Where you were supposed to hold it without setting your hair and dress on fire, Casey thought. She wished that she was watching with Amanda at home. She knew exactly what her best friend would say. Both of them would be rolling their eyes and making gagging noises at this. But Colt seemed to be taking this all very seriously. Chemistry between them or no, Casey didn’t know if she could handle a guy who thought this sounded like fun.
“Are you ready to get started?” Chris Haversham asked Colt.
He took a deep and dramatic breath. “This is going to be hard, but yes.” He took a step closer to the women, pacing in front of them, rubbing the back of his neck with the hand that wasn’t holding the microphone. Stopping in front of them, he looked from one side to the other. Casey’s heart hammered in her chest. Her armpits were sweating and she kept her arms stiffly at her side. Black should hide it, but she didn’t want sweaty pits showing on live TV.
“I can’t pick everyone,” he said. “But know that if you are not picked, it isn’t because you aren’t beautiful. Or special. I’m choosing based on who I think I could have a real connection with. Something lasting and true.”
With this last sentence, his eyes rested on Casey. She knew she wasn’t imagining it this time because he was standing so close. His eyes looked sad. She felt like there was a message in their depths, something he was trying to tell her. But then he turned and was crossing back over to the table with the candles. What was he trying to tell her? That he too felt the connection and it was more than a TV show? Again, dizziness washed over Casey. Hopefully it would end soon.
But the choosing dragged out. Casey could recognize that it only felt slow to her. To the audience in the room, they didn’t need to hold up signs anymore. Everyone cheered and whistled and said aww whenever he asked another woman to consider being his Potential Love Match. Carefully he would light one of those tall, real wood matches, lit and burning. Dramatic…but with every handoff she feared a woman’s hair would also go up in flames.
With every handoff, Casey also felt worse. Physically, she was weak with hunger and emotionally, she felt like she might vomit as Colt picked woman after woman. Her friend in the purple dress was chosen and gave Casey’s hand a quick squeeze before she crossed the stage to stand smiling before Colt.
Most of them gave him a kiss on the cheek or a hug, which was awkward with the whole lit flame aspect, but no one caught fire yet. One woman with amazing blond hair and a killer body grabbed Colt and kissed him right on the mouth.
Hussy! Casey thought as her stomach lurched and the audience whistled and cheered. Colt stiffened, then relaxed into the kiss before pulling back and smiling.
Just as he had with Casey in the bathroom.
So maybe it wasn’t a connection they felt earlier. Or it was only one-way. She had to hand it to him—he was a great actor. Casey waffled between feeling angry and heartbroken and—still—a tiny bit hopeful. She wished she could shut down that hopeful part. But she simply was an optimist. Trying to be a realist or be cynical about this whole, stupid thing wasn’t helping her a bit.
Finally there was only one match left.
Casey’s mouth felt dry. Chris Haversham stepped closer to Colt and put a hand on his shoulder. Colt looked mournfully down at his shoes. Casey noticed for the first time that they were Vans, just like the shoes she wore to work at the coffee shop.
Who cares! Millions of people have those shoes, Casey told herself. She had to stop thinking everything was a sign. Show or no show, this could not work with him. Not ever.
“Are you ready to give out the final candle to your Potential Love Match?” Chris asked Colt.
“I’m not sure,” Colt said. The audience gasped. Casey wanted to stride across the stage and punch the other side of his face. He just needed to pick someone. Now. Whether it was her or not, Casey got the very clear feeling all of the sudden that it didn’t matter. This would never work out. Her with a billionaire? They called him a bad boy. What was that all about? She didn’t follow celebrity gossip, but Amanda did. Casey wished she could text her right now.
“I’m torn between two women,” Colt said. He held out the paper he’d been studying through the candle ceremony. Supposedly it had the highest scores from the compatibility tests the computer had done. The new, cynical part of her wondered if it was really just a grocery list. Or a flyer for something.
“Tell us more,” Chris Haversham said.
“Well, one woman seems just perfect on paper. But another one…well. When I got here tonight there was someone who stuck out to me. Someone I’d love to spend more time with to see if the connection I sense is real.”
Casey’s pulse was racing. She couldn’t take much more of this. Her whole body felt like it was going to simply stop functioning between the hunger pains, shaky legs, and then the emotional aspect to it all. Why did it feel like he was sending secret messages to just her? Looking at just her? That final candle had to go to her. But what if it didn’t?
And what if it did? Casey eyed the group of girls who held their candles already. They all looked like supermodels, perfect and slinky in their dresses, all of which looked way more formal than her own. They probably didn’t need their roommate to put on their eyeliner for them.
Casey knew suddenly, even as Colt met her eyes, that she didn’t stack up to these women. She couldn’t hold a candle to them. She would have laughed about that one with Amanda, but for now, just felt deflated, sick, and sad.
“Well, let’s bring them out here,” Chris Haversham said. “Tell us the final two women you’re trying to decide between.”
Colt licked his lips and looked over the women left in Casey’s group. Her brain alternated between wanting to hear her name and not wanting to hear her name. She couldn’t look at Colt. If he gave her any more special looks, she didn’t think she could take it.
“Lisa,” Colt said, pausing—
no no no no no no no no
“and…”
no no no no no no no no
“Casey.”
Her head snapped up and Casey heard a whistle that she knew with certainty was Amanda in the audience doing her signature fingers in the mouth, blow your eardrums out whistle. She would have smiled, but had gotten lost in Colt’s eyes. He was looking anything but Mr. Casual right now. His eyes were locked on hers and had an intensity to them, like he was trying to send her a signal of some kind.
“Casey?” Chris Haversham’s voice broke her out of her moment with Colt.
“What?”
The audience laughed out loud and a smile played on Colt’s lips. Casey saw some of the girls shaking their heads and whispering. Her friend in the purple winked at her.
“Do you want to come stand over here?” Chris said.
Casey realized that Lisa, the other finalist Colt had chosen, had crossed the stage and was standing near the table with the candles.
“Um, sure.”
Again, more laughter from the audience. Even Chris Haversham cracked a smile.
Casey walked across the stage, seeing only Colt’s face, his amazing hazel eyes looking only at hers. They seemed to be getting darker and bigger and now they were spinning and she was falling into them. No—she was falling to the floor.
Oh no I’m passing out, Casey realized as everything went dark.
Love Clichés
Falling for Your Best Friend’s Twin
Falling for Your Boss
Hometown Heartthrob Series
Marrying Her Dream Groom
Forgiving Her First Love
Loving Her Cowboy
Trusting Her Cowboy Poet
Managing the Rock Star
The Billionaire Surprise Series
The Billionaire Love Match
The Billionaire Benefactor
The Billionaire Land Baron
The Billionaire’s Masquerade Ball
The Billionaire’s Secret Heir
Sandover Island Sweet Romance Series
Sandover Beac
h Memories
Sandover Beach Week
Sandover Beach Memories
Sandover Beach Christmas
Sandover Beach Series
Secrets Whispered from the Sea
The Lost Light of Summer
About the Author
Emma St. Clair is a USA Today bestselling author of over twenty books. She loves sweet love stories and characters with a lot of sass. Her stories range from rom-com to women’s fiction and all will have humor, heart, and nothing that’s going to make you need to hide your Kindle from the kids. ;)
You can find out more at http://emmastclair.com or join her reader group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/emmastclair/
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