Falling for You

by Heather Thurmeier

  “You’re standing right beside it. I think you can find your own way under the sheets.”

  “Why are you being so cold? You weren’t cold earlier.” Cassidy walked her fingers up Evan’s chest. “If I’m remembering correctly, you were very hot and very excited earlier. I’m ready for a little more excitement, aren’t you?”

  Evan took Cassidy’s hand and gently pushed it away. “I think between myself, Brad, and a bottle of champagne, you’ve had more than enough excitement for one day.”

  Cassidy slumped to the bed feeling annoyed and confused as he turned away.

  “Get some sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Evan walked out of her room, closing the door behind him.

  What the hell’s his problem? One minute he wants me, and the next he can’t get away from me fast enough.

  Cassidy climbed under the sheets, not bothering to undress. “How do I make my ceiling stop spinning?”

  One stupid, unwanted kiss with Brad and Evan’s all pissy? Doesn’t he know I didn’t ask to kiss the Basset hound?

  Cassidy yawned and closed her eyes. Her head spun and danced like bubbles in a glass of champagne.

  Best kiss and worst kiss all in a matter of hours. Weirdest day ever.

  • • •

  Evan panned the camera from Cassidy to the girls still waiting to hear their fate. Now that Holly had been sent home, it was down to Paige and Lauren.

  Evan pulled the camera back to focus on Cassidy. He didn’t want to watch her reaction when Brad read the last name out loud, but that’s what he was paid to do. He sucked it up and pushed his zoom in closer to Cassidy, focusing on her face and the lines of worry creasing her forehead.

  “I’m sorry girls, but I have to do this,” Brad said, sounding genuinely forlorn. “I think both of you are great girls and I had no reason to put you in this position other than I simply felt like I had more chemistry with some of the other girls.”

  Sliding the card out of the envelope, he paused before reading the name found inside. “The last girl going home tonight is … Paige.”

  Tears spilled down Cassidy’s cheeks as she stared at Paige. Evan’s heart twisted in his chest at the sight of Cassidy crying for her friend. He would have given anything for the ability to comfort her, but he was working and no amount of wanting would make it okay for him to comfort Cassidy.

  He was still upset about the kiss at the skydiving school, but her tears instantly dampened his annoyance. He may not be able to look at Brad without wanting to punch him in his Cassidy-kissing face, but he could still look at Cassidy all day, every day. And right now, all he could see was the sadness darkening her eyes.

  Paige gave each girl a hug. Some whispered kind words in her ear, others could barely be bothered faking it for the cameras. When Paige got to Cassidy, the two hugged so tight, Evan thought they may suffocate each other, but the sounds of gasps and sobs let him know that they were indeed still breathing, even if it was through a veil of sadness.

  “I know there’s someone else out there for you,” Cassidy whispered so quietly the mic pack almost couldn’t pick it up.

  “I’ll miss you.”

  “I’ll miss you, too. I’ll call you as soon as I’m out of this house.”

  “I know it’s hard to see friends leave,” Spencer said as Paige walked away, “but the good news is the four of you are still here and the journey continues. For the next challenge, you need to pack a small suitcase with a few essential things.”

  “I have something to say,” Lauren said from Spencer’s side.

  Spencer looked shocked for a fraction of a second before regaining his calm demeanor. “Of course, Lauren. What is it?”

  “I — I’m leaving tonight, too.” There was a shocked silence while her words sank in. “I know I made an agreement to stay until I was voted off, but, um, I haven’t been feeling well. I saw the medic this morning and he advised me to seek proper testing with my regular doctor. I’m so sorry but I have to go.”

  Spencer put his arm across her shoulders in an unusual show of support. “I’m sorry, too. We’re all sad to see you leave. Please take care of yourself.”

  As Lauren hugged each of the women goodbye, Spencer turned to face directly into the camera, addressing the viewing audience. “We’ll see you again in a few days as we find out what crazy adventure these three girls will go on next and who will be one step closer to becoming … The One.”

  • • •

  Cassidy sat on the interview sofa, her insides still turning and twisting. She knew she looked like hell, too. The makeup person had tried to make her less puffy and red, but pressed powder could do only so much.

  The sooner this interview ended the sooner she could go to her room and hide for the rest of the night. It wasn’t the end of the world to say goodbye to Paige, but it certainly hadn’t been fun, either.

  “Can we get started now, Evan?”

  “Absolutely,” he said sitting down behind the camera. “Let’s start with the elimination this week. How do you feel about the girls chosen for the bottom three?”

  “I’m really bummed. My good friend Paige was in the bottom three and America didn’t give her enough votes to stay.” Cassidy twisted a tissue in her hands, swallowing the tears threatening to fall. The last thing she wanted was to be on television with a snotty nose and mascara streaking down her face.

  “She’s a really awesome girl and I think Brad is a moron for sending her home. Of course, he never was the sharpest knife in the drawer. You know, I had to change the battery in his smoke detector because he couldn’t figure out how to get the old battery out.”

  Evan smirked behind the camera. “Did you get a chance to say goodbye to Paige before she left?”

  “Yes. It was really hard to say goodbye. Harder than I thought it would be, but then I hadn’t really expected to make such good friends while I was here, either. The night we found out she was in the bottom three again, we spent some time together hanging out. I really didn’t expect her to be the one sent home, and I was sad to say goodbye.”

  “I believe there was some celebrating done as well? With champagne?”

  “Not celebrating her leaving, but we did celebrate our friendship. And yes, there may have been a glass or two of champagne involved while we packed up her stuff.”

  “Only a glass or two? Not, say, a bottle?”

  Of course, Evan already knew the answer since he’d seen the drunken mess she’d become after said bottle of champagne, but he had to ask so the viewing audience would know her little secret, too.

  “A glass, a bottle. Who’s to say? Next question, please.” Cassidy giggled, feeling slightly better than she had earlier with the memory of her last night with Paige.

  “Why don’t we talk about the challenge this week? What did you have to do this time?”

  Cassidy took a deep breath before answering, happy to not have to deal with any more questions about Paige. That also meant she’d probably be able to make it through the entire interview without crying, which was a huge relief. She wasn’t one of those girls who was a pretty crier. There was nothing pretty about snot, splotchy red cheeks, and puffy pink eyes.

  “This week we went to an indoor skydiving facility. We flew in a vertical wind tunnel that simulates the free fall a skydiver experiences. It was so much fun.”

  “How did everyone do in the tunnel?”

  “A couple of girls, like Paige, didn’t really get the hang of it and had trouble in the tunnel, but everyone else seemed to do well.”

  “How did you do in the tunnel?”

  “I actually did okay for a change. I know I’ve sucked at everything else so far, but this time I did great. I loved every minute of my flight.”

  “And Brad flew with you?” Cassidy heard the tone in his voice change.

  “Yep, Brad went on a two minute flight with each of the girls.”

  “Did you enjoy your flight with him?”

  There’s that tone again.

  “
Yeah, I mean I enjoyed the experience overall.” Memories of flying filled her thoughts. “Brad was actually great to fly with. He stayed calm in the wind, so he made me feel less nervous than I would have been if I’d had to go by myself.”

  “Do you think you’ll do something like that again?”

  “Sure. It was fun and different from anything I’ve ever done before. I would love to try it again.”

  Cassidy noticed Evan lean back in the chair as though he was trying to put as much distance as he could between them. It reminded her of the ride back from the challenge. That was another item on her list of things to talk to him about. Soon.

  “Tell me about your flight with Brad?”

  Cassidy put on the best happy face she could conjure. “When it was our turn, we had to put on these huge goggles. It wasn’t the sexiest outfit ever, but I tried not to focus on how stupid I looked.” She laughed, hoping to lighten the serious mood suddenly filling the room. “We held hands in the tunnel so we would stay together and not bump into each other. It was like one long belly flop in the air. When our two minutes was up, the instructor pulled us to the side to where we were able to stand.”

  “Then what happened?”

  Nothing.

  Cassidy’s palms were moist from nervousness. This wasn’t the line of questioning she wanted to answer. “Then Brad took the next girl for a flight.”

  Evan cleared his throat. “So nothing else happened after your flight with Brad and before his flight with the next girl? Nothing at all? You guys didn’t speak to each other or — anything?”

  Why is he pushing this?

  “We felt great after the flight when the adrenaline kicked in. We laughed and hugged and talked about how awesome it was to fly.”

  There, now let it go.

  “And then what happened?”

  “Then he — uh,” she sighed, feeling defeated. “He kissed me.”

  “And how was it?”

  “Unexpected.”

  “Was it good?”

  “It was … ” She twirled a strand of hair, trying to find the right word. “Surprising.”

  “Did you want Brad to kiss you?” Evan sat forward in his chair.

  “I wasn’t even thinking about Brad kissing me, so I wouldn’t say I wanted him to. I wasn’t hoping for it or anticipating it.” Why is he being so hard on me? Move on already.

  “I was excited about my flight and I was so happy to have shared that experience with Brad. We hugged and it felt great. Sort of like hugging a good friend you haven’t seen in years — and then he kissed me and I didn’t have a chance to think about it because it happened so fast.”

  “So Brad is a good friend now? You guys have gotten past your differences and are rekindling a friendship — a relationship?”

  There was attitude in his voice Cassidy had never heard before. She didn’t like it.

  “I was trying to explain how I felt after the experience. I wasn’t saying Brad and I are best friends or anything, and we certainly aren’t in a relationship again. No matter what happens between us, in some ways I’ll always feel like he’s an old friend. When you have memories with someone — especially romantic memories — it’s hard to forget them. But, that doesn’t mean we’re best buddies or anything. He’s still my ex and one spin in the wind tunnel isn’t going to make me forget that.”

  Her temper rose like the steam from the subway vents on a hot July day in the city. Why is he being such a jerk about everything? I’ve kissed Brad a million times. It’s not a big deal.

  “Are you excited to be staying for the next challenge?”

  She took a deep breath, thrilled to be onto a different subject. “I’m definitely excited to still be in the competition. I can’t even guess what they’ll make us do next, but I’m curious to see what it’ll be.”

  “How do you feel about the private date with Brad? Are you already looking forward to kissing him again without the other girls around?” Evan almost hissed the words.

  No, I’m not. Not unless you count the feeling of dread sitting in my stomach like a lump of cold oatmeal at the thought of another sloppy kiss from Brad.

  “I don’t know what Brad plans to do or not do, so why waste time thinking about it? This whole thing is very strange to me, okay? Can we stop talking about a kiss that may or may not happen?”

  “Fine. We’re done here.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “What do you mean, ‘we’re done here’?” Cassidy walked up to Evan and stood in front of him as if demanding he give her his undivided attention. He slammed his camera onto the table and started logging the footage, ignoring her.

  Evan filled out his paperwork as fast as his tense fingers would allow him. It had been a very long day and they’d gotten the last interview timeslot of the night. He was tired, annoyed, and ready to put this day behind him.

  “I thought it was pretty self-explanatory.” He shuffled papers around the desk angrily, annoyed he had to do this tedious work when she wouldn’t leave him alone and let him think. “We’re done. There are no more questions to ask.”

  “You don’t usually end the interview so abruptly, that’s all.”

  “I ran out of questions.” Evan tried to focus his energy on the papers littering the desk instead of the turmoil eating away at him.

  He hadn’t wanted to snap at Cassidy and end the interview prematurely, but he couldn’t bear to ask her any more questions about Brad. Every time he said that name, a spike of anger ran through his body.

  “Why are you so grouchy? You’re acting like a jerk.” Cassidy touched his arm, but he shrugged her hand off. “What’s your problem?” she demanded.

  Evan finished his paperwork and set it aside for the production assistants. “I’m not in the mood to be interrogated by you.” He picked up his camera and brushed past Cassidy. “Goodnight.”

  Cassidy’s stare burned into his back as he walked out the door. He should be back in the room filming her every move, not doing his own thing, but he didn’t care. What he “should” do didn’t matter anymore. For weeks, he’d been doing exactly as he should, but tonight he was going to do exactly as he wanted — slack off on his filming responsibilities. He was breaking the rules and he didn’t give a damn.

  Evan took the stairs two at a time, putting as much distance between himself and Cassidy as he could. He needed space to be able to figure out what the hell was going on with him, because he honestly had no idea why everything concerning Cassidy got to him.

  Evan jammed his room key into the lock, shoved the door open and let it slam behind him. He sat on the end of his bed, angrily kicking off his shoes. Peeling off his socks, he threw them in the general direction of the closet, not caring where they landed and curled his toes into the carpet in an attempt to ease the tension.

  What I wouldn’t give for a cold beer and a long hike in the mountains with Aspen right now. Whenever he was stressed, Aspen and a hike always made everything better.

  Cassidy was right. He was being a jerk, but he couldn’t help it. He couldn’t stand that little weasel Brad.

  When he’d seen Brad hug Cassidy, it had been all he could do not to slug him — but when he had to watch Brad kiss her, it was more than he could stand. He’d never wanted to punch someone as much as he had in that moment. If the situation were different, he would have walked up to him and punched the smug smile right off that asshole’s face. Instead, he was forced to seethe behind the camera and tighten in the focus.

  What am I going to do when they have their private alone time? Try not to rip his lips off, that’s what.

  Evan slid back on the bed and leaned against the wall, flipping channels with the remote, stopping when he found something with lots of guns and blood splatters.

  Excellent.

  A quiet knock at his door interrupted the gunshots — the door leading directly to Cassidy’s room, which meant it could only be one person. Sighing, he dragged himself from the bed.

  He hoped she didn’t
expect him to follow her down to the pool or anywhere else. He was done filming for the night and if she wanted to go anywhere other than her room, she would have to go alone. Chip could yell at him in the morning, but he wasn’t filming anything else tonight.

  Evan opened the door and folded his arms across his chest. “What’s up?” He tried to make his voice sound neutral.

  “What’s up with you?” She scowled at him and crossed her arms to mirror his.

  “What do you want, Cassidy?”

  “I want to know what the hell is wrong with you.”

  Evan sighed. “If you’re upset about the interview, don’t be. Chip will be happy with the footage we got. Sorry if I didn’t ask a million questions about you and Brad and your budding relationship, but I’m tired and it’s been a very long day. Okay?”

  “No, Evan, it’s not okay. What’s wrong with you these last couple of days? I’ve tried to be patient with you, but your little hissy fit after the interview was the last straw.” Cassidy pushed passed Evan into his room.

  “Now,” she continued, “you’re going to explain how one minute you can stare at me like I’m a steak dinner and you’re a contestant on day thirty-nine of Survivor, and then kiss me like I’ve never been kissed before, only to turn around and ignore me for the next two days.”

  “Hissy fit?”

  “Yep. Explain.”

  “I did not have a hissy fit.” Evan shook his head and smiled despite his anger. “Men don’t have hissy fits.”

  “You’re dodging the question and I deserve an answer.”

  “No, you deserve an award for kissing two different men in only a matter of hours. That’s gotta be some kind of record.”

  “Hey, that’s not fair. You and Brad both kissed me. I never asked him to.”

  “Well you certainly didn’t try to stop him.”

  “What was I supposed to do, Evan? Slap him and tell him to fuck off?”

  Hell, yes.

  Evan smirked. “I would love to have seen that.”

  “Get real. I couldn’t do that and you know it.” Cassidy sighed. “Do you really think I wanted him to kiss me after the kiss you and I shared?”