"Okay, Drew. Just change into this shirt from your date with Tori and we'll call it a day." Oliver handed Drew a blue-and-red plaid button-up from the stack of clothes on a table.

Drew pulled off the gray V-neck he'd worn on another date for the show and put it on. He rolled his shoulders back, hoping to relieve some of the constant tension he had there. He'd been doing pickups all afternoon and was so tired of saying the same lines over and over again until Oliver was content with them. Why had he thought going on this show was a good idea? Sure, he'd finally taken the time to travel all over the world. But he felt like such a failure. Why hadn't he been able to just propose to Gwen? Why, after all these years, was he still holding back and punishing himself?

He knew he deserved to find love. He wasn't a bad person. But it seemed that the ability to form a deep, personal connection with anybody had died right along with Aiden. For some reason, he just didn't know how to let himself open up anymore. That fault had ruined a whole season of Finding Your Soulmate and also hurt Gwen. And he hated hurting her. She deserved to have a guy who could tell her that he was in love with her.

He just wasn't that guy, yet.

The door to the studio's set opened and Dion stepped inside with Kate following close behind him. Drew's heart thumped just looking at her. She was still gorgeous. Somehow more beautiful than she'd been all those years ago when he'd fallen so hard for his best friend's little sister.

He shook those thoughts away. He shouldn't be thinking about her like that. She was a married woman now. And he was dating Gwen. He was supposed to be getting engaged to Gwen.

"I've brought Kate up to speed on everything," Dion said. Which meant she knew about his failure to propose. "And Alexis suggested she help you prepare for your upcoming interviews."

Drew finished buttoning his shirt and cleared his throat. "O-okay."

Why had he given Kate’s name to Alexis? Having her see him fumble through a scripted conversation was about the last thing he wanted to do. It was humiliating. He was supposed to be The Billionaire Bachelor. Not this wannabe hack who failed at relationships and saying a few lines.

Dion left, and Kate took a chair against the wall.

"Oliver says I have one more pickup to do, and then I'll find my phone so we can schedule a time to get together. I think I might be in meetings all tomorrow morning," Drew said.

"What's a pickup?" Kate pulled her phone from her purse.

"You know those private 'in the moment' interviews you see with the cast during each episode? Pickups are kind of like those, except filmed after production."

"Like fake interviews?" Kate gasped like she had no idea reality TV shows could do something like that.

Drew smiled at her innocence. "Not everything in reality TV is real."

"I know." She scrunched up her nose in the cute way he remembered. "But I like to pretend that it is. So what do you have to say in these, anyway?"

Drew shrugged. "Basically whatever Oliver tells me to. Just because we filmed a ton of stuff doesn't mean they have everything they need for a good storyline for all the episodes to follow. And with the surprise ending…" Drew shook his head as the guilt resurfaced again. "Well, they need more than usual from me to make it work."

"What Drew's trying to say is—" Oliver interrupted, stepping out from behind the screen where he'd been re-watching the video feed from. "—we're trying to get him to come off as less sure of the women, as to whether they were really there for him and not just his money."

Drew rolled his eyes. "They're trying to help me save face and make it seem like I have a better reason for not proposing in the end."

"Oh, that makes sense." She looked thoughtful as she nodded. And it was strange. She didn't seem to be passing any judgment on him. He had expected her to make some sort of joke about how he had twenty-five women and still didn't manage to fall in love. But she didn't.

Drew inspected the image Oliver had pulled up from his date with Tori to make sure he'd only left the top button undone for that date. Everything checked out, and he went to finish off the day with the line: Tori is great. We had instant chemistry and I'm excited to see where this journey takes us. After about five attempts, Oliver signed him off and Drew changed back into the suit he'd worn to the studio.

Kate was still waiting patiently when he came out from the changing area. He took the seat beside her and brought his phone out from the pocket of his suit coat.

"Do you have a set schedule? Like, does Nolan expect you to be home at a certain time?" he asked, curious what kind of a relationship they had. Was she the type of wife who had dinner on the table by six o'clock every day? Was Nolan the one to cook? Or did they take turns? He had no idea. Back when they'd been close, she hadn't seemed the type to spend hours in the kitchen. But she also hadn't seemed the type not to take on her husband's last name. So he probably didn't know her well at all. Not anymore anyway.

"No. I can meet whenever you need. My schedule is wide open." She looked down, and he couldn't keep his gaze from going right to the big rock on her left hand. "Nolan is out of town a lot." She shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. But there was something there that made Drew question it. Was something off in their marriage?

He pursed his lips. That was none of his business. So instead of asking her, he scrolled through the calendar app on his phone. Just like he thought, his entire morning and half of the afternoon were booked solid. "I can meet at three. Will that work?"

Kate glanced at her own phone. "Yes. Would you like to meet here at the studio?"

Drew grimaced. "I've been here all week. Would you mind meeting at my house?"

"Your house?"

"Yeah…unless that's weird for you. I mean, my personal assistant and housekeeper should be around, so it's not like we'll be all alone." Drew kicked himself internally. Of course that would be weird. She was a married woman. Married women didn't go over to other men's houses unless their husbands were with them. At least, the type of married woman he assumed Kate was wouldn't do something like that.

She did seem to relax at his mention of Byron, his assistant, being there though. So maybe he hadn't freaked her out too much.

Kate cleared her throat and tapped something into her phone. "Your house will be fine. Dion said to meet wherever you needed."

"Great. I'll just text you my address and the security code to get in." He tapped on a few keys. "I'll see you tomorrow, Kate."

He left before she could ask him what everyone at Finding Your Soulmate had been asking: why he'd gone on a dating show when he didn't want to get engaged.