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We’d assumed it was placed there by someone who wanted it to be found—whether that was specifically by us was certainly an important question, but why, and why now?
Hannah waited for Armand to be settled. “When did your wolves meet Zoe and Destiny?”
What an excellent question. I did a mental fist pump. Maybe this date wouldn’t be such a disaster after all. Hannah would be much more comfortable talking about her friends—and I had a feeling Armand might be too.
“The day you chose me,” he said. “They met me at the theater, and Zoe stopped to tell me that I had no chance with you, so I shouldn’t even try.”
Hannah laughed. “That sounds about right.”
Armand raised a brow. “That I don’t have a chance?”
“You’d have a better one if you were a snowball in hell.” She grinned.
He furrowed his brow, not understanding the analogy. Good.
“What would give me a better chance of winning your heart?” he asked.
Maybe we didn’t have as much control over this situation as I’d hoped.
“I’m sorry, my heart is taken,” Hannah finally said. “I hate having to let you down not so easily, but like I told you, this was a mistake, and—”
“There are no mistakes, Hannah.” Armand growled. “You chose me for a reason. Wouldn’t you like to find out what it is?”
She glanced at me and I gave her an encouraging nod.
“I thought you were Lars,” she said. “Of course your answers seemed similar. You both come from a different time. My question is, what brought you toThe Mating Gamestage?”
Ooooh. Good one.
He took a moment to answer. I was all for the contestants being thoughtful, but in this case, it was very possible he had to make something up. “I felt a draw to you that I couldn’t resist. So when I learned you’d be on stage, I did whatever it took to get there, too.”
Marissa nudged me. “Bullshit. We never tell our male contestants which episode we’ll call them for,” she whispered. “Unless it’s a special circumstance, like Lars.”
“Let him dig his own grave.”
Hannah nodded. “But how did you know I’d be there? I haven’t been in Sunset Springs very long.”
“You’re quite hard to miss. With that unusual hair and the pictures on your skin. You’re the type of woman that excites a man’s imagination. So I asked around about you. Heard you were here for the show.”
“But you don’t seem like the type of guy who likes to wait around, especially since you lost all that time…where were you? Stuck in a rock?”
“Turned to stone by a curse,” he corrected with a grunt. “And yes, it showed me that even though I’m immortal, and I have the gift of unlimited time, it doesn’t mean that every moment will go as I wish. You might laugh about my misfortune of—how did you say it? Being stuck in a rock, but it made me a very patient man, Hannah. I vowed if I ever broke free, I would do things very differently.”
She nodded. “How did you get out?”
Okay, maybe this date wasn’t such a disaster after all.
“Every day I dreamed of myself as a free wolf, running through the forest, climbing the mountains. Never did I dream of myself as a prisoner, even though my body was trapped. After time, I forgot what those mountains and forests looked like, but I never forgot what it felt like to run. Once the rock broke free, I found those mountains and forest were gone. Everything was different, except that feeling.”
The waiter approached the table, pouring healthy servings of wine into each of their glasses. “Have you had a chance to look at the menu?”
“No,” Hannah said.
“We’ll both have the prime rib with bordelaise sauce. Cooked rare. Baby potatoes and shaved Brussels sprouts.”
The waiter nodded and disappeared.
Hannah’s mouth hung open. “That’s not what I wanted.”
