The Love Wager

Hallie

Hallie leaned over the bed and whispered, “Jack.”

He opened his sleepy blue eyes, and she wanted to rub her hand over the morning scruff on his jaw. The blanket had ridden down to his waist, and she was having trouble focusing with his half-naked torso laid out before her.

“Quit dripping on me,” he said, rubbing his eyes and sitting up.

“Sorry.” She moved her head, but that just dripped more water on him. “Just got out of the shower.”

“Did you? I couldn’t tell.”

“Are you always grumpy in the morning?” She sat down on the edge of the bed and thought he looked like an adorable little brat as he was waking up. “This is fascinating.”

“I’m only grumpy when I find myself in a real-life only-one-bed trope.”

She laughed at that. “Don’t blame me. If we’d railed last night, you probably would’ve slept like a baby.”

“I don’t think ‘railed’ is the proper derivative of getting railed,” he growled, and she thought it was funny how much deeper his voice was in the morning.

“If you’d railed me—is that better? If we’d railed the hell out of each other?” She snorted at that and said, “Ooh, that’s a good one.”

“Why are you so perky this morning?”

“Well,” Hallie said, and paused. She was ridiculously peppy because she’d had a blast spending the night with Jack. Had they shared a night of passion? Nope, not even close, really. But sleeping in the same bed as him, hearing the snuffly sleeping noises he made, waking up to his arm resting over her in his sleep—she’d loved every bit of it. “There are donuts in the lobby.”

He shot her a look. “This elfin mood is donut-inspired?”

“Absolutely.” Lies. She was also in a good mood because she’d decided that since Jack was the AntiSex, she was going to play the one-up game big-time for the entire day. After all, it was the last day of the trip. They were going home tomorrow. She stood and said, “That’s why I woke you up. Want me to snag one for you?”

“No, thanks.” He pushed back the covers and got out of bed, and Hallie’s eyes went straight to his calves. Okay, not straight to them. They may have made a pit stop at his boxer briefs, but as she watched his legs flex with every step he took toward his suitcase, she decided she was grateful he liked running. “I don’t usually eat until after my run.”

Hallie tilted her head. “Are you sure you should be running around the mountains by yourself this early in the morning?”

He unzipped his bag. “Why would that be an issue?”

“Bears. I don’t want you to get your face eaten off.”

“Awww. So sweet.” He reached for a pair of basketball shorts. “I’ll be fine, Hal.”

“I’m going for donuts, then.”

“Enjoy.” He looked at her then, like he was finally awake enough to see her, and when he gave her a slow smile, she felt it in her fingertips.

That was really the last time they were together that day. While Jack was running, Hallie was summoned to her mother’s room to help tie ribbons on tiny bottles of bubbles. After she finished, she was informed she only had an hour before she had to head to the salon with the rest of the bridesmaids.

When she got to her hotel room, Jack wasn’t there.

She texted: Where are you? Please tell me a bear didn’t eat you.

Jack: You’d miss me, wouldn’t you?

Hallie: I was really looking forward to embarrassing you with my offensive PDA today.

Jack: I ran into Chuck, who wanted me to go with him to get edibles since they’re legal here.

Hallie: That reminds me, I need to text Ruthie and check on Tig.

Jack: Do you want any edibles?

Hallie: Baby, I’m a shit show on my own. I don’t need help.

Jack: Baby?

Hallie: Weird, sorry, that came out naturally and I’m not being sarcastic.

Jack: Does that mean I can use a pet name for you?

Hallie: Like what?

Jack: Umm . . . sunshine?

Hallie: No

Jack: Punkin?

Hallie: That’s offensive to redheads.

Jack: My apologies. Um . . . how about Shortcakes?

Hallie: That’s so Fonzie.

Hallie: OKAY. The reason I was texting was to let you know that I’m heading to the salon, and then we’re getting our nails done and having a special bridal party luncheon.

Jack: When will you be back, Pudding Pop?

Hallie: Probably won’t be, Numb Nuts. Are you okay meeting me at the wedding?

Jack: Of course.

Hallie threw herself into bridal party mania, opting to be the excitedly enthusiastic sister as opposed to the cynical dick she’d been about the wedding thus far. She got her nails done, got a blowout, and pretended a chicken salad was the most delicious meal she’d ever had.

At lunch, her mother waved her over to where she was animatedly chatting with two of Hallie’s aunts.

“Hey,” she said, feeling a little nervous as the trio smiled at her in a weird way.

“Alma has a question about your boyfriend,” her mother said, gesturing toward Hallie’s tiny aunt with flame-red hair.

Uh-oh. Hallie gave a polite smile and said, “Yes?”

“Did he really design the Larsson Center in Zurich?”

“What?” She looked at her senior aunt and had no idea what the woman was talking about. “Zurich, as in Switzerland?”

“Well, of course, Hal,” Hallie’s mother said, looking irritated. “What other Zurich is there?”

“Well, I’m sure there’s probably a Zurich, Indiana, or Zurich, South Dakota, somewhere,” she said, trying to figure out where this Jack information was coming from.

“Uncle Bob was talking to Jack about his job, and after he said he works for Sullivan Design, well, your uncle googled him.”

“He googles everyone,” Hallie’s mom said, and her two aunts nodded in agreement.

“He really does.”

“It’s a problem.”

Hallie said, “Okay . . . so . . . ?”

“According to the website, he’s designed parks and urban areas all over the world. We wanted to ask you, though, because your mom thought he was a landscaper.”

Hallie stood there, stupefied, as she mulled it over. She’d assumed he did landscaping when she saw he was a landscape architect, but was that not accurate? He did dress nicely and put in a lot of hours, and he had said he had a ton of frequent flyer miles because of business travel.

She lied and pretended to know what they were talking about, but as she walked away from them, she googled him as well. And holy shit, he was a senior associate who had indeed designed urban areas all over the world.

He had a master’s degree in landscape architecture, for God’s sake.

What in the actual?

She didn’t have time to give it more thought, though, as the wedding day started cranking up to full throttle. Hallie did everything her sister asked of her, and by the time she zipped herself into her crimson-red bridesmaid dress in the huge white prep tent on the mountaintop, she was ready for a drink.

Just before the wedding planner lined everyone up, Hallie hugged Lillie, and for the first time since the engagement, she felt nothing but happiness for her sister.

Ben caught her eye right after the hug and gave her a fatherly aww-that’s-so-sweet smile, and she accidentally flipped him off.

Old habits and all that.

She got in line beside Chuck and actually felt a little nervous as the music started. Her detail-oriented sister had selected one of those amazing Ed Sheeran songs that has the power to make anyone cry, but she wasn’t lame enough to just play it on a Bluetooth speaker—oh, no. She had a string quartet playing the music along with the recording, so it genuinely sounded like ol’ Eddie was hiding in the bushes somewhere, crooning his little English head off.

As they stepped out of the tent to make their way down the aisle, Hallie’s breath caught in her throat as she linked arms with Chuck. The air smelled like autumn leaves, and the white flower petal path stretched out in front of them, leading to an arch that was set in the middle of a stunning copse of aspen trees. To their left was a clear, flowing creek, and to their right, beyond the rows of white chairs and guests, was a tall mountain, towering over them with its stretching pines.

It was breathtaking.

“Damn,” Chuck muttered.

“Damn, indeed,” Hallie said, giggling, but then her giggles died when her eyes landed on Jack’s face.

Jack

The quartet started playing and he stood, along with the other guests, turning to see the bridal party’s procession. He was impatient, though; he hadn’t seen Hal all day, and he wanted to get the ceremony over with so he could spend more time with her at the reception.

He was distracted by his thoughts of her as his gaze turned to the creek, memories of the night before playing back in his mind, when he felt her presence.

The strings were climbing to higher pitches, and the singer was crooning about telling someone he loved them.

And just as Jack felt the words in the middle of his chest, there she was.

Hallie was walking down the aisle, dressed in red and carrying a bouquet of white roses, and she was smiling at him. At him.

Shit.

He felt like he couldn’t breathe as he looked at her, which wasn’t that different from how he’d felt the night before as they’d shared a bed. As they’d gradually moved closer to each other over the course of the night, under the warmth of the heavy down comforter.

When he’d woken up at three a.m. and her backside had been snuggled against him, her breathing soft and sweet, he hadn’t moved. He was pretty sure his job, as the man in an only-one-bed trope, was to suffer.

Well, suffer he had.

He’d lain there like a chump, wide awake for what felt like hours. The weirdest part was that her body’s closeness had tormented him less than the overall closeness of her, the feeling of Hallie sleeping beside him. Eventually he’d just thrown his arm over her and held her there, like it was normal for them to be sharing a bed.

Which, coincidentally, was when he’d finally fallen back to sleep.

“They’re so beautiful,” Jamie said, crying beside him as she smiled at Chuck. Something about the way those two oddballs loved each other made him feel . . . fuck, something he didn’t like. Pathetically envious.

Because as great as it was to play the game of pretend with Hallie, kissing her and holding her hand like she was his, he couldn’t forget her words, words she’d said with total certainty.

I am absolutely positive I will never catch feels for you.

The ceremony was sweet and made him a little softer than weddings usually did, if he was being honest. Hallie got the hiccups during her sister’s vows, and between her tiny squeaks, her whispered sorries, and the resultant laughter from both Hal and the wedding guests, he was pretty sure everyone in attendance fell for her just as hard as he had.