Coffee. He was going to need a lot of coffee.
He stepped up to the breakfast buffet the show had set up at the far end of the dining hall and was just reaching for the handle of the coffee pot when he heard, “If you take the last cup of coffee, I will kill you.”
He turned to see Becca staring up at him. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and it looked like it was still wet. Her skin was clean and fresh, not a drop of makeup—unlike the half inch Brooklyn had on—and instead of the booty shorts and shirts (if you could even call them that, since they looked like bras to Brian) all the other girls were wearing, Becca had on a pair of blue jeans and a white, ribbed tank top. She looked so fucking beautiful that it broke his heart.
“That’s a promise. Not a threat. I need that coffee.”
“Rough night?” he asked as he poured the remaining java into her mug.
She’d lifted her mouth before he’d even had a chance to set the coffee pot down. She moaned as she tilted the cup and sipped the hot contents with a look of absolute euphoria on her face.
Damn. He wished he were the one putting those looks on her face. Not a cup of coffee.
After a few seconds of enjoying her cup o’ joe, she let out a loud exhale and said, “You have no idea.”
And just like always, when it came to Becca, every cell in his body went on protective alert. He felt his posture stiffen as he asked, “Why? What happened? Did someone do something?”
“Whoa. Slow your roll there, RoboCop.” Becca smiled up at him and patted his chest.
And just like that, his world righted itself. One smile, one touch, from Becca Sloan was all it took to make everything right. Just like that, snap, his bad mood was gone. She was his sunshine that instantly made all the gray clouds disappear.
“It’s nothing like that, just…” She looked around them before stepping closer and lowering her voice. “These girls were up all night. Madison was upset because Jax is her prince. Leah and Natalie were crying—I still don’t know what that was about. And Brooklyn, well… I don’t know what she was doing, but she was on her iPad until four a.m.”
“Sorry, Beckles.” Brian palmed the top of her head like he’d been doing since he’d grown a head taller than her in middle school and pulled her to his chest before kissing the top of her head.
Usually, she’d wrap her arms around him and just stay there for a minute, leaning against him. Today, she pulled away and looked up at him with a worried expression on her face.
“You can’t do that here,” she whispered through clenched teeth.
“Why not?” Brian asked. He heard that his tone was defensive, but he couldn’t help it. His mind had passed go and immediately jumped to the space that said she was saying that he couldn’t hug her because of Colton.
Her bright, blue eyes widened like he’d officially lost his mind. “Are you serious?” she asked as she cut her eyes towards the table.
He followed the direction she’d indicated and saw that Brooklyn was staring right at them, and she looked so mad that he half-expected steam to be coming out of her ears like a cartoon character.
“You need to remember why you’re here,” Becca said with a look he couldn’t quite place but was definitely in the ballpark of sad in her eyes.
Then, without another word, she turned on her heels and headed to her assigned seat. Which was next to Cowboy Colton. Colton stood when he saw her and leaned down, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek.
And just like that, his bad mood was back. It was bad enough that he knew he couldn’t be with Becca, but seeing someone else get to touch her, talk to her, flirt with her—it was torture. Pure torture.
“What were you two talking about?” Brooklyn asked as she stormed over on her six-inch heels.
Heels. Booty shorts and six-inch heels. Classy. This chick was a class act.
“Well?” She stopped right in front of him, fuming.
She could not be for real. They’d met yesterday.
He didn’t owe her an explanation, but Becca was right. He needed to remember why he was here.
“Nothing. She’s just my friend. I was seeing how she was. That’s all.”
Brooklyn’s brown eyes narrowed. “She’s just your friend?”
“Yep.” Brian was done with this conversation. He turned, and as he pulled out a coffee filter to make a new pot, he looked over his shoulder and asked, “Do you want some coffee?”
She looked at him not unlike Becca had—like he’d lost his ever-loving mind. “There are people to do that.”
“Do what?” Brian asked.
“Make coffee,” she said slowly as if she were talking to someone who didn’t speak English.
In fairness to her, after the few conversations they’d had, Brian was pretty sure they didn’t speak the same language.
“I don’t mind,” Brian explained.
“Whatever,” she said, rolling her eyes as she spun and headed back to sit down.
He had to say one thing for that girl. She could spin and stomp on those heels like a pro.
“Can I have everyone’s attention please?” Jennifer spoke loudly as she walked into the dining area. Her voice filled the space like it was being broadcast through speakers. “We’re going to need everyone dressed in their active wear with makeup and hair ready in two hours. Two hours,” she repeated as she held up her hand, her fingers in a peace sign, signifying the amount of time they had, before she turned and hustled out of the room.
Several girls, Brooklyn included, shrieked at this announcement and jumped from her seat. Apparently two hours was not ample time to get ready to do something active. She and Leah rushed to each other and started talking animatedly about their plan of how they could possibly be camera-ready in two hours.
Brian shoulders relaxed at the thought of having two Brooklyn-free hours. He realized his relaxation was a tad premature when his ‘princess’ popped up like a whack-a-mole in front of him.
“I hate to leave you, my prince, but I have to go get beautiful for you,” she purred. Then, she lifted up on her tiptoes and shocked the hell out of him by pressing her lips to his and kissing him before rushing out of the room.
Brian had to stop himself from reaching up and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Her lips had been sticky, and she’d tasted like that pink medicine he’d had to take when he was a kid. What could have possibly possessed her to do that? There were no cameras rolling.
He looked around the room to see if she’d done it for their cast mates’ benefit. But no, it looked like no one was paying a bit of attention to anything but the food in front of them. Except Becca.
She was paying attention to Colton. In fact, she looked like she was hanging on to every word he said.
Damn. Brian just lost his appetite.
Chapter Fourteen
Becca’s heart was pounding so loud that she was sure the sound guys could hear it since her mic was taped to the middle of her chest, right between her lovely lady lumps. Her palms were not just sweaty—they were drenched—and her vision was a little blurry.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Colton asked.
“What?” Becca looked at him, processing what he’d said. She’d heard him, but at the moment, it was taking her a minute for her brain to figure out what the words people said meant. And if she needed to come up with a response, well… That took at least another minute.
Luckily, in this case, a mere head nod would do.
He looked down at her with a crooked smile. “Has anyone ever told you you’re a really bad liar?”
That question she didn’t need to process to answer. “Yes. By my sisters. Actually, it’s kind of a family joke.”
“How many sisters do you have?” he asked.
“Three,” she answered as she felt a strap tighten around her thigh. Looking down, she saw a kid who could not be more than twelve kneeling in front of her. “How old are you?” she heard herself asking not as nicely as she probably should have.
“Huh?” he asked as he looked up at her.
Seriously?! Surely he couldn’t have been having the same issues processing questions as she was.
“I am serious, and don’t call me Shirley,” Leslie Nielson’s voice from Airplane played in her head.
She gave herself a mental shake. ’80s movies quotes were not going to make her feel better in this situation, but she did appreciate her inner voice trying to lighten the mood.
One more tug on the nylon strap and “Huh” Boy just stood up and walked away.
She wanted to tell him to come back, not to leave, to check her harness again, but she didn’t. Mostly because she knew that the kid could check it a hundred or a thousand times and it would not instill even an ounce more confidence in her.
“Here. Do you want me to look at it?” she heard Colton’s deep voice ask.
Her voice was shaky as she asked, “Do you know what you’re doing?”
He stared at her for a moment, and she was surprised that she did actually feel some butterflies from it. Or maybe it was just stomach acid flitting around that had been agitated by the blinding fear she was experiencing.
Either way, it was a nice distraction.
Colton took a step closer, and she had to tilt her head back to maintain eye contact. His low timbre rumbled as he assured her, “Yes, darlin’. I know what I’m doing.”
“Oh,” she said, suddenly feeling like those winged creatures fluttering around in her belly just might be Colton-inspired after all. She nodded as she agreed, “Okay.”
He lifted his hands and ran them along all of the straps of the harness, even the one that ran along her inner thigh. She had to admit that it wasn’t a bad thing having Colton’s hands on her. Truth be told, it was nice. And he didn’t look half bad in basketball shorts and a gray T-shirt. As a matter of fact, he filled both out quite nicely. His chest was broad, and she could see the lines of his muscles as he moved around her making sure that all of her equipment was secure.
After readjusting two of the straps, he straightened and announced, “You’re all good.”
Becca felt a little spark as she looked into his eyes. True, it wasn’t the massive Die-Hard, building-blowing-up explosion she felt when she looked into Brian’s eyes, but it was…nice.
“Thanks,” she said, smiling.
Jennifer came over to talk to them about the shot and what they would be doing, but Becca was having a hard time concentrating on anything the girl said. Her mind was filled with confusion. She should be happy that she was feeling something for someone other than Brian. Even if things didn’t go anywhere with Colton, at least this experience was teaching her that she wouldn’t have to be pining away for Brian for years with no hope of happiness. She might be able to meet someone, to open her heart to someone, to love someone.
All of those things were good news, but instead of jumping for joy and doing a little victory dance, all Becca really wanted to do was cry, which made no sense. But having feelings—even small, insignificant ones like she’d just felt for Colton—made her feel sad. And that was irritating.
“Okay, Fairytale Lovers.” Lance Sparrow stood in front of the giant rock-climbing wall they’d all be climbing today. “There are always obstacles on the road to happily ever after. In today’s challenge, you and your partner will be scaling this wall together. The couple that reaches the highest point in the shortest time will be safe from this week’s elimination and automatically be continuing on their journey to find fairytale love. But remember, couples—even if you don’t get immunity, your scores matter. So if all the princes and princesses could please step to the wall.”
Everyone took a few steps forward, and Becca wiped her damp hands on her leggings. She looked up and saw the bell both she and Colton had to ring to complete the challenge. Checking down the line, she saw that Madison and Jax were already fighting. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it looked to Becca like Madison did not want to do this challenge. The chestnut-haired girl kept showing Jax her nails and Becca overheard the word ‘manicure’ several times. It was comical to see the expression on Jax’s face each time she said that word. He didn’t just cringe—it looked like he was going to throw up.
Most of the couples were going over their strategies. Becca could only hear snippets, but from what she heard, it sounded like the guys were going to go ahead of the girls and then the girls were going to follow their grip path. She tried to lean forward to catch a glimpse of Brian and Brooklyn, but because the mountain that was Jax was standing between them, she wasn’t able to see anything.
“So I’m guessing you’ve never done this,” Colton stated.
“You guess right,” Becca confirmed, looking back up to the bell they were supposed to ring. It looked thousands of feet high. Her stomach was no longer filled with butterflies. Now it felt like there was hardened concrete in it.
How was she going to climb with concrete in her stomach?
Colton moved between her and the wall. His arm wrapped around her waist as he dipped his head and spoke in a low voice so that she was the only one who could hear him. “It’s really not that hard. These are the basics. Don’t tense up. Stay close to the wall. Don’t try and climb straight up—move to the side then up. Make sure to use your legs to hold your weight. Halfway up, your arms will feel like jelly, but your legs will last longer. If you need to rest, rest. I know that this is a race, but giving your muscles a break when they need them will help you perform better overall. Try not to look down and don’t overreach. Just keep your eyes on where you want to go and choose grips that are comfortable for you.”
She shot him a look like he had to be kidding. The only grips that would be comfortable for her were the ones she could reach with her feet firmly planted on the ground. But his advice made sense, and at least she had some kind of a plan instead of just free-styling it.
“You’ll see.” He nodded with a confidence that, although she felt it was wildly misplaced, still made her feel slightly better. He grinned. “You can do this. I know you can.”
That makes one of us.
“All right, Fairytale Lovers,” Lance Sparrow’s voice sounded loudly behind them. “In three, two, one. Climb!”
A horn sounded, and Becca took a deep breath before placing her hand in the orange hold above her head.
Here goes nothin’.
Becca began climbing the wall. She kept the tips Colton had given her running through her mind on repeat. As soon as she’d made her way through the list, she’d start it again. Rinse and repeat—that was her strategy.
Don’t tense up.
Stay close to the wall.
Move to the side then up.
Use your legs.
Take rests.
Don’t look down.
Don’t overreach.
Instead of getting more and more nervous, more and more scared, or more and more unsure, the higher she got on the wall, she found that the opposite happened. Confidence built inside of her. She wasn’t exactly sure how high she was, because she wasn’t looking down, when she felt her hands getting really sweaty and she started feeling like she was going to slip.
“Colton?” She heard the fear in her voice. “My hands are sweaty.”
He’d stayed close to her, climbing at her pace, not going ahead of her like she saw happening with the two couples next to them. She felt his hand on her back, and she turned to him, her breathing coming in pants.
“Relax. You’re fine. I got you,” he assured her.
How he managed to hang on with one hand while he rubbed her back when he had to be at least a foot taller than she was, not to mention close to a hundred pounds heavier, she had no idea.
“Do you want to try to wipe them on your pants one at a time?” he asked calmly.
She, however, did not respond calmly. “No,” she snapped as her body tensed. Letting go of one of these holds sounded like a horrible, horrible idea.
“Okay,” he said easily. “So let’s just hang
out for a minute. Pun intended.”
Becca felt her lips pull up in an unexpected smile as she nodded her head slightly and blew a breath out of her mouth before she looked over at him.
His instructions kept rolling through her head like the ticker tape at the NYSE.
Don’t tense up.
Stay close to the wall.
Move to the side then up.
Use your legs.
Take rests.
Don’t look down.
Don’t overreach.
After a few moments, she was feeling better. She was as relaxed as she could possibly be while dangling from the side of a rock wall. Breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth, she nodded.
“Okay. I’m good.”
“You sure?” His eyes searched hers.
“Yep.”
Becca might be feeling better, but she still wanted to get this over with as soon as freaking possible. So instead of trying to convince Colton that she was actually okay, she just pushed off of her toes and reached for the blue, plastic hold above her head and to the left a little. Once she grabbed that, she lifted her left knee up high and stepped on the black hold that was about double the distance she had been climbing.
Pulling her upper body up, she grabbed another hold then brought her right knee up, and so on and so on. Before she knew it, she was within an arm’s length of the buzzer. She looked at Colton as they both reached up and rang it. Then, leaning back so that she was pressing off the wall in a seated cradle position—like she’d been instructed to do for descent—she pushed off the wall and swung out. When she was close to the wall again, she bent her knees and pushed off again. After three push-offs, she was back, safe, on the concrete floor.
Never before in her life had she been so tempted to get on her knees and kiss the ground beneath her feet. Not even after she got off of planes. She quickly unhooked the rope that was connected to her harness, not wanting to be tethered to it one second longer than necessary.
She was still trying to get her breathing under control when she felt strong arms come around her and realized that Colton had picked her up off the ground and was spinning her around. She squealed in surprise as her arms flew around him.
Fairytale Love - Becca & Brian Page 14