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Yep, this is love, for sure. No man goes this all out for someone when it isn’t love. I’m sure that Gemma Dove is the one for me and that we can live a happy ever after if we give this one more shot. For that reason alone, I know that my last attempt at a big romantic gesture was pathetic. That’s why I need to go so much bigger.
“Are you ready?” Rebecca grabs my focus once more. “It’s nearly time for you to get out there. Time for you to let that charm flow and to make some serious money for Paige… oh, and also get the love of your life.”
“No pressure then.” I try to let out a laugh, but the sound is much too strangled to be believed. “Yes, I think that I am just about ready to face this. I have been planning it for long enough…”
But even the speech that I have written is gone now. My mind is blank. I don’t know if I am going to be able to handle this. Making a speech when it comes to my work which I am passionate about is one thing, but this is going to be something else. Thank goodness Paige has offered to help me through this.
“Is Paige out there now?” I think that I can hear her going through all the spiel. Originally, I was going to do it all but thankfully she convinced me that it was better for her to assist me. “God, it’s nearly time.”
Rebecca comforts me, she whispers words of praise to me to lift up my spirits, but I am in my own little world, trying to bat off the self-doubt that seems to be attacking me from every angle.
“Okay.” Rebecca finally pushes me towards the stage. “Time to get out there and knock them dead.”
I instinctively block out the spot lights from damaging my eyes with my arm as I step out on to the stage. There is a hush around the room, an intense thick silence, and I can sense the spike of all eyes up on me. I might not be able to see anyone in particular but I know that Gemma is out there and that is enough to keep me going.
“Okay, so here he is,” Paige calls out a bit like a game show host. “The man who has volunteered himself up for a blind date… although not so much of a blind date because we can see his face right now.” Paige giggles. Is it me or does she sound a little nervous on my behalf? “And we hope we know the other person as well.”
There is a murmur around the room. I don’t know if that’s because people do know what’s happening or if they don’t but all I can do is keep on going. Take the microphone from Paige and begin.
“Thank you very much everyone for coming today.” Shit, my voice is shaky. It’s humiliating. “Paige and the charity do some amazing work, so every penny given to them is always useful.” Paige grins at me but nods at me to continue. “But I’m sure you all know that. That’s not why I am here. I’m here to talk about the reason why I have put myself up for a blind date, and why I requested only one person to bid on it.”
Almost as if fate is shining up on me, Gemma’s face starts to become clear in the crowd. She doesn’t look mad about this at all, her expression is soft and expecting, I really do feel like I have hit the jackpot here.
“Me and Gemma met at an event just like this one only a few months ago… well, actually, we didn’t meet at the event, we met because of it. We both bid on a blind date and won. That might not have been the first time that me and Miss Dove had interacted, but it’s definitely the first time we started to get to know one another.” I smile to myself, thinking about how we hissed insults at one another across the table. Who knew then what was going to become of us? “And from then we started spending more and more time together. Mostly in private but unfortunately, some people thought it okay to share our story with the world without our permission.” I pause for a second allowing this to sink in with everyone. I want them all to work out how they would behave if the spot light of the Internet was on them because as this has shown, it can happen to anyone. “But while all that was going on, tearing us apart, I realized that I was falling in love with Gemma. Understandably, she has pulled away from me in an attempt to get rid of the gossip, but I have continued to fall.” I make sure that I am only looking at Gemma now. “I organized all of this to raise money for charity, but also for selfish reasons, because I want you back, Gemma. I want to be with you, to show you how much I love you. I know that it seems a bit crazy now to consider a date after everything that we have been through, but I’m going to ask you anyway. Will you give me one more chance? Will you let me take you out on one more charity ‘blind date’ to see what this could be?”
