had the closest-to-perfect matches—meaning, the best shot at success—would move on to the next levels. And it got me thinking. Formulas, I trust. I mean, we’ve developed life-saving drugs by creating just the right formula. And if science can find cures for horrible diseases, why couldn’t some simple calculations find a person’s match?”
Kat felt the heat of his gaze on her as she said those last words. Words that, in essence, said that he was her match. Slowly then, she lifted her gaze once more, over the turquoise pool between them until their eyes met.
As cool as the water was at her feet, it did nothing to calm the heat tearing through her chest. An audible gulp slunk past his throat.
“Well,” he said in a whisper. “That’s a good answer.”
She tore her gaze off him at last, turned to look over the ocean, and cleared her throat. “What about you? Why did you sign up for this?”
