“How many?”
The voice snapped him out of his inappropriate visual journey. Brian looked up and saw the hostess waiting for an answer expectantly.
“Two,” he said, taking in a deep breath to try to get his body’s response to Becca under control. The smell of coffee, bacon, and syrup immediately hit his senses as he inhaled deeply. “And if the booth in the back is open, we’d like to take it.”
“You got it.” The young brunette smiled as she grabbed two menus and showed them back to ‘their’ booth.
On the way, Brian’s stomach once again let him, and everyone in his general area, know just how hungry he was. As they slid into the booth Becca’s brows rose, her blue eyes looking up at him as she grinned.
“A little hungry?”
“Yeah.” Brian nodded.
Becca’s brows furrowed as worry filled her expression. “I noticed you didn’t eat much last night. And I know you love burrito night.”
It was true. Burrito night at the Sloan’s had always been a crowd pleaser, but no one enjoyed it quite as much as Brian had. He held the Sloan family record for most burritos consumed on burrito night with a remarkable eight burritos. Surprisingly, he’d stripped the title not from one of Becca’s huge, male cousins. Nope. Eleven-year-old Brian had beat out tiny, petite, fifteen-year-old Krista, who’d been the reigning record holder for years, coming in at an impressive six burritos. Brian still couldn’t believe how much food Becca’s sister could consume and not gain an ounce. It was crazy.
Last night, he’d barely finished one. “I just had a lot on my mind last night.”
Becca’s head tilted to the side. “Is everything okay with your dad?”
The waitress interrupted their conversation, and Brian was happy for the short reprieve. As they placed their orders, he decided that, even though he’d planned on saving his family stuff until after the ‘big’ talk, it might be better to lead with that, especially since he had no idea where the other conversation was going to take them.
“Dad’s fine,” Brian began. “As long as he takes it easy. The problem is Brit didn’t qualify for financial assistance, and after Brenden hurt his ankle, he lost his scholarship. So dad’s decided that he needs to go back to work… full time.”
Becca’s eyes widened. “He can’t do that. I thought Dr. Corbin said that he needed to retire.”
Love for the girl sitting across from him welled in Brian’s chest. Becca wasn’t just beautiful. She had the biggest heart. She cared about people so deeply.
“Yeah. That was Dr. Corbin’s recommendation. Which is why it looks like I’m not going to be headed back to NYU.”
This morning, Brian had talked to his parents about his plans not to go back to school. His dad had not been happy about it. His mom had looked equally relieved and sad. Brian knew that both of his parents wanted him to be able to continue his education, but under the circumstances, it just wasn’t possible. His mom understood that. His dad? Not so much. But Brian was sure that he would come around. He always did.
“Oh, Brian.” Becca looked pained as she reached across the table and covered his hand with hers.
At the soft touch of her fingers, his body became electrified with awareness. It was like the moment he’d pulled her into his arms on that dance floor, a switch had been flipped in him and now all it took was one look, one word, one touch and arousal spread through him like a wildfire.
“It’s fine.” He heard the huskiness in his voice and hoped that she would just read it as emotion, not lust, which was what it really was. After clearing his throat, Brian assured her, “There are worse things in this world than being able to take care of your family.”
He saw tears pool in Becca’s shockingly blue eyes as she slowly shook her head from side to side, breathing out in whisper of awe, “Do you have any idea how amazing you are?”
“Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?” Brian responded with the same reverence Becca had spoken with.
Turning his hand beneath hers, Brian began running his thumb up and down the soft skin below her thumb on her palm. He heard Becca suck in a short gasp as he looked into her brilliant, sapphire eyes. Something shifted in the air between the two of them as they sat staring at each other across the table. The dark, black circles that sat in the middle of her ocean-blue irises, dilated as her lips parted.
“Brian,” her voice came softly, nervously. She looked as if she were trying to find the courage to speak.
His heart thumped heavily in his chest as he waited for her to find the right words. Before that happened, his phone buzzed loudly in his pocket. He would’ve ignored it, but his dad was getting a checkup this morning, so Brian needed to make sure that this call wasn’t something that needed his attention.
Reluctantly, he pulled his hand from Becca’s grasp and retrieved his phone. He didn’t recognize the number. Since his mom’s phone was always dying because she never remembered to charge it, it wasn’t unheard of for her to use a stranger’s phone or call directly from the hospital.
“I should get this,” he explained to Becca. “It might be my mom.”
She nodded as he put the phone to his ear.
“Hello.”
“Yes, is this Brian? Brian Scott?” a female voice he didn’t recognize asked.
“Yes.”
“Brian, this is Sabrina Denton, producer on Fairytale Love. I’m calling to let you know that you’ve been chosen as a cast member. I’m emailing you the details and contract now. I’ll need you to return them to me by midnight, Eastern Standard Time tonight.”
With everything going on in his head about him and Becca and also his family, he’d totally forgotten about the reality show. His life was not in a place where he could take off for a month, and even though it was for TV, and not real, his heart was not in a place where he could ‘date’ someone. Not with the feelings he had for Becca.
“Thank you so much for the opportunity. Unfortunately, my circumstances have changed and I won’t be able to—”
The producer on the other end of the phone interrupted him, not seeming at all surprised by his reluctance. “It’s twenty thousand dollars guaranteed. Five hundred thousand for the couple that wins the show, five hundred thousand for the couple if they agree to shoot a spinoff, and if they make it an entire year and the ratings support it, then a bonus five hundred thousand per person. That’s a chance at a million dollars and a guaranteed twenty thousand.”
The waitress showed up and delivered their food, but he barely noticed. As he stared into the blue pools of Becca’s gorgeous eyes, everything inside of him was screaming to hang up the phone and tell her how he felt about her. That he loved her. Not just as a friend. That he was madly in love with her and he wanted to be with her. That it didn’t matter if she didn’t return his feelings—she was the love of his life and he had to tell her.
If it were just him, that’s exactly what Brian would do. But it wasn’t just him. In the situation his parents had found themselves in, there was no way Brian could be selfish enough to turn down that kind of money. Twenty thousand dollars would go a long way in helping with tuition. Not to mention the chance at a million.
Brian felt like he was caught between a love rock and a financial hard place. But he knew what he had to do.
“All right. Go ahead and email the details,” Brian said. He heard the uncertainty in his own voice.
Apparently, Sabrina subscribed to the ‘stop while you’re ahead’ sales philosophy because after a clipped, “Sounds good,” the line disconnected and she was gone.
Brian felt numb as he put the phone back in his pocket.
“Everything okay?” Becca asked sweetly.
“Yeah.” Brian looked down at his plate filled with pancakes, eggs, and bacon, and even though just minutes ago he’d been starving, he had absolutely no appetite whatsoever now. Raking his fingers through his hair, he let out a breath as he leaned back against the booth. Then, looking up at his best friend, the girl he
was ready to pledge his unwavering, undying love for, he explained, “I got the show. I’m going to be on Fairytale Love.”
* * *
Becca’s heart ached like it was breaking from the inside out. She knew that she should be happy for her friend. But…she wasn’t.
Brian let out a frustrated breath as he sat up straighter and placed his elbows on the table. When his eyes met hers, she felt his stare all the way to the tips of her toes, with a special emphasis between her legs.
The energy between them crackled with electricity. Becca felt herself holding her breath. She wasn’t doing it on purpose. Her non-breathing status was purely an involuntary response to Brian’s golden eyes locked with hers.
She could see that something was going on behind the amber-colored windows to his soul. He was battling with something, and her instincts were telling her that it was something big. But no matter how badly the little voice inside of her head was screaming at her to speak, to say something, anything, all she could do was sit, breath held, and wait.
“I don’t want to do this, the show. But I can’t turn down the money,” Brian explained in an apologetic, tortured tone.
Becca finally took a breath. She wasn’t sure exactly what she had expected him to say. But it hadn’t been that. Definitely not that.
Feeling like the worst friend, the worst person, in the world for not being excited for her friend, she pasted the best fake smile she could muster on her face. “Are you kidding me? This is so exciting!”
Brian stared at her, and she knew that he could see right through her Suzy-smiles-a-lot persona.
“So where does it shoot? How long will you be gone? Did they say what prince they cast you as? Do you know if you’re Phillip?” Becca rapid-fired questions at Brian. She had a tendency to do that when she was upset or nervous.
Thinking about whatever girl would be lucky enough to be Brian’s ‘princess,’ she heard Watts from Some Kind of Wonderful in her head, saying, “Break his heart, I’ll break your face.” She would, too. Whoever it was better be good to him.
Brian shook his head slightly as if he were coming out of a fog. “You know, what. I didn’t even ask. But Sabrina, the producer, said that she would be emailing me the details and contracts.”
“That’s great,” Becca enthused brightly. Only after her response had left her lips did she realize that he hadn’t said anything that needed that level of support. An ‘oh, okay’ would have been sufficient. She needed to pull it together and be Brian’s friend. “So, if you win, does that mean you’ll get to go back to school?”
Brian let out a forced laugh as he said, “Yeah, if I win. That’s a big if, but the producer said that the couple who wins gets five hundred thousand dollars then an additional five hundred large if they agree to do a follow-up spinoff, and then, if that goes well and they make it a full year, they get another five hundred thousand each.”
“A year?” Becca heard herself repeat as she gulped over a large knot that had formed instantly in her throat at Brian’s words. He could potentially be with his ‘princess’ for a year? Of course, that made sense.
Logically, Becca knew that the financial incentive made perfect sense. The show would want the publicity of having the success story of the relationship working out. Becca tried to quiet the voice inside of her head that was screaming, “No, don’t go. Please don’t go find the love of your life on a reality show!”
Brian’s mouth pulled up in a half smile as he looked at Becca with so much emotion that it almost caused her to get choked up. It also held the panic that was bubbling up inside of her at bay.
“What?” she asked.
A lot of times, he got that look on his face when he thought she was doing something cute, but she was abso-freaking-lutely sure that she was not doing anything that could possibly be classified as even remotely ‘cute’ at the moment.
Brian’s hands once again covered hers and his thumb brushed along the sensitized skin of her palm right below her thumb. His featherlight touch sent a shooting sensation straight to her lady parts. She had never studied reflexology, but there had to be something to it, because holy hot sauce, it was like there was a direct line from her palm to the apex at her thighs.
“Anyone else would have asked about the money. But not you. You ask about the time commitment,” Brian said, his tone indicating that he thought that was a good thing. Endearing, even.
Becca decided that she was going to have to assume that’s how he meant it, because at this moment, all of the cells in her body were currently rising up in revolt against her very firm command of ‘no swooning.’ She was smack-dab in the middle of one of the biggest swoon moments in her life from a brush of Brian’s thumb. So she had no brain cells to spare to try to come up with a follow-up question.
She felt a buzzing against her hip, and the thought, briefly, flashed in her mind that it was weird that the sensation Brian’s caress was causing had migrated from between her legs. It wasn’t until Brian pointed out that Becca’s phone was ringing that she realized that it was not arousal but someone calling her.
“Oh, right.” She pulled her hand away from him and pulled out her phone.
Her mom had wanted her to stop by this morning to go through some pictures she’d found up in the attic. She’d agreed to go over there before Brian had called and said that he needed to talk to her and asked her to go to breakfast.
Thinking it was her mom checking to see where she was, Becca answered distractedly, “Hi.”
“Hi, I’m looking for Becca Sloan.” A deep, unfamiliar voice spoke with authority.
“This is she.” Becca wished she would have checked the caller ID instead of just assuming that it had been her mom calling. She had no idea who this was.
“This is Gavin Halloway, a producer with Fairytale Love.”
“Hi,” Becca said, not sure why the producer would be calling her phone unless they were looking for Brian. Or maybe they were looking for information on Brian. They always used each other as references. She figured that must be it.
“You have been chosen as a cast member on Fairytale Love,” Gavin said in an almost comical-style announcer voice.
Becca wasn’t sure if this was a joke or not. “Are you serious?”
She looked up at Brian, who still seemed as if he was having a serious internal battle raging inside of him as he stared down at the full plate of breakfast food. He wasn’t eating; which meant he was not okay.
Brian had had to grow up way too fast. He’d had more responsibilities, before he had been legally allowed to drive, than most adults. The weight of the world had been on his shoulders then, and sadly, still was.
Becca hated seeing him like that. Every instinct inside of her just wanted to take all the stress and worry away from him. She used to just want to distract him by watching movies, playing board games, and hanging out. Now, she still wanted to distract him, but the methods she wanted to use weren’t nearly as innocent.
“Am I serious? Of course I’m serious. I’ve already emailed you the contract and your call sheet.”
“Call sheet?” Becca repeated as her mind began spinning like a pinwheel. She didn’t have any idea what this Gavin was talking about. Her audition had been a fluke. She did not want to be on a reality show.
At the words ‘call sheet,’ Brian’s head snapped up and his eyes widened.
He mouthed, “Who is that?”
Gavin spoke quickly. “That’s right, and I need you to get it back to me tonight by midnight, Eastern Standard Time. I’ll see you tomorrow—”
“Hold on.” Becca lowered the phone and covered the speaker with her hand as she whispered to Brian, “It’s the show. They said I got cast.”
Brian’s face lit up like it used to when they had an unexpected assembly in elementary school. Or when he’d hit the ball over the fence in little league in middle school. Or when she’d show up at his house with cheesecake in high school.
Sounding happier than she’d heard h
im in she couldn’t remember how long, he asked, “You did?”
Becca nodded. Seeing his mood change so drastically made her feel like she was going to throw up. How was she going to break it to him that she didn’t want to do it? She’d broken out in hives during the audition; in front of the camera was not where she belonged. Plus, this was a dating show. She didn’t want her business broadcast for everyone to see.
But the last thing she wanted to do was disappoint Brian, she had just been wishing that there was something she could do to cheer him up. Unfortunately, watching him romance some girl in front of her was not what she had in mind. Also, her sister’s wedding was in a month. She needed to be here to help Krista.
That’s it.
Putting the phone back to her ear, she said, “What is the schedule? My sister is getting married in a month.”
If she could get out of this on a scheduling technicality, then yes, she would still be disappointing Brian but it would be out of her hands. Sure, she knew that she was being a big, fat, clucking chicken but…cluck, cluck.
“Perfect. We’re filming for three weeks. Then there is a two-week break before the finale.”
“Oh.” Becca’s mind was doing a mental Google search for any other reason—other than she really freaking did not want to do this—to get out of the show.
Before she could come up with anything, Gavin said he would talk to her soon and disconnected the call. As she placed her phone back in her purse, all she could think was, Crap, crap, crap.
When she looked back up at Bri, he was smiling from ear to ear. “Can you believe this?” he asked her excitedly.
“No,” Becca answered honestly.
“We’re going to be on a TV show together,” Brian said with the same excitement Becca thought someone would have from winning the lottery.
Fairytale Love - Becca & Brian Page 8