Chapter 7
HALLE
As my alarm sounded, I groaned. Partly because this bed was so comfortable, I hated the thought of having to leave it, but mainly because I knew it meant that I had to face an entire day with Jake. Getting through that dinner was hard enough.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.
I thought that I’d be spending my days gazing into the beautiful eyes of my match, skipping along the beach hand in hand and being ridiculously loved up. Not sitting at a table glaring at him like I had last night.
Okay, if I was being totally honest, on a purely superficial level, when I was glaring, I noticed that his eyes actually were annoyingly beautiful. They were a greenish-brown golden shade and all sparkly. And of course, he had long lashes. Ugh.
When he’d made that joke about me having a poster of him on my bedroom wall, I wanted the ground to swallow me up because I’m embarrassed to admit that there may have been a point that I… fancied Jake.
And shamefully, I did have a poster of him on my bedroom wall. A fact that he must never know.
Jake used to be in a boyband, The Real-Lists, and they were huge. So in my defence, it was probably easier to find a teenage girl who didn’t have a poster of them on their wall.
And I was young and stupid back then so it was different. Now I knew better.
Been there, done that, worn the T-shirt, got zero interest in dating a popstar ever again, thank you very much.
That was why I was so grumpy last night.
Normally, I was a softie and although I wasn’t the life and soul of the party, I could hold a decent conversation.
But when I saw Jake, my walls instantly went up.
When everything imploded with my ex, it nearly destroyed me and I couldn’t risk getting hurt like that again.
After I’d left the restaurant last night, I wanted to call Vanessa to talk it through. Then I remembered that New York was three hours ahead and I didn’t want to wake her up, so I’d left her a voice note explaining what had happened and asked her to call me whenever she was free.
In the meantime, I’d speak to Sammie and ask for a different match. Their database must be huge and everyone on the dating scene wanted to come to this hotel, so hopefully it’d be straightforward.
Once I’d showered, I headed to the restaurant for breakfast.
‘Morning!’ Sammie said as I walked in. She was standing next to a good-looking guy with olive skin.
‘Hi,’ I said.
‘How’d you sleep? And how was your dinner last night? So cool that you’ve been matched with Jake Myers!’
My stomach twisted. Sammie made it sound like I’d been paired with LA’s most eligible bachelor. More like Mr Community Dick.
‘I slept really well, thanks.’
‘The mattresses and pillows are so comfy, right? When I stayed at the Love Hotel, I was tempted to buy an extra suitcase just to steal the pillows!’ She laughed, then her face fell as she realised what she’d just said. ‘Not that I’m encouraging you to do that, of course.’
‘Don’t worry! The pillows are safe. I didn’t realise that you stayed at the Love Hotel too?’
‘Yep. The Italian one. That’s where I met the love of my life!’ She turned and smiled at the man beside her. ‘This is my other half, Romeo. He’s also a Love Alchemist here.’
‘Oh!’ My eyes widened. ‘Hi, Romeo. I’m Halle.’ I stretched out my hand.
‘Nice to meet you.’ He smiled and shook my hand.
‘It’s so cool that you guys met there and now you’re working together. I’d love to hear more.’
Sammie and Romeo looked at each other and grinned.
‘It’s a long story… Best to save that for another day.’ She flashed Romeo a knowing smile which immediately piqued my interest. ‘So? You didn’t tell me how it went with Jake.’
‘Er… actually, if you’ve got a second, I wondered if we could have a chat about it.’
‘Course! Honey, can you cover for me?’ she asked Romeo.
‘Sure,’ he replied.
‘Let’s go for a walk,’ Sammie said, heading through the doors and down towards the beach. ‘So, what’s up?’
‘Jake’s not a good match for me.’
‘What?’ Sammie’s eyes widened. ‘Why?’
‘I know you think that it’s cool that he’s famous and stuff, but when I completed the questionnaire, one of the things I specifically asked for was not to be matched with anyone high profile.’
‘Oh…’ Sammie’s face fell. ‘Well, doesn’t the fact that he’s not as mega famous as he used to be help?’
‘No. It’s more about the traits that famous people have whether they’re at the top of the charts or not. The arrogance and self-absorption. The obsession with fame and maintaining their profile. Sometimes when they’re worried about losing their fame it’s even worse.’
‘Sounds like you’re speaking from experience?’
‘Unfortunately, yes. I used to date Brett Burch.’
‘Oh, wow. The guy with the reality show who’s married to that supermodel?’
‘The very one.’ My stomach tightened.
‘And I’m guessing it wasn’t a good break-up?’
‘Correct.’
‘I’m so sorry. I know Jake doesn’t exactly have the reputation of a choir boy, but people change and not all celebs are the same, right?
I mean, I haven’t met many, but it wouldn’t be fair to judge Jake because of the sins your ex committed.
The hotel’s procedures are very thorough, I mean, they’re not always perfect…
’ Her voice trailed off. ‘Sometimes people seem like a good match on paper, but when they meet it just doesn’t work out.
’ Sammie paused for a few beats, like there was more she wanted to say, but for some reason she couldn’t.
‘But you can’t throw in the towel without at least giving it a good try. ’
‘I’m not so sure…’ I blew out a breath.
‘Let me ask you some questions,’ Sammie said. ‘First up, are you attracted to Jake, physically?’
‘Well, obviously he’s an attractive man,’ I shrugged, trying to sound casual.
If I told her that I’d had a crush on him since I was a teenager and still thought that he was ridiculously good-looking, that wouldn’t help my case.
And the fact that I found him very attractive was irrelevant. I was looking for love, not eye candy.
‘And how was the date last night? Did he ask you questions about yourself or did he just talk about himself all night?’
‘He left the table literally minutes after we’d sat down to take a call from another woman!’
‘Okay, that’s not ideal, but maybe it was important. And just because it was a woman, it doesn’t have to mean anything. It could’ve been his sister, his aunt or a work call.’
‘Yeah,’ I sighed. I knew she was right and I hated how paranoid I sounded, but I challenge anyone to go through what I had and not have trust issues.
‘So? Did he ask you questions about yourself?’
‘He did,’ I admitted. ‘He tried to, anyway, but I… I wasn’t feeling very chatty.’
Shame washed over me. If I was being honest, I probably wasn’t the best date yesterday. I should’ve made more of an effort.
But I was scared. I barely made it through hell last time.
‘I get it.’ Sammie nodded sympathetically. ‘You had your defences up. You were in fight mode because you’d been hurt by a famous guy before and you’re worried about history repeating itself, right?’
‘Exactly,’ I said, relieved that she understood.
‘Well, the good news is, you’re here for two weeks, so you’ve still got plenty of time to get to know each other.
Although it might not seem like it right now, you two have been matched for a reason.
And if you keep your guard up, you’ll never be able to tell for sure if you have a connection.
I know it won’t be easy, but try and lower your defences a little?
Start fresh today. We’ve got our briefing in an hour and I reckon our first couples activity will help break the ice a bit. ’
‘What is it?’
‘It’s a surprise.’ She grinned. ‘Have breakfast, then meet by the Palm Pool. Jake waited for you for breakfast, but then had to leave to take some photos, but he gave me his number to pass on.’ She handed me a piece of paper.
‘He said to call if you want company. Otherwise, he’ll see you at the briefing. ’
‘Oh. Okay.’ I slid the paper in my handbag then glanced at my watch. He must’ve come down early.
Maybe I’d judged him too harshly about the whole taking photos thing. If he’d left breakfast to take more, perhaps it was a serious hobby and he wanted to take some professional shots of the scenery.
But when I looked over at the beach, I caught Jake posing for selfies, like he did at dinner.
Everyone was free to do whatever they wanted. But I knew I couldn’t be with someone who was more interested in having a relationship with their phone than spending time with me. I didn’t want to have to fight for their attention.
I know Sammie said that not all people were the same, but so far, Jake’s behaviour was feeling way too familiar.
Nope.
I’d prefer to be matched with literally anyone but him.
Right now, there wasn’t a single thing that convinced me that Jake was boyfriend material.
And it’d take a major miracle to prove otherwise.