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Wow. There was a lot she didn’t know. “Yeah, I don’t even remember agreeing to do it. I was at my cousin Knox’s wedding, here at the castle. I’d had a few drinks because, well this place has a lot of memories of us. It’s been hard for me to come here, to watch people fall in love. And I guess she asked me to be on it and I said yes. Somehow the press got a hold of it, and it was in the papers when I woke up the next morning. I didn’t want to back out because her boss, Sabrina Denton, is a big deal and I guess she wanted me on the show.
“That’s whyI’mdoing the show. Zara’s doing it because she needs the prize money. Her mom deals with substance abuse and she just got custody of her two teenage sisters. She wants the money to be their college fund. She’s not interested in a relationship. Actually, she is but only with her ex, Mario. She thinks that him seeing her with me will light a fire under his ass and make him want to settle down.
“She chose me because she knew I wasn’t really in this for love. And she pulled me into the bathroom that first night to ask me to go along with it. Everything you see, the fights, the flirting, the kiss, it’s just all for the show. It’s not real.”
Avery stared at him but didn’t say anything. He was starting to feel like the biggest idiot in the world for explaining all of that when she hadn’t even asked how the show was going. She probably didn’t give a shit if he and Zara were real or not. He’d probably been projecting how he felt about her, about the time they’d spent together, onto her.
He was about to apologize for word vomiting on her when he noticed her eyes began to fill up with tears.
“You still think about us when you come here?”
He blinked. “That’s what you took from everything I just said?”
“I didn’t know if you even remembered…or I mean, that you ever thought about us, about me.”
His heart slammed in his chest seeing her raw vulnerability. “I neverstoppedthinking about you.”
Avery sucked in a shaky breath and turned her attention back to Jacob and Mojo who were both running around in the shallow water by the rocks. He stared at her profile and could see that she was trying to hold back emotions.
He wanted to say something, but he was scared if he opened his mouth, he’d say something stupid like, “I love you. I’ve loved you from the first second I saw you and I’ve never stopped loving you.”
As he was staring at her, he noticed a fleck of purple paint right beneath her earlobe. He reached up to wipe it off at the same time that she turned back toward him. Her cheek ended up in the palm of his hand. Instead of pulling away, she closed her eyes and leaned into his touch.
Without running it by his brain first, his eyes closed too. He wasn’t sure who leaned toward who but the next thing he knew he felt her breath fan his face at the exact moment he heard his niece's voice over the walkie talkie.
“Code red! Get back to base camp! Code red.”
Keaton opened his eyes and leaned his forehead against Avery’s. “I have to go,” he whispered.
“Okay,” she said breathlessly.
“I don’t want to, but I have to.”
“Okay,” she repeated.
“CODE RED!” Iris screamed through the walkie talkie.
“Fuck,” he mumbled beneath his breath as he stood. “Mojo!”
The dog raced toward him, and Jacob was on his heels as Avery stood as well.
“Does he have to go?” Jacob asked as Keaton picked Mojo up.
“Yeah, little man. He does. But maybe you can play with him another time.”
“Yes!” Jacob pumped his hands in the air and did a victory dance before racing back toward the water.
Keaton looked over at Avery who looked as shell-shocked as he felt. “This conversation isnotover.”
“Okay,” she nodded.
“Uncle Keat! Code red! Do you copy?!”
He picked up the walkie talkie and pressed the button on the side. “I’m coming.”
When he looked back up at Avery, she was staring out at the water. He wanted to say goodbye, but he was scared if he looked into her eyes again, he wouldn’t leave.
So, instead, he turned and walked back to the clearing and up the path with one thought and one thought only in his head.
