by Teri Fowler
Seth laughed. "Touché, Miss Franklin. I guess I deserve that, but you can't blame a guy for getting confused."
"I know, and I'm sorry."
"You gonna tell me what just happened?"
"That was work on the phone. Turns out I was wrong. You are exactly the kind of contestant the producers want."
Maya risked a glance in his direction and let out the breath she'd been holding when she found him at least half-dressed. The sight of him in just his jeans and his hat was still distracting enough, and she turned to the mirror to fix her hair, fighting not to stare at the wide expanse of toned, bronzed chest, dusted with golden hair.
"They want me? Oh, man. I thought you said I wouldn't make the cut?"
"If it was up to me, you wouldn't."
"Thanks."
Maya winced as she realized what she'd said, and caught his gaze in the mirror. "I explained my reasons earlier. The studio are going for a fun, sexy show, and they liked your look. I've got to warn you though, they are probably going to want to play down your charitable side."
"I guess I kinda expected that, and I figure I can mention it if I win. Besides, we need money more than publicity." He sat down on the bed, boots in hand. "God, Maya. Do you know what I can do with five million bucks? My father could pay off the bank and hire someone to help me run the ranch so he can stop working like a dog every day of his damn life. And I could afford to give the orphanage some of the financial backing it desperately needs."
Maya shook her head. "Seth, you haven't won yet. Don't count your chickens."
Seth was unfazed by her warning. "I'm a rancher and a damn good fire fighter. I'm as fit and strong as anyone else in that competition, I'm sure of it."
"There's more to it than that. The public vote for the contestants who bring the most fun, drama, or sexual chemistry to the show each week. There's more than a small element of soap opera to the whole thing. Those who don't learn that early on, or aren't prepared to sell their souls in order to win, don't last very long."
Seth weighed her words, then shrugged. "I figure I've still got a good chance. None of the other guys will have much experience of this kind of thing either."
"It's not just guys in the show. There are female contestants, too, very sexy ones. Part of my job will be to encourage any signs of romance between the people taking part."
"And you're trying to tell me I won't win unless I'm prepared to get involved with one of the contestants?"
Maya fixed him with a stare. "Would that bother you?"
Seth cocked an eyebrow. "Why, does it bother you?"
"Why should it?"
"Damned if I know. You went all cold on me once you found out I'd be in the show, and I still don't get why that meant we couldn't take things any further."
"Because now, I'm your boss, and it wouldn't be very ethical for me to sleep with you. Trust me, Seth. The last thing either of us need are rumors that something is going on between us and I influenced the voting in any way."
Seth crossed the room and grabbed Maya's hands, stopping her from doing up the last button on her blouse as he brought her fingers to his mouth and grazed his lips over her knuckles. "I haven't agreed to do the show. You're not my boss yet."
Maya closed her eyes, trying in vain to stem the surge of heat that raced through her as she slipped out of his grasp. "If you want to be on the show, then you'd better start thinking of me as your boss."
The words were meant to warn him away, but they seemed to bounce right off him. Seth grasped her waist in his massive hands and yanked her closer. "Hey, I'm easy. You can be in charge if you want."
Maya laughed, despite herself, and pushed him away. "I'm serious."
"Me, too." He took a step towards her, intent evident on his handsome face.
She backed away, but he kept on coming, until her back met the wall next to the door and she had nowhere else to go. Just as he got close enough for her to catch the faint sent of his aftershave and feel his hot breath on her face as he leaned in as if to kiss her, Maya blocked him with a hand against his chest. "Look, I don't know how else to say this. I'm not going to sleep with you."
"I wasn't planning on doing much sleeping."
"You know what I mean."
She snatched her hand back, aware that she'd left it there much longer than she needed to. His skin felt warm and taut, and the urge to scratch her nails through the coarse hair tickling her palm had been almost irresistible. Having to keep pushing him away while he tempted her with something she so desperately wanted was starting to piss her off. She shoved him out of the way and grabbed her purse from the chair.
"I'm leaving. It's been a long day, and I'm tired. I'm sorry about the way things panned out Seth, but it's for the best." She paused with her hand on the door knob and watched him pull his T-shirt back on. Maya swallowed a groan of disappointment as his washboard abs disappeared from view. "Congratulations on being selected. I look forward to working with you."
Seth appeared to ignore her as he pulled his boots back on and searched around for his room key, grabbing it off the bedside table before joining her at the door.
"Where are you going?"
"Seeing you into a cab."
Maya smiled to hide her irritation. "I am quite capable of getting my own cab, thank you."
Seth ushered her out of the door with a respectful hand at her waist, taking no notice of her protest. "You must be used to dating those LA types. Back home, we make sure our women get home safe."
"I'm not your woman."
"You would have been if that damned phone hadn't interrupted us."
Maya shrugged his hand off. "Having sex with you once wouldn't have made me your woman. You don't date much, do you?"
Seth laughed off the insult. "I date plenty, Maya. But you and I both know, even if you aren't ready to admit it to yourself yet, that one night would not have been enough."
She bit back a few retorts that would have left his ego in tatters as they walked through the dingy lobby and out onto a scruffy forecourt. They had to work together after tonight, possibly for weeks, and making things even more difficult between them would be crazy. The knowledge that he was probably right did nothing to improve her mood.
"It was only ever gonna be one night. You live in Texas, remember?"
"Ah, but the studio gave me an open ended ticket. I could have taken a few days for myself before heading home. It's not like there would have been much reason to rush back. There would have been nothing waiting for me there but some difficult decisions and a tough conversation with my father."
Maya watched another cab go by and took a step closer to the street, hoping Seth would catch the hint and stop talking so she could leave. Being around him made her feel weak. He was too decent, too handsome ... too fucking tempting. She had to get away from him before he unleashed that devastating charm on her again.
Seth gave her a grin that made her feel like he'd read her mind, then put his fingers to his lips and let out a whistle so loud and shrill, every car on the street slowed for a second. A taxi pulled up seconds later, and he yanked the door open for her and took off his hat in a mock bow as he waited for her to get in.
Maya laughed and quickly pulled the door shut before she could act on the sudden urge to drag him in to the backseat with her.
She gave the middle aged Latina in the driver's seat her address and asked her not to move away yet. Maya opened the window and called to Seth as he turned back towards the foyer of the hotel.
"I'm sorry to be such a drag about this, but I need to be sure you'll keep what happened tonight to yourself." Seth strolled back towards her, the smile dying on his face. For one awful second, Maya feared she'd offended him. "It's not that I don't trust you, Seth, but you don't know how things work in Hollywood. People are liable to make something out of nothing."
Seth dropped down to rest on his haunches and propped his arms on the edge of the car window. "Lady, I might not know how things work around here, but I'm
not the kind to kiss and tell. Besides, 'nothing' is not how I'd describe what just happened back there."
He smiled and walked away, leaving Maya staring after him.
"Ay, papi," the driver said, almost under her breath. Maya turned to see her fanning her face as she watched Seth walk away. "Muy caliente."
Maya laughed, snapping the driver out of her reverie. "You have no idea..."
Chapter Five
Seth studied Maya and wondered how long she'd actually be able to sit in the same room as him without making eye contact.
He hadn't seen her in over two months and had hoped for more than the weak smile she'd thrown him yesterday when he glimpsed her for a moment as the contestants and crew checked in at the hotel in Barbados. Seth had spent the evening in the bar getting to know the rest of the team, but Maya hadn't shown. A walk around the grounds gave no clues as to where she was staying, but he guessed it was in one of the bungalows on a bluff overlooking the sea, rather than in the main building where he was.
She looked great dressed in a soft white sleeveless linen shirt and beige Capri pants, her hair in a high ponytail that emphasized her long, slender neck and made her look years younger. Seth squirmed in his seat, cursing at the choice of cut-off jeans and muscle T-shirt he'd thrown on that morning. Northern Texas had been cold when Seth had flown out, and he couldn't resist the urge to hit the beach at first light and feel the sun on his skin again. Time had gotten away from him, and he'd had to run back from the cove he'd been exploring so he wouldn't be late for the meeting.
Seth knew she'd have to be at this production meeting and had no intention of letting her ignore him again. He waited by the door as everyone filed out, almost smiling at the way she moved piles of paper from one place to the next, then put them back again, in an effort to avoid him.
Finally, they were the only people left in the hotel's meeting room. Seth clicked the door closed and strolled along the entire length of a table large enough to seat thirty people before he got to Maya at the top. She took a deep breath, as if trying to prepare for their encounter, and had her game face firmly fixed in place by the time she raised her head to look at him.
"Hello, Seth. Nice to see you again."
"Is it?"
Her smile wavered at the edges, and he knew the question had unsettled her. But the last two months had been hard. She'd gotten under his skin a way no woman ever had, and he'd been counting down the days until he could see her again.
"Of course it's nice to see you. You look well. How's things at the ranch?"
"Pretty much the same."
"Are you happy with your room?"
"It's better than the last one you guys gave me."
Maya blushed, and Seth guessed she was probably remembering what had almost happened in the hotel in LA. "Good."
Seth forgot about his plan to give her time and space to think, frustrated by the wall of indifference she'd thrown up to keep him at bay. "So this is how it's gonna be between us now, right?"
To her credit, she didn't flinch as the conversation turned personal. "It's the way it has to be. I told you before, it would be bad for both of us if anyone thought you were getting an unfair advantage."
"And any feelings I might have for you don't matter, is that it?"
She stared up at him with wide, unguarded eyes, and Seth knew he'd managed to break through her defenses for the first time since the moment that damned phone had interrupted them two months earlier. "You have feelings for me?"
"Yeah, I do. I don't know if there's a future for us, Maya, but I do know that I want to find out. Don't you?"
For a fleeting second, hope flared in his chest. In the brief moment before she managed to shut him out again, he saw what was in her heart reflected in her eyes. Maya still wanted him.
Any hopes that she'd confess what she was thinking didn't last long. "Even if I did want to find out, and I'm not confessing to anything, my hands would be tied."
"Because your job matters more than anything and anyone else, right?"
"No more than your ranch does to you."
"That's not fair. I've got more than just myself to think of."
Maya raised her hands as if to placate him. "Hey, I'm not judging you, but don't judge me either. We all do what we have to do."
Seth took a step closer and let his chest press against her outstretched palms. Maya's arms went rigid, but she didn't back away. "And you don't think I'm capable of separating business from pleasure, is that it?" He let a little of his weight rest against her hands, testing her resolve to keep him at arm's length, physically and emotionally. "Or is it that you don't trust yourself?"
Maya shoved him away with a none-too-gentle push and turned her back on him to gather her notes. She bundled them against her chest and crossed her arms to form a barrier between them before she looked up at him again. "If you stand any chance of winning this competition, Seth, then you need to focus some of that incredible ego on Alice."
The contestants had been put into male/female pairs, and the producers had chosen a policewoman from New York as his partner. Gorgeous as she was, she didn't interest Seth. Tall, cool blondes might do it for some, but not him. At least, not anymore.
"What has Alice got to do with this?"
"You really need to start paying attention. As my boss just explained, the viewers aren't tuning in just to watch you guys compete against each other. They're tuning in to watch a real life soap opera. We throw a bunch of good looking people together and hope a few of them become mortal enemies and some of the others fall for each other. That's what the viewers want to see, and that's who the viewers will vote for, week after week, because they need to know what happens next."
"So, I'm expected to seduce someone in order to win?"
"It's not expected, but if you want to get to the final, you'd be a fool not to."
Seth stared at Maya, hoping for some sign she was kidding or maybe just testing his resolve, but she met his gaze dead on without flinching, and he knew she was serious. "Does everyone else know this, or am I the only jerk who came here thinking my talents and abilities were the reason I was chosen?"
"Nobody else knows. If we told the other contestants they'd be trying too hard, and the audience would know something was up. The only reason I told you is because I wanted you to understand what it is gonna take to win." Maya smiled and placed her hand on his forearm in a reassuring gesture. "Nobody is telling you to fall in love with her, Seth, or spend the rest of your life with her. Just flirt a little. Make the audience think something could happen."
"And what if I don't like this Alice woman? What if she hates me, for that matter?"
"Well, I sure hope that doesn't happen because I fought hard for you and Alice to be put together. You're the best looking couple in the competition, hands down."
It was Seth's turn to back away, and he jerked out of her grasp. "You wanted me and Alice paired up?"
"I was trying to help you. I could lose my job for even admitting that."
"This isn't about me. It's about you, you and this damned show. Who the hell are you to play with people's lives like this?"
Maya recoiled at the sudden anger in his voice but regained her composure instantly. She took a breath, and he watched her shutting down her emotions before she answered him. "I didn't invent the game. I'm just telling you the rules."
"Did you really tell me all this just to help me, Maya? Or are you trying make sure I understand that your only interest in me is what I can do for your show?"
"I've never said that."
"You didn't have to."
Seth walked away from her and slammed out of the room, more mad at himself than he was at her. He'd been so sure that night in LA had meant as much to her as it had to him. His anger carried him down the stairs and out through the lobby, and he was on his way to the pool bar when a broad, New York accent stopped him dead in his tracks.
"Whoa! Hold up there, Texas."
Seth turned to find Alic
e, the woman Maya was trying to throw him at, sitting on a sun lounger. She smiled as she jerked her sunglasses off her nose and thrust them through the mass of golden blonde hair piled on top of her head in a loose, sexy mess.
He had to admit, she was a beautiful woman. If he didn't know better, Seth would have said she was one of those Californian types he always saw in TV ads for suntan lotion.
Alice got to her feet, revealing she had a killer body under the modest black swimsuit she had on. She walked towards him, hand outstretched. "It's Seth, right? My name is Alice. Looks like we're gonna be on the same team."
Seth accepted her surprisingly strong handshake and noticed she was only a few inches shorter than he was. "Not that we had any choice in the matter."
The look of confusion that passed through her green eyes made him feel bad. It wasn't her fault he was so angry. Seth gestured towards the pool with a bar in the center. "Wanna cool off and grab a drink at the same time?"
"Last one there buys." Alice took off in a graceful run, her long legs eating up the ground as she raced to the edge of the pool and executed a near perfect dive. Seth tore off his T-shirt and followed her. She beat him by a mile.
"Damn, you're fast." He hauled himself up on to a stool that left his feet dangling in the water. "You swim competitively?"
Alice pulled herself up beside him. "Used to."
"So how did you go from that to being a cop? Most athletes go into coaching after they finish competing, don't they?"
"That's a long story, best kept for another time. You want a beer?" She ordered a couple from the bartender and made Seth raise a toast. "Let's give 'em hell!"
"Amen to that."
The cold beer felt good on his parched throat. He downed almost half the bottle before he pulled it away from his lips. Alice kept going, taking long pulls of her drink and swallowing in loud gulps, until she'd drained the bottle dry.
"Man, I needed that. This heat is a bitch." She wiped her mouth with the back of a hand, and Seth couldn't help but think she seemed like a real tomboy, despite how beautiful she was.