Games of Love: Enemies-to-Lovers Romance

I stood up slowly and reluctantly from Connor Lennox’s warm bed, wrapped up in one of Connor’s button-up flannels with a plaid blanket wrapped around my shoulders. The smell of crispy bacon wafted into the dim room as I smoothed my hair in front of the mirror in Connor’s bathroom and brushed my teeth quickly, slipping on my fuzzy slippers. I followed the smell and found Connor bent over the stove, stirring bright yellow eggs in a low skillet. I was about to hurry over the kitchen tiles to him when I saw that Alex was still huddled in the apartment from the night before, hunched over the counter with a cup of coffee. He looked like he wanted to be asleep or at least anywhere else but here. I almost tripped over my own feet and I tugged Connor’s flannel lower over my legs, feeling my cheeks burn scarlet. As I turned to run back into the room to find some pants, Alex waved a hand from the counter.

“I’m over it, Sadie. We’re good. It’s okay, you can come on out if you want.”

I nodded at him, walking slowly for a moment. Connor looked up at that with a spatula in his hand, his eyebrows raised in question before he made eye contact and grinned at me. He waved the spatula in greeting, and it seemed that whatever amount of animosity that had been present between the two men was entirely gone now. It was a relief to imagine that Alex had lost all interest in me so quickly. It really was better that way. It almost certainly proved my theory that Alex had only been interested in me on a shallow level. It seemed that he was the kind of man who let things go very quickly once he realized that he had no chance. I was fine with that, and maybe now we could just be colleagues or even friends if everything worked out. I would like to have more friends in the city and with every passing day, I realized that I really didn’t know many people in New York City.

“You stayed the entire night? Like you never left?” I asked Alex, hurrying over so that Connor’s body shielded me partially from his view. Even though Alex had said it was fine, I was still iffy about the thought of accidentally flashing him in my haste. In my mind, I still worried the tiniest bit that Alex might still have some kind of feelings for me. I pushed that thought aside in favor of giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Alex nodded, sipping at his steaming coffee as I poured my own in a little mug, cupping my hands around the heated ceramic and letting the warmth comfort me as I held it.

“Yeah, I was too tired to go home, and Connor let me sleep on the couch after you went to bed. I needed some good shots of you guys this morning anyway, it’ll make the execs happy.”

“Why?” I asked him, feeling a bolt of hot fear slice through me. “What’s going to happen if you don’t?”

Alex raised his eyebrows, looking surprised. “Uh, we won’t have enough footage to make the segments, I guess. It wasn’t a big deal, but since you guys were MIA over the holiday and then the problem at the train station—how are you, anyway? You okay, Sadie?”

“I’m uh, yeah, I think I’m okay now,” I answered him honestly, and I meant it too. After the momentary trauma of the attack at that train station and the breakdown after that with Connor, that encounter with the mugger seemed like a distant nightmare that was fading fast in my mind.

“That’s good, yeah. I’m glad you’re okay, I was worried about you guys. I think the studio might give the two of you some slack for it when it comes to the holidays. They called it traumatic circumstances if I’m remembering it right. The producers told me that as long as I got footage of this morning and of the days after, it wouldn’t matter so very much about the holidays.” Alex said.

I let out a breath of relief and leaned against Connor’s side as he cooked. The sound of popping bacon and sizzling eggs was comforting. I heard Alex get his camera and I tried to make my stance look more casual. I realized that I was wearing Connor’s shirt and I hoped that the blanket wrapped around my shoulders would cover the nature of my state of dress well enough. The irony that we were now trying to hide our relationship while also trying to convince everyone else that we were in one, was not lost on me. I thought Alex meant that something horrible might happen to all of us, like getting thrown out of the show altogether for not having enough meaningful moments. Connor reached back with his other hand, wrapping his arm around my waist, and squeezing gently to reassure me, and then moving it away to grab plates. I knew I was worrying too much but I couldn’t help it. After everything, my mind was on high alert and I didn’t want to have any surprises. So many things could go wrong with Games of Love and it would be ridiculous to assume that everything would go the way we had planned. Obviously, the two of us hadn’t gone according to plan. I had seen firsthand how very fickle chances were and how meaningless a promise made to your inner self was. I had promised myself that I wouldn’t have feelings for Connor and then look what happened.