Drew had Carmella order the food and set a nice table for them up in the theater room at his house. Kate's first request from a producer was a big deal and deserved a world-class meal. If he didn't have to worry about paparazzi turning a dinner alone with an unfamiliar woman into some sort of tabloid story, he'd have taken her to the restaurant himself. But he didn't want to see her name dragged through the mud next to his, so hopefully she'd understand the sentiment behind the gesture.

"It smells so good in here." Kate set her computer down on the couch before walking to the table to peek at what they'd ordered. "I grabbed pineapple hamburgers for Alexis this afternoon, and the whole time she was eating, I was just drooling on the inside."

Drew stepped beside her and nudged her with his elbow. "Well, at least you kept it on the inside."

"Har-har." Her eyes were bright, and he wondered not for the first time how Nolan could cheat on her.

They made up their plates and took them to the reclining sofa just as the show came on the big screen.

"Last week on Finding Your Soulmate, Drew took three ladies on one-on-one dates, two survived another week, but Nina was sent home in tears. Ten women remain. Who will stay, who will go…find out tonight…" the host, Rodrigo Martinez's voice sounded through the speakers.

"So, did you send the email yet?" Drew asked as Rodrigo continued telling the viewers about the exciting things happening in tonight’s episode.

Kate ducked her head down. "Not yet. I…"

"Hand me your computer."

"What?" Anxiety sprouted on her face. He loved how expressive Kate had always been. She accused him of being a terrible actor, but he could always read exactly what she was thinking from the look on her face.

Drew set his plate on the side table and held a hand out, gesturing for her laptop. "Come on. We're doing this tonight."

When she didn't hand it to him, he scooted to the cushion right beside her and grabbed the computer. He opened the laptop to find himself immediately thwarted by the password prompt.

"What's your password?" he looked at her expectantly.

"Like I'm gonna tell you." She bit into her burger and took her time chewing it. "This is sooo good."

"Stop trying to distract me." He tried to give her his best stern face. "Let's send this off before I go on my first date in London."

"I'm still not sure it's ready. What if Alexis hates it?"

"You've already been through it about fifty times, right?"

She nodded; her eyes always got big when she was nervous.

"Just send it. She's going to love it."

Kate didn't say anything, but she reached for the laptop and typed in her password. The Internet browser was already opened up to the email that she'd drafted with the file attached.

She was ready for this next step. She just needed him to give her a nudge.

"You press the button." She shoved the laptop back on his lap.

Drew inspected the email to make sure it had everything it needed, centered the cursor on the send button, and then grabbed Kate's hand, feeling a spark of electricity at the touch. He ignored the feeling and pushed her finger on the trackpad to send the email off.

"There you go." He clapped the laptop shut and set it on the floor, content that he'd done his job. That's exactly what Aiden would have done if he was there.

When he glanced back at Kate, she looked like she was about to hyperventilate. He laughed and rubbed her knee.

"Breathe, Kate. You're going to be fine."

"I can't believe you made me do that," she gasped, setting her palm to her chest.

Drew quirked his lips into a half grin. "You were going to do it, anyway. Might as well not put off the inevitable." Content that she wasn't going into shock, he grabbed his plate and settled in to watch himself go on a date with a girl whose heart he'd seemingly broken. Talk about a fun night.

And now with everything that happened with Gwen, he would have the hardest time watching all the girls on the show and not question whether any of them were even interested in him and not just his money. Turns out finding love on TV was even harder than finding it in real life. Part of him wished he could go back in the past, before all the money, before all the fame, and take the time to find a girl who really loved him for who he was as a person. A person he could give his whole self to and not worry about her having ulterior motives.

But he knew who he would choose if he could go back in time. He would have picked Kate. And that was even worse, because there was no way she could possibly ever want him again after everything they'd been through, could she?

"Oh, by the way," Kate said, breaking him away from his thoughts. "Alexis told me about your plans for this weekend."

"She did?" But Alexis made him promise not to tell anyone. Maybe she was thinking it was a regular weekend getaway…not their covert operation in revenge. "Yeah, another happy couple’s weekend."

A slow smile spread on Kate's face. "No, she told me the truth. About how you're just pretending to get together to catch Gwen and Dion in the act."

Which meant she knew all about his failure to get someone to fall in love with him and not his money. How pathetic he must look to her now.

"Alexis really told you?"

Kate nodded, her expression turning somber. "I'm sorry about what they did to you. I seriously wanted to punch Dion in the face when I saw him today."

"I wouldn't want you to hurt your fist on my account," he said, hoping to lighten the mood. They didn't need to talk about his failed love life.

She smiled, taking the bait. "I could take him. I've been working out."

She flexed her skinny little arms, and if he looked really close he could see a tiny bump where her bicep was. He gave her arm a squeeze. "Wow. That's pretty intimidating."

Her mouth hung open and she smacked him playfully. "Sorry, not all of us have personal trainers who come to world-class gyms set up in their basements."

Drew shook his head and laughed. "I still have to do the work for these." And before he could think better of it, he was rolling his sleeves back and showing off what hard work really looked like.

He instantly regretted it once he met her gaze. Yes, he was happy with the results Kieren had helped him produce, but he hated that he'd just turned into the guy who flexed to try and get a girl’s attention.

But she didn't seem to notice his embarrassment, because she was hiding a huge smile behind her hand. Was it possible that she liked that he worked out now?

"If we were in a public place, I'd totally take a picture of me squeezing your bicep right now, and then post it online. Just imagine how all of social media would explode over that." She laughed.

He pushed his sleeves back down. "Why only if we were in public?" Not that he wanted her to squeeze his arms…not too badly, anyway.

"Oh, probably because the gossip magazines would have a heyday over why I was spending time alone with you in your private theater, touching your arms."

"And that would be bad because of the show," he said, before she could say something about her not wanting people to think they were anything more than friends. Was it too much to hope that she'd ever see him like that again?

"Alexis would fire me. And I really need this job."

Right. He should have realized they were only spending so much time together because it was her job. Once she got that movie deal she was hoping for, she'd leave him behind in her glittery dust. That's how relationships worked for him now. He was a means to an end. People only hung out with him if it was their job or if they were hoping to get something from him. He didn't know why he'd thought he and Kate might be rekindling something from the past. How delusional was he now? First he thought he could find lasting love on a reality show, and now he was pining for Kate all over again.

They watched the show for a few minutes. He and Gwen were on the screen, sitting in a carriage driving down the middle of London. They were cuddled together, and Gwen was laughing at something he had said. His heart squeezed in his chest just looking at his huge smile after he'd kissed her hair. He'd been so happy that day. He'd thought he might have actually been on the right course to finding his future wife.

"It's sad. Even knowing what I know now, and watching this, I still can’t tell that Gwen was lying to me back then. How is that possible?"

"You just see the best in people." Kate gave him a soft, understanding look. "You aren't the type of guy to go around looking for everyone's faults. But you didn't propose to her for a reason. Maybe your subconscious knew something was wrong deep down."

He nodded, and for the first time in that whole experience, he was proud instead of ashamed of himself for not being able to get down on one knee.

He bit his lip. "So, knowing what you know now, do you think it's too evil to go through with Alexis' plan? Should I tell her to call it off and just deal with the fallout the media’s sure to bring because I didn’t end up with anyone?"

She shrugged. "At first I wasn't sure, but with everything they did they totally deserve it. I mean, if I could have secretly leaked dirt about Nolan and everything he did to me, I would have. Any girl who tries to date him should know what he's really like. Plus, if I'd exposed him, I wouldn't have felt like I had to hide my divorce from everyone. People would have understood how necessary it was."

Drew hadn't realized until that moment how similar their situations were. Sure, his was going to happen in front of millions of viewers, but at least he hadn't been married. Kate had gone through with everything, expecting a happily ever after, and all she was left with was an apartment she felt too lonely to stay at.

"Why didn't you tell everyone the truth then? Why let him save face?" He wanted to ask her exactly what had happened, but for some reason, this didn't seem like the right moment.

She sighed and leaned back in her seat. "I'd like to pretend that it was because I'm a bigger person than him, and that I didn't need to sink to his level." She looked up at him, her eyes vulnerable and open. "But, honestly, I didn't tell anyone because I was too ashamed. I should have seen the signs. And I shouldn't have been so in a hurry to marry someone, when I knew in the back of my mind that I deserved someone better."

She looked down at her hands, as if she'd just admitted something very sacred. He couldn't guess at what she meant. But he really wanted to.

He reached over and touched her chin, lifting it so their eyes met. She needed to see that he meant what he said next. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that. You deserve the world." He caressed her cheek with his thumb, feeling sparks ignite throughout his whole body.

He wanted to give her the world.

Her eyes pierced through him with questions that he didn't know if he wanted to answer. He gazed at her lips.

But he didn't know if he dared go down that road. Their track record wasn't exactly the best. Bad things happened the last time he expressed how he felt about her. Plus, wasn't she only spending so much time with him because it was her job?

So instead of pulling her into his arms and holding her close to him forever, he let his hand drop.

She cleared her throat when the commercial break ended, her eyes turning to the screen as the spell they'd fallen under broke. "So who do you send home this week?"

Drew forced a smile and tried not to get too mad at himself for not taking advantage of that moment.

"Just watch. You'll find out soon enough."