Page 35

We Can Be Cute

Holland

Mallory

Okay, I’m in.

A m I hallucinating? I lean back in the driver’s seat of my car and scrub my hand over my face. I count to ten before I crack an eye open and peer down at the screen on my phone.

The message is still there. She hasn’t edited it. She hasn’t unsent it.

I’m not about to give her the chance.

My pulse kicks up as I press the video call button, and a couple seconds later, Mallory’s face fills my screen.

She’s scowling, which is honestly kind of perfect. “Holland, what are you doing?” She sounds exasperated. “I’m supposed to be downstairs in, like, less than ten minutes.”

I can’t help the goofy grin that I’ve got going on. I can see it in the small window at the bottom of my screen, but I don’t try to erase it. “So you want to date me, huh?”

She rolls her eyes, but when she pins me with one of her stern looks, I can see there’s some humor in her gaze too. “Don’t let it go to your head.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” I turn serious. “Thanks for giving me the chance to woo you.”

She pulls a disgusted face. “First rule of dating me is that you aren’t going to use the word woo again. ”

I chuckle. “Noted. But that reminds me, we’re going to have to revisit some of the other rules you put in place on our first date at my parents’. Do I get to touch you more now?”

Her eyes widen and then narrow. “This is how it’s going to be, huh?”

I laugh outright. “This is going to be so fun.”

“I’m regretting it already.” She says it, but she’s smiling.

I smile back. “I’m going to loop Noah in. I want to tell him what’s going on and see if he has any advice for us. If it was up to me, I’d call off the entire MEM production and start dating you properly, but I don’t know if that’s an option. Hold on a sec.”

Mallory nods, and I tap over to Noah’s contact, inviting him to our video call.

He answers a moment later. “Holland, Mallory, what’s up?”

I outline the developments in our relationship. Mal’s face is bright red the entire time, and it’s adorable and hilarious.

Noah listens, and then he sighs. “This complicates things. In fact”—he glances around—“just so I can have plausible deniability here, let’s go ahead and say that you butt-dialed me, and I happened to hear you both talking about how you having feelings for each other.”

“Aww, feelings. Hear that, Mallory?” I cut in.

“My only feeling right now where you’re concerned is annoyed.” She points at me…or at least I think she’s pointing at me. Tough to tell through the screen of the phone. Gosh, I want to go to the inn and be close to her.

“Let Noah finish,” Mallory scolds me.

“Yeah, Holland, let me finish,” Noah parrots. “Dang, I’m already loving this entire dynamic. You two have always had sparks. This is going to be epic.”

“It’s just a date,” Mallory says.

That’s what she thinks. But she’s giving me a chance, and I’m going to make the most of it. I table the thought and listen as Noah explains how, under the Most Eligible Mister rules, I have to finish out filming or be fined by the network for breaking my contract.

“It’s a hefty sum. Now, other leads have done it, and it’s up to you if you want to try to negotiate with the network. But…” He shrugs.

“But what?” Mallory asks.

Noah shifts his jaw. “If I were to give you advice on this butt-dial, or if you were able to read my mind here, I guess, what I’d tell you is to go on with the show.

Date each other when you have the chance under the constraints of MEM , and bide your time.

If all goes well, and Holland, quote-unquote, picks you in the end, then you can continue dating each other for real, and everyone is happy.

If something changes about how either one of you feels, then Holland can eliminate you and still finish out the show, thus saving him a ton of money and headaches. ”

“I don’t like the thought of stringing anyone else along,” I argue. “Mallory is the only person here I have any feelings for.”

“That’s good.” Noah nods. “That’s fair. But how is it any different now than it was two days ago when all the other women were here, you know?

I’d say, keep doing what you’re doing. There’s not that many filming days left, and then you’ll be free of it, and everyone wins—you both and the network, and the millions of adoring fans who get to see your love story unfold. ”

“Gag me,” Mallory mutters.

I laugh out loud. “Oh, come on, Mal. We can be cute.”

“Jury’s out,” she says.

“I’ll win you over.” I wink.

“On that note, I’m going to let you two love birds go.” Noah glances down. “Aren’t you supposed to be at Daisy’s?”

“I’m outside. Just wanted to touch base with you first.”

“This call never happened. I don’t want anyone to know I know about your feelings or the fact that you two are communicating off camera.

Seriously, that’s a whole other reason to keep going with filming.

” Noah looks serious. “You need to make it look like your relationship developed when production is around…not during practices or on clandestine phone calls.”

Mallory looks chastened, and I wince. He has a point.

Noah nods, evidently satisfied. “Alright. I’m out. Be in touch if you need anything else. Butt-dial me or whatever.”

He smiles and hangs up.

He’s a good agent. I’m glad to have him in my corner, but right now, the person I care most about is on the other end of this video call and nibbling on her lip.

“Talk to me, Mal. What are you thinking? I know the idea of filming our relationship isn’t ideal.” For all the reasons she told me about earlier. Her reputation. Her credibility. People only talking about her personal life instead of what she brings to the table from a professional standpoint.

“Yeah, no. It’s not ideal at all.” She sighs. “But Noah’s right, and at this point, what harm can more camera time really do? The damage is done. I’ll have to prove myself when this is all over anyway. We may as well go through with it.”

I nod, assessing her as best I can through the phone. “If you’re sure. You know I’m going to be your biggest champion. I could write a killer letter of recommendation if you needed me to.”

She rolls her eyes again but then turns thoughtful. “That being said, I still feel weird about getting into my feelings and deep stuff in front of the camera. I don’t like the thought of the whole world having a lens into the start of…of…whatever it is we’re doing here.”

“You mean falling madly in love?” I deadpan.

Mallory shakes her head. “No one said anything about love.”

“I know. I’m messing with you.” I smile, but as I stare at her, I know I’m falling head over heels for this woman who is thoughtful and poised and spicy and strong and doesn’t take any of my crap.

“How about this? When the cameras are rolling, we’ll keep things surface level, but honest. We can talk about golf and coaching.

We can talk about our families, that sort of thing.

But we’ll save the nitty gritty for when I get you alone. ”

I flash her a smile, and she narrows her eyes at me.

“When do you think that’s going to be? I refuse to let you turn our golf practices into dates, Bradley. I’m still your coach, and I won’t sacrifice your career for our relationship.”

This is what I love about her.

“I wasn’t suggesting that we slack off at our practices. I’m going to take you out on a real date. No cameras. No producers. No other women.”

Mallory arches her eyebrows. “How are you going to pull that off?”

“You leave it to me. By the time I’m done with you, you’ll be as smitten with me as I am with you.”

“Can we add smitten to the do not use list of words?“ She makes another face.

I shake my head slowly. “No way. You’re going to be my little smitten kitten. Just you wait.”

“Ugh. I’m hanging up now. Goodbye!”

“See you soon, tiger.”