Spencer held up two small white envelopes in his hand. “I have here the names of the two girls with the lowest votes. Brad, please pick an envelope and tell us the name of the first girl going home.”
Brad hesitated before choosing an envelope. “The first girl going home tonight is,” Brad paused momentarily while opening the envelope, “Courtney.”
Courtney covered her face in her hands when tears sprang to her eyes. Brad gave her a quick hug.
Cassidy’s expression changed from concern to sympathy. It was clear on her face that she was sorry to watch one of the girls getting so upset about leaving.
“Please take a moment to say goodbye,” Spencer said to Courtney. She walked around the small group hugging the women goodbye.
“Don’t worry about him, I’m sure someone else will want you,” Zoe whispered as they hugged for the camera. As Courtney moved on to the next girl, Zoe rolled her eyes at Savanna.
She really is a bitch. I’ll have to thank Chip for not sentencing me to weeks of following Zoe around. Her cameraman must have a never-ending headache.
Evan refocused on Cassidy as she hugged Courtney goodbye. “You’re better off without him,” Cassidy said quietly, but not too quietly for her mic to hear. “He doesn’t know what he’s missing. I bet you’ll have guys knocking down your door when you get home.”
“Thanks, Cassidy. Good luck.” Courtney finished her goodbyes and walked into the house to gather her things with her cameraman following closely behind.
Brad took the last envelope from Spencer and turned to face the two remaining girls. He slowly slid the card out and read it to himself. “Julia, I’m sorry, but you’re not The One.”
Lauren sighed with relief before giving Julia a hug goodbye and rejoining her fellow contestants.
Julia made the rounds as the girls hugged her. She gave one final wave before turning away from the group and walking back into the house.
“Congratulations, Lauren. Your journey continues.”
“That’s all for tonight. Please join us next time when we’ll see our ladies participate in their next challenge on The One.” Spencer smiled at the camera and waved.
“We’re clear,” Chip called from beside the camera. “Great job tonight, Spencer.”
“Excellent work these last few days, ladies,” Chip said. “Take tonight to rest and enjoy your evening. Tomorrow we’re filming your next interview, which you’ll do after every elimination ceremony. Then it’s right into the second challenge. I can’t tell you what you’ll be doing, but please dress casually for the event. Jeans or other long pants would be best.” Chip smiled and walked away with no further instructions or clues.
Evan wondered what surprise Chip had in store for them next. There was no doubt in his mind Chip wanted to get the girls into as many interesting situations as he could. But long pants could mean any number of things. He was just going to have to wait until tomorrow like everyone else.
Chapter Eight
“Is it okay if I sit like this? Or do I have to sit with both legs down?” Cassidy asked from the interview couch where she sat with one leg tucked under the other. She leaned against one of the throw pillows and adjusted her shirt to make sure it wasn’t bunching up around her.
Evan stopped shuffling papers on the desk, tilting his head as he looked at her. He twisted one of the lights slightly. Cassidy squinted when she accidentally glanced directly at it. She could already feel the heat from the lights warming her skin, making her more flushed than she usually was around Evan.
“You’re perfect right there.” He finished with the light and turned back to the papers, stacking them. He stepped behind the camera and sat casually on a high stool. She couldn’t help but notice his jeans stretched tight across his lap. “I’m ready when you are.”
Oh, I’m ready …
She took a deep breath, forcing away the intruding thoughts of Evan and his tight jeans. “Me too.”
“When you finally met the bachelor, were you surprised to see your ex-boyfriend Brad?”
“Jumping right to the hot topic, huh?” Cassidy shook her head. She really didn’t want to talk about this with Evan even if he was her cameraman. “Surprised is an understatement. I had no idea I’d have to see my ex-boyfriend. I certainly didn’t expect to date him again. But I’m here now and the show must go on, as they say.”
“Did seeing Brad again bring back old feelings?”
“I don’t know yet. I only spoke to him once for a few minutes. I think our first meeting was spent in shock at seeing each other again and it seemed to go by so fast. Maybe once the surprise has worn off, I’ll be able to think about it and decide if there are any old feelings there or not. Meeting someone for a few minutes on one ‘date’ isn’t usually enough time to decide if I feel something for them or not.”
Evan peeked out from the camera enough so she could see his blue eyes peering at her. “But sometimes a few minutes is enough?”
“Sometimes,” she said, staring back at him instead of the camera. “There’s an exception to prove every rule, right?” Evan was certainly an exception. A few minutes with him at the piano on her first day was all she’d needed to feel captivated by him.
“Right.” He cleared his throat and disappeared behind the camera. “So you cooked him pizza. How did he like it?”
“I’m pretty sure he hated it. It’s kind of funny that this is how we would meet again — over a slice of pizza. When we were dating, I used to love to stop in to the pizza place around the corner from my apartment, and Brad always hated it. And he hated my pepperoni and pineapple indulgence even more. I can’t even count the number of times I must’ve asked him to try one bite before deciding if he liked it or not. But in all the time we dated, he never did. It made me laugh a little that finally he was forced to try it and he couldn’t tell me no.”
“If you could do it over again, would you have picked a different favorite meal?”
“That’s tough. They asked me for the meal I couldn’t live without, and that would be pizza, because really, it’s the perfect food. Meat, carbs, sauce, cheese. That’s seriously all you need in a meal. But, if they’d asked me what meal I’d serve on a first date, it definitely wouldn’t be pizza. I think the perfect meal really depends on the situation and the person you’re with. Sometimes you need a nice juicy steak, other times all you need is a PB&J sandwich.”
“How do you feel about not being in the bottom three this week?”
“I feel — confused. I’m not sure I understand why Brad is keeping me here since we’ve already been through this whole dating thing and it wasn’t even that long ago.”
She shrugged. “I’m also a little sad for the girls who had to go home. I think they were developing feelings for Brad already.”
“Are you developing feelings for Brad already?” The edge of Evan’s cheek bulged like he was clenching his jaw.
“I already said I don’t know how I feel about Brad.”
“Do you think he’s attractive?”
Do we have to talk about this, now — ever?
“Of course he is. They don’t put unattractive people on these shows. And I did date him, which I wouldn’t have if I didn’t feel some attraction to him. But, I also believe there’s a lot more to a person than what I see on the outside.”
Evan drummed his fingers on his thigh. “So you like that sexy surfer dude look?”
What? That’s not what I said.
“I guess — I don’t know,” she stammered. “I just said he’s good looking. That’s all. He’s not the hottest guy I’ve ever laid eyes on, but he’s definitely not an eyesore either. I don’t know. He’s just — Brad.”
“A simple yes or no would have been sufficient.” Evan folded his arms across his chest.
“Then ask a simple yes or no question.” Cassidy crossed her arms to reflect his. He could be so damn infuriating. Why couldn’t he take her initial answer for what it was without all the extra questioning? What the hell
was his problem?
Relax, Cassidy. There’s no reason to be grouchy.
She forced herself to uncross her arms and relax her shoulders. Why was she getting so defensive all of a sudden? Evan was simply asking the questions he was given, right?
“Are you looking forward to the next challenge?”
“Yes. I think they’ll have something fun for us to do again. Part of the reason I’m here is for the experience — the adventures, whatever they are — so I’m excited to see what will happen next.”
“Do you have any guesses about what the next challenge will be?”
“No, not a clue. Do you know what we’re doing?” she asked, a spark of hope filling her. Surely the production crew knew the schedule.
“No, and even if I did, I couldn’t tell you. Besides, I’m the one asking the questions here.” Evan shuffled the papers on the desk again as though he was trying to prove his point. “Lastly, I have a couple of questions about your housemates. How are you enjoying living with a bunch of women in one house?”
Cassidy sighed. Would it kill him to give her a little hint since she was at a disadvantage with her ankle already? He’d been so sweet when he’d rescued her the other day, but since the first challenge ended, he’d seemed less sweet and a lot more sour about anything having to do with her and the competitions. So basically everything.
“It’s okay.” She shifted in her seat. How was she going to answer this tactfully? “It’s nice to have people around to talk to, and some of the girls are really fun and sweet.”
Paige is really sweet at least.
“Anyone you’d like to see go home sooner rather than later?”
“Well, there are definitely some girls I don’t care for as much as some of the others, but everyone’s here for their own reasons. I hope every girl gets what they want out of this experience before they have to leave.”
Good job, C. You could totally be a pageant queen with answers like that.
“Are you getting what you hoped for out of this experience?”
“So far, yes.” Her eyes fluttered across Evan’s chest. If she closed her eyes, she could imagine how sculpted it must be under his shirt. She swallowed hard around the lump in her throat. “Actually, I think I’m getting even more than I expected or hoped for.”
“Care to elaborate on that?” Evan asked, giving her the hand signal to stretch her response to a more elaborate answer.
“I think it’s pretty self-explanatory, don’t you? My ex-boyfriend is the bachelor I’m supposed to date.” My cameraman is super-hot. “That’s not exactly something I planned on.”
“Any girls you’re becoming friends with?”
“Sure, Paige is a great friend. She’s the one person I feel I can really talk to. I think we’ll stay friends long after this is over.”
“How will you feel if Paige is chosen as The One?”
“If Paige and Brad are meant for each other, I’ll be happy for her. I know the person meant for me is out there somewhere. Who knows, maybe I’ve already found him and don’t realize it yet.”
Cassidy stared at her hands, which were currently twisting the bottom hem of her blouse into a tiny corkscrew. Was Evan that someone?
Chapter Nine
Cassidy knelt on the floor of her walk-in closet, trying to determine which pair of shoes would be right for today’s competition. Since she still didn’t know what it was, she had to guess and hope for the best.
“Casual-but-sort-of-dressy boots or plain-old-boring sneakers?” she debated out loud. She seen the house medic again earlier and he’d given her the all clear to compete on the condition she’d refrain from wearing heels to give her ankle time to rest. That was fine with her.
Why can’t they be easy and tell us what we’re doing so we can dress appropriately? Why does everything have to be a surprise in this place?
Speaking of surprises, Cassidy had been taken aback by Evan’s apparent concern that she thought Brad was attractive. Of course Brad was cute. He was the star on a reality dating show.
In fact, Evan seemed jealous. But that couldn’t be right. Evan didn’t have anything to be jealous about.
Brad was her ex and just because they were now on a dating show together didn’t mean all of the other stuff between them was suddenly forgotten. Cassidy wished she could say that in the interview, but that’s not what the producers wanted to hear. She was supposed to be here for Brad, even if he was her ex, which meant giving him a fair chance — and she knew one meal together wasn’t fair enough. Maybe now that the shock of seeing him again had started to wear off, they’d be able to have a normal conversation the next time they were together.
Jealous. Evan’s definitely jealous.
Cassidy laughed at the idea of Evan being jealous of Brad. Brad had nothing on Evan as far as Cassidy was concerned. Sure Brad was cute, but Evan was on a different level of hotness completely. Evan was Edward Cullen hot. Brad … well, Brad was great, but he would never make a girl want to become a vampire so she could be with him for all eternity. A regular lifetime would be plenty with Brad.
Cassidy was constantly amazed at how gorgeous Evan was. Every part of his body was defined and sexy and caused her to have dirty dreams about tearing his clothes off with her teeth.
Brad could keep his clothes on then wrap himself in a parka.
Besides his appearance, Evan always treated her with respect, which was more than she could say for Brad. Cassidy loved the way she and Evan joked with each other and seemed to feed off of each other’s energy. He might be a bit of a smart ass sometimes, but she was too, and it was nice to finally meet someone who didn’t cower away from a girl with a personality.
Cassidy grabbed her black boots and sat on the edge of the bed, pushing her feet into the supple leather. She zipped the boots up to the knee over her skinny jeans, glancing in the mirror to give herself a final once over before she left for the competition.
There’s no reason casual can’t be cute and sexy, too.
She gathered her hair into a simple ponytail at the nape of her neck and tied it loosely with a small silk scarf.
A knock on the door startled Cassidy. She pulled it open to find Susan the PA standing in the hall.
“Hey, what’s up?” Cassidy asked. It wasn’t like production people to stop by unless something was wrong. “Wanna come in?”
“I thought you deserved a heads up.” She glanced both ways down the hall before speaking again. “I can’t legally tell you anything, but you would be best off at today’s challenge if you relaxed with a Corona instead of picking something a little wilder and harder to handle.”
“Um, what?” Was Susan speaking in code?
“I’ve already said more than I should. I’m sure you’ll figure it out when the time comes.” Susan walked away without another word.
Cassidy closed the door annoyed at the cryptic message she didn’t understand. How did this give her a heads up? And why was Susan trying to help her when she was clearly breaking the rules by giving her a tip about the challenge?
• • •
Evan didn’t know how Cassidy made it happen, but he couldn’t believe how great she looked every single day. Today’s choice was relaxed and casual, and she looked more fantastic than ever. She could wear a garbage bag and her ass would still look fantastic.
Speaking of asses, although not the fantastic kind …
“Chip. How’s it going?” Evan asked as Chip Cormack sauntered up beside him.
“It’s great.” Chip smiled one of his token asshole smiles and put his hand on Evan’s shoulder. “So, what happened in the interview this morning?”
Ah, shit.
“Not much. Why?”
“You took a few liberties with the interview questions, huh?”
“Sorry. I got caught up with her answers and I asked a couple of extra questions without thinking. It won’t happen again.”
“Don’t be silly, Evan. Those questions were perfect. Of course, we never
thought you guys would pay enough attention to ask questions of your own, but now that you have, it’s great. Those questions you added really made the interview come alive and gave Cassidy so much more personality on camera.”
Chip patted him on the back. “Keep up the good work. I can’t wait to hear what you ask in the next interview.” Evan watched dumbfounded as Chip walked off to talk to the contestants.
Evan relaxed, realizing Chip mustn’t have noticed those extra questions were sparked from Evan’s interest in Cassidy on a more personal level. If Chip could hear Evan’s thoughts about Cassidy, there was no doubt in his mind he’d be fired in a heartbeat.
Next time, he needed to be more careful with the kinds of extra questions he asked. They’d have to be specifically about the show and not about the girl he found so interesting. He couldn’t let his guard down when the cameras were rolling. He couldn’t risk Chip finding out he had feelings for Cassidy. Feelings he still didn’t understand or want.
Evan walked around the side of the gathering where he could get a better shot of Cassidy. Centered in the frame, Cassidy stood with the rustic red barn behind her. Beyond that, the ruggedness of the Rockies contrasted with the polished, sophisticated women, adorned with pristine painted nails, teased hair and dripping with beautiful jewelry. They looked ridiculous in the most put-together impression of casual Evan had ever seen. Each one stood out like a ballerina at a rodeo.
Everyone except Cassidy.
For being a city girl, Cassidy didn’t appear out of place at all in a setting like this. All she needed was a cowboy hat and she’d blend right in. To someone who didn’t know any better, you might think she’d lived here her whole life. Dressed like that, Evan could almost picture Cassidy on the front porch swing beside him and Aspen.
Whoa, easy now. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Looking is one thing but porch swings are a little much right now.
“Welcome back to The One.” Spencer Daley addressed the girls. “Today you will again be competing and spending time with our bachelor Brad while enjoying some exciting horseback riding here at beautiful Mountainside Ranch.
Falling for You Page 7