Her TV Bachelor Fake Fiancé: Christmas Romance Series

by Krey, Kimberly

  “You can take these ones,” Cambria said, drawing his attention back to the moment. She handed him the plate with two perfect pancakes. She’d already put syrup on them, he realized upon further inspection.

  “Thank you,” he managed.

  “Tell you what,” she said before Canyon could take a seat. “Why don’t you go watch a game or a movie or something. I’ll take a shift in the kitchen. Okay?”

  Canyon gave that some thought. Was she sick of him already? Perhaps she just wanted to honor the contract. “Sounds great,” he said with a nod. He snatched the glass he’d been drinking from earlier then nodded some more. “I’ll see you later then.”

  As he walked into the family room, an area with a fireplace, big screen TV, and an array of leather sofas, Canyon looked out the windows and shook his head. If Cambria was set on keeping the conversation to a minimum during their off-screen time, as the contract deemed, he’d have to make the most of his time on their dates. Hopefully the weather would be better tomorrow. The truth was, he was really starting to think there could be something between them after all.

  * * *

  “Psst…”

  Cambria shrugged from her back to her side and pressed her cheek into the pillow.

  “Psst, Cambria.”

  She sat up, realizing someone had just whispered her name. “What?” Her eyes searched over the dark room as she waited for a reply.

  “Mind if I talk to you for a minute?” It was Canyon’s voice.

  Cambria was glad the late night hour hid the shocked expression on her face. “Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah, it’s fine. I just… wanted to talk to you before the camera crew came back. If that’s okay.”

  “Sure,” she said. “It’s fine.” She patted her mattress, and then tucked her legs beneath her. “Come sit at the bottom of my bed.” Yawning, she reached over to flip on the lamp. The yawn was interrupted, though, as she caught sight of Canyon in a pair of boxers and nothing else. Her gaze lingered over the chiseled muscles of his chest before settling on his face. Talk about gorgeous. He was incredible from every angle. If she was being honest, she’d seen billboards of him modeling underwear for Urban Pike, and they’d always been spectacular. But there was nothing like seeing him up close and personal.

  “I’m glad I got a chance to apologize earlier, and I appreciate you letting me off the hook, but there’s something more I wanted to tell you about… all of that.” He sank onto the bed, the weight of him causing the mattress to slant. “My mom is the person I was talking about, when I said someone close to me had an addiction.”

  Cambria’s eyes were still adjusting to the light, but the comment surprised her enough to widen them. “I’m so sorry, Canyon.” She gave into the slant of the mattress and got a little closer while wadding the comforter into a bunch between them. “And you think she still does?”

  He shrugged. “That’s just it. She definitely did about two years ago, which is when she started taking pills to begin with. She’d been in an accident. It got really scary. And here I was, already haunted by this paranoia of being destitute, and I’m trying to help her get better and take care of my little sister while making sure we don’t go bankrupt since she’d blown all of the alimony and child support on pills…”

  A deep ache settled in Cambria’s heart as she took in the pain in his voice. “That’s awful.”

  “Yeah, it was.” He nodded, his gaze set on the sight out the window where bright bulbs illuminated the great chunks of falling snow. “But she got clean,” he said in a whisper. “Thank God, she got clean. And I was able to catch them up on the mortgage and pay off most of her bills. My mom has kept a steady job for a year and a half. In fact, she went full time in January.”

  Thank the heavens, indeed. “That’s wonderful, Canyon,” she said, a question coming to mind. “How far do you live from your mom and Rain?”

  “About thirty minutes away,” he said. “I’ve got to be close to the airport for my job, and I’ve tried moving them closer by me but my mom refuses to move outside the school boundaries. Rain’s the student body president, and has a million friends, so it’s better if we just let her stay there until she graduates. Then Rain will go off to college and I can move my mom out by me.”

  Cambria nodded absently, though inwardly she was impressed with the love and devotion Canyon had for his mom and his sister. He’d taken on the father role, hadn’t he? For his little sister and his mother too, in some ways. “You said Rain’s almost finished with high school. So she’s how old?”

  “Seventeen.”

  Cambria’s heart sank as she considered how hard that must have been for her. How difficult it might be still, if she was as worried about keeping her mom clean as Canyon was.

  Recollections of her aunt passed out on the couch shot to mind. Her zombie-like state when Victor managed to get her to the dinner table. It sparked a sudden urgency within her. “Do you think Rain could recognize the symptoms? If your mom did start taking them again?”

  He nodded. “Yes.” But then his face changed, began to tighten in what looked like pain. He dropped his chin and cradled his face with an open palm. “I don’t know. Sometimes I think I’m just paranoid because it was such a hard thing, you know? What’s that disorder called?”

  “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?” she offered.

  He sniffed and nodded his head. “Yeah. Anyway, I snapped at you because you wanted me to contact that place your aunt runs, and all I could think is that they’d run down this list and somehow convince me that she did have a problem again and honestly—at the time—I didn’t think I could take hearing about it if she did.”

  There’d been a need growing inside Cambria as she listened. An ache to comfort him. One that bloated and swelled to the point she could no longer resist.

  Pushing the puffy comforter aside, she scooted closer to him. She wrapped one arm behind his back and rested her head on his shoulder. “I understand,” she said, enjoying the proximity more than she wanted to admit. It didn’t feel foreign or awkward to touch him. It felt nice. “When you apologized this morning, I imagined that you were stuck in some state of denial maybe, since denial causes a lot of fear.” She almost elaborated in case the comment would offend him, but Canyon spoke up before she could.

  “I don’t think I’m in denial, but I guess that’s exactly what I’d say if I were, huh?” He chuckled under his breath, and Cambria felt it vibrate through his warm, muscular back. She dared herself to rub a hand over it lightly.

  “Actually,” she said. “If you really were in denial, you’d probably sound more like this.” She conjured a deep, angry voice. “I am not! In! Denial!” She added an angry growl for effect.

  Canyon laughed again, a heartier one this time, then gave her a nudge with his elbow. If she didn’t know better, Cambria might believe they’d been friends for years.

  “In other words,” she said, “the fact that you’re thinking about it rationally speaks volumes. It tells me that you’re open to the idea that she could go back to it. And it says that if she really does have an issue, you’d want to know about it.”

  “I do. I just… really hope she doesn’t have an issue.” He shook his head, ticked off a few things with his fingers. “She’s going to work every day, from what Rain says. She’s not zoning out on the couch in front of the TV every night. And she hasn’t even touched her hidden stash that she doesn’t think we know about.”

  Cambria pulled back to shoot him a look.

  “It’s a bottle that only has twelve pills in it. We figure it’s better to leave it there and check it every so often, than to take it away, have her come up with another one, and not have a clue whether or not she’s digging into it.”

  “Ah, that makes sense,” she said, resting her head on his shoulder once more. She liked it there. And he smelled like the heavenly cologne he’d done a spread for in a fashion magazine. Spicy and masculine, like pine and leather and yumminess.

 
Canyon ran a finger over the edge of the puffy blanket. “I’ve heard though, that when people fall off the clean and sober train, they’re tricky the second time around. Like, they get better at hiding it. At first, anyway. So I guess that’s why I get kind of panicked if she sounds groggy. Or why I make up a reason to call her at work just to make sure she’s actually still showing up everyday.”

  “And so far so good?” Cambria asked.

  “Yeah.” He said it hesitantly. “I mean, she did miss a day a while back. While I was filming Find My Fiancé, actually. And she’d just got done texting me saying she was at work. I had this suspicion creeping in, and I just had to check up on her. So I called and asked to talk to her, and they said she’d called in sick.”

  “Hmm.” No wonder he’d been defensive about the topic on their date. He had been afraid. For good reason. “Why do you think she lied about it?” Cambria asked.

  “I confronted her, and she said that she didn’t want me to worry about her missing the day.” He shrugged. “There’ve been a couple other things that have worried me too. Just little things.”

  She could feel it then. The heat and weight of this burden. The fear that his mom would sink back into her old ways. And she wanted desperately to help. “If you ever wanted to,” she said, “I mean, if you think it would help put your mind at rest, you could talk to my aunt. She might be able to give you guys a little more insight to—”

  “No,” Canyon snapped, pulling away suddenly. “Don’t mention anything to her. Not yet. Wait until… if she starts showing signs or something, maybe we can start asking questions. But not before.” He came to his feet and nodded. “Yeah, I think that would be best.”

  If Cambria were being honest, Canyons most recent actions did resemble someone in denial.

  The anguish she’d seen on his face was gone, replaced by the unmistakable look of resolve. He’d made up his mind, said what he wanted to say, and now he was done.

  “All right,” Cambria said. “I won’t say anything unless you ask me to.”

  Canyon’s face softened then. “Thanks.” He stepped in closer, making Cambria want to pull him in for a full-on body hug. She didn’t though, just stayed very still as he wrapped a hand around the back of her head, leaned down as her heart pounded into oblivion, and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Goodnight, Cambria.”

  A parade of goosebumps marched up her arms. Her heart worked to catch up to its new racing rhythm. And Cambria wondered what might have happened if she’d have tipped her chin up in time for him to meet her lips instead.

  He was out of the room before Cambria exhaled the breath she was holding. Her skin tingled at the spot where he’d kissed her. And soon, her heart went back to the aching state it had assumed when Canyon had shared his story.

  The bitter resentment she’d once had for Canyon was gone and forgotten. And all that was left was very real desire to get to know him. The real him. Like she’d started to do on the show.

  What were the chances they’d have something like this in common?

  It took her a moment to get under the covers once more, but after she did, Cambria shifted her mind from the facts she’d learned and the heartache she’d felt, to the growing seed of hope in her chest.

  And then to that memorable kiss. Perhaps Marsha was right. Heck, the show’s success rate was unprecedented. Perhaps there was a reason for this seemingly pointless journey. And maybe—just maybe— Canyon Byer was her match after all.

  Chapter 8

  Canyon woke up feeling lighter than he had in a long time. Opening up to Cambria hadn’t been easy, but compared to the torment he’d endured over wronging her, it was a breeze. And now they might actually enjoy their time here. Something Canyon hadn’t thought would be an option.

  He couldn’t believe how easy it was to open up to her. So easy that he’d done so while the cameras were rolling the first time around. And boy, had he gotten the wrath from his father over it. Milton Byer had a fairly big name as a real estate tycoon, and he didn’t like how nonspecific he’d been about the topic. First and foremost, his father hadn’t wanted anyone to assume it was him. Furthermore, he figured if people knew it was his mother, the media would blame the rich ex-husband for all her troubles.

  “Keep our private life private, son. You hear me?”

  Canyon shook off the recollection and looked outside his bedroom window. The sky was crystal-blue clear today, and already Lisa Throw had knocked on the door, asking if Stan could get some footage while he got ready. Once you’re decent, that is, she’d added with a laugh.

  Canyon always felt a little ridiculous when the camera zoomed in to catch him inspecting his own reflection, but it was a shot they asked for before each date, so he obliged by standing before the full-length mirror until Stan was satisfied. He’d settled on denim jeans, a charcoal sweater, and a pair of gray hiking boots.

  “Hope you two haven’t been breaking the rules,” Lisa chirped from the doorway, her British accent in full supply.

  “What?” Canyon’s face went hot as he glanced up at her.

  The woman grinned as if she knew something.

  Crap. Would they use the breach to make the contract null and void? He couldn’t let that happen. “We’ve been good,” he said casually. But he took it as a warning. Chances were they had still cameras set up throughout the place. And if Cambria had been offered something good in her contract, she could lose it by breaking the conditions she’d agreed to.

  “Is Cambria ready?” he asked.

  “Almost,” Lisa assured. “We’ve got a full day ahead of us. We’ll start off with the sleigh ride. They’ll take you into the woods where you’ll pick out a tree together. Should be quite lovely.”

  Yes, Canyon agreed. With Cambria by his side, that sounded perfect. He hated to admit it, but Canyon was excited about the potential between them. He’d been touched by the way she’d comforted him last night. And tempted beyond reason to come in for a second kiss—one he’d plant on her lips instead.

  Stan followed him down the hallway once he was ready, and from the looks of it, the man’s wife did the same with Cambria. Canyon dropped his focus to the rock-slated floors as she neared, waiting until she was just a few feet away to let his gaze wander up Cambria’s curvy figure. She wore black stretch pants, a long, flannel shirt, and a pair of tall boots. Heat flared hot in his belly. Dang, she was sexy.

  “Good morning,” he said while reaching for her hands.

  Cambria accepted them with a grin. Her skin felt like silk next to his. And as he pulled her closer to kiss her cheek, he realized her face was even softer. That gingerbread scent of her toyed with him once more, and Canyon knew from experience that she tasted just as sweet.

  “Good morning,” she mumbled, pulling away before he could get a second kiss in. Canyon glanced over his shoulder to see the crew staring at them with wide eyes and dropped jaws. Too fast. He was moving too fast.

  He pulled away and smeared his hands over his jeans. “I got lonely without you yesterday,” he said for their benefit. Canyon had been offered a role in a movie once. A lead part too. All he had to do was show up to the audition, read a few lines, and the part would be his. Except they hadn’t expected him to slaughter the few simple lines. And he was probably even worse when it came to improvising.

  He waited until they were settled in the sleigh to speak up again, softly nudging her arm as Lisa introduced the scene. “How’d you sleep?” he asked, leaning to speak close to her ear. They were bundled up now in winter gear provided by a designer Canyon had modeled for once. Fur collared coats with knit scarves and matching hats.

  She giggled. “Good. What about you?”

  He pulled back enough to look at her warm brown eyes. “Very good.”

  Lisa climbed into a jeep while the rest of the crew piled onto ATV’s and snowmobiles. They’d placed a mobile camera on the sleigh, one of those remote control numbers that could zoom in, pan out, or tilt from one side to the next on command. A
windshield protected the attached mic, promising that not even a good wind could keep America from hearing what they had to say. At least none of this footage would be live. Only select parts of each date would be shown.

  “This is seriously one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen,” Cambria said. She tucked a coat-covered arm through the nook in his and leaned her head against his shoulder.

  Canyon hadn’t paid much attention to the view, but at her words, he lifted his gaze from the man steering the sleigh and horses attached to the reins, and took in the splendor surrounding them. There, against the very sky he’d admired from his window, stood a forest of tall, breathtaking pines. Deep green needles poked through thick mounds of snow. He sucked in a deep breath and grinned as he recognized the rich, pine scent. “It’s amazing,” he said.

  They rode adjacent to the winding river and even caught sight of several elk along the way. Cambria shared memories of a time she went hunting with her dad. He’d allowed her to cradle the rifle with his help, and even let her pull the trigger once a buck came into view. “We ate deer jerky for months, it seems like. And you know, my mom never ate it. In fact, she hated the stuff, but I never once heard her complain about making it. Which my aunt later said was a real pain.”

  Canyon remembered hearing that one of the bachelorettes had lost both of her parents in her youth, but he’d never been sure which of them had, since he’d apparently eliminated her early on. There was something about the way Cambria teared up when she spoke of that hunting trip that made him wonder. And then there was the reverent admiration she showed about her mom. Please say it wasn’t Cambria who lost her folks. But it would explain why she spoke so often of her aunt and uncle.