Chapter 10
Chuck did this thing with his tongue and teeth, kind of an erotic one-two combo punch, that always left Olivia gasping. She discovered on Saturday morning that the effect transferred to dreams almost as intensely as experiencing it in real life.
She woke gasping and damp with sweat in a tangle of sheets. With the way her blood was speeding through her veins, she half expected to find Chuck in bed beside her having just finished his torturous combo. But she was alone. And in need of a cold shower.
By a small miracle, the bedroom door had stayed closed all night. She left it that way as she entered the bathroom to shower off her dream and brace for inevitably having to interact with Chuck—and to face the music about how much they were going to be penalized for the kiss. She wouldn’t have been surprised if he completely avoided her, but she was surprised when, after her shower, she found him in the kitchen flipping pancakes.
He stood shirtless at the stove with his back to her, and Olivia wondered if she was still sleeping and having some kind of food porn dream. White powder dusted the counters. A small stack of dirty mixing bowls teetered near the sink. Three eggshells oozed goo on a plate. The scene was a disaster, but she couldn’t take her eyes off Chuck standing in the middle of it all with a towel over his shoulder and mumbling to himself.
“Come on, come on. Yes! ” he quietly hissed when he successfully flipped a fresh pancake onto a plate. He turned around with a finger in his mouth, licking off whatever he’d stuck it into, and jumped at the sight of Olivia. “Oh! Liv, I didn’t hear you come in.”
He set the plate down and pulled the towel from his shoulder to wipe his hands. He was shirtless, his hair was a mess, he still wore his glasses, and he had a smudge of powder on his nose.
It was, quite possibly, the most attractive she’d ever seen him.
“Where’s your shirt?” was the first thing that came out of her mouth.
“I got batter on it, so I took it off,” he said like this was a perfectly rational explanation.
“Oh.” She sat on a stool largely to keep her knees from wobbling. Her mind was off somewhere distant and feral.
He reached for a banana out of the fruit bowl and split its peel. He then picked up a knife and set about slicing the banana on top of the pancakes.
“What is this?” she asked, and nodded at the whole scene: the fresh coffee, the banana pancakes, the bottle of syrup. Clearly, he was making her favorite breakfast.
Chuck inhaled and let out a big breath. “It’s…an apology for last night. Well, an attempt at one. I burned the first three rounds.” He cocked his head to the end of the island, where a stack of charred pancakes sat waiting to be dumped into the trash.
The memory of their encounter in the hall would have swept her off her feet if she weren’t already sitting down. She might have been the one to end it, but she hadn’t done anything to stop him from starting it.
“Chuck, you don’t have to—”
“Yes, I do,” he said, and held up his hand to stop her. “That’s what my mood was about yesterday. After the interview—before we fought, obviously—I got this intense urge to touch you after everything you’d said about your first impression of me, and knowing it was off-limits made me go a little wild. And then last night in the hallway, I couldn’t take it anymore. I crossed the line, and I’m sorry. It won’t happen again. Please accept this meager offering as my penance. And know that however they punish us financially, I’ll take the hit.” He slid the plate toward her along with the bottle of syrup.
She lifted the fork he’d set out for her and thought there was a joke to be made about swapping favorite meals for makeup sex when they’d wronged each other, but the situation would not have been helped by making it. Not to mention, she was flush with a stirring heat knowing that her recount of her first impression of him had driven him to break the rules. “Thank you, but you don’t have to do that. It wasn’t like I did anything to stop you. We are equally guilty.”
“Fair enough.” He watched her drizzle syrup on her pile of fruity cakes and take a bite. “And?” he asked with one eye impishly squeezed shut.
Pleasantly surprised, she swallowed and nodded. “Really good.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
He threw his arms up in victory and beamed. “ Yes! ”
Olivia smiled around another bite. “Pretty impressive for someone who doesn’t eat carbs.”
He smirked and threw the wadded-up towel at her. “I eat carbs. Watch me. Give me a bite.” He gripped the edge of the island and leaned forward with his mouth open.
Laughing, she cut a square with her fork and stabbed a banana slice before feeding both to him. Syrup dribbled down his lip in a sticky little string. She caught it with her finger, and before either of them realized what was happening, he grabbed her wrist and wrapped his lips around her knuckle to suck it off.
Her finger came back out of his mouth with a slick pop that felt like a lightning bolt to all the most sensitive parts of her body and made them both freeze.
“Sorry, old habits,” Chuck said, his face growing serious and his hand still wrapped around her wrist.
Time seemed to stop. The air stilled and took on a charge like it might explode.
He could have easily pulled her to him just like he had the night before. Up onto the island where they’d make a sticky, sweaty mess that left syrup in interesting places and maybe broke a few dishes and would certainly lose them more money. Olivia’s heart pounded as she stared into his eyes, seeing the same fantasy play out alongside an intense battle to keep it at bay, and wondered what was going to happen. She knew, without a doubt, that after their encounter in the hall and her dream, she would follow his lead, even if it guaranteed disaster.
Before anything else could happen, the doorbell rang.
They snapped apart, both flustered.
“Are we expecting someone?” Chuck asked.
“Not that I know of. The crew usually just barges in too.”
They abandoned breakfast and padded into the entryway. On the other side of the front door, they found TJ grinning like a fool and the usual camera crew. Tyler popped out and gave them a friendly wave.
“Morning, lovers!” TJ sang. “And I do mean that sincerely after last night,” he added with a wink, and welcomed himself inside. He sniffed the air like a hound catching the scent of breakfast. “I only rang to make sure everyone was decent before we started rolling. I see we are halfway there.” He eyed Chuck’s bare chest with another grin. “Speaking of…” He pulled two envelopes from where they were tucked under his elbow. “Mail for you. Open this one first.”
Olivia was still recovering from the whole early-morning circus, but her heart skipped at the red envelope he handed her. She knew before she opened it that it was their punishment for last night. It might as well have had GUILTY stamped on the front.
She chewed her lip and broke the seal. Chuck stood close behind her, reading over her shoulder.
“?‘Olivia and Chuck, the production team has found you in violation of the No Physical Contact rule for your indiscretion in the hallway last night, a kiss lasting approximately ten seconds. As punishment for this violation, the total prize money for each of you will be reduced by a sum of—‘”
“ Ten thousand dollars? ” Chuck screeched. He reached over her shoulder and snatched the paper to read again.
Olivia’s knees felt weak.
TJ chuckled. “Indeed. It was a good kiss. A-plus work, you two.”
Olivia wanted to curl up and die for multiple reasons. One, they’d watched the tape at all. Two, they’d watched the tape closely enough to time their kiss, and three, TJ was grinning at them like he couldn’t have been more delighted about the whole situation. And to top it off, she was suddenly ten grand poorer. It might have been a drop in the bucket compared to a million dollars, but it still felt like a gut punch.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” she muttered.
TJ only laughed again. “Well, maybe you’ve learned your lesson. Or maybe not.” He shrugged. “Still nine hundred and ninety thousand dollars to go, and plenty of time to lose it. So, on to the next envelope. Olivia, if you’ll do the honors.”
She was still reeling and noticed Chuck taking a half step away to put more space between them. She glared at TJ, a flush in her cheeks, as she slid her finger under the next envelope’s seal.
“?‘Olivia and Chuck, your next challenge is a test of knowledge. You may be broken up, but every couple has history. We want to see how well you still know each other. Answer enough questions correctly, and you’ll gain access to the dishwasher. Continue to answer questions correctly, and you’ll gain access to the guest bathroom. Good luck.’?”
“Well, that’s some decent incentive,” Chuck said.
“Yes. We take, we give. That’s how this works,” TJ said, and clapped his hands.
The Newlywed Game , Olivia thought. As far as game show challenges went, this didn’t seem too bad. Her spirits took flight at the thought of what would be an easy challenge. She knew all sorts of things about Chuck, like his favorite color, food, movie. She only hoped he remembered the same about her. Before she could turn around to confirm, TJ grabbed both of them by the arm and started marching them toward the back of the house.
“Olivia, you wait in the kitchen. Chuck, go put on a shirt—actually…” He cut himself off and pinched his face in thought, eyeing Chuck’s bare chest and abs like he might ask him to stay half naked for the cameras. “Yeah, go put on a shirt for this. And stay in the bedroom until we come get you.”
“Wait, we’re doing this now ?” Olivia asked, and almost tripped when TJ pushed her back toward the kitchen.
“Yep. And you’re staying separated until we’re set up in the backyard. No chance to coach each other. Go. ” He pushed them in opposite directions and looked all too pleased with himself. Chuck stumbled off toward the hall, throwing a desperate look back at Olivia as she tumbled through the kitchen entryway.
“Chuck! You should put on a yellow shirt while I finish my banana pancakes !” she called.
“Hey! None of that!” TJ protested. “You stay here and stay quiet. Tyler, keep an eye on her.”
“Sure thing, Mr. Price,” Tyler said, and hurried over to stand guard at the entryway.
Olivia glared at TJ but gave Tyler a friendly smile. TJ smirked back and then swept out the back doors with the crew to set up.
“I’ll behave,” she told Tyler with a little bow.
She returned to her stool and dove back into her pancakes. She wanted that dishwasher, and she wanted it bad—even more, she wanted her own bathroom. As if telekinesis were a real thing, she thought as hard as she could about the answer to everything that she thought they might ask, hoping Chuck could somehow read her mind from the other end of the house. Please remember , she thought equally as hard as Please have paid attention during our relationship and know this stuff in the first place .
Chuck had left his phone on the island amid the mess, and Olivia saw it light up with a text from someone named Maddy. She could not think of anyone Chuck knew named Maddy and was too distracted by mentally running through a list of everything she knew about him to think about it anyway.
Eventually, TJ returned and summoned her with Chuck already in tow. She was still wearing yoga pants and a tank and was thankful to see that Chuck had only put on a tee shirt and hadn’t fully dressed for the cameras. He’d at least put in his contacts and smoothed his hair, but he was still rumpled and looking fresh from bed. Given that they didn’t bring in hair and makeup, this obviously wasn’t as formal as an interview, and likely because they’d wanted to catch them off guard with no time to prepare.
The crew had set up in the usual spot, except this time, they’d faced Olivia’s and Chuck’s chairs toward each other, and each had a little whiteboard and dry-erase marker sitting on it waiting.
“Contestants, please take your seats,” TJ announced, and bowed with a stack of cards in his hands. His chair sat opposite theirs.
Olivia sat and looked dead ahead at Chuck. “We can do this,” she said with a nod.
He nodded back, looking less confident than she’d hoped.
The mic tech swarmed them and wired everyone up. Soon the cameras were rolling, and everyone was on point.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Chuck and Olivia Quiz Bowl! I’m your host, TJ Price. Today our contestants will test their knowledge of each other in an attempt to win a Shiny! New! Dishwasher! ” he said in a booming voice as if there were a real audience in the yard and not just three cameramen, a sound tech, and a PA. “And a bathroom, if we get that far,” he added with less enthusiasm.
“Oh, we’re going to get that far,” Olivia said. Her competitive streak was alive and well. They were going to win .
“I like the spirit, Olivia! Okay, so the way this works: I will pose a question to one of you about the other person, you will both have ten seconds to write the answer on your board, and every time your answers match, you get a point. Ten points gets you the dishwasher, twenty gets you the bathroom. You’ll have twenty-five questions total. Make sense?”
“Got it,” Chuck said, sounding more determined.
“Let’s do it,” Olivia said.
“Okay! Here! We! Go! Tyler, the clock, if you please.”
Tyler came over with the same iPad from the furniture challenge, this time with 0:10 glaring in red, and propped it on the table.
“Olivia, the first question is for you,” TJ opened. “What was Chuck’s first childhood pet’s name?”
Easy. She uncapped her pen and instantly scribbled. A golden retriever named Biscuit. He’d told her stories of growing up hiking and swimming with his beloved dog. Endless hours of fetch. She’d even seen pictures of the good old boy. Her heart trilled as she waited for the ten seconds to count down.
“Time!” TJ called, and they both flipped their boards around.
Olivia smiled at the sight of Biscuit scrawled on Chuck’s board. She swore she saw his eyes lovingly gloss over at the sight of her board.
“Olivia going the extra mile by including the breed!” TJ cheered. “Unfortunately, that will not win you any extra credit. Chuck! Next question is for you. What is Olivia’s favorite flower?”
Olivia flipped her board and swiped it clean before she scribbled tulips and silently shouted the word over and over in her head. Chuck had given her flowers a handful of times during their relationship—her birthday, Valentine’s Day, when one of her profiles hit it big online—but those had mostly been an assortment of whatever the florist picked out to qualify as big and romantic . She hoped he remembered that day they’d driven out east of L.A. to a botanical garden lush with tulip fields and she’d taken ten thousand pictures.
“Time!” TJ called.
They flipped their boards around, and Olivia smiled at the sight of tulip along with a cute little doodle of one.
“Wow, okay. Off to a strong start. Maybe we need to make these questions harder,” TJ said, and shuffled his cards. “Ah, here’s a good one. Olivia, what one thing would Chuck take with him to a deserted island?”
She bit her lip and didn’t feel too bad about her visible grimace when she noticed Chuck tilting his head in consideration like he didn’t immediately know the answer either. She eyed the ticking clock and thought. Had they ever had this conversation before? Not that she could recall. Instead of trying to remember, she took a practical approach to figuring it out. Chuck was strong, athletic. He’d be able to build shelter and hunt, so he wouldn’t take any kind of tools or weapons with him. Maybe a book for entertainment? No. Something logical like a phone or a boat to escape? No. Those were universally off-limits on a deserted island; everyone knew that.
In the final two seconds of their time, a memory struck her like a flash of light—that trip to Mexico. He’d lost one of his contacts swimming in the ocean and said he was lucky he had his glasses as backup; otherwise he would have been screwed for the rest of the trip.
“Time!” TJ called just as she finished scribbling.
They flipped their boards around, and at the sight of my glasses on Chuck’s board and his glasses on Olivia’s, TJ frowned.
“Ha!” Chuck said. “Nice job.”
Olivia proudly smiled at him.
“Okay, well, we didn’t expect you guys to be this good at this…” TJ muttered, and shuffled his cards again. “Chuck, what is Olivia’s biggest pet peeve?”
This time, Chuck grimaced. Olivia internally flinched too. The list was long. She could name a hundred peeves—they both probably could—but she had to pick the same one that he would pick. She thought hard about what they argued about most; what little thing really got them going.
In a pinch, she scribbled on her board.
“Time!”
They flipped and frowned. She’d written dirty dishes and he’d written leaving the lights on . Both were true, but they didn’t match.
“Aw, womp womp womp .” TJ made a dramatic sad trombone sound. “Our first miss. Couldn’t have you getting too cocky, could we. Olivia, over to you. If Chuck could have dinner with one famous person, alive or dead, who would it be?”
She reeled again. That was a great question, and she had no idea. She glanced at Chuck thoughtfully considering his board again and tried to read his mind. Alive or dead meant literally anyone. And Chuck’s interests spanned beyond only Hollywood. A famous actor was an obvious answer, but he could as easily say an astronaut or author. Hell, maybe even the Crocodile Hunter, she didn’t know. Running out of time, she opted for obvious. She knew he loved The Godfather , so she scribbled Marlon Brando and held her breath.
“Let’s see!” TJ called.
They flipped their boards, and Olivia was disappointed to have been wrong but impressed to see Barack Obama written on his board.
“Brando is a close second,” Chuck said with an encouraging nod.
“Close, but not good enough!” TJ sang. “Okay, let’s spice things up a bit here. Olivia, staying with you, when is Chuck’s favorite time of day to have sex?”
An embarrassed giggle burst from her mouth. She slapped her hand over her lips and deeply blushed. “Sorry. That’s just, um…really personal.”
“Well, you know him personally the best, don’t you?” TJ said with a sly grin. “Or at least that’s what we’re trying to prove here. Clock’s ticking!”
Her face burned as she buried it behind her board. She could see Chuck grinning over in his chair and fighting his own flush. Her breath grew jagged as she thought of the answer. Her blood spiraled. Chuck had no preferred time of day. First thing in the morning, midafternoon, midnight, three a.m. because she happened to roll over and bump into him in bed; he didn’t discriminate. His enthusiasm equally spanned to all hours. The thought made her sit up straighter and cross her legs. Desperate, she scribbled an answer.
“Time!” TJ said. “Seems like this was a hard one to answer. Let’s see what you said.”
They turned their boards, and Olivia snorted a laugh.
Anytime , she’d written.
Always , he’d written.
She couldn’t have been blushing any harder.
“Hmmm,” TJ hummed thoughtfully. “Judges?” He turned and asked the camera crew behind them. Everyone was biting lips and grinning. Olivia wondered if any of them had watched the footage of their kiss and judged the cost of their violation. Benny gave a thumbs-up along with another cameraman Olivia didn’t know by name. Tyler enthusiastically pointed both thumbs in the air.
“All right, we’ll give it to you,” TJ said. “Next question! Chuck, what is Olivia’s bra size?”
“ Oh my god, ” she muttered, and tried to melt between the cracks in her chair. She’d been wrong about not being able to blush any harder. She scribbled two numbers and the same letter twice on her board and couldn’t believe she was about to reveal her measurements on a TV show. But then, everyone had just learned about Chuck’s insatiable sexual appetite, so all bets were off.
“Time’s up!” TJ called.
Olivia sputtered a laugh when Chuck turned his board around to show perfect scrawled across it.
She flipped hers to show the real answer, and everyone laughed.
“While that is charming,” TJ said, “it is not correct. Sorry, Chuck.”
They went back and forth for several more rounds of questions, getting most right (Olivia’s dream vacation: Italy; Chuck’s favorite superhero: Thor) and some wrong (Olivia’s college major: journalism, not English; Chuck’s favorite sport: soccer, not baseball) until they were down to the final two questions, and they needed them both to win the bathroom.
“Okay, Chuck,” TJ said, deadly serious, “what is Olivia’s favorite thing about you ?”
Chuck let out a breath through rounded lips. “Saving the hardest question for last, I see.”
“There’s a lot on the line here,” TJ said with his hands out.
Olivia thought about how to even answer that question. There were the superficial, obvious things like his body, his smile, his impossibly perfect hair. But those were complete strangers’ favorite parts of Chuck Walsh. Anyone who knew him like she did knew he was so much more than appearance—though the appearance was inarguably damn fine. But as she sorted through possible deeper answers, she realized that ten seconds was not nearly long enough to come to a suitable one. He was complex and dynamic; fantastically frustrating at times and wildly tender at others. Through it all, she realized in a profound moment, that one thing remained constant. He was always trying. Trying to succeed. Trying to understand her. Trying to fix whatever problem they were having. And damn it if that wasn’t what made her stick around when things got tough despite her reflex to run.
She scribbled on her board right as TJ called time.
“Big moment here!” he sang for dramatic effect. “Let’s see what she said!”
They both flipped their boards around, and a hard lump instantly swelled inside her throat.
That I don’t give up on anything , he’d written.
His tenacity , she’d written.
Olivia blinked away the moisture that blurred her eyes as she realized they were much more on the same page than she’d ever known. Chuck softly smiled at her with a flush in his cheeks.
TJ disrupted the moment with a low whistle. “Wow. Look at that! I mean, that’s really just a matter of semantics, right? You guys really know each other. It’s almost like you should still be a couple! I say we give it to them. Judges?”
The crew all nodded and murmured in agreement.
“Okay! Final question for all the glory here—and a bathroom along with a dishwasher! Olivia, your turn: What is Chuck’s favorite thing about you ?”
Her heart thudded, and she blinked away her still misty eyes. “If you say my boobs, I will murder you,” she said thickly to a round of laughter, including her own.
Chuck playfully smirked at her and picked up his board to write.
In truth, she’d made the joke because she already knew the answer to this one and didn’t need the full ten seconds. A dreamy memory floated back to her: them, naked, tangled up in her sheets and still tacky with drying sweat. She’d been flat on her back, arm over her head, with Chuck beside her tracing gentle patterns on her bare skin as she talked at the ceiling. It had been days after one of the more memorable and divisive political incidents in the past years, and she had a lot on her mind. Most of what she’d said had felt like rambling at the time, opinionated babble that would have gotten her harpooned on social media, but Chuck intently listened to every word. When she finally paused to breathe, he stroked his finger down her nose and then hooked it under her chin to turn her face toward his.
“You know what my favorite thing about you is?” he’d said into the soft glow of afternoon light.
“My boobs?” she’d joked even then.
He’d shaken his head with a grin and then tapped his long finger on her forehead. “The way your mind works.” And then he’d kissed her, deeply, and grabbed her thigh to hook her leg around his hip. They’d missed their dinner reservation that night and ended up eating cereal in front of a Parks and Rec rerun marathon instead.
She scribbled her answer on her board and looked up to see Chuck finished and waiting. A soft grin lifted his lips.
“All right, final chance here!” TJ sang. “Let’s see those answers!”
They turned their boards, and Olivia let out a squeal of joy.
The way my mind works.
Her mind.
Chuck jumped out of his chair with a cheer. He flung his board aside and reached out to hug her.
Olivia was halfway out of her chair, reaching back, when she froze. “Wait!” she blurted. “No touching.”
They both looked at TJ, who was watching them with bright, eager eyes.
“Can we hug?” Chuck asked.
“You can do whatever you want. It’s your money,” TJ said.
His message was clear, so they settled for a fist bump even though Olivia wanted to fling herself at him and dance in celebration.
She stepped out from between the chairs and did a small celebratory dance on her own. “We did it!” she squealed.
“Yeah, we did!” Chuck crowed. “Wild how much we know about each other, right? Also—” He leaned in and lowered his voice. “Well played with the boobs joke, but you didn’t need to do that. I remembered,” he said proudly.
Olivia flushed at the thought that he’d been thinking of that day in her bed too. The urge to fling her arms around him hit her again, and a realization hit her even harder.
“ Wait ,” she said, and glanced over at TJ and the crew breaking down the little set. “Oh, those sneaky bastards,” she hissed.
“What?” Chuck asked, and followed her gaze.
The crew wasn’t paying attention to them anymore; they were too busy cleaning up and chatting. Olivia pinched Chuck’s arm and dragged him away and back closer to the house.
“What are you doing?” he whispered.
She stopped under the eave outside the bedroom’s back door. “I think they played us, Chuck!”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I think that was on purpose—that game! They set it up to make us feel things. TJ even pointed out how well we know each other and said we should still be a couple. I think they wanted us to be in this position after.” She pointed at the ground between their feet.
Chuck narrowed his eyes at her, trying to keep up. “What position?”
She punched her hands into her hips and looked up at him. “Do you want to kiss me right now?”
“Yes,” he said plainly without a second’s hesitation. And then realization dawned over his face.
“ See? ” She flung her arms out in exasperation. “I think they are trying to manipulate us.”
“I get it now—wait. Does that mean you want to kiss me ?”
She threw up her arms again and widened her eyes into an obvious yes .
“Oh,” Chuck said with a smile. “Well, that’s good.”
“That is not good , Chuck! They are trying to sabotage us into losing more money! They know we made out last night, and now they just spoon-fed us a bunch of horny memories on purpose to get us to do it again!”
He was still looking at her with a dopey grin. “You really want to kiss me right now?”
She snapped her fingers in front of his face. “Chuck! Snap out of it! We’ve got a problem on our hands!”
He shook himself and scrubbed his face with a hand. “You’re right. Sorry. What should we do?”
“We should stay the hell away from each other for the rest of the day, that’s what.”
“Right. Yes. Good idea. But, um…how?”
Olivia chewed her lip and thought. “Well, at least we have another bathroom now.”
“ And a dishwasher.”
Olivia snapped her fingers again. “Yes! That’s a good place to start. I’ll go clean up the kitchen from breakfast, and you go move all your stuff into the new bathroom.”
He nodded. “Wait. Why do I get the smaller bathroom?”
“Do you want to do the dishes instead?”
“Not particularly.”
“That’s what I thought. Now, go , and don’t talk to me for the rest of the day.”
His face pinched in angst. “That’s going to be a very long day.” He glanced over at the crew and then leaned toward her like he might try to steal a kiss while they weren’t looking.
She held up her hand between their faces. “Ten thousand dollars, Chuck.”
He grumbled in frustration and stomped off.
Olivia chewed away her smile, still buoyant from their trip down memory lane, and reminded herself that she needed to behave herself too.