“All right. So here’s the deal, kids.” He clapped his hands together loudly, and it felt like it shook the walls.
Brian was still getting used the acoustics in this place. The smallest noise could sound a thousand times louder, and the opposite was true as well. In the staircase and foyer, someone could be right next to him talking in a normal voice and it sounded like they were whispering.
Continuing, Gavin said, “You’ve all been paired up, and from now on, you will be doing things as couples. You’ll eat together, compete together, and play together. But please, let’s keep it PG-13.”
Brian noted that Gavin stared pointedly at Brooklyn when he made that statement.
“All right. So here are the couples. First, we have Madison and Jax.”
Jax looked over at Madison, who looked not so happy about the prince she’d been given.
“Next up is Leah and Blake. Then Brian and Brooklyn.”
Brian heard Brooklyn say, “Yes,” under her breath as she turned and winked at him. He also saw Becca’s entire body tense at the announcement. He was glad that Becca hadn’t been paired with Jax. That guy was an asshole. The other guys seemed fine. The only one he really wouldn’t want her to be with was—
“Becca, you are paired with Colton.”
Colton.
Even though he knew he should be happy that Becca was going to be competing with a good guy like Colton, he wasn’t. If there was one guy here who Becca would actually fall for, it was Colton. Tall. Good-looking. Built. Cowboy. Business owner. The guy was like a girl’s wet dream come to life, and from the short amount of time that Brian had spent around him, Brian knew he was actually a good guy.
None of that would have even bothered Brian except he’d seen the two talking earlier when Colton had whispered something to Becca after she’d taken her card and her face had lit up the way it did…with him.
That old, familiar tightening in his chest was back with a vengeance. Shit. He felt like an elephant was sitting on his rib cage.
“Okay, so this is the first ‘family dinner.’ Take your seats—you’ll find place cards on the chairs. You will sit in that same location every time we shoot a scene here. Even once couples start leaving, you do not switch seats. Capisce?” When no one answered him, Gavin clapped his hands together again and exclaimed happily, “Capisce!”
Everyone turned and made their way around the table to find their seats. When Brian located his, he looked up and felt exactly like he had when he’d gotten bucked off the horse he’d been riding at the carnival in first grade. He’d fallen flat on his back and the wind had been knocked clean out of him.
Becca stood facing away from him, and for the first time tonight, he got a glimpse at the back—or more accurately the backless—part of the dress she was wearing. It was deep purple, and from the front, it looked like a normal dress she would wear. It was sleeveless with a conservative scoop neckline, and it hit her just above the knee. But now that he’d seen the entire thing, he knew it was not like any dress he’d ever seen her in before. Her entire back was exposed. The scoop in the back was not nearly as conservative as the one in the front. It stopped just below the indentation of the bottom of her spine.
Brian’s eyes drank in the smooth expanse of her ivory skin, the sensual curve that ran down the length of her back, the soft slopes of her shoulder blades. His eyes moved lower to the outline of her heart-shaped, rounded backside and he was a total goner. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything but stare at his best friend’s assets.
“Look. Our seats.”
He heard Brooklyn’s voice, but it sounded far away or like she was speaking to him from under water.
Then, he felt her wrap her fingers around his arm, and as much as he wanted to pull away from her and go be with Becca, a small voice in his head reminded him that not only was Brooklyn his ‘princess,’ but he was also being filmed. He didn’t want to make a scene or embarrass Becca.
He was barely able to rein in his out-of-control, totally over-the-top response to seeing Becca in that dress. But when he did, he turned to Brooklyn to give her his full attention.
Not because he wanted to. Because he had to.
* * *
Becca shifted in her heels, uncomfortably, feeling naked. She really wished she’d worn something else. Her cousin-in-law Amber was a clothing designer who specialized in women’s dresses, and when news had broken that Becca was going to be going on television, Amber had shown up at her door with tons of clothes. Not just for Becca to wear, but also for the other contestants if they wanted to wear them. Amber said that it was like free publicity.
So she’d taken the clothing, although she could not blame her discomfort on the fact that she’d agreed to wear the samples. Nope. There had been several much more conservative dress options. But for some reason, when she’d seen the va-va-voom dress Brooklyn was wearing, she’d put this dress on without even giving it a second thought. And that was before she knew that Brooklyn was Brian’s ‘princess.’
Seriously?!
Why did it have to be her? Becca was trying to keep an open mind with the girl, but something about her rubbed Becca the wrong way. Specifically, the way she kept rubbing up on Brian like a cat in heat.
“I think this is us,” Colton said as he removed the hand he’d placed on Becca’s lower back and pulled out the chair that had her name on it.
“Thanks,” Becca smiled at him as she sat down on the high-backed, padded, velvet chair.
Relief and irritation flowed through her as she took her seat. Relief because she could lean back and cover her totally bare back. And irritation over the fact that Colton’s hand resting on her lower back hadn’t even registered on the wowza scale when all Brian had to do was look at her and the scale exploded.
What was wrong with her? Brian was off-limits, and Colton seemed like a really nice guy. Not to mention he talked with the sexiest Southern drawl. It was like everything he said came out at just a little slower speed than everyone else.
Placing her napkin on her lap, Becca was surprised when there was suddenly a large plate with chicken, scalloped potatoes, and vegetables in front of her. Well, at least she could eat the potatoes and veggies. They looked delicious, too.
“Everything okay?” Colton asked as she looked at the plate.
“Oh yeah. It smells delicious.” She nodded with a smile.
She cringed inwardly at how fake her voice sounded. It was so weird to try to have a normal conversation with someone when she knew that they were being recorded and filmed. She didn’t know how the others were doing it so well. She felt stiff and was second-guessing every word she said.
While the other four girls had been upstairs all getting settled, unpacking, and looking around their suite, they had been talking and laughing. Mainly talking about themselves. Becca had barely said one word. Actually, that’s all she’d said. One word. Brooklyn had asked her if she and Brian had been friends for a long time and Becca had said, “Yes.” That had been it. Her great contribution to the conversation.
It wasn’t just that she was having a hard time feeling comfortable in front of the cameras. The other issue was that, although she wasn’t even close to as private as her sister Jessie (who basically thought everyone was on a need-to-know basis and no one really needed to know anything), she wasn’t sure that she wanted her business broadcast for the whole world to hear. Not that she had that much ‘business’ to speak of. The most scandalous thing she’d ever done was fall in love with her best friend, and she certainly wasn’t going to be broadcasting that piece of info for everyone and their brother to hear—definitely not on a show where he was competing against her for love.
Becca felt Colton’s stare on her and she turned to see that he’d narrowed his eyes like he was trying to figure her out. “What?” she asked, not having any idea what could possibly be so mysterious about her that he would look like that.
A small smile crept up on his face. “You�
�re a vegetarian. Aren’t you?”
“Oh. Yeah, I am.” Becca felt heat creep up her cheeks as she spoke. It wasn’t that she was embarrassed about the fact that she didn’t eat meat. That wasn’t it at all. No, her flush stemmed from the unadulterated, undivided attention Colton was showing her. “How did you know?”
“I saw it in your eyes when you looked at your chicken,” he told her.
“Wow. That’s very perceptive of you.” She wasn’t just saying that in a sad attempt to flirt. She was actually impressed by his sleuth skills, so she told him so, “I’m impressed.”
He winked as he said, “I’m hoping that won’t be the last time I impress you.”
Becca smiled. “I don’t know. You’ve set the bar pretty high. I mean, what could you possibly do to top that?”
He leaned slightly forward and lowered his voice, his eyes dancing with flirtation. “Is that a challenge?”
“Yes, sir. I believe it is.” Becca nodded as she stared into Colton’s emerald-green eyes and felt…nothing.
Why? Why couldn’t her lady parts sit up and take notice of those gorgeous, green eyes instead of the light-brown eyes that belonged to the one man she absolutely could not risk losing.
A sound of glass clinking was followed by a loud voice announcing, “Can I have your attention?”
Becca turned to see Jax standing up at the end of the table, hitting his fork against his wine glass.
Of course. He would be the one to interrupt everyone’s dinner just to draw the attention back on himself. She still couldn’t believe what she’d heard when she’d walked into the dining room. No, actually she could believe it. He seemed like a male-chauvinistic type.
All eyes turned towards him, and he set his glass down and cleared his throat.
“I just wanted to apologize for my asinine comments earlier. I was joking around with the guys. Not that that’s an excuse—it’s not. But I would never have said it if I thought any of you ladies would have overheard it. I respect women. I do. I was raised by a single mom who worked two jobs just to keep a roof over our heads. She’s not just the most amazing woman I know. She’s also the most amazing person I know.”
Reaching up, he squeezed the bridge of his nose and sniffed before taking a deep breath and continuing. “Sometimes, I just say the first thing I think of to try to make people laugh. I mean, look at me.” He motioned his hand down his torso. “I’m not the kind of guy people feel at ease and comfortable around. Joking around is my way of putting everyone at ease. But it shouldn’t have been at your ladies’ expense, and for that, I’m truly sorry.”
Hanging his head, he sat down to a chorus of, “It’s okay,” and “Aww.” Becca didn’t say anything, but she was feeling a little bad for not giving him the benefit of the doubt. Usually, she had a three-strike rule with people. Which, basically, meant that she reserved judgment until someone repeated a behavior at least three times. People had bad days—bad weeks, even. She tried not to let one action define what she thought of someone.
She felt Colton’s arm wrap around her before he leaned close, really close, to her ear. He whispered so low that she could barely hear him, “Don’t feel bad or change your opinion too quick. I heard him practicing that little speech upstairs when he was in the shower. I asked him what he was doing, and he said, ‘Practicing my redemption speech for airtime’.”
Becca thought she’d heard him right, but she turned towards Colton and mouthed, “He planned that?”
Colton nodded then removed his arm from around her and began eating while he gave her a private smile.
Two things occurred to her. This was a reality show, but that didn’t mean that it was real. This was, first and foremost, a competition. People were not all here to find love or even here with the best intentions. Even the good people, which she considered herself and Brian to be in that category, had ulterior motives.
She was only here to support her best friend, and Brian was only here for the money. It was fairly obvious that Brooklyn was here for what looked like the same reason as Jax—airtime. It made her wonder… Why was Colton here?
He seemed like a good guy. He was good-looking. Educated. He owned property and a business. Why would he go on a dating show?
Well, she guessed there was one way to find out.
“So what made you want to do this?” Becca asked quietly, even though she was pretty sure the mics picked up everything they said anyway. But, at least the other contestants sitting around them wouldn’t hear.
He paused for a moment, still looking down at his plate. Then his eyes lifted to hers as he said with a half smile, “I’ll tell you if you tell me.”
“I just wanted to try something new. After I graduate and complete my residency, I want to settle down and have a family, so I figured what other time would I have a chance to do something like this?” Becca managed to get it out in one breath. She figured that it was her story and she was sticking to it. It had convinced Brian, at least enough to drop the subject, so she hoped it would have the same effect on Colton.
Becca hated lying, and that’s all she seemed to have been doing over the last few days. For some reason, whenever she even had to bend the truth, she felt like there was a big blinking neon sign on her forehead that said L-I-A-R.
“Oh,” he said with a blank expression on his face.
She couldn’t tell if he’d believed it, but she figured she’d move the conversation along either way. “Your turn.”
He wiped his mouth with his napkin and took a sip from his wine before shifting in his chair towards her. “Well, my little sister has leukemia and she loves reality shows. She also loves butting into my life. So when she asked me to try out, I couldn’t say no. How do you say no to someone’s dying wish?”
It was official. She was the worst person in the world.
“Seriously?” Becca asked before she could stop herself.
She saw the side of his mouth twitch and a spark in his eye as he said, “No. Not seriously.”
“What?!” Becca swatted his arm. And not playfully either. She hit him. Hard. Who would joke about something like that? An asshole—that’s who.
“Hey,” Colton protested as he grabbed his arm and smiled at her. “Just the deathbed part. The rest is true. Jolene does have leukemia, but she’s been in remission for six months. I am doing the show because she asked me to, but only because after what I saw her go through with chemo and radiation, I figured if my going on this show could bring her a little happiness, it was the least I could do. And hey, if I find someone in the process, then all the better.”
“Oh, well…that’s really sweet. I’m sorry that she went through that.” Becca’s voice cracked and she felt tears brimming in her eyes.
She looked down at her food and tried to fight back the tears. Colton might not, technically, be here for fairytale love, but he was open to it. Too bad his ‘princess’ wasn’t.
She shouldn’t be here. What if she had said no? He might have actually found his fairytale love.
“Sorry,” he apologized, and she felt his hand rub up and down her back. “I shouldn’t have done that. I just thought, since you weren’t telling me the whole truth, I wouldn’t tell you either.”
“What?” Becca looked up, not following.
“You may want to try new experiences, but that’s not why you’re here,” he said with a knowing smile before turning back to his plate and continuing to eat.
Becca picked up her fork and couldn’t help but feel…exposed. Her eyes automatically shot to Brian, who looked to be deep in a flirty conversation with Brooklyn. The worst part of seeing them stare into each other’s eyes while talking in hushed voices was that they actually made a really cute couple. They looked like a wedding cake topper. Like the quarterback and the head cheerleader. Like the leading man and lady in a romantic comedy.
They looked like a real fairytale couple.
Chapter Thirteen
Brian yawned for at least the tenth time since he
’d sat down at the table for breakfast. Every time he did, Brooklyn got a hurt look in her eye. The last few, she’d even started sighing, crossing her arms, and—hand to God—stuck out a boo-boo lip. What grown woman stuck out her bottom lip like she was a petulant toddler?
He’d ignored her behavior for a couple of reasons. One, he wasn’t a morning person and dealing with someone pouting was not the thing that would suddenly convert him and put him in a good mood. He could just explain that he’d had a bad night’s sleep, but that would inevitably lead to questions. Brian didn’t feel like making up a reason that he hadn’t slept the night before. And there was no way he was going to tell her the truth—that he’d tossed and turned because of the all-night showing of the Becca-and-Colton movie playing in his head. And he’d witnessed enough real-life interaction to have a large pool to fill his mind with. Last night, during dinner, he’d seen them whispering to each other, laughing. Hell, once he’d even seen her tear up.
What could that guy have possibly been telling her to incite that reaction?
Becca might be putting up with the cameras and forcing a smile or two, but he knew her. There was no way that she had been faking those tears or the smiles Brian had seen her shooting the cowboy.
“Did you hear me?” Brooklyn asked, interrupting his thoughts, sounding not too pleased.
He would think that she was just trying to play it up to get more airtime, but they weren’t filming right now. No one was mic’d. Everyone was just eating breakfast, which meant she was really trying to connect.
Shit.
Brian picked up his mug of coffee and saw that it was empty. That wouldn’t do. Not at all.
“No. Sorry.” Scooting his chair back, he held up his mug. “I’m gonna go get a refill, and then, when I get back, I’ll be all ears. I promise.”
That got a little smile from her. “Okay. If you promise,” she said in a baby voice.
A baby voice.
Seriously. Pouting. A baby voice. How was he going to last through breakfast, much less the rest of the week or even the next few weeks?
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