Lacey sighed, and leaned back against her elbows. Her blond curls fell down over her shoulders and back. Her eyes stayed trained on the lake. “Yeah, that’s part of it. But it’s more than that. I guess I’m tired of being dumped by every guy forsomeoneelse.”
“I find it hard to believe any guy has dumped you for someone else.” If they were anything like Trevor, they were all totalidiots.
“Well, I can promise you there’s a little club and everything. It’s the every-girl-is-better-than-Lacey club and it just got a new vicepresident.”
Conrad bit the inside of his cheek to keep yet another laugh from coming out. There was no doubt she was hurting, but he couldn’t help but enjoy the way she gobbled garlic knots and made jokes instead of crying like he’d expect. He remained tight-lipped, silently urging her tocontinue.
“Seriously. Do I have a sign on my back that says ‘stepping stone to your one true love?’” When Conrad didn’t answer, she lifted her brows. “Well,doI?”
A corner of his mouth lifted. “Not a rhetoricalquestionthen?”
Lacey rubbed both of her hands over her face, leaving a little bit of grease on her cheek. “Honestly, I’m not sure if I’m really asking or not. I’m just not sure what’s wrong with me and was secretly hoping someone was playing a prankonme.”
Rather than responding, Conrad reached out and wiped the grease from her cheek, the urge to touch her finally overpowering his desire to play it cool. Lacey stilled but didn’t pull away. His heart beat wildly in his chest at the feel of her cheek beneathhishand.
“There’s nothing wrong with you,” he saidsoftly.
Lacey sighed and closedhereyes.
“I’m serious. What happened in there? That’sonhim.”
She nodded, still refusing to look at Conrad, the sound of their breathing the only thing he heard, despite the people strolling nearby. Eventually, he pulled his hand away, breaking whatever spell they’d beenunder.
“Ugh.” Lacey groaned and leaned all the way back against the grass and covered her eyes with her forearm. “What am I even doing saying all this to you? I don’t evenknowyou.”
Conrad gently lifted Lacey’s arm from her face and waited for her to open her eyes and look at him. When she did, he smiled. “You’re talking to me about this because you don’t know me. It makes it easier when there’s nohistory.”
“Uh, huh,” she answerednoncommittally.
“It’s true. Here,” he said, shifting into a more comfortable sitting position. With Lacey still lying in the grass, it was easy to see her reactions. “I’ll go first. You might get dumped by every guy in the world, but I’m not even given thatchance.”
Lacey raised her brows. “The chance todumpme?”
Conrad choked on a laugh. “No, I mean to be dumped. I never even got set up with a date.” Lacey nibbled her bottom lip as she looked up at Conrad. His eyes narrowed. “What’s thatlookfor?”
“I saw your picture, after you bumped into me at the PolkTheater.”
Where, he wanted to ask, but made himself pause and even cleared his throat before going with, “Youdid?”
“Yep.” She sat back up so that she was looking at him on level ground. “It was on Morgan’s date board. I was looking at it after my first date withTrevor.”
Trevor. He hated hearing the name on Lacey’sperfectlips.
Conrad forced an easy smile and leaned in. “Did it say I was the best candidate in the whole damn system? And that was why I hadn’t been setupyet?”
Lacey shook her head slowly, her eyebrows tipped up in the center of her forehead in the most adorable doe-like expression. “It said ‘do notmatch.’”
Ouch.
Conrad knew he hadn’t been paired off, but he hadn’t realized it was so severe. Morgan Jones had taken his money and had no intention of setting him up at all. And she had the nerve of setting up Lacey with a complete blockhead? Maybe Conrad was right to meet withDeclan.
Conrad felt the weight of his phone in his pocket. His fingers itched to reach for it and see if Declan had messagedhimback.
“So how did you end up with thatdouche?”
A corner of Lacey’s mouth lifted in a sardonic smile. “It was one of Morgan’s badmatches.”
“Bad match?” he asked slowly, sure he hadmisunderstood.
