Page 28 of Proposal Play
“Will you tag me?” I ask. I can reshare it then.
“Definitely,” Hal says, then squeezes his wife’s shoulder. “And thanks again. It’s the little surprises, like dragon underwear, that keep the spark alive.”
“Glad to hear,” I say.
Jen gives a soft smile, gratitude in her eyes. “And seriously, this was amazing. Is there anything we can do for you?”
It’s sweet they asked, really. But I just wave a hand and say, “Enjoy yourselves tonight.”
“We will,” Jen says. “We’ll pay it forward.”
“Sounds great.”
Maeve and I head toward the elevator. Along the way, I shake off the bit of unease I felt walking into the hotel. There’s really no need for it. This room switch is more proof of how seamlessly Maeve and I can slide from a smoldering kiss last week right back into friendship this week. More proof of how necessary our friendship is too. We’ve handled the flight, the room, the whole damn trip so far like pros. And when it comes to the room, who cares if we’re sharing one? We had an extra, after all.
I step into the elevator. Right foot first.
The doors close and Maeve asks, “Was that your first sighting as an underwear model?”
“No.”
She shoves my shoulder playfully. “You never told me you’ve been spotted in the wild in your underwear.”
“Because I haven’t been spottedin them.”
Maeve holds up one finger. “Your honor, I object. Some might say that underwear in a Zoom call is indeed in the wild.”
“It was in my home, and they weren’t sponsorship boxers anyway,” I wave her objection off.
“It’s even more impressive that she recognized youbeforeyou started walking away.”
Groaning, I drag a hand down my face. “I can’t take you anywhere.”
“True. But back to these sightings. Do they come up to you and say Google is right.You have the best ass ever?”
Wait. She knows the Internet says that about me? I raise my face. “Been googling me, Maeve?”
“Sometimes I do,” she says.
I shouldn’t like that so much. I really shouldn’t. And yet…I do. “Well, don’t believe everything you read online.” Then I shrug casually. “But this one is true.”
“I know,” she says with a smirk, then nods toward me, like she’s checking out my backside. “Do you have fire-breathing dragon boxer briefs with you?”
“Maybe I’m wearing them right now.”
“Did CheekyBeast give you all its styles?”
“That is one of the perks,” I say.
I’m poised for her to let loose a sassy response, but her gaze goes thoughtful. “I know I tease you all the time, but that was seriously cute—how she knew you. How she’d given them to her husband. This might sound kind of out there…but it’s almost like they needed that in that moment. It’s like, I could feel them reconnecting right in front of us,” she says, her eyes lively.
I nod. “I could too.”
“Maybe it was all meant to be—us having two rooms in the date package from the auction.”
“Yeah, maybe it was meant to be,” I say, agreeing as I linger on those three words—meant to be.
Some things do feel that way. But if I believe in meant to be, then aren’t bad things meant to be too?