Falling for Mister Wrong (14 page)

Caitlyn had respected the choice, especially
when Sidney explained that she and Daniel never
laughed
together. That there was never any
fun
with the two of
them.

On screen, Daniel and Elena laughed into the
cameras, breathless and bright eyed after their screaming plunge
and dangling upside down first kiss—a
Marrying Mister
Perfect
tradition.

Had Caitlyn laughed with Daniel? She couldn’t
remember a single time. Things between them were romantic to the
extreme, but always intense, never light. Always soulful gazes,
never winks and grins.

Will’s grinning face flashed in her
thoughts.

“You know.” Mimi waved a chopstick at the
screen. “I really wanted Daniel to be chosen as the next Mister
Perfect when I saw Marcy’s season, but now I’m afraid he’s going to
be one of those guys who seems totally nice the first time around,
but by the second season has turned into a total douche.”

Caitlyn winced. Mimi had no idea she was
calling Caitlyn’s fiancé a douche. She thought she was comforting
Caitlyn after a bad break up by ragging on the guy who had broken
her heart. Offering
you’re-better-off-without-him
support.

Caitlyn didn’t know if that made it better or
worse.
The road to hell was paved with good intentions.

“We should start a drinking game. With soda,”
Mimi amended quickly when Caitlyn shot her a look. “Take a sip
every time he gets that smug, douche-bag,
I-deserve-gorgeous-women-fighting-over-me-because-I-am-the-catch-of-the-universe
smile on his face.”

Caitlyn sank deeper into the couch. If she
defended Daniel, would she give away the secret? “Great idea.”

What would Mimi think of Daniel the first
time they met? Would it be all forgive and forget or would she
still think he was a reality TV douche-bag?

“The wall looks good.”

Caitlyn looked up. Mimi was twisted around
with her back to the television, taking advantage of the commercial
break to inspect the good-as-new wall that had been a gaping
charred hole less than a week ago.

“Yeah, Will and his brother-in-law did an
amazing job. I can’t believe how quickly they put my life back
together again.” Now if only there was such an easy patch for her
love life.

“Will?” Mimi turned slowly back to face
Caitlyn, eyes wide, brows arched speculatively.

“My downstairs neighbor. The one who pulled
me out of the fire. His brother-in-law is a contractor and they
took care of everything.”

“Wait, Will Hamilton?”

Had he told her his last name? She couldn’t
remember. Had she really walked past his mailbox for however many
months without registering the name? “Maybe?”

“Tall, darkish hair, built, freakishly sexy
eyes?”

“That sounds like him.”

“Oh my God!” Mimi squealed, nearly upending
the carton of chow mein she’d propped against her hip. “This is
totally fate.”

“Fate?” Caitlyn echoed skeptically.

“Will Hamilton is Ty’s friend Don’s wife’s
brother!” At her blank look, Mimi flapped a chopstick at her. “The
one I wanted to set you up with! With the bitch ex-fiancé!”

He’s single
. “Oh.”

“Yeah,
oh
. God, Cait, you have to jump
on that man like he’s a landmine who might explode at any moment.
You’ve seen him. You know that kind of hotness isn’t going to be on
the market for long.”

But I’m not on the market
.

She’d already found her happily ever after.
Was she betraying Daniel by even entertaining fantasies about
another man? Because she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about
Will and what might happen on their
date-that-was-definitely-not-a-date if things had been different
and they’d both been free. But it turned out Will
was
free.
Did he think the date really was a date? Did he want it to be?

Did
she?

“I can’t date while the show is airing,”
Caitlyn murmured when Mimi gazed at her expectantly. “It’s in the
contract.”

“Well then at least lick him to claim him for
later.”

She blinked, jolted out of her musings by the
words. “Excuse me?”

Mimi waved a chopstick. “It’s something the
kids do so no one else will eat their treats when they’re trying to
save them. Like the last piece of pizza in the fridge. One kid
licks it in front of the other and then the other kid is so scared
of the cooties that they stay away from the treat. You just need to
lick Will for later.”

“Because that doesn’t sound creepy at
all.”

“Hey, all’s fair in love and war.”

“I’m not sure the cooties principle
translates.”

“Shush, it’s back.” Mimi flapped at her to be
silent, glued to the screen.

Caitlyn turned back to watch her personal
natural disaster.

Chapter
Sixteen

“Will! Get in here. You have to see
this!”

Claire’s shout echoed through the house from
the media room, reaching him all the way in the kitchen where he
was hiding with his brothers-in-law. After dinner, his parents had
taken their grandchildren to the basement with plans to build a
Guinness World Record worthy fort, his sisters had retreated to the
media room to watch some reality show Laney was addicted to, and
the men of the middle generation had claimed dishes duty so they
could stealthily raid the beer fridge as they cleaned.

The cleaning was all done, but there were
still beers to be had and football to be discussed and Will had no
intention of throwing himself into the estrogen pit of the media
room if he could avoid it. Especially since he had miraculously
evaded being grilled about his love life during dinner and he
wanted to continue his streak.

“No, thanks, Claire,” he shouted back. “I’m
good.”

Second later she appeared in the doorway.
“Seriously, you have to see this. It’s the girl! Don’s friend Ty’s
wife’s friend. She’s on
Marrying Mister Perfect
!”

“There’s a show called
Marrying Mister
Perfect
?” He didn’t bother to hide his horror.

“It’s premium grade reality schlock. But you
have to see her! She’s adorable.”

“I somehow doubt anyone who would voluntarily
go on a reality television show can be described as human, let
alone adorable.”

Claire pivoted, glowering at her husband for
reinforcements. “Don.”

Claire was five-six in three-inch heels, with
a round sweet face that didn’t look like it disguised a brain to
rival Mussolini’s. Her husband was a towering bear of a man who
could have been a celebrity impersonator for Vin Diesel without
much effort. And he still held up his hands in defeat the second
she looked at him. “The girl’s cute,” he offered.

As if that settled it, Claire latched onto
Will’s arm and began dragging him toward the media room. He was
twice her size, but she had a grip like a wolverine.

“What made you think I would want to date
some reality TV starlet?”

Claire rolled her eyes and kept dragging. “I
didn’t
know
she was on the show. No one did. It was this
giant secret.”

“But you still want to set me up with her.
Even though she’s probably a soulless fame whore.”

“Wow, way to be judgmental, champ. And no, I
don’t want to set you up
now
, not when you have your fire
girl. But she might be a good fall back plan, for later.”

His fire girl. He liked the sound of that.
There was certainly a fire inside Caitlyn, embers burning low, and
he was looking forward to fanning those flames.

“I got him,” Claire announced as she hauled
him into the media room, finally releasing the wolverine grip and
flopping onto one of the giant plush recliners fanned out in front
of the mega-screen—his parents had gone all out when they remodeled
the house, turning Laney’s old bedroom into a home theatre.

He saw a bevy of bikini-clad beauties
cavorting around the pool—like something out of his teenage
fantasies—all of them gazing up at the man in the three piece suit
as if he was about to deliver the Eleventh Commandment.

“
And the winner of the next individual
date is…”
The camera scrolled wildly over the eager faces.

“It’ll be Amanda,” Laney announced
confidently.

Claire and Julia immediately chimed in,
arguing for their own picks, the three of them so loud they all
missed hearing the name called.

Then the camera zoomed in tight on a shocked
face. A very
familiar
shocked face.

“
Caitlyn
?”

Three pairs of eyes swung to lock on him.

“You watch the show?” Laney asked.

“You know her?” Julia demanded in the same
moment.

Will couldn’t quite process what he was
seeing, his eyes still locked on the screen. “That’s my upstairs
neighbor.”

“
That’s
fire girl?” Julia said.

“You’re dating the
Marrying Mister
Perfect
girl?” Laney yelped.

“I get credit for this,” Claire crowed. “I
was going to introduce them through Don.”

“You don’t get credit,” Julia argued. “You
didn’t
introduce them. If anyone gets credit, I do, because
Dale was there when they were all flirty-flirty for the
repairs.”

“No one gets credit,” Laney declared. “They
met on their own.”

“We aren’t dating,” Will protested, but the
words were weak. Caitlyn had been gone for months
because she
was on a reality television show
. “What is this show?”

“It’s a dating show. Like the Bachelor. Or
all those VH1 ones—Flavah of Love, Rock of Love. A bunch of
girls—or guys in the alternating seasons—go on national television,
competing to date the dude who has been picked as Mister Perfect.
Who is sometimes flippin’ awesome—like Doctor Jack, be still my
heart—and sometimes kind of a dick—like that Randall from four
seasons ago. Ugh. Jury’s still out on this guy, though he seems
pretty cool so far. And I will confess when he literally swept
Marcy off her feet last season I about swooned.”

The guy. Her bad break-up. It had been on
national television. Damn. That would be enough to make anyone gun
shy.

But why would she put herself through that?
Why would she voluntarily go on the show? Yes, he’d been instantly
infatuated with her, but now he was realizing he didn’t know the
first thing about her. He hadn’t thought she was the kind of girl
who would go on reality television. Why hadn’t she said
something?

This
was why she’d been drinking last
Tuesday. And the veil.
Marrying Mister Perfect
. The gag gift
made sense now.

Had she really hoped to marry that guy? A
complete stranger she met on national television? Or had she had
some other motivation for going on the show?

Who
was
she?

“Will?”

His sisters seemed to have finally noticed he
wasn’t responding to them.

“I have to go.” He had a lot to think about.
“And we aren’t dating.” At this point, he wasn’t sure they ever
would be.

#

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you got
an individual date on the
second episode
,” Mimi exclaimed
for approximately the seven hundredth time since the host had
announced Caitlyn would be accompanying Daniel on the romantic
opera-and-fine-dining date, referred to among the Suitorettes as
the
Pretty Woman
.

“They only picked me because I have a musical
background and am less likely to say something on camera to offend
the entire opera community.”

“Yeah, but
Tosca
? Your all time
favorite opera ever in the history of man? What are the odds?”

The odds were pretty good because she’d
filled out extensive questionnaires telling the producers what her
favorite and least favorite
everything
was. “It was pretty
amazing.”

The Puccini had swept her away, as it always
did, and for the first time—but not the last—she’d forgotten she
was on camera. She’d just been on a date with an insanely handsome
man who seemed as happy as she was to be at the opera with
her—though she’d gotten the sense he loved the spectacle of it more
than the musical majesty. Still, it had been pretty close to
perfect and she’d been transported.

When he’d whisked her away during the curtain
call to a candlelight dinner on a rooftop overlooking the city, she
hadn’t even minded missing the bows. Not when he was gazing into
her eyes with his blue eyes sparkling. Dazzled, charmed, she
couldn’t help wonder if he might really be her Mister Perfect. If
she could possibly have gotten that lucky.

Then he’d kissed her.

“Is he a good kisser?” Mimi demanded, pausing
and rewinding the kiss several times. It had been brief, but
lovely. A dignified show of interest and intent. Perfect.

“Yes,” she said softly. She could feel Mimi
watching her, but she just looked at the screen. Daniel leaning in,
keeping that magical eye contact until she felt drugged by it. He
certainly knew how to work a romantic moment. That had never been
in doubt.

She’d been swept away that night. He’d made
her forget the cameras, so caught up in him. But had she also
forgotten herself? Had she been playing a role too? Miss Perfect to
his Mister? Had she wanted the happy ending so badly that she’d
forced it when it wasn’t there?

She watched for the warning signs, looking
for the seeds of doubt that would sprout into the reservations she
now felt about spending the rest of her life with him—but all she
saw was charm and charisma and smiles and the perfect, light
lingering kiss. It looked a lot like love.

She’d gone home that night and admitted to
the cameras in the confessional that she might have just had her
last first kiss. From the way the producers had sighed, she
knew
that line would make it into the show.