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When they got to the ballroom, all the men were instructed to walk to the door and wait as each of their partners joined them, then the couple would enter into the ballroom together. He and Zara were the first up. As soon as she saw him, she reached up and gave him a quick kiss.
After the tug-of-war competition, he’d told her that he didn’t feel comfortable with real make-out kissing aka tongue. She’d apologized and said she honestly got carried away because she was so happy that they’d won. They both agreed that pecks were fine, but they were going to keep things very PG.
That’s the agreement they’d made two days ago before he’d been up on the roof with Avery. Now, even a quick peck felt like he was wrong. Like he was cheating or something.
Zara must have noticed his discomfort because as the other couples made their entrances, she subtly covered her mic and asked, “You good?”
He gave her a quick nod and told himself that this was a TV show. It wasn’t real life. And Avery knew what the arrangement was. Not that that’s why he didn’t want to kiss Zara, it wasn’t. He just didn’t want to kiss anyone but Avery.
Once the couples were all inside, Lance appeared and did his welcome to Fairytale Love schtick. He threw in a few corny jokes that some of the cast courtesy laughed at. Keaton was pretty zoned out for most of it. All he could think about was how fucking amazing it had felt to be with Avery again. Not just the sex, although that had been incredible, but to connect with her again. To be able to touch her, to kiss her, to tell her how he felt. At least some of how he felt.
When he was with her, it was like the rest of the world didn’t exist. When he was with her, he felt whole. Complete. Like he’d finally found a part of himself that he’d been missing his entire life.
The lighting and music changed suddenly, and it snapped Keaton out of his inner musings. The room darkened and a spotlight shone on Lance as he announced that not everyone in the ballroom would be continuing their journey to happily ever after tonight.
The tension in the room amped up as all the cast exchanged glances. Most of them looked worried. Keaton was doing his best not to look eager. He told himself to make sure not to smile if he was the one who left.
Lance pulled out an envelope from his jacket. “In this envelope, I have the results from the online poll. You, the public were asked to vote for your favorite lord and lady. Tonight, whichever lord and lady received the least amount of votes will end their journey to happily ever after.”
Internally, Keaton was doing a touchdown dance, but he made sure to keep his expression neutral. This meant that he could get voted off and Zara could stay. That was the best-case scenario.
“I will now reveal the names of the lord and lady who received themostvotes from the public and will be continuing their HEA quest. With forty-two percent of the public votes, a woman who clearly has the favor of her people…Lady Zara!”
The cast all applauded and Sienna and Freya took turns hugging Zara.
“And the lord who garneredfifty-fourpercent of the public votes, which is the most votes any couple or contestant has received in Fairytale Love history is…”
Please don’t be me. Please don’t be me. Please don’t be me.
“Lord Keaton!”
Fuck.
“Told you, man!” Harlan said as he pulled Keaton into a bear hug.
Keaton forced himself to put on a smile he didn’t feel as Zara turned around and pressed another kiss to his mouth before hugging him. As soon as he wrapped his arms around her, he saw Avery out of the corner of his eye standing behind the monitors. She was clapping and smiling widely.
He had no idea what his expression was, but when she saw that he was looking at her so she lifted her fingers to her mouth and made a half-circle as she mouthed, “Smile.”
This time, he didn’t have to force himself. The corners of his mouth tilted up as she nodded in approval and kept clapping and cheering him on.
Damn, he loved that woman. He really did.
19
Avery double-checkedthat she had everything on her packing list in Jacob’s suitcase. Jude was supposed to pick him up yesterday but never showed. When Avery texted her ex, he told her his schedule had changed, he was coming today, and he’d extended his trip by ten days, so to make sure Jacob had enough clothes for three weeks.
Three weeks.
She wasn’t sure what she was going to do without her little man for three weeks. That was going to be the longest amount of time she’d ever been away from him.
Avery wasn’t worried about Jude taking good care of him. Well, scratch that. She wasn’t worried aboutCelestetaking good care of him. She knew that Jacob would be safe and looked after. It was just…she didn’t want to spend three weeks without being able to see him.
But she knew that she needed to get used to it. Jude had mentioned to her that he was thinking about moving back to the UK. If he did that, there was a very good chance that Jacob would be spending at least six weeks in London every summer and heading across the pond every other holiday.
Why had she procreated with a man who wasn’t from this country?she thought to herself. And for the first time in her life, she might actually have the answer.
When she’d spoken to Anne, the therapist pointed out that Avery’s relationship with Jude was most likely an attempt to rewrite the history she had with her own father. She’d said that she’d chosen a British man who was emotionally unavailable to try to fill the void that her father’s absence had had in her life.
