Bidding On The Bachelor. Kerri Carpenter

bit,” he admitted, and took a breath. “Why did you break up with me?”

      “I can’t tell you.”

      Amused by her, or maybe by the whole situation, he grinned. “Oh yeah? Why not?”

      “Because there are three of you and um, uh, I’m dizzy.”

      Oh crap. He directed her to a tree stump on the road that would lead back to town. “Do you need water?” he asked. “I can go back to the bar and grab a bottle.”

      She was taking long, deep breaths, focusing on the ground. She held a hand out. “No, just give me a minute.”

      He gave her ten. Once she appeared to get herself under control, she met his eyes. If he had any doubt about her being drunk, it was cleared up when she tried to stand and wavered. Decision made, Jasper put her arm around his shoulders and anchored her with an arm around her waist. Then they started walking slowly back to town.

      “Where are we going?” she asked.

      “To my place. It’s closer,” he said before she could argue.

      “In Chicago, we can call cabs and Uber.”

      “Yeah, well, you’re not in Chicago anymore.”

      “Nope.” She looked up at him. “I’m here in Bayside, with you.” Then she tapped a finger to the tip of his nose. “Boop.”

      Despite everything else, he laughed. “Okay, Boopy, let’s keep walking. Maybe we can get to my condo by sunrise.”

      In the end it didn’t take that long. Although it felt pretty onerous when Carissa launched into a rendition of her favorite Lady Gaga song, followed by some old-school Britney Spears. Carissa had many talents, but singing had never been one of them. He thought he heard some dogs wailing off in the distance and wondered if he would ever regain the hearing from the ear she sang/screamed in. In any case, he’d never been so happy to reach the center of town. Although if he was being honest, it was pretty nice to hear the sound of her voice again. Even her off-key voice.

      Jasper simply pointed at the building that housed his condo across the street. “I’m going to take care of you for the night. I live there.”

      Carissa looked up. “I don’t. Where’s my house? Oh yeah, I lost it in the divorce.”

      He wasn’t sure what she was babbling about but it didn’t matter. They were in the homestretch. Just needed to cross the street.

      And that’s when Carissa let out a long, loud yawn and slumped against him. She was out.

      “You are lucky you’re not going to remember this because it would really piss you off.” With that, he repositioned her body, took a deep breath and flung her over his shoulder, caveman-style.

      He put all of his effort into carrying her, concentrating so hard that he almost missed when she murmured, “I really missed you.”

      Almost.