style="font-size:15px;"> “Brenna, you’re gorgeous.”
“Travis.” She looked like she was having a really good time. “Say that again.”
Why not? It was only the truth. “Brenna, you are superfine.”
And she threw back her red head and let her laughter chime out. He stood there and watched her and thought how he’d known her since she was knee-high to a gnat. And that she was perfect, just what he needed to make Giselle happy—and earn him his spot on The Great Roundup.
But then she stopped laughing. She lowered her head and she regarded him steadily. “So say that it worked—say I go to the Ace with you tomorrow night and we convince them that we’re together, that we’re going to get married. Then what?”
“Then you belong to them for the next eight to ten weeks. First while they run checks on you and make sure you’re healthy, mentally stable and have never murdered anyone or anything.”
“You’re not serious.”
“As a rattler on a hot rock. And as soon as all that’s over, we start filming. That’s happening at some so far undisclosed Montana location. We’re there until they’re through filming.”
“But what if I get eliminated? Then can I come home?”
He shook his head. “Everyone stays. So they can bring you back on camera if they want to, and also because if you come home early, everyone who knows you will know you’ve been eliminated. They want to keep the suspense going as to who the big winner is until the final show airs. Also, when the filming’s over and you come home, you and I would still be pretending to be engaged.”
“Until?”
“The episodes where we’ve each been eliminated have aired—or the final episode, where one of us wins. The show airs once a week, August through December. Bottom line, you could be my fake fiancée straight through till Christmas.”
She leaned against the wall next to the Dumpster and wrapped her arms around herself. “Wow. I...don’t know what to say.”
He resisted the burning need to promise her that they would win and that she was going to love it. “It’s a lot to take in, I know.”
She slanted him a glance. “I’d have to check with Bee, see if she’d hold my station for two months.”
He refused to consider that Bee might say anything but yes. “I get that, sure.”
“And then there’s the money. I heard the winner gets a million dollars.”
“Actually, once you get on the show, there’s a graduated fee scale. The million is the top prize, but everybody gets something.”
She leaned toward him a little, definitely interested. “Graduated how?”
“The first one eliminated gets twenty-five hundred. The longer you stay in the game, the more you get. For instance, if you last through the sixth show, you get ten thousand. And if you’re the last to go before the winner, you get a hundred K.”
She actually chuckled. “Good to know. So, Travis, if we’re in this together, I say we split everything fifty-fifty.”
He’d figured on giving her something, but he’d been kind of hoping she’d settle for much less. After all, he had big plans for his new house, for the ranch. He cleared his throat. “Would you take twenty percent?”
“Travis,” she chided.
“Thirty?” he asked hopefully.
“Look at it this way. If they like me and want me on the show, you double your chances to win. Not to mention, the longer we both stay on, the more we both make.” She spoke way too patiently. He found himself wistfully recalling the little girl she’d once been, the little girl who’d considered him her own personal hero and would have done anything he asked her to do, instantly, without question. Where had that little girl gone?
“True, but I’m your ticket in,” he reminded her. “I’m the one who worked my ass off getting this far, you know?”
“I see that. And I admire that. I sincerely do. But without me, you won’t make the cast.”
She was probably right. He argued, anyway. “I’m not sure of that.”
Brenna was silent, leaning there against the wall, her head tipped down. The seconds ticked by. He waited, trying to look easy and unconcerned, playing it like he didn’t have a care in the world. Too bad that inside he was a nervous wreck.
Finally, she looked up and spoke again. “I’m trying not to be so impulsive in my life, to settle down a little, you know what I mean?”
Their eyes met and they gazed at each other for a long count of ten. “Bren. I know exactly what you mean.”
She gave a chuckle, sweet and low. “I kind of thought that you might. The thing is, playing your fake fiancée on a reality show is not exactly what I would call settling down. And what are the odds against us, anyway? How many will end up competing with us?”
“I think there are twenty-two contestants total, so it’s you and me and twenty others.”
“Meaning that however we split the money, odds are someone else will take home the big prize.”
He pushed off the wall, took her by the shoulders and looked deeply into those ocean-blue eyes. “First rule. Never, ever say we might not win. We will win. Half the battle is the mental game. Defeat is not an option. Winning is the only acceptable outcome.”
She got it, she really did. He could feel it in the sudden straightening of her shoulders beneath his hands, see it in the bright gleam that lit those wide eyes. “Yeah. You’re right. We will win.”
“That’s it. Hold that thought.” He let go of her shoulders but held her gaze.
She said, “We really would be increasing our chances, the two of us together. Together, we can work out strategies, you know? We can plan how to handle whatever they throw at us.”
“Exactly. We would have each other’s backs. So what do you say, Bren?”
“I still want half the money.” A gust of wind slipped into the three-sided enclosure and stirred her hair, blowing a few fiery strands across her mouth.
He smoothed them out of the way, guiding them behind her ear, thinking how soft her pale skin was and marveling at how she’d grown up to be downright hot. It was a good thing he’d always promised himself he’d never make a move on her. Add that promise to the fact that he’d sworn off women and he should be able to keep from getting any romantic ideas about her.
“Travis?” She searched his face. “Did you hear what I just said?”
“I heard.” He ordered his mind off her inconvenient hotness and set it on coming up with more reasons she should take less than half the prize.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t think of a single one.
So all right, then.
