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Chapter Thirteen
Harper
WeekFour
“These are delicious,” Flynn muttered, his eyes closed as he savored the crushed red velvet cookie I’d warmed for him.
I’d dragged out a couple of blankets from the back behind the counter and created a cozy little place for us. The workroom behind the café wasn’t near as cozy, without the dimmable lighting and the warm wood.
“They’re vegan, with no food dyes,” I announced.
“How do you make them red?”
“My little secret,” I replied, lying against his chest and rubbing my cheek on his shirt. Listening to his heartbeat relaxed me, almost allowing me to forget why we hid out here. Even though I knew Flynn was the bachelor, I’d never expected to come on this show and reconnect with him like this, let alone get the camera-free one-on-one time we’d sneaked.
“You know, I’d never try these if you hadn’t been the one who made them.”
“I know. Which gives me even more satisfaction that you love them.” My fingers traced patterns on his sweater, my mind trying to ignore the sense of impending dread. We were getting close to the end of this, one way or another.
“I can’t be the only person to have ever told you that your cookies are like fluffy clouds of red velvet Heaven.”
“No, but your opinion holds a lot of weight.” My heart squeezed in my chest.
“I think we’re at a point where we probably need to get real honest with each other while we have the chance,” he replied, setting his hand on top of mine. “I told you I’d tell you everything.”
I rose a little, readjusting to look him in the eye. I wasn’t sure what had happened in the years between when he’d left and now. When he’d run off to chase his snowboarding dreams, and I’d stayed behind.
“You’re probably right.” I pressed my lips together. “What’s the actual story behind Audrey?”
Ex talk was never fun, but I couldn’t remember the last time I’d truly cared about a guy’s ex. If we had any chance of making this work in the real world, we had to rip off all the Band-Aids we’d used to cover old wounds, and heal together.
“Ah, Audrey.” He sighed and reached over to play with my curls. “Audrey and I never actually dated.”
“What do you mean you never dated?”
“It was a setup. We were both single. We both needed to look like we weren’t.” He shrugged as if a fake relationship was the most natural thing in the world.
People really did that?
“There’s got to be more to this story.”
“It got complicated. Really complicated. She met someone, but we still had a contract with each other. I didn’t care, because we weren’t actually involved, but I told her she had to be careful.”
It all pieced itself together. “You covered for her because she wasn’t.”
His hand moved from my hair to caress my cheek, making me want to lean into his hand and relax.
“I covered for her.” He nodded. “But word got out anyway, and I did the only thing I could do: I took the blame.”
I remembered the press coverage from their incredibly public breakup. The way the media painted him, as this woman-obsessed jerk that cheated on her and broke her heart. Sure, she’d shown up in the magazines shortly after with another man, but the damage had been done. They had painted Flynn the villain.
“Why would you do that?”
“She didn’t deserve what they’d have said about her, Harper.”
“Neither do you.”
“I can take it.” He gave me a half smile, and I wondered why I’d been so quick to judge him. Had I based any of the opinions I’d had about him on things I’d seen, or just things I’d heard?
