“Do you want to go out for a bite? I know a place that serves breakfast all night. My treat.”
“Breakfast?” Sam said absently.
“They make the best pancakes and bacon around.”
“Bacon sounds good.” Her tone sounded hollow. She shook her head a couple of times, trying to rid her mind of the image of Steve and Garrett, of what their revelation meant for her. How everything she’d thought about her past and future had been upended. She didn’t know if she could trust her own judgment about anything anymore. Maybe she didn’t really like math, and had entered the program because of all the pressure on girls to enter STEM fields. Everything she thought she knew had shattered into millions of pieces around her like so many ice crystals trampled underfoot. She’d been so blind. So stupid.
Moving forward, how could she ever trust herself enough around men? Maybe she should plan on being single for life. That might be safer.
Other people had warned her that Steve was gay, but she’d always assumed they were too caught up in stereotypes, that they didn’t know the real Steve. Turned out that she hadn’t known him. She felt so unsure of anything that she almost wondered if gravity was still real.
“I can’t go back to my apartment,” she said in almost a whisper. How could she face her roommates, crashing the marathon with the most un-Valentine-like news ever? She’d kill any happy mood and attract pity. She couldn’t bear her friends’ pity.
“Is that a ‘no’ on breakfast?” Connor tilted his head and squinted slightly.
“No.” She shook her head. “I mean, no, it isn’t a no. I mean, yes, I’d love some food. Thank you. That’s... really nice of you to do for someone you don’t even know.”
Was she smiling? She meant to be, but she still felt as if she were moving through a thick fog. How could she know if her face was smiling the way she thought it was, when she hadn’t even known her boyfriend was in the closet?
Connor helped her into her coat then held the laundromat door open for her. With one hand on the small of her back, he led her through it. “I’ll text Ben to come down in twenty minutes to switch our loads.”
“Thanks.” Sam hadn’t even thought about her clothes until he’d mentioned them. She wouldn’t care if her red maxi got stolen. Not anymore.
Chapter Five
As they walked to Connor’s car, Sam’s entire body trembled. The confident woman he’d talked with earlier seemed to have withdrawn into a fragile shadow of herself. He unlocked the car with the fob, opened the passenger-side door, and helped Sam in to make sure she wouldn’t slip on the icy parking lot.
The walk around to the driver’s side didn’t take long, but it was enough time to decide to cheer Sam up. Connor climbed in, put the car into gear, and pulled out of the parking lot. That Steve guy would have called tonight and broken her heart whether or not Connor had been at the laundromat.
I’m glad I was there. That kind of thing would be tough to bear alone.
She wouldn’t have had anyone around to take her out for pancakes and bacon, for starters. Their breath fogged up the windows, so he directed air to defrost the windshield.
Sam absently tapped her phone, which lit up her face. She was probably checking social media and email, or maybe playing a mindless game. He could relate to distracting himself with his phone. If ever there was a time a person needed a distraction, it would be Samantha right now.
“The diner isn’t far,” he said, breaking the silence. When she didn’t reply, he added, “But we can go somewhere else. It doesn’t have to be breakfast. I’m sure we can find a Village Inn or something where we can order pie or hamburgers or whatever else you’re craving.” His glance slid to her and back to the road. She still didn’t answer. He tried again. “Unless you do want breakfast food...”
What was she thinking and feeling? Was he making things worse by talking? Maybe he should offer to take her to her apartment. Or, more likely, he should dig her car out of that snow bank at the side of the road and then see her safely home.
She finally looked up. “It’s past two.”
He tried to puzzle out her train of thought and the relevance to the time— and failed. Her tone offered no explanation either. “What?”
“The next task is live.” She held out her phone, where a video was loading. “The timestamp on his selfie is ten minutes after ours.”
“That’s… great.” But under the circumstances, Connor didn’t really care. If he lost the challenge, he’d donate the money to the shelter himself. For now, he needed to make sure Sam was okay.
But why did she suddenly care about The Ultimate Bachelor Challenge? She hardly knew him. She had to be in shock after being dumped in the worst way. Connor pulled to the side of the road, shifted to park, and rotated in his seat so he almost faced her. Before he could talk, she did.
“You scored an extra hundred points for posting first, right?”
Connor looked at her phone. “Yeah, but none of that matters right now when you’re—”
“Please, no. Stop.” Sam put a hand up, almost touching her fingertips to his lips. She shook her head several times, and when she spoke again, her voice wavered. “Right now, more than anything else, I need to be distracted. Helping Connor of Wynn Rocks beat the snot out of that pig Trevor Knowles is the best distraction I could possibly dream up. So... please... just...” She swallowed hard. “Can we not talk about... that?”
The screen’s glow bathed her features in soft light, making her look even prettier. She still had her hand up in a “stop” gesture, so close he could have leaned forward just a little and kissed her fingertips. At the thought, he found himself leaning forward, but fortunately regained his sanity and stopped himself before making contact. The last thing a woman needed after a bad breakup was a strange man hitting on her. Even if she was familiar with him from his online presence. And even if he wanted to comfort her. Even if he found her maddeningly smart and funny and gorgeous...
Now he was the one who needed a distraction. He cleared his throat, putting the side of his fist to his mouth as he coughed as an excuse not to touch her porcelain-like skin that would have looked like marble if not for the sprinkling of freckles across her nose and the little mole on the side of her chin that looked like the beauty marks old starlets used to paint on.
He cleared his throat. “What’s the next task?” Had she heard his voice squeak? He felt as if he were back in eighth grade, going through puberty again.
“Let’s find out.” Holding the phone between them, Sam leaned in. To his delight— and dismay— she drew so close that their arms touched and he could smell her perfume.
So much for being distracted by something else.
This video was much shorter than the last; Trevor did little more than read the second task from Johnny’s whiteboard. “Task number two is for a video instead of a still shot, and it must be at least five seconds long. Ready? Here it is: Be kissed by a girl whose name begins with the letter M.” He chuckled and fist-bumped Johnny. “Nice one. This will be fun. Right, Connor? Remember, it must be five full seconds.” He winked, and the video ended.
“Ugh,” Sam grunted. “His ego oozes through the Internet.”
“A lot of women— or, I guess I should use Trevor’s terminology and call them chicks—”
“Or babes,” Sam interjected.
“Oh, of course— babes,” Connor corrected with a knowing smile. “A lot of them fawn over Trevor. Why?”
“I don’t get it,” Sam said. “Any self-respecting woman would see through him a mile away.” Sam clicked her phone off and rotated to face Connor. He felt the lack of her touch, like the sudden loss of a warm comforter in winter. Except now she was looking right at him. He could lose himself in her eyes. Were they blue? In the dimness of the car, he couldn’t be sure. But by the street lamp’s glow, they seemed paler than the eyes of most redheads he’d known.
“Are your eyes blue?” he said. Lame segue, Fabio, he thought. She’d think he was
feeding her a line. Too bad he couldn’t rewind the last five seconds for a do-over.
“They are,” she said, her face lighting up. “Pale blue. Not many people notice. But red hair and blue eyes is supposed to be one of the rarest combinations in the world.”
“You’re— I mean they’re— gorgeous.” Yet again he wished for a five-second time-travel machine.
Sam didn’t look annoyed or offended. She didn’t roll her eyes, viewing his words as a “line.” She simply lowered her chin, her eyes crinkling with pleasure. She looked flattered, though he couldn’t see her eyes anymore. Even better, she smiled. She seemed genuinely happy. A serious coup after Steve’s apocalyptic call.
Connor couldn’t help but be glad that something he’d said had created that reaction in her, and at an otherwise miserable time. He wanted to create that expression again, make her even happier. The urge was what he imagined an addict must feel, yearning for another hit of an intoxicating drug. Similar to what he felt while skydiving or rappelling or base jumping. His mind raced with how to make her smile like that again.
With her face lowered, the streetlamp highlighted her long lashes fanning across the tops of her cheeks. “So,” she said, dragging out the word. “Where are you going to find someone to kiss whose name starts with M?”
Right. The stupid Ultimate Bachelor Challenge. Trust Trevor to ruin what could have been a great moment. Connor barely bit back an exclamation— one he didn’t want to say around Sam.
“Right. That.” He stared out the windshield, then looked at her. “I don’t suppose your middle name is Maria or Maggie or— wait a minute.” He shifted the car into gear and pulled onto the road.
Sam looked at him quizzically. “Let me guess, you remembered an old flame living nearby named, oh, Monique?”
“Not exactly.” He’d have to watch the video again to be sure he wouldn’t lose on a technicality, but he didn’t think that Johnny had been specific enough to rule out Maddie. As he’d suspected, he needed to be creative to complete the challenges. The more he considered the plan, the better he felt.
“You’re grinning like the Cheshire Cat,” Sam said. She shifted positions and gripped the arm rests. “That can’t be good. Please don’t tell me you’re stooping to his level.”
“Nope.” His cheeks almost hurt from grinning. Trevor wouldn’t ruin this night. Not if Connor could help it.
A few minutes later, he pulled into the cracked driveway of his rental house. “Home sweet home,” he said, killing the engine. He reached to open his door, but Sam’s arm shot out and stopped him. He happily turned to her, enjoying the warmth of her touch through his shirt.
“Wait, are you married?” she asked.
He almost laughed at that, but at her serious tone, he refrained. “No.”
“Do you live with a woman, then? A girlfriend? Is it a sister? A cousin? Who’s in there that you’re going to kiss?” Her pretty eyes were pinched, with a worry line across her brow.
He wanted to reach over with his thumb and smooth out the wrinkle. “No one like that. Come on. This will be quick. And then I’ll take you out for breakfast.”
“O... kay...” she said, sounding skeptical as she opened her door.
Rather than prolonging the suspense, Connor hurried to the porch and threw open the front door. “Maddie,” he called. “Come here, Maddie!”
“She’d better be a step-sister who will kiss you on the cheek,” Sam said, elbowing him in the ribs.
Connor laughed but called again. “Maddie? Come on! Where’s my Maddie Mad Dog?”
“What do you mean yours?” came another male voice. Its owner appeared a second later, scratching his beard.
“You must be Ben,” Sam said. “I’m Samantha.”
“Let me guess, the beard gave it away?” he asked. “Or is it my devastatingly good looks?”
“Devastating something,” Connor said, punching his roommate in the shoulder. “You look like a mess.”
“What do you expect when you wake me up in the middle of the night?”
Sam broke in. “Connor wasn’t entirely honest. You do not look like a missing brother from Duck Dynasty.”
Ben leveled a stare at Connor. “I’m not sure whether to be flattered that you assume I can grow a beard that long, or offended that you think I look like I have a rat’s nest growing from my face.”
“Where’s Maddie?” Connor asked, ignoring the comment and trying to peer past Ben.
“She’s my dog,” Ben said. “Remember?” He whistled over one shoulder, and at the sound, the Golden Retriever’s claws erupted into a stream of clicking on the laminate floor, followed by Maddie trotting into view.
Connor fished in his pocket for his phone and held it out to Sam. “Would you take the video?”
“I’m going back to bed,” Ben said with a tired wave. “You found yourself a weird guy, Samantha. Hope you know that.”
“Not weird. I’d use a different word,” Sam said, bringing up the camera on Connor’s phone.
He’d lowered to one knee to prepare for Maddie’s “kiss,” but he suddenly straightened and stared her down. “And what word would that be?”
The porch light made her face glow gold. She blushed and avoided eye contact, now turning his phone over and over in her hands. “You have the beginnings of a beard, too, you know.”
He rubbed the stubble on his jaw. “Yeah?”
She tilted her head one way and then the other and managed, “And I’ve always thought that five o’clock shadows are kind of...”
“If not weird, then… what?”
She laughed and shoved his phone into his chest playfully. “Rugged. Masculine.” She pressed her lips together before finally saying, “Fine. They’re hot. Happy?” Her half joking, half embarrassed tone belied her words, which might have otherwise sounded snippy. She really seemed to think a little scruff was attractive. Connor filed that detail away, inexplicably pleased that Sam thought something about him was “hot.”
Nothing about this night had turned out as he’d expected. He’d dreaded the entire challenge, but look at what it had brought him— he’d met an amazing woman he wanted to get to know better. On impulse, he nudged Maddie into the house and closed the door.
“What are you doing?” Sam asked. “Trevor probably had chicks lined up for every letter of the alphabet, just in case. We need Maddie Mad Dog— is that her name?— to kiss your face. We can watch the announcement again before posting, but I’m pretty sure he said nothing about the girl having to be human.” Sam stepped closer. There was the hint of her perfume again— vanilla, with a hint of something else, maybe cinnamon. “This task is one more way for him to belittle a woman. We can’t let him win.”
Connor looked at the door. He could hear Maddie’s whimpers from the other side. “Trevor will still say I cheated. You know he will.”
“True.” Sam sighed and chewed on her nail, trying to come up with another idea. “One of my roommates is MollyAnne. She’s never had a boyfriend, so she’d totally freak out, but Trevor didn’t say it had to be on the mouth. She could kiss you on the cheek for five seconds.”
“Maybe,” Connor said, but without any conviction.
“MollyAnne would pass out hearing that the host of Wynn Rocks is coming over to—”
“Wait. I have another idea.” He wasn’t sure whether to be excited or terrified of it.
“What?” Sam said. “Are you okay? You look a little pale.”
Connor decided to ignore the comment and jump into explaining his idea. “When Steve called—”
She stiffened. He immediately regretted having to bring it up. “Yeah?”
“He used your last name.”
“He’s adopted a bunch of things that he thinks make him sound more British. That’s the only reason he sometimes called me Miss McKinley, and— oh!” Her mouth stayed open, and she leaned back the slightest bit but otherwise didn’t withdraw— a good sign, he hoped.
Drawn by the heady scent of
her perfume, Connor took a tentative step toward her. This time, she didn’t lean away. “Trevor didn’t say it had to be her first name, did he?”
Sam shook her head and stammered, “I— don’t— think— so.”
Connor drew nearer still. He thought she caught her breath, but he wasn’t certain. The thought made his own heart race. With one hand, he cupped her cheek and stroked her jawline with his thumb. She closed her eyes and leaned into his touch.
His rational side yelled at him. Are you insane? She was just dumped by a guy who broke her heart. She’ll hate you for taking advantage of her when she’s vulnerable. Besides, why would she want to kiss you? She doesn’t even know you. The thoughts came at him as fast and hard as bullets.
Maybe she’d think he was using her like Trevor used women. He couldn’t stand the thought that she’d think that. Just as he resolved to be a gentleman and not pressure her into a rebound situation, she closed part of the gap between them.
With one hand, she reached up and smoothed her hands across the stubble on his cheeks. Before he knew it, she’d threaded her fingers through his hair and was drawing his face toward hers. At last their lips met. In the quiet of the night, he half expected fireworks or shooting stars to accompany the explosions going off inside him.
The only sound was from Maddie Mad Dog, who’d ducked under the curtains by the living room window and was watching. She barked happily at the sight. After a long kiss that still felt too short, they drew apart, but only a hair’s breadth from each other.
Her eyes remained closed as he stroked her cheek and took in every curve of her face. He wanted to memorize it all— spend the rest of his life getting to know every part of her features, her mind, the entirety of the woman before him. He leaned in for another kiss and then another.
After the third, Sam whispered in his ear. “We didn’t record it.”
“I don’t care.” Connor felt as if a weight had lifted from his shoulders. He didn’t care— not about Trevor, not about losing views or subscribers.
She looked at him questioningly. “But—”
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