Falling Fast

by Kevin, Lucy

  Shelby’s family in Miami, on the other hand, was a different bucket of worms. They were alternately cloying, then insulting. Brash, then sugary-sweet. Her younger sister propositioned him outside the bathroom. Her mother flashed her panties at him as she bent over to pick something up off the floor. And her father tried all evening to sell him an insurance plan.

  By the end of the night Brandon actually felt sorry for Shelby.

  But just because he knew Shelby’s hard shell was an act she put on to protect herself from getting hurt, didn’t mean he wanted to kiss her. She insisted on walking him out to his limo after dinner and puckered her lips for a kiss. He had turned his head to the side and merely hugged her instead.

  Just when he was on the verge of escape, Shelby had thwarted his quick getaway plans by sliding into the limo beside him and locking the door with one blood red tipped finger.

  Trying to let her down easy, Brandon yawned and said, “You know, it’s been a great night, but I’m really exhausted. I’d better get to bed.”

  But instead of taking the hint that he wasn’t interested, instead of graciously accepting defeat, she licked her lips and said, “That sounds just fine to me.”

  Brandon’s frustration was perilously close to bubbling up onto the surface. Why can’t she take a hint? Before he could think of another harmless, yet crystal clear, brush-off, Shelby had climbed on top of him and forced her tongue down his throat.

  Brandon was dumbstruck by her behavior. Prying her hands from his shirt, he pushed her off of him. “I think it’s time for you to go back inside.”

  Shelby’s face had contorted into a mask of rage. Brandon had reached past her for the door handle and pushed the door open to the balmy summer air. “Thank your parents for dinner again for me. Goodnight, Shelby,” he said, his dismissal unmistakable.

  Giving him a venomous look, Shelby leapt out of the limo and slammed the door in his face. Brandon forced himself to calmly lean back into the leather seat, his expression betraying none of his feelings. Although he had little respect for Shelby, he didn’t think it was fair to let millions of viewing strangers see how little he thought of her and her games.

  Brandon heard Joe’s shoes hammering on the tile floors outside of the study and stood up just as he entered the room.

  “We’re just one heart ceremony away from the big night. You must be very excited,” Joe said in his booming, made-for-TV voice.

  Brandon thought about spending a lifetime with Alexa in his arms and grinned, his disastrous date with Shelby forgotten. “You know what, Joe,” he said, “I really am.”

  “Somehow you have to send home one of our three final contestants. Shelby is hot, Brigit is cute, and Alexa is exotic. If it were me, I’d want to make a sandwich out of them all.”

  Disgusted with the producer’s lewd behavior, Brandon fought to keep the disgust off his face. Forcing a laugh, he lied and said, “It’s not going to be easy.”

  His response only served to egg Joe on, however. “Kind of like sipping from three glasses of wine and trying to figure out which one you’re going to buy a case of, huh?”

  Brandon just stared at the producer. “Something like that,” he said in a low monotone.

  Still clueless, Joe stood up. “It’s nearly time to make your choice.” He motioned for the cameramen to leave them alone and then said, “As you know, per our contract, there are no more wild-cards. The choice is now 100% up to you. And I’m definitely looking forward to consoling the loser,” the producer added lecherously before leaving the room.

  Brandon’s hands had instinctively formed into fists as he contemplated whether or not he should pummel the producer before or after the next selection ceremony. He forced himself to take a deep breath and uncurl his fingers one by one.

  “Thank god this is almost over,” he said. “Thank god.”

  But when Brandon stepped into the living room a surprise awaited him. Instead of seeing Alexa, Brigit and Shelby, there were two women and a guy he’d never met before sitting on the couches.

  Brandon stopped, his hand on the doorknob. “Am I interrupting something?” he asked, but even as he did so, he knew that Joe had forgotten to mention these people to him for a reason.

  To throw him off, of course.

  Again.

  And to make him look an ever bigger idiot on national TV.

  Again.

  The lone guy unfurled his lanky, but obviously well-built frame from the plush couch and gave Brandon a sympathetic grin. “Brandon, I’m Jared, Alexa’s friend. It’s nice to meet you.”

  Brandon shook his hand and raised an eyebrow in question, knowing that if he said anything right now he would probably say something he would regret later, like, “Get me the hell off this show. And I’m taking Alexa with me!”

  Thankfully, Jared seemed to understand that explanations were imperative. Gesturing to himself and the two women getting to their feet, he said, “Joe called us.”

  “I can’t wait to find out why,” Brandon muttered as he took Jared’s measure. He hated to admit it, but he was a little uncomfortable with this big, good-looking guy who said he was a friend of Alexa’s.

  Worst-case scenarios bounced through his head. What if Jared had always secretly loved Alexa and now that he found out about her being on the show he was going to propose to her before Brandon could?

  Brandon tried to tamp down on the urge to punch the guy out.

  An overly made up brunette got in his face and grabbed his hand and started shaking it.

  “I’m Shelby’s best friend in the whole entire world and I’m here to tell you why you should marry her and how she’ll make you the happiest man in the whole entire world.” The buxom brunette scowled at Jared and the other woman. “Unlike Brigit and Alexa’s friends, who I’m sure know that they aren’t right for you at all! ”

  Jared said, “I don’t think Alexa or the other two contestants know anything about it either. Sorry, Brandon,” he added, with a grimace, in a show of male solidarity.

  Brandon plopped down on an ottoman and ran his hands through his hair. There was no end to Joe’s games, but Brandon knew he had to suck it up and get through it.

  It was the only way to come out on the other end with Alexa by his side.

  “Fine. Whatever,” he said, making no bones about his displeasure. “Who wants to go first?”

  Shelby’s friend waved her hands in the air. “Oh, I do! Me! Me!”

  Brandon tried not to let his disgust show, but he wasn’t going to go so far as to smile either. He nodded curtly.

  The girl stuck her chest out and puffed up her hair. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jared starting to shake with laughter and Brandon had to force himself to keep a straight face.

  “Ahem,” she said as she fluttered her eyelids at Brandon and ran the tip of one of her US

  flag painted fake fingernails along the edge of her overly abundant cleavage. “I am Kelly Jo Williams,” she said, each word coming out in staccato. “My best friend in the whole wide world is Shelby. She will be the perfect wife for so many reasons.” She paused as if to collect her itty bitty little thoughts and turned to give the cameras a big red-lipped smile.

  “First of all, Shelby wants world peace.”

  Brandon coughed into his hand to hide his laughter, but Jared let his guffaw ring out loud and clear. Kelly Jo had obviously seen one too many Miss America contests.

  After shooting Jared a look that would have flattened a lesser man, she continued. “Also, Shelby works out so hard! No one can go longer than she can on the StairMaster! Her buns and thighs are super tight.”

  Brandon could tell that Kelly Jo was just getting started and Jared had collapsed into the couch in peals of laughter. He held up his hand to try and stop the circus show.

  “Maybe just one more reason, Kelly Jo. I don’t want everyone else to run out of time.”

  In fact if all of you could just get the hell out of here so that I can see Alexa again I’d appreciate
it, he thought uncharitably.

  Kelly Jo blinked her heavily mascara’d eyelashes uncertainly. “Oh, OK. Um, one more thing is that Shelby really loves to give,” she looked around at the cameras, “I don’t know if I can say this on national television…”

  Brandon had a sinking feeling he knew what Kelly Jo was going to say, but he couldn’t stop her in time as she blurted out, “Brandon, I think you definitely need to know that I’ve heard from some of the guys at our gym that Shelby gives the best bl-”

  Brandon stood up abruptly and cut her off. “Thanks Kelly Jo. That was really helpful.”

  He turned pointedly to the demure woman in the cream matching sweater set sitting between Jared and Kelly Jo. “Why don’t you go next?”

  He sat back down and the young woman stood up, her face blotched red with shock from what Kelly Jo had been trying to say. The woman smoothed her hands over her skirt, her diamond wedding ring blinking.

  “I’m Elsie and I’ve been friends with Brigit since high school,” she said with a distinct Midwestern accent. “Um, I know she’s been wanting to get married for a long time and…” Her words drifted off and she seemed to be at a complete loss for words.

  Brandon felt sorry for Elsie and for a moment he was taken out of his own misery at how obviously embarrassed she was by the whole thing. Making an effort to help ease her suffering a little he said, “How did you feel when you found out that she was a contestant on this show?”

  Elsie smiled shyly at him. “I was pretty surprised when I found out. It just doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that Brigit would do.”

  She cut herself off, her face even blotchier when she realized that she had said something wrong and might have turned Brandon off of Brigit forever. But Brandon had a feeling he might be able to get the truth out of Brigit’s friend if he pushed just the slightest bit harder.

  “Was she in a serious relationship before she came here?”

  Elsie nodded, her eyes downcast. “But they’re not together anymore. Obviously. He wasn’t good enough for her.” The girl gave him a tremulous smile. “You seem nice.”

  Brandon smiled. “I appreciate that you think so and thanks for being honest with me Elsie.” With a sigh he said, “Honesty can be hard to come by sometimes.” Giving her another smile he said, “Is there anything else you’d like to tell me about Brigit?”

  Elsie twisted her hands nervously. “Just that Brigit is a wonderful person and deserves true love.”

  “I agree,” Brandon said smoothly. He waited for Elsie to sit down before getting up and going to stand by the fireplace. He turned his attention to Jared. He wasn’t going to play Mr.

  Polite with Jared. And he wasn’t going to take whatever he had to say sitting down. If Jared had come to steal Alexa away from him, then he was in for the fight of his life.

  “I guess it’s my turn now, huh?” Jared said.

  Brandon barely contained his scowl.

  Jared shifted his big frame on the couch. “Never mind. Don’t answer that. Let’s see, why should you pick Alexa?” he thought out loud.

  Brandon didn’t need Jared to give him one single reason. He could have come up with a hundred right then and there all by himself. Funny, smart, passionate, beautiful. The reasons kept going on as long as her legs did. But on the other hand, Brandon found it interesting that Alexa’s best friend was a guy. He smiled to himself. Nothing about her was obvious. Nothing was just as expected. One more for the list: Always surprising him.

  “What can I say?” Jared said with a shrug. “Alexa’s great. She’s funny and I like hanging out with her.”

  Brandon looked at Jared a little more closely. How interesting that Jared was going with the personality tack. Brandon didn’t believe for one minute that any guy could look at Alexa and not see a stunningly beautiful woman. And what exactly did he mean by “hanging out”?

  Getting a coffee was one thing. Rolling naked beneath silk sheets was another thing entirely. Brandon’s hands curled into tight fists and he had to focus on unfurling each finger one by one.

  “Is that all you have to say?” Brandon asked.

  Wasn’t Alexa’s friend going to push her on him a little better than that? Brandon narrowed his eyes. Unless, of course, Jared wanted to keep Alexa all to himself.

  Jared cracked his knuckles, clearly stalling for time. “Yeah. Pretty much that’s all I’ve got to say. Just that I really dig her. She’s cool. You can talk to her, you know. Not like with most girls. She’s kind of more like one of the guys, I guess.”

  Brandon couldn’t figure this Jared guy out, but right now wasn’t the time for guessing games. Next time he got Alexa alone he’d have to ask her about Jared.

  The door behind the couch swung open and Joe poked his head in, purposefully not making eye contact with Brandon. “Looks like we’re done in here, so why don’t the three of you follow me so that Brandon can give some thought to what you’ve all said before making his final selections from three lovely ladies to two.”

  Brandon watched Kelly Jo, Elsie and Jared silently leave the room. If only he could be straight with Joe by telling him that Alexa was the woman he wanted, that he had known it right from the start, from before the stupid show had even begun, they could have skipped all of these awkward situations.

  Then again, he asked himself, what the hell had he expected when he had signed up to be Mr. Right? He had never backed down from a challenge, and he wasn’t going to back down now.

  Not when he was so close to being with the woman of his dreams. Forever, if she would have him.

  *

  Alexa waited with Brigit and Shelby outside the living room. The last person she expected to see walking through the room was Jared.

  Two women she didn’t recognize came through the door and then Jared loped out behind them and gave her a huge grin and a whistle.

  “Dang, girl. You are looking good. Where are my sunglasses?”

  Alexa launched herself into his arms. “What are you doing here?”

  He raised an eyebrow. “The producer called us.”

  “Oh no,” she said, her heart rising to her throat. Had they been digging into her life and found her out? Jane was going to kill her. And what about Brandon? He would probably marry Brigit and then she’d have to force herself to smile rather than sob while they said their vows.

  “Why?”

  “We were giving the ol’ sales pitch to Brandon. You know the why-you-should-pick-my-friend song and dance.”

  Alexa found her smile again. “I’m sure you really wowed him with your speech,” she teased, but suddenly she realized that Jared wasn’t listening to her anymore. Instead, he was staring straight at Brigit.

  In that moment it occurred to Alexa that Jared looked like a cartoon character that falls in love at first sight. His eyes were practically filled with red cartoon hearts. But the oddest thing of all was that when she turned to see how Brigit was taking her best friend’s obvious head-over-heels, arrow through the heart, devotion, Brigit’s face was an exact mirror of Jared’s.

  But Alexa didn’t have any more time to process this thought, because Joe herded them into the living room with Brandon and closed the door behind them.

  The next selection ceremony was about to begin.

  Alexa wasn’t sure whether Jared’s visit had helped or hurt her chances of making it to the final two. Although, she thought as she stole a glance at Brigit’s flustered face, she was pretty damn sure that her new friend had fallen for Jared.

  And when Brigit turned to Alexa and whispered, “Who was that cute guy you were hugging?” Alexa knew that true love had finally hit. At least for someone.

  It was just too bad for everyone involved that it wasn’t written in to the show.

  At least now she wouldn’t be the only one with a broken heart when Brigit ended up marrying Brandon on July 1st. Now it looked like Jared was going to lose out too.

  Feeling worse then ever, now that she had dragged her unsuspecting be
st-friend into the mess that was her life, Alexa sat down on the couch and folded her hands demurely on her lap and forced herself to accept what her life was doling out.

  No matter how much it might hurt.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  The next day, Alexa stood in front of her temporary closet in her temporary bedroom in her temporary mansion and surveyed her clothes dispassionately. The previous evening when Brandon had chosen her and Brigit to go on to the final round and given them beautiful platinum gold pendant necklaces from Tiffany, Alexa had felt delirious with relief, yet more frightened than ever before.

  It had nearly killed her to have to sit in the same room with Brandon. She couldn’t keep from devouring him with her eyes, remembering in vivid detail how sexy he had looked sprawled across her bed. Against her will, a flush had spread across her cheeks. And then Brandon had pierced her with such a passionate gaze, she could hardly pry her eyes away from his.

  More than anything, Alexa wished she could forget how perfectly she’d fit in Brandon’s arms. Especially given what Shelby had said just minutes before the final ceremony.

  “Did you gals have as much fun with Brandon as I did?” Brigit asked with a cheerful smile. Alexa admired the way Brigit tried to cover up her powerful, bright-eyed, heart-fluttering response to Jared, even though by doing so she inadvertently opened a big, dirty can of worms.

  Shelby replied, “I had an incredible date with Brandon. He’s so damn sexy.” She licked her lips and closed her eyes to drive her point home.

  “Good for you,” Alexa had said disagreeably.

  Satisfaction had gleamed in Shelby’s eyes. “Someone is jealous that she didn’t get any,”

  she taunted in a sing-song voice. “Some of us are obviously not Brandon’s type,” she said with disdain as she raked a haughty gaze up Alexa’s body.

  Alexa wanted to grab Shelby by the throat to shake her. Alexa wished she could give Brandon the benefit of the doubt by assuming that he had kept his promise and not fooled around with Shelby, but she was still confused as to why he had picked Shelby at the last two heart ceremonies. Plus, Alexa couldn’t overlook Shelby’s confidence, as if she and Brandon had done something to clinch her victory.