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Zander went next. “Describe your ideal date night.”
Concert, a basketball game, a night in, dinner, and salsa dancing.
The biker guy was a homebody, huh?
Something dinged in the back of my mind, but I couldn’t grasp the thought before it flitted away again. I focused on my notes, matching up who I could from those answers. Cheryl had mentioned that she loved dancing. Perhaps the real estate guy was her ex. Based on my calculations, that left the two I couldn’t pin; the biker and the lawyer.
Diego fired his question next. “Would you say you are more spontaneous or structured?”
That question would work for me, with Viv and Sophie as my last two girls unmatched. Sophie was a free spirit. She mentioned going out a lot, but it was her way to blow off steam after a long day of structured work. She would look for someone spontaneous, wouldn’t she?
I blocked out the others, focusing on my last two unmatched men. Both the lawyer and the biker answered they were structured.
That didn’t help me, so I had to make an educated guess.
Clipboard a jumbled mess of shorthand and illegible scratching, I handed it over to Jess, the crew member we’d seen the most since arriving. She raised a brow when she looked at my scrawled notes. I had circled my answers amid all the chaos I’d jotted down. Whoever matched the most former couples won the challenge, and I figured I had a decent shot.
She unclipped everything and handed the cards over to Troy.
“Ladies, please join us on the free side of the pool?”
The women came out from behind the plants, lining up on the opposite side of the pool from the exes. One or two of them were still staring at the guys with utter disbelief.
“And now,” Troy said grandly, “if you would, please arrange yourselves, so you are across from your ex.”
Slowly, the girls shuffled around each other, revealing their connections.
I’d gotten three answers correct. The only thing left to do was hope the others had fared worse than me. I wanted to win that date.
“Exes, would you introduce yourselves to the housemates?” Troy asked.
The blond started. “I’m Christopher. Gia is my ex-girlfriend.”
“Is there anything the guys should know about Gia before moving forward? Maybe something that would help them understand who Gia is as a girlfriend or something they should look out for?” Jesus, Troy was rubbing salt in the wound with that one.
“Yeah.” Christopher looked across the pool with a smile. “Gia’s the best,” he said with a soft smile, as if he had made peace that they’d ended.
The girls cooed and made sweet sounds at Christopher’s statement as Gia blushed at his words. The man seemed like he was genuinely complimenting her, but he was also making himself look charming on a show that would reach plenty of other fish in the sea.
“Okay, ex number two?”
The lawyer was up. “I’m Trey. Viv is my ex-fiancée.”
Shit. Viv had agreed to marry this guy at some point. I used to think I was behind the times, watching my friends pair off, get married, and start popping out kids while I still hadn’t found the right woman for me. But even when things had headed that way for me, I still hadn’t felt ready for that step, and the relationships were never built on anything strong enough to stand the test of time. Convenience and a few shared mutual interests did not a marriage make.
Trey continued, “And to answer the same question you asked Christopher—Viv needs reassurance. I couldn’t provide enough for us to last, but I know she’ll find someone who will.”
Viv wiped away the tears that had fallen down her cheeks. She was wrecked and hearing your ex acknowledge their shortcomings had to be a surreal experience.
Sophie wrapped an arm around Viv, holding her close.
The biker’s rumbling tone drew all eyes toward him. “My name is Ryan, and I am Sophie’s ex. For now.”
I felt Diego tense next to me. It was an exact mirror of how I felt. The promise Ryan’s gaze held had me nervous for our girl. Knowing that this was someone that Sophie had chosen for herself out in the real world made me uneasy. I took stock of him in a new light and tried to see how they fit together. I couldn’t make sense of it.
Tattoos snaked from his wrists to his black shirt sleeves, twisting and twining around the massive muscles. Was this the type of guy she usually went for? It was nearly the polar opposite of me, aside from the ink I had scrawled on my arms. His face was bearded, closely cropped, and meticulously maintained, while his hair was longer on top and shaved close into a mohawk along the sides. He trained his ice-blue eyes on Sophie’s face, gauging her reaction to his bold statement. Unblinking, intense, consuming.
Sophie, unimpressed, just put a hand on her hip and stared Ryan down, begging him to fuck around and find out.
