by Nana Malone
Ryan shook his head and wondered where he would fall. He’d seen the playback. Seen him and Mia so close they might as well have been kissing, so he knew he probably had a good chance at being safe. The problem was whether he was safe from her or not. She could still try to have him booted. He had to try to find some common ground between them or it was going to be a painful process. Maybe you stop antagonizing her at every minute.
Easier said than done.
Every time he saw her, he couldn’t help himself. He liked seeing her hackles up. He liked fighting with her. All he wanted to do was pull her proverbial pigtails. The other problem was he couldn’t seem to keep his hands off her either. The other night at the library had been brutal. All he wanted was to be under her skin as much as she was under his.
Larissa led them onto the stage. He took the seat marked nineteen and found himself directly in front of a camera. Interesting. Was he off the show? The lights were hot, so he unbuttoned the top button of his shirt to give himself more air, and he quickly wiped his hands on his jeans. Why was he so nervous? Because you don’t want her to boot you. He knew Mia didn’t get a choice tonight, but that didn’t stop the nerves.
To his left, he leaned to Bryan Bloomington. “You’re one of the guys who’s been on before right?”
The other guy nodded. “Yeah, season four.”
Ryan forced an impressed expression. “With Tyrell?”
Bryan nodded. “Yeah. I stayed till the end though. Didn’t get picked.”
“You were on with that guy who tried to sue the producers, right?”
“Yeah, Victor. He was talking a lot of shit about the show before he left. Maybe he’d just had it. All this shit. It can get heavy. Starting to like some girl and knowing she’s hooking up with a bunch of other dudes—it can mess with your head.”
Yeah, Ryan didn’t doubt that. “But still, you’re back for more?”
Bryan shrugged. “My agent suggested I do it for exposure.”
Ryan frowned, so this guy wasn’t here for Mia. What, like you are? “I didn’t know you were an actor.”
“I’m not. Or I guess I wasn’t. I’m a trainer. After the show, I had a lot of people calling me up trying to represent me. I figured it might be something to consider.”
“Any luck with that?”
“Yeah some.” He shrugged.
Ryan turned to look around the room. They had all been strategically placed for cameras. The supposedly more popular guys had prime placement on the stage. There were four of them with prime placement, him, Bryan, Dorian, and Tyrell. These guys were his competition. He liked knowing that. Knowing that there was no out of the holes they’d dug for themselves.
In his earpiece, Larissa shouted instructions for them to stay still and not move. The lights dimmed, and the studio audience clapped to a dull deep roar.
When Corbin came out on the stage, Ryan was suddenly nervous again. Finally all talking ceased, and the curtain lifted. In the center of all the action stood Mia. She wore a knee-length red dress that hugged every one of her curves, and his mouth went dry. There was a hush over the room as she walked to where Corbin sat with his Chiclet smile in place. Just seeing her was enough to make Ryan’s day. He had to get over that quick, or he’d totally lose his heart to Mia Donovan.
* * *
Mia tried not to fidget once the lights were up. Plaster smile. Check. Shoulders straight. Check. Confidence—it would certainly be a lot easier to be confident if her Spanxx weren’t squeezing the life out of her.
Corbin beamed at her. “Well, well, Mia. How do you feel after meeting your Prince Charmings?”
She smiled. “A little overwhelmed, but I can’t wait to get to know everyone.”
“So you must have a favorite or two by now?”
She considered saying something snarky but figured maybe she’d better behave before Jamie had a heart attack. “Well, I’m excited to see who America’s chosen. So far, everyone has been really sweet.” Except for that relationship-hater, Ryan. With the lights dimmed, she couldn’t tell which one he was.
“Well the votes are in. Would you love to see who America picked as your number one Prince Charming?”
As long as it was anyone but Ryan. She didn’t think she could deal with him right now. Not to mention, that would guarantee he’d be staying. And she’d also be stuck with him on the very first solo date. The thing she’d hoped to avoid. She still hadn’t decided whether or not she was going to have the plug pulled.
“I am indeed. I hope America chose wisely.” Anyone but Ryan. Anyone but Ryan.
Corbin gave his best cheesy, Chiclet, game-show host smile. Mia held her breath.
“Before we reveal the number one Prince Charming and you go on the date of a lifetime, you’ll need to say goodbye to a few of our men first.”
She knew who she’d vote off. Casey hadn’t looked at her eyes once, preferring her C-sized…assets. Trenton had only talked about his agent the whole time. Dorian made her skin crawl. And she was pretty sure Brad was gay; he talked more about best friend Clive than he had about himself. But it wasn’t her call. Still, that didn’t stop her from crossing her fingers that the voting public was paying attention to her body language.
Corbin turned his megawatt, overly-whitened smile to camera number one. “Gentlemen. The first man to potentially go home today is…” he paused for dramatic effect. “Tim.”
Mia frowned. Which one was he again? When the spotlight lit him up, her shoulders sagged. Oh, yeah, Tim. She’d liked him. He’d been sweet. But if the crowd was looking for chemistry, they weren’t wrong. She didn’t have any with him.
Corbin announced the other two. One she recognized from the previous season and one she had only had a few minutes with. All three were forgettable.
“So, Mia, how do you feel about the men going home?”
Just what she loved—being put on the spot. “I’m sad, of course, but I guess that’s how the show is supposed to go. I’m sure they’ll find their hearts soon enough.” Now she realized why all the Cinderellas always sounded so insipid.
“And now, let’s get to the fun.” Corbin turned back to the cameras. “Would you like to know who Prince Charming number one is?”
The audience clapped, and Mia’s stomach clenched.
The two sides of her warred with each other. Please don’t let it be Ryan. Please dear God, don’t let it be Ryan. Meeting him last night had been a mistake. Letting him come within five feet of her had been even worse. He hadn’t kissed her, but the close contact made her jumpy. His body should be registered as a lethal libido weapon or something. She’d ended up tossing and turning all night thinking about him. Unable to sleep. Unable to get him out of her mind. But still, if she was being honest with herself, she liked it. Let it be him. Please don’t let it be him. Mia ducked her head as she waited for her fate.
Corbin opened the envelope and sat back with a wide grin. “This is a first in the history of Love Reality. We have two guys neck and neck for number one. Dorian Pope and Ryan Matthews.”
Mia’s head snapped up, and her stomach pitched. As her pulse raced, her mind tried to make sense of what she’d just heard. The spotlight lit both their faces. And she had to keep from groaning. Dorian was by far the most alpha assholey of the group. He did something with finance. Venture capitalist maybe? He’d been especially handsy during the first taping. So much so, she’d redirected them on their walk so they’d run into other contestants and she’d be poached.
Fuck my life. How was it these two were number one? Larissa was right—someone had definitely put a voodoo hex on her.
She forced herself to focus on Corbin’s voice. If he said she had to go on a date with both of them at the same time, she might vomit all over her pretty Cavalli dress.
“So, Mia, you’ll be going on a date with Ryan first, then right after, you’ll be headed on a date with Dorian.” Corbin turned his megawatt smile to the studio audience. “May the best man win.”
Mia slid a glance at both men. Dorian scowled. Jackass probably couldn’t stand going second. But one look at Ryan’s face, and she was the one who wanted to scowl. He was too good-looking. It wasn’t fair. No one should be that pretty to look at. Tonight, he was old Hollywood handsome, with his hair tamed somewhat with gel. His green eyes danced, and he grinned, and she was pretty sure half the audience would happily kill her to take her place. How was she going to survive a date with him? Hell, with the both of them.
Chapter Thirteen
As they waited for their driver, Ryan leaned over to Mia. “That look on your face. It doesn’t look like overjoyedness to go on the date of your dreams.”
Mia cocked her head. “Oh, I’m overjoyed.” She leaned back. “What? My happy face looks too much like my resting bitch face?” She shrugged. “I do have a strong resting bitch face.”
Ryan barked out a laugh. His eyes crinkled up at the corners as he held his stomach. “Woman, you’re going to kill me with that sense of humor.”
“Yeah, well, one can only hope,” she muttered. They stopped in front of the techs to get mobile microphones clipped on.
In the periphery of her vision, she saw the cameras and plastered a smile on her face. There was no way she was going to be able to keep the Vaseline-on-my-teeth smile for the whole date. But she remembered her meeting with Jamie. She’d have what she wanted if she pulled this off. Her dream. All she had to do was go on a date or two. Or twenty-five.
Showtime. Forcing a smile, Mia placed a hand on Ryan’s forearm and squeezed gently. “I can’t wait to see what you have in store for us, Ryan. I’m really looking forward to this.”
He stiffened under her fingers. His pupils dilated, and his lips parted, his expression flipping from amusement to heated lust.
Her body’s response to his instant reaction was rushing blood in her skull and a thundering heartbeat. Of all the people in the world to have this effect on her, it had to be him. Talk about cruel and unusual.
For a moment, with his gaze pinned on her lips and the tension in his body, she thought he might kiss her. Even as her body softened for him and liquid heat pooled in her core, she cursed his effect on her. It was hardly fair. He’d had years to perfect the seduction of women. She’d only had a couple weeks to practice resisting. If she wasn’t careful, she’d end up naked and writhing against him, begging him to make love to her.
“So where are we off to?”
Ryan grinned. “Sorry, I can’t tell you that. It’s a surprise.”
Mia snorted. “In my family, a surprise usually meant someone else was moving in with us.” Then more quietly, she asked, “Will someone more fun be joining us for our date? I’ve always wanted to try a threesome with another guy.”
He seemed to choke for a moment, and she quickly recognized the expression as one where he was trying to hold back laughter. When he recovered, he smiled at her and cupped her face. Mia jumped. Heat flushed her body. He leaned close, and she parted her lips instinctively. The peck he gave her was soft, and fire lanced through her body immediately. He pulled back and said, “I couldn’t wait until the end of the date to make that happen.”
What? As if this was a real date and she was going to let him anywhere near her. Over his shoulder, she noticed the blinking red light of one of the cameras in the Limo. They were on, and he was faking it. Remember who he is, sweetheart. Thinking he’s anybody different will get you burned.
The truth was, she might not like him, but her body certainly did, and if she kept fighting it, A) Jamie would want to know why and B) America would think it was sparks and keep making him number one. So if she acted as normally as possible, maybe they’d think there was no chemistry and vote him off. She could only be so lucky.
“Come on, you might have some fun,” he teased.
“Oh, I’m all about the fun.”
While there were cameras in the Limo, they’d never rigged for sound before, but there was a first time for everything, so she bit her tongue more often than not. Every time there was a snarky response locked and loaded, she bit the inside of her cheek. To make matters worse, she was sure Ryan was deliberately cuing things up for her to snark on.
The limo pulled to a smooth stop, and he grinned at her. “Are you ready for your surprise?”
Her stomach flipped. “Is now a bad time to point out that I hate surprises?”
He chuckled low. “Come on. This one you’ll like, I hope.”
The driver opened the door, and she waited for the camera crew to step out. Her phone buzzed in her hand, and she gritted her teeth. It was either her family who she couldn’t talk to, or Jamie who she didn’t want to talk to. It was a text thank god, but it was from Jamie.
You’d better make me believe that you’re enjoying yourself.
Ryan helped her out of the limo, and her jaw dropped. They were on a helipad, and a very large, very shiny, drop-you-to-your-death-over-the-beautiful-skyline helicopter waited for them. One cameraman climbed in to do his set up, and the rest stayed back near their limos. The cameras were on and rolling, forever rolling.
“A helicopter?”
He cocked his head and smiled sheepishly. “This is me, sweeping you off your feet.” He shrugged. “Where we’re going for dinner is a bit far to drive, and I know how you get when you’re hungry.”
Shit. He wasn’t supposed to know that about her. His jaw ticked before he amended, “At least if you’re anything like my cousin, I know how you get. It becomes very ugly very quickly if I don’t feed her in a timely fashion. You know that sci-fi movie with the flesh eating monsters? That’s her.” He winked.
Good thing he was fast on his feet and an excellent liar. She wondered if he even had a cousin. “How old is she?”
“Nineteen. She’s in college close by.”
Was that the truth? Mia hated second-guessing everything he said. Life would be much easier if she just took him at face value on camera then dug out the info later. She forced herself to relax her shoulders. If she had to be here with him, she would find some way to work it to her advantage.
Chapter Fourteen
Ryan had never taken a woman he was dating home. And, admittedly, dating was a strong word for what he was doing with Mia, but the mechanics were the same. No one would be in the Hamptons house, but he hadn’t stepped foot in the place in five years. Not to mention he was still smarting from the tie with Dorian. How the fuck had that happened? The guy didn’t seem like Mia’s type at all. Did they have chemistry? Thinking like that was a recipe for disaster so he dragged his focus back to her.
He’d called ahead to the house to make sure it would be stocked, but to take someone to his former home was daunting. He’d left vowing not to return, but here he was. Chasing a story. And the house was his now…if he wanted it.
He slid a glance over to her. All he could see was her profile, but judging by her body language, she was tense and curious. She clutched the bottom of her seat cushion tight, but being scared didn’t stop her from peering out the window.
“You ever been in a helicopter before?” he asked.
Mia shook her head. “No.”
He tested the waters and slid one of his hands over hers, making her jump and stare at him. Interesting though, she didn’t remove her hand. Instead, it clamped tight to his, and he held it for the rest of the trip.
Inside of an hour, they were in the Hamptons. It was funny how quickly old memories surfaced with just the smell of his mother’s award winning roses. Every spring and summer their fragrant smell permeated the air as he and his brother ran and played in the pool. It felt like home. When was the last time he’d had a sense of that?
“Where are we?”
“I grew up here.”
He helped her out of the helicopter, and her eyes bugged. “You’re kidding me right?”
He shook his head. “Come on, let me get you fed then I’ll give you the grand tour.” He led her around the side of the house from the helipad and took her around the back. T
he deck was lit to his instructions, and all the lights in the kitchen were on. All the shimmer cast an iridescent glow on the water of the Olympic-length swimming pool.
Mia paused. “Oh my God. It’s beautiful.”
“Thanks. It’s been a while since I’ve been here.” He cleared his throat. “I wanted to show it to you.”
Mia put her head back as she took in the three floors. She spread out her arms and spun a little. “I can’t imagine growing up in this place. When I went to live with my mom and dad, I thought that place was lavish. But this? This is out of this world.”
Went to live with her mom and dad? As he led her up the patio stairs, he asked. “You didn’t always live with your parents?”
Her head snapped up, and she met his gaze as she shook it. “Oh, uh. I was adopted when I was eight.”
On their first date when she’d said most of her siblings had been adopted, he’d assumed she hadn’t been. “Where were you before that?”
She shrugged. “Foster care.”
She said it so casually, as if none of it mattered. The journalist in him couldn’t let it go. “It couldn’t have been easy. Starting over with a new family.”
“Are you kidding? It was awesome!” She laughed. “John and Sarah, Mom and Dad, they had endless amounts of time for me. Or at least it seemed endless. And not that I came from a bad place. I was lucky. Most of the foster families I was with, they were kind people. Just overwhelmed and doing the best they could. But with a lot of kids, some can get lost in the shuffle.” Her voice went soft. “A lot of kids got lost in the shuffle.”
He led her into the kitchen and took her coat. “And the squeaky wheel gets the grease.”
“Something like that. I spent most of my time with my nose in a book praying for a home. A real home. I didn’t want to feel like I was a guest in someone’s house, like my time was temporary. And while some of the families I was with were cool, you could just tell that it wasn’t a permanent situation. That changed when the Donovans came for me.”
