Page 111 of Rule 2: Never Join a Christmas Dating Show

“Maybe he won’t remember me,” he says finally.

I’m not sure if that is correct, but I shrug.

“My brother is pretty clueless,” I say instead, then fill a pot with water and set it to boil.

I set the table in the breakfast nook. It overlooks the Charles River.

“It’s beautiful,” Sebastian says.

“I like seeing people kayaking down it.”

“Did you have to learn how to kayak in gym class too?” Sebastian asks with a faraway smile.

“Mr. C still thought that was an essential part of a physical education,” I say.

“Come.” I reach out and take Sebastian’s hand again, and this time he doesn’t hesitate and takes it. I clasp my hand tightly against it. “I believe Troy already gave you a tour of the apartment last night.”

“Yeah.”

I nudge him. “He likes you.”

“We’re pretty different.”

I tilt my head and assess him. “Yeah. That’s probably right.”

He looks at me skeptically.

“I mean, I really like you,” I say, and it almost feels like I should be saying something else.

But I’ve never said those other things to anyone else, and saying those things to him might upheave his life too much. All the reasons why all of this is forbidden remain.

But for now, there’s breakfast and bright blue eyes looking at me over a table. I hand Sebastian a remote control.

“Robots cook for you?” He asks.

I narrow my eyebrow. “I cook for us. You can choose the music.”

“Oh. That’s sort of nice.”

I remove items from the refrigerator, lining the fruits and vegetables in a tidy row and I remove my cutting board and knife.

Sebastian flicks the music on, and the room fills with the complex bass sounds that only come from fancy sound systems. He smiles.

I sweep into a bow. “May I have this dance, Sebastian Archer?”

“People don’t dance before breakfast.”

“We have things to celebrate.”

“Oh?”

I nod, and I want to tell him I want to celebrate I met him again, that Falcon Productions chose me to be Mr. Right, and now I can see him, that he is as wonderful as I imagined. But maybe that’s too much.

He has his own life in LA. He doesn’t need my complications.

So instead, I say, “I saw you smile.”

And from the way his lips spread upward again, that was every bit the right thing to say.