“Go ahead, Easton,” she urged. “Tell America about how the two of you met.”
The contract he’d signed in the green room came to mind. The parts highlighted in yellow stated that he’d need only cooperate by answering a few simple questions. She must havenothighlighted the part that said those questions would be asked in front of an audience on live TV.
Make it good, Easton.He needed to make it clear that Ivy wascapable of winning the heart of any man she chose. He was just lucky enough that it was him.
“Well,” he said, recalling their first conversation. “She was coming out to Denver to interview me for the show. I’d, um, lost a bet with my baby sister and, uh…”
“A bet about coming onto the show,” Marsha filled in, looking amused instead of angry.Good thing.
The audience broke into laughter.
“Yes,” he agreed through a laugh of his own. “Knowing she’d land in Denver around the time of a predicted record-breaking blizzard, I warned her that, being close to the holiday as it was, she may end up getting snowed in for Christmas with me. I told her not to fear too much. If that happened, I’d find a way to keep her nice and warm.”
An insinuative whistle sounded from the audience, and the crowd broke into laughter once more.
“Who knew,” he continued, “that that prediction would come true?”
That one got the crowd really going wild. Easton took the moment to scan over the crowd once more.
Marsha took over. “Let me brag for a moment about what a devoted assistant I have,” she said, her gaze turned to the camera. “I’ll set the scene. A blizzard is coming. The cab driver tells her no, that he can’t drive her up the canyon to Easton’s location, which is the nature-focused rehab center he runs for young adults. There’s a number on your screen in case you’d like to donate to that organization, by the way,” Marsha added slyly. “So Ivy rents an SUV instead.” Marsha turned to Easton then. “You were spending the week at the center preparing the huts—”
“Yurts,” he said with a nod.
“Yurts, for the winter program. These things have a stable roof, a door, and quite high ceilings from what I hear.”
“That’s right,” he agreed. “Ours also have their own fireplace and venting system.”
Marsha grinned. “Howcozy.”
The audience whooped once again.
“I tell you,” Marsha said, “if there’s one thing I enjoy, it’s a good love story. And though Easton was only keeping his word—he’d promised that he would interview for theLooking For Loveshow—this bachelor found loveoutsideof the mansion first.”
Cat calls and cheers lifted over the crowd.
Easton shifted in his seat.
“We’ll hear more about their story after these messages,” Marsha assured. “Don’t go anywhere.”
Easton leaned over his lap as soon as the cameras panned out.
Marsha did the same. “You’re doing great,” she said.
“Where’s Ivy?”
Marsha lifted a finger and tapped at her earpiece. Her brows pulled down in a deep furrow as she seemed to gather a piece of information, and then she lifted her gaze back to him. “Stuck in traffic. There was an accident on the interstate.”
“But you planned to have her here?” Easton asked, disappointment pushing its way through him.
“Planned? Yes. I went to great lengths, in fact. An all-day spa treatment, hair, makeup, gowns…It was going to be her own live TV Cinderella story. She deserves that, don’t you think?”
Easton couldn’t agree more. “Yes, she does.”
Marsha frowned. “I thought we’d overcome the biggest feat by gettingyouhere in time. But if we can’t get Ivy here, the whole thing will be a bust.”
Suddenly, the stakes felt higher than ever. Because despite his aversion to being in the public eye, despite his preference for privacy, Easton wanted very badly to give Ivy her own fairytale moment. A happily ever after that, if all went well, would add onto their promising beginning. One they could share with their kids one day. And their kids’ kids. They should know that their father, or grandfather as it might be, treated Ivy like a queen.
An idea came to him then. A recollection, really, as he remembered a story Ivy told him once. He motioned Marsha closer as a rush of excitement burst within him.
