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I laughed, shaking my head. "No details in the text. Maybe she somehow found out that it was all just a publicity stunt and slapped him before storming off."
"Ooh, I wish I could have seen that! Why did we leave?" Wanda jumped up from her stool, lunch plans forgotten.
Mira
Why hadn't I thoughtto tell my Valentine's day blind date I was extremely allergic to carnations?
One short trip to urgent care, and a shit-ton of Benadryl later, I was back at the KHZY radio offices, sitting in my car, staring straight ahead as I wondered if there was a way to get out of the contract I'd signed promising a follow-up interview after my date with Jay Malloy. The thing was, the date hadn't really happened.
What the hell were we going to talk about? And I wasn't even good at this stuff. My pre-date interview had been a disaster: realizing my mother might be listening, I'd tried to lie about why I had the semester off from med school, and it hadn't gone well.
This was going to be worse.
A light tap on my car's window made me jump and scream, and my cheeks flamed red as I looked up to find Jay standing there, waving sheepishly. Sighing, I opened the door and stepped out of the car.
"Well, this is awkward." I eyed him, wondering what he thought of me.
He laughed, dimples flashing in his cheeks. He was unbelievably attractive. If it wasn't for my social ineptitude and, well, the other thing, I'd have been all over him.
"You gonna tell me why you ran?"
"Honestly?" I turned away from him and crossed my arms over my chest. A salty coastal wind whipped through my hair as I stared out across a parking lot. "Don't take it personally. I'm running from a lot of things these days."
Like med school. Responsibilities. Life.
He chuckled. "It's okay. But I hope you know I'm not a scary person."
"It wasn't about you at all," I huffed. "I'm allergic to carnations. I could feel my face swelling up, so I ran outside to get some fresh air. Then I went to the nearest urgent care, where they dosed me with an antihistamine that knocked me out. I didn't wake up until you texted me this morning."
"Ah." His eyes widened. "Wait, you didn't drive, did you? You could have told me. Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because it's embarrassing!" I groaned. "And um, I didn't want to go back inside. But I didn't drive. Someone else gave me a ride."
"Well, since we already signed the contract for the interview, what if we just pretend like it was amazing?" Jay suggested.
"So we'll pretend I didn't, um… flee?"
"Exactly."
I frowned at him, chewing on my bottom lip. "But why?"
He hesitated, studying me, then combed his fingers through his messy brown hair, tugging on the ends, looking for all the world like a guilty little boy. A drop-dead gorgeous one at that. "I entered the contest to help my shop."
That cleared up my questions. "And a fun radio interview will help you sell motorcycles, but a dating disaster won't?"
He pointed at me and winked. "Yep! I wanted to get some attention on the custom builds we do. Especially with how viral the contest went."
"And you don't care that I walked out on the date?"
"Nah, not at all. I understand I'm quite intimidating."
I burst out laughing, liking Jay more and more. "Right."
"And the carnations." Jay paused and studied me. "I'm sorry I went overboard — my brother hated them, too."
The mention of his brother made me blush, an image of Jay's older brother, sexy and naked popped into my head. It had been years since I'd seen Gunnar, but that moment was seared into my consciousness, and I could recall every detail as if I was still there.
Jay cleared his throat. "I picked you because I recognized you, Mira. I know why you're here, and I know it's not about romance, so it was perfect."
