Harlequin KISS November 2014 Box Set: Behind Closed Doors...Fired by Her FlingWho's Calling the Shots?Nine Month Countdown

by Anne Oliver

  Again Jack tensed. Brooke watched the muscles in his back through the now wet shirt. He didn’t move from where he was perched on the sand in front of Alissa. His eyes never left her face.

  This was a Jack Brooke hadn’t seen before. She hadn’t expected it. She hadn’t expected the calm with which he handled the situation or the tenderness as he stroked Alissa’s head. Jack didn’t seem to her to be a sympathetic man. She wondered if he was doing it just for the cameras, but when she looked around the cameras were switched off. This wasn’t for TV—this was just him. Calming Alissa down. Making her feel safe.

  But of course he was. Anyone would do that in this situation. No one could see a panicked woman and ignore her. He wasn’t special. He wasn’t doing anything a normal person wouldn’t do. Not that she thought him a normal person. But right now, on the beach in the sand, with a woman who’d thought she was going to die, Brooke saw a man. Just a man. Trying to help.

  She shook her head. He was the enemy. The man who was trying to make her look like a fool. The man who didn’t care about the women on this show. She was just shocked that he was a normal human being, that was all. He definitely wasn’t different.

  The lifeguard managed to lie Alissa down with Jack’s help, but she wouldn’t let Jack’s hand go. He had to walk to the ambulance with her.

  ‘Please come with me,’ begged Alissa, her eyes still red and her chest still heaving.

  An ample chest, Brooke noticed. Alissa’s breasts were spilling out of her bikini top. Brooke managed to locate a blanket and threw it over Alissa. To keep her warm and protect her modesty. Definitely not because she didn’t want Jack to see her breasts. She didn’t care whose breasts Jack ogled.

  ‘Of course I will. Brooke—you jump in too.’ Jack turned to her for the first time since they’d met Alissa on the beach.

  ‘Me? What for? There’s not enough room.’ It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go with Alissa. She just didn’t like to be ordered about by him. And she noticed the cameras had been turned on again.

  ‘Because I shouldn’t be in the shots and she needs someone to be with her the whole time. You’ll have to sit next to her so it looks like you’re taking her to the hospital.’

  Brooke wanted to argue. She wanted to tell him that it wasn’t reality TV if he dictated who went where and sat where and said what—where was the reality in that? But the truth was she was worried about Alissa and she knew Alissa wouldn’t let him go. And she knew he’d keep insisting and she just wanted to fix this.

  So she hauled herself up into the ambulance, knowing the camera was on her face and knowing it would look as if she was the one who was comforting Alissa when it was really Jack.

  But then she remembered her tiny red bikini. And how good it would look if she were the heroine, helping someone in her Wright Sports bikini. And she thought of her sisters, and she sat in the ambulance and held Alissa’s hand while Jack sat on the other side, just out of camera view, doing all the comforting work.

  FOUR

  The oxygen and whatever else the lifeguards and the paramedics had mixed into Alissa’s mask was calming her down. They’d checked her out and there didn’t seem to be anything very wrong with her. Her lungs had taken in a lot of water and she was in shock, but otherwise she was well. No cuts or bruises or dangerous internal injuries.

  Alissa’s hand relaxed in Brooke’s. Her eyes rolled back and forth between Brooke and Jack.

  ‘You saved me,’ she said to Jack, who was off-camera.

  He smiled at her. Brooke watched his face as the sincere smile softened it. Lines appeared at his eyes. He looked older, gentler. More real. He didn’t say anything but flicked his eyes suddenly to Brooke and raised his eyebrows—nodding as if to tell her to say something in response because he wasn’t supposed to be there.

  ‘Oh, you’re...you’re safe now, Alissa.’

  Alissa’s head lolled back to Brooke. ‘Brooke, you’re here too?’ She was smiling.

  Brooke smiled back and squeezed the spaced-out Alissa’s hand. ‘I’m here too.’

  ‘You’re here... You’re always here. Fighting for us and sticking up for us and not taking any crap from anyone. Our big sister.’

  Alissa squeezed Brooke’s hand and tried to get up. Brooke rested her hand on Alissa’s shoulder. Jack did the same on his side.

  ‘You’re so little, but you’re so big—y’know? Angry. Loud. Opinionated.’

  Alissa smiled at her and Brooke smiled tightly back. Brooke knew Alissa’s drugs were starting to kick in, but her words had still managed to freeze Brooke’s heart. Angry? Loud? Opinionated? Her? Was that what they thought of her? That so wasn’t her. Quiet. Predictable. Dull. Easy. That was her. Happy. Alissa was just pumped up on something. She didn’t know what she was talking about.

  ‘I’m not loud...’ Brooke’s eyes flicked to Jack’s and they met. He smiled with one side of his mouth and she understood. She was always loud with him. And angry and argumentative. This was bad. This show was changing her. She was becoming someone she wasn’t and she didn’t like it.

  ‘We’ve been worried about you, Brooke...’ Alissa was talking again—all slurred and sleepy. ‘Who’s going to be your perfect match? What man will want you? You’ll frighten them all away with your angry women’s lib speeches and all those little muscles you have. So hard, Brooke...’ Alissa reached out and squeezed Brooke’s bicep. ‘Hard and angry.’

  Brooke’s smile froze. That was what the others thought of her? That wasn’t her. She wasn’t hard or angry. It was these cameras and Jack. Brooke looked up. Him. It was him who brought this out in her. This side of her personality she thought she’d buried years ago.

  ‘You’re pretty, though. You have a lovely smile. You should smile more. You’d look prettier. And you have some amazing clothes!’ Alissa turned to Jack. ‘She’s pretty and nice and has nice clothes. You like her, don’t you, Jack? He likes you Brooke. Can’t stop looking at you. Can you, Jack? Maybe he’s your perfect match!’

  Brooke knew it was the drugs talking. She knew Alissa had no idea what she was saying. But still her words made her stop still. Jack looked at her? No, he didn’t. Not like that. He thought she was a troublemaker. Someone who spoke without thinking. He didn’t like her.

  A lump caught in Brooke’s chest. She’d thought her temper was gone. Her sisters had made sure of that. They’d loved her despite her temper. But her parents hadn’t been able to tolerate it. She hadn’t been good enough for them.

  The thought flew into her head unexpectedly. She hadn’t thought like that in years. Her sisters had made sure those thoughts stayed out of her head. But her sisters weren’t here. She hadn’t seen them or talked to them in almost a week and she just wasn’t herself without them. She was angry and volatile and now she was pathetic and feeling sorry for herself.

  Right now, as she held Alissa’s hand and let the drugged woman’s words swirl in her head, all she wanted to do was call her sisters. But Jack’s rules stated that there was to be no contact with the outside world. The only people they could talk to were people on the show.

  Jack had provided counsellors, and a couple of the girls had already spoken to them. But Brooke just wanted her sisters. The women who loved her and cared about her and wanted the best for her. The people who would tell her when she was being difficult, let her know when her dress was too short and hold her when everything got too much. But they weren’t here and the cameras were rolling and Alissa was still going on to Jack about how much he looked at Brooke.

  ‘No one is looking at me, Alissa. You’re right. I’m too loud and angry. But I’m not worried about me right now—how are you feeling?’

  Alissa moved sluggishly. ‘Oh, darling, you’re not angry at me, are you?’ Alissa turned to Jack. ‘She’s always angry at something and someone. Mainly you. Why is she so angry at you all th
e time? What have you done? Have you hurt her?’ Alissa tried to get up again. ‘Don’t you hurt her—because she sticks up for us and she’s good and kind and lovely and I don’t want you to hurt her.’

  Brooke’s cheeks burned. Alissa’s words were making it more and more awkward by the second. Her insistence that Jack felt something for her was ridiculous. And her insistence that Brooke was an angry person was even more humiliating. Angry was something she never wanted to be again.

  Brooke couldn’t look at Jack. She knew what she’d see. Horror. Denial. She had to get Alissa to stop talking about her because the cameras were rolling and she wouldn’t shut up and she didn’t want everyone in Australia hearing about all this stuff.

  ‘You need to rest, Alissa. Stop talking and rest.’

  Finally she looked at Jack. She dreaded his smug and patronising face. Or, worse, his pathetic sad face, feeling sorry for her. But when she looked at him his face was none of those things. He was looking at her, his eyes steady and his jaw set. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but he didn’t. He just held her eyes as he held Alissa’s hand.

  Alissa spoke again, this time to Jack, but Brooke didn’t hear. All she could focus on was Jack’s direct look. It spoke of comfort and understanding and resolution. She wasn’t sure why, but he was holding her gaze steady.

  Brooke felt the thumping in her chest caused by Alissa’s words starting to recede. Alissa was talking about something else now. Something about a zoo and the animals escaping. Her words made Brooke break Jack’s gaze and she looked back just in time to see Alissa start to doze off.

  The paramedics came then and checked her over, so Brooke moved away to the front of the ambulance. She watched as the camera followed the movements of the paramedics and Alissa, and didn’t notice that Jack had moved and was now sitting next to her.

  ‘I think she’ll be OK.’

  He didn’t say anything about what Alissa had said. Good. She didn’t want him to.

  ‘You look at me?’ No, don’t say that.

  ‘I...’

  ‘You hate me.’

  ‘I don’t hate you, Brooke.’

  ‘You said I was a troublemaker.’

  ‘You are.’

  ‘Then why do you look at me?’ Brooke faced him, her fingers hurting as she gripped the seat. She really shouldn’t be talking—shouldn’t be asking him this. Why couldn’t she just shut up?

  His dark eyes held hers. Brooke’s heart thumped. They weren’t close. They weren’t touching. But she could feel him. Feel him breathing and feel him near her. Big and strong and solid. She held her breath.

  ‘I look at you because I find it hard to turn away.’

  Brooke sat silently. She had nothing to say. No words formed on her tongue or in her head. Nothing.

  Alissa started to talk again and the ambulance bounced heavily on the road. Brooke felt Jack’s leg press against hers. Deliberately. It didn’t move with the bumps. The muscles in his thigh were tense. He was keeping his leg right next to hers.

  Again, he’d surprised her. What the hell was going on and why was her heart beating so fast? What did she care if he looked at her? If he couldn’t turn away? She didn’t want his attention. She didn’t want him. So why did his words seep so quickly and violently into her dry, parched heart?

  ‘I’m not normally angry. Or opinionated.’

  Why had she said that? She didn’t have to justify herself to him.

  ‘It’s OK to be angry sometimes. If you don’t like something you should speak up. This situation you’re in would make anyone angry.’

  ‘I’m not me right now. You don’t even know me.’

  He smiled and the ambulance moved again, rocking her sideways. Although she wasn’t entirely sure the ambulance had moved...

  ‘You’re right. I don’t know you. But I do know you’re more than angry. You’re loyal and passionate and...you’re gorgeous.’

  ‘Gorgeous?’

  She kept her eyes on him and his eyes remained on her. He held steady with every bump and every turn and she involuntarily leaned a little closer, mesmerised by the way he held her still.

  ‘Stunning.’

  His words were sincere and his voice was deep, and the way he said it—not looking away as his body held against her still—made something shake inside her. A feeling she knew lay dormant—something she didn’t want to wake—stirred. She pushed it down, but it rattled her as he looked at her.

  ‘What’s so stunning about me?’

  Her voice was quiet but she wanted to know. She really wanted to know what he could possibly find stunning about her. She wasn’t that pretty. And since she’d met him she’d abused him and caused him trouble and been mean and rude and difficult and so angry. How did he find that stunning?

  She waited for his answer. Not breathing, not moving—allowing the moment to last.

  ‘Everything.’

  His answer came just as the ambulance pulled up at the hospital. A mad rush meant everyone was pulled out of the ambulance and the cameras rushed to film their responses. Brooke was whisked away by one of the production staff and Jack remained at the ambulance.

  Brooke’s heart beat hard and fast. Adrenalin rushed through her. Everything. That was what he’d said. Everything? How could he say that? What did he mean? He didn’t even know her. And what he did know wasn’t very good. Why had he said that? Was it a line? He’d seemed so sincere.

  Confusion rattled her brain and made her reactions slow.

  ‘We’ve got to get you to the emergency beds, Brooke. We want you to go see Alissa.’

  The production team rushed her to Alissa’s side. Jack didn’t reappear.

  Brooke spent the afternoon getting ice and water and food for Alissa. She didn’t see Jack again but she did think about him. A lot. He’d said that everything about her was stunning. Was that what he really thought?

  Confusion made her tired. Alissa’s demands made her tired. Until eventually she fell asleep on a hospital chair, dressed in nothing but a bikini and dreaming of drowning in a sea of crashing waves.

  FIVE

  Both the girls were asleep. Heavy breathing and the occasional snore coming from under the covers in the bed assured Jack that Alissa was sleeping soundly, and Brooke was on an armchair, her head bent right over to the arm, her legs twisted.

  She looked uncomfortable, but she was asleep too. Deep, steady breaths came from her tiny body. She was still and quiet—two things he’d never associated with her. Brooke was a fireball of energy and opinions. She made him tense, but yesterday in the ambulance he’d seen something else in her. A vulnerability he’d not noticed before.

  Alissa’s words had shocked and upset her and he’d known exactly what Brooke was feeling. She hadn’t had to tell him—he’d been able to see it in the way her shoulders had fallen forward. In the way her eyes had opened and she’d sucked the edge of her bottom lip in. Alissa had hurt her.

  For a moment Brooke hadn’t looked like a confident woman. She’d looked like a little girl bullied in the schoolyard. Unsure how to react. That was why he’d felt the need to come to her rescue. Feeling alone and picked on was a feeling he knew too well. He didn’t deserve to feel that way and neither did Brooke.

  He’d wanted to tell her that Alissa didn’t know what she was talking about. He’d wanted her to know that having cameras pointed in her face and feeling out of control was normal—and so was her reaction. Getting angry wasn’t a weakness—sometimes it was the right thing to do. But clearly she wasn’t comfortable with that side of her personality. Something about losing control upset Brooke, and he wanted to find out why. He wanted to know more.

  But he shouldn’t have said what he had. Brooke might think things. She might imagine he wanted something he didn’t and he didn’t want her to do that. Beca
use he didn’t want anything. He couldn’t allow anything to happen—and not only for the sake of the show. He knew that if he let Brooke in he would hurt her for sure.

  Brooke was the kind of woman who threw herself into things. A defender of the universe. A superwoman. Strong and kind. But she was still a woman. She still got hurt. Alissa had hurt her. And he knew he would hurt her too. At the beach, he’d said things he didn’t mean. As much as he tried to keep it at bay he knew deep down he was just like his father. A selfish bastard who was only out for himself.

  Today he’d fix it. He’d let her know what he’d meant. She was gorgeous, of course—she was passionate and interesting and argumentative and challenging and a breath of fresh air. She’d be special to someone one day. Someone would see her and sweep her off her feet and they’d deserve her. But it wouldn’t be him.

  Brooke moved and moaned and shifted, and sleepily she opened her eyes. Rubbing them, she ran her fingers through her hair and yawned wide as she sat up, looking around. He could see she was a little confused and unsure where she was.

  ‘Good morning, Sleeping Beauty.’ Best to keep it light and flirty.

  She turned to him with a start. ‘Jack! What are you doing here?’

  ‘Just checking on the patient.’

  Her eyes darted behind him. They opened wide and narrowed. ‘You brought the cameras?’

  ‘Of course.’ Brooke seemed constantly surprised by the appearance of the cameras. Didn’t she know what she’d signed up for?

  ‘Jack, Alissa is going to wake up and feel terrible. She’s going to look terrible. She’s not going to want the cameras here.’

  Brooke was sitting up now. All quiet and peace was fast evaporating. Jack’s shoulders tensed. Ready for a fight. Brooke liked to fight with him, it seemed. She did it so often. He wondered for a moment what she’d be like if she didn’t want to fight. All soft and loving, lying in his bed after a wild session.