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If this was an indication of what was to come from his temporary move to Whisper Lake, he just might have to make it permanent.
4
Kennedy turnedthe radio up as she drove into town. Whisper Lake was her happy place. She’d spent her entire life there and unlike most of her peers, she had never wanted to leave. And not even her dad popping up at the most inopportune times would change that.
She could not stop thinking of the ridiculously hot guy who was covered in tattoos that she’d just run into. She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel and did her best to ignore the ring of tingles around her wrist where Hot Tattoo Guy’s fingers had wrapped around her. Even though it had only been a brief touch, she could still feel the sensation of the roughened pads of his fingers grazing the inside of her wrist. Every time she blinked, the visual of his large, tanned hand gripping her delicate wrist filled her mind. The image had been burned onto her corneas. Her body was still recovering from the aftermath of an earthquake of flutters that had erupted between her legs when he’d tightened his hold to help her stand.
Her attraction famine was officially over. Not only had she definitely been attracted to him, it was stronger than anything she’d ever felt in her life. She couldn’t remember ever having such a visceral reaction to a man. The closest reaction she’d ever had was when she was in New York during a conference and randomly gotten on an elevator with Alexander Skarsgård. She’d never been a huge fan of the actor, hadn’t watchedTrue Blood, but she certainly had after her encounter. The man oozed sex appeal.
There was something magnetic about the actor’s smile, his eyes, his aura. But even Alexander didn’t hold a candle to the pull she’d felt from Hot Tattoo Guy.
From the second she’d looked into his deep brown eyes; she’d been transported to another dimension. She’d forgotten where she was, what she was doing. She’d even forgotten the embarrassment of soaking his pants.
She felt like an idiot for letting her father run her off. She hadn’t gotten his name. She didn’t know if she’d ever see him again.
He wasn’t a Whisper Lake local. She would know him or have heard about him if he was. He was most likely from out of town visiting a patient at Well Brook. Which meant, there was a good chance their paths wouldn’t cross again.
She was still reeling from the encounter when she pulled up in front of The Snack Shack, which Laura owned. Through the window she saw her bestie behind the counter. The two of them had been in the same singles boat for years, but last year, Laura had been saved by a tall, handsome, smart, Navy SEAL. Talk about hitting the hero jackpot. Their love story was right out of the pages of the romance novels Kennedy devoured like oxygen.
Laura was seven and a half months pregnant with their twins and their wedding was going to be held a few months after she gave birth. Kennedy could not be happier for her. But she couldn’t help the tiny ache of envy in her chest. She wanted what her friend had. What most of her friends had.
The image of Hot Tattoo Guy popped into her head. Too bad she’d fucked that meet-cute up. Not only had she inappropriately groped him after spilling water on him and making it look like he’d peed himself, she’d allowed her father to run her off before she even got his name.
Trying to shake off the lingering effects of embarrassment, disappointment, and arousal Kennedy got out of the car and walked briskly into the shop. The bell dinged as she stepped through the glass door.
“Hey, chickadee!” Kennedy smiled brightly.
“Oh good!” Laura beamed as she clapped her hands together above her round belly. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
“Waiting for me?” Kennedy questioned as she checked her Apple watch. She wasn’t late for their lunch date, actually, she was thirty minutes early.
“Yes!” Laura enthused. “To do this!”
Her friend held up a piece of paper with the word CASTING written on the top in bold black letters. Kennedy took the paper and saw that it was a call for applicants to submit to the reboot of the reality dating show Fairytale Love which had filmed in Whisper Lake nearly seven years ago.
She scanned the paper and saw that this season they weren’t looking for twenty-somethings like the original series, they were skewing older in their search for contestants. They wanted singles in their thirties and forties who were ready to commit to a long-term partner. It was going to be a combination of love island, and the bachelor set in Stone Castle.
“Youhaveto apply!” Laura enthused.
Kennedy had tried everything. Dating apps. Speed dating. Signing up to a matchmaking service. Getting set up by well-meaning if not a tad off the mark friends. She’d spent an entire calendar year being open to men who weren’t her type and saying yes to any guy who asked her out. And most recently, she’d gone the other route of writing down a list of everything she wanted in a partner and not settling for anything less in an attempt to manifest.
Spoiler alert: nothing had worked. She wasn’t sure what else she could do at this point.
A reality show might be her only hope. It was worth a shot at least.
Or you could go back to Well Brook and try to find out Hot Tattoo Guy’s name, Kennedy thought to herself.
She opened her mouth to tell her friend about the run-in but then closed it. What were the chances that he was the elusive ‘one’?
Like Anne was always telling her, her life wasn’t a rom-com or a romance novel. That encounter wasn’t the meet-cute that they would sit and tell their grandkids about, even if that’s the first thing she thought of when she got in her car to drive back to Whisper Lake.
Hot Tattoo Guy wasn’t real. Applying for this reality show was.
“Okay,” Kennedy agreed.
“Yes!” Laura cheered then pulled out her phone. “Okay, so we need to submit a three-minute video.”
“A three-minute video of what?” Kennedy scanned the paper again trying to find the guidelines. But before she got to that, Laura snatched it out of her hand.
