The Love Wager by Lynn Painter

            “Please explain the duct tape.”

            “The bartender helped me. Bartenders always have a handy tool kit,” she said.

            “And the chocolate?”

            “I had DoorDash bring me a Frappuccino and then I dropped it on the patio.”

            Chuck snorted. “You’ve been fucking busy since we saw you an hour ago.”

            “Yeah, I have,” she said. “Also, Jamie told me that if I ever made it to the other side, I was supposed to tell you that her phone is dead, she faked sick, and now she’s up in the room.”

            “Sweet.” Chuck stood and, without another word, just left.

            “Listen, Jack,” Hallie said, looking at his collar instead of his face. She seemed casual, but something weird was going on with her. “My mother is going to be looking for me very soon, and I’m not going back—they can’t make me. I think I’m going to just call it a night and go up to the room.”

            “Hal.”

            “Yeah?”

            “Look at me.”

            Her green eyes looked bright as she looked at him and said, “What?”

            “Are we cool? You okay after the whole . . . closet thing?” He noticed the goose bumps on her arms and instinctively began taking off his jacket.

            She rolled her eyes and gave him a grin as he draped it over her shoulders. She stood and pulled it tighter against her, looking even tinier as she burrowed into the jacket. “I’m fine, and thank you for the jacket, you chivalrous delight.”

            He set down his glass and stood. “Let’s go.”

            Her eyebrows dipped down. “You don’t have to leave the party just because I am.”

            He shrugged, wanting nothing more than to be alone with her in their only-one-bed room, even if sex was off the table. “I want to.”

            Thankfully, no one noticed as they left the patio and went back into the hotel. He wanted Hallie all to himself.





Chapter

TWENTY-TWO



Hallie


            Hallie rambled about the patio party as they walked to the room, her heart pounding in her chest as she thought through her plan. She was scared to say anything for fear of messing up their friendship, but she was equally scared of letting the perfect weekend end without ever daring to make something happen.

            Without possibly taking a step forward.

            “And they actually took the microphone away from you?” Jack laughed as they stepped into the elevator. “What a bunch of buzzkills.”

            “Okay, well, I was actually being really obnoxious.”

            “You? Impossible.”

            She loved the way his eyes got crinkly around the edges when he was teasing her. She hit the button for their floor and said, “I discovered that falsetto made the mic squeal, so I might’ve selected a Bee Gees song and hit it hard.”

            He rolled his eyes and said, “Why would they ever let you sing karaoke?”

            “Why wouldn’t they? I have the voice of an angel.”

            They got off on their floor and walked down the hallway. Hallie kept trying to get herself to just say it, to calmly tell him how she felt and what she wanted, but she couldn’t bring herself to utter the words.

            They were stuck in her throat, so she rambled incessantly about nothing.

            Jack opened the door and they went into the room, and as Hallie looked at that one very big bed, the words wouldn’t come out.

            Say it, Hal.

            Say it, you pussy.

            Sayyyyy. Itttttt.

            She spun around and looked up at his handsome face. “Um, Jack?”

            He started loosening his tie, and she felt light-headed. “Yeah?”