by C. J. Anaya
“Don’t even think about kissing me while I’m sleeping.”
“Like you’ll even know now that those pain meds are in your system, but I promise to be on my best behavior.”
“Fine. We’ll call a truce for now, but once I wake up you’re in for it.”
She felt Brody’s warm lips press against the side of her temple as he whispered, “I’m looking forward to it.”
Liz grabbed her cell phone and dialed Felicia’s number, a number she hated about as much as she detested Felicia Davenport and her insulting, condescending behavior.
“Is she leaving or did you manage to screw up your latest attempt at harassing the girl into submission?” was Felicia’s curt greeting.
Liz bit her tongue. Hard. As much as she despised taking Felicia’s verbal abuse she wasn’t about to behave like her snarky self or take a defensive stance. Best if Felicia continued to consider her a pathetic tool in her arsenal rather than a potential threat. Because that’s exactly what Liz intended to be. A threat to everything Felicia was fighting for. It wouldn’t do to tip her hand and lose the obscene amount of money Felicia was paying her. Not until her own perfect plan fell into place.
Felicia Davenport wasn’t the only contestant here with her eye on Brody Prescott.
“The snake was taken care of by security, but I haven’t heard anything about her leaving the show.”
“So now she has a small snake bite. Boo hoo. I should have hired Osama Bin Laden to terrorize the tramp.”
“Not just a snake bite. Apparently she had a rather nasty allergic reaction to the venom.” That bit of information hadn’t sat well with Liz. She’d intended to scare Midge, not cause a potentially fatal situation. That’s why she’d chosen that particular snake rather than something truly lethal.
“An allergic reaction that failed to do anything other than scare her most likely. Pitiful. Are you even trying Liz? Am I really going to have to take matters into my own hands?”
“No.” Liz tamped down her panic at the thought of Felicia doing anything truly harmful to a girl she’d grown to respect. Liz’s behavior toward Midge wasn’t personal. It was business. Felicia Davenport needed to pay for the wrongs she’d committed. She needed to know what it felt like to have everything taken from her. She needed to lose, and she needed to lose big. “I’ve finally figured out why Midge has stayed on the show. Her daddy wrote up a contract stating that if she stays until Brody eliminates her she gets her trust fund back. If she leaves before that she gets nada.”
“How much are we talking here?”
“I don’t know the particulars, but I’m guessing millions are at stake for Midge. She really needs this money. Her scholarship dried up and she has no way to fund her last semester of college.”
“Well, wouldn’t it be interesting to see what all of her adoring fans think once they find out that little miss Madelyn’s reasons for being here have nothing to do with her love for Brody and everything to do with cold, hard cash?”
“My thoughts exactly,” Liz agreed.
“Leak it to the press in a few days. We’re changing our location to Rio de Janeiro in two days. I want reporters in Brazil ready to pounce on her once they smell blood in the water. If Brody wants to save his image he’ll have no choice but to cut ties with Madelyn once she’s no longer the viewers favorite.”
Felicia hung up on her which ticked her off. It shouldn’t have angered her so much when Felicia’s crimes against Liz’s family were so much more monumental and devastating in nature, but it was just one more item to add to her valid list of reasons for ruining Felicia’s life.
It was a shame Midge had gotten in the middle of everything. She and Brody seemed to have real chemistry despite their personal reasons for being on the show. In another life, another time, she imagined she and Madelyn Knightly would have been wonderful friends. Unfortunately, friendship—or any other relationship for that matter—hadn’t played a role in Liz’s life for quite some time. No. Just a simple burning need to right the wrongs against her family and finally mete out the punishment Felicia Davenport so richly deserved.
If destroying Midge’s credibility with Brody and the American viewers helped her accomplish that…so be it.
Brody strode into Talin Rhodes’ office with a great deal of reluctance. He didn’t like the man due to Talin’s obvious interest in Madelyn, but he knew that the security guard would be an extra layer of protection for what he feared might be stalking his girlfriend…soon to be girlfriend. His thoughts turned to her as he considered the information that Gregg had discovered about Felicia Davenport. It was all suspicion and conjecture, of course, but he thought if a certain tabloid received the slanderous information they might publish it, forcing Felicia to leave the show. He doubted Corbin Knightly would allow that kind of bad press for his show, but he would appreciate the scandal it caused. More scandal equals more viewers.
However, there was no question that Madelyn was in serious danger as long as Felicia remained on the show. The incident with the snake took on a whole new menacing feel as he realized that she was probably responsible for the attack…and possibly anything else that may have happened without his knowledge. It would be just like Madelyn to suffer in silence without confiding in anyone, especially if she felt that he wasn’t someone she could turn to with her problems.
Stepping into Rhodes’ small office, he felt the other man’s eyes assessing and dismissing him as if Brody wasn’t much of a threat when it came to Madelyn’s affections. Secretly smirking within, he doubted the head of security had scored as many kisses with the blushing librarian as he had.
I’m behaving like a jealous frat boy.
Regardless of the unspoken challenge between the two, they needed to work together to protect Madelyn.
“You mentioned a concern about Midge’s safety?” Rhodes started as he motioned for Brody to take a seat.
“I think, due to my obvious interest in Madelyn and Felicia Davenport’s obvious interest in me, that Felicia might be targeting her in an attempt to get her off the show.”
“Do you have any proof to substantiate your claim?”
“No, just a string of disturbing coincidences that occurred in Felicia’s past.” Brody then proceeded to share what Gregg had told him about Felicia’s marital background.
Rhodes remained silent for a few moments as he digested the information. “I can’t arrest her or force her to leave the show.”
“I’m working on that angle at the moment. What I need from you is upping security where Madelyn is concerned. Knowing where Felicia and Madelyn are at all times and possibly placing more cameras near the door to her room and also the window in case someone tries to let something more deadly than a snake into her suite.”
Rhodes nodded and then leaned across his desk, steepling his fingers together and allowing his chin to rest atop them. Brody felt his eyes considering him for a few uncomfortable moments and then Rhodes spoke the words that had no doubt been on his mind since yesterday.
“If you hurt Madelyn, I won’t hesitate to beat you black and blue.”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I plan I asking her to marry me.” He let that sink in as Rhodes continued his unflinching stare. “If you cared about Madelyn like that, why didn’t you do anything about it before the rift happened between her and her father?”
Rhodes leaned back and rubbed his tired eyes. “She was too young when I first started working there, and even though I doubted the age difference would have been a real issue for her, I thought she deserved someone better than me, plus it was a serious conflict of interest for me to date Knightly’s daughter.”
“And now?” Brody pressed.
“Let’s just say that if you don’t snatch her up and marry her, I will. I won’t hesitate a second time.”
“Understood.” Brody stood up and left Rhodes’ office, feeling a bit discomfited by the man’s serious interest in the woman he was falling in love with. So long as Rhodes hel
ped to keep Madelyn safe, he would try not to worry about anything else.
Chapter Eighteen
The chartered plane descending upon a private landing strip just outside of Rio de Janeiro met with enough turbulence for Midge to grab the arm rests of her seat and once again curse her father, Brody, and the forces at be which seemed intent upon keeping her trapped in the most confusing situation she’d ever found herself in. She had to admit, the view from the plane had been breathtaking once they circled close enough for Midge to catch sight of the imposing structures of Rio colliding beautifully with the dark blues and greens of the ocean water which gently caressed the white sands of the Copacabana beach. The last rays of sunset spread over the surface of the sea.
Midge couldn’t help but feel overcome with excitement at the prospect of being in Rio again. She’d spent a summer here with her father when she was sixteen and had fallen in love with the culture, the people, and the wonderful language of Portuguese. She wasn’t about to let her current predicament ruin the beauty of the city or color her previous experiences of her first visit to Brazil.
A slight tickle upon her neck made her feel as if someone was studying her from a distance. She didn’t have to look up toward the front of the plane where her father and Brody were hashing out more details. She knew Brody was most likely pretending to listen to her father while attempting to burrow into her brain and extract all of her thoughts and feelings with his weighty stare.
She’d done a bang-up job of avoiding him after he’d stayed the night with her to “keep away the snakes” and “protect her virtue” while he was at it. She couldn’t deny that sleeping in his arms after the traumatic events of the day had given her some of the best dreams she’d ever been privileged to actually remember.
Dang it.
Upon awakening, she’d found herself facing Brody with his arms wrapped tightly around her small frame and their lips mere inches from one another. Panic had quickly set in. She’d very carefully extricated herself from his embrace and hightailed it to the bathroom where she checked for snakes, locked the door, and jumped into the shower—a very cold, refreshing shower she dubbed as her own personal wake-up call. She remained in the shower even after she heard Brody tap lightly on the bathroom door and call out her name, inquiring about how she was feeling and letting her know he was going to grab them some muffins from the kitchen.
Once he left she quickly dried off, got dressed, and made sure she was nowhere near her suite when Brody showed up with breakfast. It was easy to avoid him after that since his day was spent with Cambria on what was probably a perfectly romantic one-on-one date where he’d no doubt realized that Midge wasn’t even worth his time now that Cambria was in the picture.
And wasn’t that just the biggest downer ever?
Like she cared.
Ha!
She probably owed him a huge thank you for coming to her rescue and staying with her all night after her run-in with the local wildlife, but she feared expressing her gratitude would result in throwing her arms around him and stealing a few kisses of her own.
Not an option for her. Not a safe one anyway.
Getting on the plane and making sure Charlene sat on one side of her and Cambria sat on the other had also been a strategic maneuver to avoid Brody’s annoying talent of getting her alone with him no matter where they were. Avoidance had been her number one priority up to now, and from the stormy expression on his face it was obvious he knew exactly what she was up to and didn’t like it one bit.
Too bad. She was in survival mode, and she’d given him fair warning that their truce would end after their impromptu sleepover.
Disembarking from the plane put a glitch in her plans. As she brushed past Brody toward the exit, he grabbed her arm and detained her while the other contestants, too excited to notice the thrumming tension between them, hurriedly left the plane with their phones at the ready, taking selfies as they got the scenery behind them just right.
“I need to speak with you for a moment,” Brody said. Obviously not a request. Midge gave Charlene and Cambria a pleading look which they misinterpreted as a plea for privacy. Giving her sly nods and not-so-subtle winks they disembarked with the rest of the girls, leaving her alone on the plane with a seething Brody Prescott.
Traitors! Weren’t they competing for Brody’s love and affection? What the heck was wrong with them?
“I’m a little tired from the trip, Brody. Do you think we could save our chat for the cocktail party later this week?”
His jaw tightened at the obvious suggestion that they not see each other until then. Just then her father stuck his head back in the plane.
“Midge, you and Brody can take a private limo to the hotel. We need more footage of you two together. Viewers like Cambria, but surveys show that they are anxious to see you and Brody thrown together a little more.”
Brody slipped an arm around her and propelled her forward. “I think we can handle a little more alone time together.”
“Fabulous. I’ll leave you to it then. Don’t hold back on my account.” Her father gave them an amused look and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Traitor! What kind of a father sanctioned hanky panky in the backseat of a limo?
Her father, of course.
Sweet maple syrup!
Midge kept her mouth shut as Brody led her down the steps from the plane and into a waiting limo to their right. She caught sight of a few contestants glaring at her just before she allowed Brody to help her inside. It was so painfully obvious he favored her she almost wondered if some of the contestants were ready to voluntarily leave the show since being here was such a colossal waste of their time.
Once the limo pulled out of the landing area, Brody got right to the point.
“You’re avoiding me,” he whispered. She figured he didn’t want the camera to pick up their conversation and he must have turned off his mic.
She surreptitiously moved to flip hers off as well.
“Yes.”
He reached for her hand and brought her fingers to his lips, kissing the very tips of them and then leaning over and placing soft kisses along her jawline. She gathered he was trying to play to the camera, but the affect his actions were having on her prevented her from achieving clear, rational thought. Her blood heated as his lips drew closer to the spot between her jawline and her earlobe.
“Why?”
She nearly shivered at the warm breath upon her neck. To continue playing to the cameras she copied his actions and began her own line of kisses along his jaw. Once she reached his ear she whispered, “You’re a dangerous opponent, Mr. Prescott. I’m currently giving myself some time to regroup.”
“Not allowed. Do you really think I’ll hold back when your defenses are down?”
She pulled away to look at him and noted the stormy intensity of his gaze, the way his eyes raked across her face as if he was trying to commit to memory every angle, every line, every single detail to sustain him and spur him forward. Okay, he either found her one of the most attractive females in the Universe or he was one of the most skilled actors she’d ever come across.
Probably the latter.
Good gravy, she had to get out of this limo.
“Stop that,” he whispered.
“Stop what?”
“Planning your escape. Resistance is futile at this point.”
Midge’s brain was quickly becoming an incoherent pile of mush. She knew she wasn’t supposed to allow him these privileges, not yet anyway, but she couldn’t remember why.
“You’re not allowed to kiss me yet,” she murmured. It was a pitiful last attempt at preventing what was quickly becoming inevitable.
“The hell I’m not,” he growled.
He placed his fingers just under her chin and began guiding her lips to his.
He’d been absolutely right. Resistance was futile, especially because they were on TV and breaking away from his skilled love making clearly wasn’t an option.
Just before he administered another one of his thrilling kisses, a sharp rap sounded on the partition between them and their driver.
“We’ve arrived at the Windsor Marapendi, Mr. Prescott.”
Midge broke away from him.
Close call. Much too close.
She swiftly flipped her mic back on before disembarking from the limo.
Their lodgings were located just opposite the gorgeous splendor of the Barra da Tijuca beach at the Windsor Marapendi, and she might have taken in the grandeur of the place if she hadn’t been so distracted by Brody’s magnetic presence at her side.
Still in a daze, reeling from the abrupt change of avoiding him to nearly devouring him, she hardly paid attention to her surroundings as they checked into the hotel together and followed a clerk to her room. She allowed Brody to unlock her door for her and hardly registered the cameraman’s presence as Brody leaned close and placed a kiss on her forehead.
“I’m just across from you so if you need anything let me know.”
She nodded, half drunk from his affections as he placed another lingering kiss on her cheek and pulled away, looking rather triumphant and smug as he crossed the hall, opened his door, and turned to give her one last smoldering stare.
“Good night, Madelyn,” he said, though it was obvious he would have gladly joined her for another sleepover if she’d suggested it. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow,” she said, nodding like a crazed bobble head with zero brain capacity.
He smiled and shut the door behind him. She took a few steps back, and miracle of miracles managed to shut her own door without drooling in the process.
Once she had the benefit of a buffer zone between Brody and herself, she finally managed to snap out of whatever crazy spell he’d woven around her and sagged against the door.
“What the hell just happened?” she said out loud.
She was so screwed!
Midge braced herself for Brody’s arrival as she waited with the rest of the contestants for the day’s activities to be announced. The meeting room within the Windsor was quite stunning with art and decor that represented the free and passionate spirit of the people of Brazil.
