Win, Lose...Or Wed!

“An entire page with links to the Los Angeles Art Center.” She hit the return key. “Those three are paintings in the museum.”

Warm satisfaction settled over Jace. Millie had come through again. He gave her a squeeze.

“Do you need directions?” Chelsea asked.

He kind of liked pretending to be a couple, but she kept pulling away from him. “We’d love directions.”

“If you don’t mind,” Millie added.

“Mind a handsome man asking for directions?” Chelsea pulled a sheet of paper and pen from her laptop case. “How did you get so lucky, Millie?”

She took a breath. “I have no idea.”

Was he the only one who heard the irony in her tone?

Chelsea wrote the directions. “Here you go.”

Millie clutched the paper as if it were the Holy Grail. He didn’t blame her. The directions could save them from being sent home. “Thank you so much for all your help.”

“Yes, thank you, Chelsea,” Jace said. “For everything.”

The woman pulled out another piece of paper. “Could I have your autographs?”

Jace reluctantly let go of Millie, jotted a quick note and put his signature beneath it. “That’s the least we can do, isn’t that right?”

“Sure.” Millie signed her name. “Here you go.”

“Thanks.” Chelsea’s high-voltage smile could power a city for the next three days. “So when’s the big date?”

He exchanged a confused glance with Millie. “You mean for the show’s premiere?”

“No,” Chelsea said. “I mean for your wedding.”

CHAPTER THREE

WHAT was she going to do?

Millie leaned her head back against seat 12B, wedged between Jace in the aisle seat and an elderly woman by the window. Two rows ahead, Zack leaned over his seat, panning the cabin with his camera. She closed her eyes to shut him out.

Run, don’t walk, she’d told Jace this morning. And whatever we do, never look back.

Too bad her game plan had exploded in her face. Escaping the past, not looking back, wasn’t possible. Not when being with Jace meant others would recognize them and bring up The Groom. Bitterness coated her mouth. If only she hadn’t asked Chelsea for help…

But Millie had, breaking the rules she’d set and giving the show’s producers a sound bite they could use for an entire season.

I mean for your wedding.

Millie cringed. No matter how hard she raced, she couldn’t run away from her past with Jace or her responsibility for what had happened.

Still no matter how awkward she felt she wasn’t the same Mousy Millie who had ducked attention in high school. Nor was she the shy Millie, who kept her mouth shut during The Groom. She needed to talk to Jace. To apologize. She opened her eyes.

But not with the camera crew two rows ahead watching them.

Impatiently she waited for the fasten seat belt sign to illuminate on the overhead panel. Once the camera crew was strapped in, they couldn’t film until the aircraft took off and reached cruising altitude.

The light flashed on, but Zack continued facing backward and filming. Ryan kept popping up.

Darn.

The plane pushed back from the gate. The flight attendant walked down the aisle pointing out the location of the oxygen masks to each row. When she saw the camera, she stopped and appeared to argue. Grumbling, Zack turned around and bobbed out of sight.

Thank goodness. Millie gripped the safety information card on her lap and leaned toward Jace.

“That was awkward back there,” she whispered into Jace’s ear, even though the safety talk going on and the whine of the engines while the plane taxied would make hearing her difficult. But Millie wasn’t taking any chances. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

She moistened her lips. “For approaching Chelsea.”

“Are you kidding?” He sounded surprised. “She was great. You did great.”

Millie wanted to believe him. “But we…I wasn’t supposed to bring up the past.”

“You managed to solve the clue, Freckles,” Jace said, his voice warm and encouraging. “That’s what matters.”

“Yes, but…” Didn’t he realize Chelsea’s question put them in an impossible position? Millie crumpled the edge of the safety card. The engines roared, and the plane sped down the runway. “Now it sounds like we’re…getting married.”

As the plane lifted off the ground, he shrugged. “I never said there was a wedding date.”