Ineligible Bachelor (15 page)

She wouldn’t take this opportunity from him—the chance to grab the brass ring in the marketing world and see where it would take him. He deserved that. She would make sure he had it.

“There is no reason Logan can’t finish this show. There’s nothing going on between us,” she said, looking at her hands in her lap.

“Then I don’t have to worry about the video.”

“Not in the least,” Freddy said quickly. She met Logan’s gaze with her own, hoping he couldn’t read how she really felt. “There never was anything besides friendship between us and never will be.”

Logan returned her gaze with a look that gutted her in place. “We’re just friends.”

Freddy willed her cheeks not to color and the emotional turmoil welling up inside her not to reach her eyes. “I’m sure the ad shoot will be great.”

“Then until this show is over, you will be somewhere I can keep an eye on you. There is too much invested for anything to go wrong now.” He sat back. “Do we all understand each other?”

Gazes on each other, both Freddy and Logan nodded

Roberto slapped his hands together before looking at his watch. “Good. Then, Logan, I suggest you get ready. You leave with Jade for your date in one hour.” Without waiting for either one to reply, he stood and left the room.

“So,” Logan said, his smile humorless. “That went well.”

Freddy reached out and smacked him as hard as she could on his upper arm. He covered the area she hit with his hand. “Ow. What was that for?”

“The video clip we just saw. All your doing.”

“I don’t remember being alone in it.” He lifted one corner of his mouth, his gaze penetrating her. “And I don’t remember anyone saying no to all my suggestions.”

Her stomach seemed to melt into a puddle in the center of her body from the long look he gave her. “It was our first day here. We were just getting settled and adjusted to the place.”

“I suppose.”

“No suppose. Fact. We got whisked away without time to think about anything, driven to this incredible place, and told it was ours for the next few weeks. While we still reeled from that, Roberto pulled out his clipboard and speed-talked a list of things we had to do.”

“Then the lights went out.”

“And came back on.”

He sat back and arched an arm across the back of the chair, easily drawing her attention to the way the fabric of his shirt pulled across his chest. “Imagine what might have happened if they hadn’t come back on so soon.”

A PowerPoint presentation of her own with all the possibilities began playing in her head. If he wanted to distract her from the day ahead of her, mission accomplished. But only for a moment. The suggestion changed nothing, and neither would her answer to it.

“That doesn’t matter now.” He looked disappointed. “But now that we have had time to get used to this place and what’s expected of us, you know what that means now, don’t you?”

He shook his head.

“We’re outnumbered by people who will make sure we stick to the rules and see this show to the end.”

He unwound his arm from the backrest and leaned toward her. “And what do you think that end might be?”

She put a forefinger on his chest and symbolically held him back. “However it is they want it to end. I don’t need any more complications.”

He grabbed her hand and flattened it against his chest. “Then we’re even, because neither do I.”

She could feel his heart beating rapidly against his rib cage and wondered briefly if the beat steadily rose because of excitement or anger. “Maybe we should talk about strategy.”

“No can do. I have a date in about an hour, remember?” He held her gaze with his.

Though the pressure of his grasp lightened, she didn’t remove her hand, but let her palm absorb the warmth she found there. “And I suppose I should get to know the also-rans you leave behind. I have to let another one go home soon.” She started to ease away, but he tightened his grip. She looked from his hand to his eyes. “There’s too much invested for something to go wrong now.” She tugged her hand free of his and rose. “That’s what Roberto said, remember?”

She’d found the bright pink pool float in the pool house, the kind only sold in high-end pool shops and mail-order houses. Ads said
the float was virtually unsinkable, and she decided she’d just proved the claim true. She’d been floating on it in the deep end of the huge pool for about two hours. It hadn’t dipped even an inch below the water when she turned over, which was a good thing, considering she planned to stay in the sun until her brain reached “bake” temperature and forced her to forget about Logan and his date. Another hour should do it, she decided, adjusting her sunglasses.

Distinctly female voices made her glance toward the sound. Great. The preppie and the beauty queen. Two reminders that her body was in no shape to handle the type of bathing suit they had on. The material from her conservative one-piece could probably make both of theirs.

She closed her eyes and stayed perfectly still, hoping they would think she was asleep. Her ruse apparently did not work because she heard two splashes and felt the float rock in the small wave that was made.

A hand grabbed on to the edge of the float near her head. Madison’s voice followed. “You’re turning as pink as this raft.”

Freddy opened her eyes enough to see Madison looked great even when wet. “I guess the sunblock isn’t as waterproof as it claims,” she replied. She heard splashing to her right and turned her head in time to see Careelyn surface.

Careelyn bobbed in the water and brushed her hair away from her face with one hand. Freddy noticed that not only did her mascara not move, but neither did the eyeliner that rimmed her blue eyes. She made a mental note to ask for some waterproof mascara the next time she saw one of the makeup artists.

“Why don’t we all sit in the cabana and get to know each other?” Careelyn suggested, grabbing on to the float and helping Madison propel it to the pool’s edge.

Freddy smiled. “If we must.” They were slick, these two. There would be no escaping them. She glanced around as much as
she could and saw no camera crew in sight. Production was probably following Logan and Jade around. Maybe she could find out something she could use to send these two packing one by one.

Madison and Careelyn maneuvered her to the shallow end of the pool where she easily hopped off the float and out of the water with the bachelorettes right on her heels. With one woman on each side of her, she had no recourse but to walk with them to the shady area under the triangular sunshade set above the patio. Once there, she picked up a thick green towel and dried off. Then after raking her hair back with one hand, she eased herself into one of four chaises.

While the two women arranged chairs in front of her like a wall, she noticed that her skin looked well past pink and on its way to bright red. It was so going to hurt later. She looked up and saw Madison and Careelyn smiling at her. She felt like prey let loose at a game preserve. Okay then, if that’s how they wanted to play it, game on.

“And how are you enjoying this little adventure so far?” Freddy asked, adjusting her backrest and feeling the canvas scrape against her sunburned back. Apparently, she would be uncomfortable in more ways than one during this little chat. “Is it all you thought it would be?”

“Not at all,” Madison replied. “I don’t think any of us knew you were going to be here with us.”

At least Roberto had surprised everyone. “How do you like the mansion?” Freddy asked.

“It’s beautiful and…”

Careelyn threw up her hand. “Let’s stop the chitchat, shall we, and cut right to the real reason we came out here. Who’s going home next, and it better not be me.”

Points to Careelyn for directness,
Freddy thought. “Well, I haven’t decided yet.” She kept her tone even and calm, but inside her annoyance simmered.

“What will it take to convince you not to send one of us home?”

“I’m not into making alliances. I think you need to be on
Survivor
for that.”

“Cute.” Careelyn’s voice oozed sarcasm. “For this you have to be the last one standing, too.” Freddy noticed that Careelyn had all but lost her southern accent. “Where did you say you were from?”

“The Southeast,” she responded, falling back into a drawl. “Why?”

Southeast Brooklyn, maybe. “No reason. Just wondering,” Freddy smiled and turned to Madison. “What about you?”

“Boston. But not the city proper, more like a suburb.” Her accent was real. “Why? Does it matter where we’re from? Because I could move. I just graduated from college and haven’t landed a job yet. That’s why I sent in the application for the show.”

“To get a job?” Freddy asked.

“Not exactly. But the experience will be good for me, don’t you think?”

I think both of you are going home, one right after the other,
Freddy thought, maintaining an even, forced smile. She moved forward on the chaise, and the backs of her thighs screamed with pain when she slid across the rough canvas cushion. She glanced at her arms, a bright red contrast to the white wicker chaise. Her stomach began to reel but she couldn’t decide if it was reacting to the sunburn or the company.

“I think I need to find some cream,” she announced, rising. “I may have stayed a tiny bit too long in the sun.” Madison and Careelyn said nothing, only watched her step over the ottoman next to her. “I’ll see you both tonight.”

“Better stay hydrated,” Madison called out as Freddy left. “It would be a shame if you couldn’t come to elimination.”

“No, it wouldn’t,” Careelyn said, shushing her. “Maybe then no one would be sent home for at least another day.”

Freddy turned and smiled. “I’ll be there,” she promised. “And someone
will
be leaving.”

She walked out from the shade, and the sun hit her shoulders, making her wince. As she dashed from shady spot to shady spot on her way into the mansion, she decided she finally knew what it must feel like to be barbecued. The headache hit her when she got as far as the sliding door. A feeling of nausea followed.

In trying to forget Logan’s date with Jade for a time, she’d doomed herself to about a day or two of pain and a stint as a lovely shade of red. The last time she did something this stupid was the time she went to the Jersey Shore on a class trip in high school. She’d baked herself over a guy then, too—the lifeguard on duty. She spent the next day in bed and a few more days peeling flaking skin all over the school.

Gingerly, she made her way through the mansion, wincing with every step she took. As she passed one of the powder rooms on the first floor, she reached out and eased the door open. Slowly, she raised her gaze to the mirror. She looked like Lobster Girl. It was going to be a very long and very painful night.

Logan tapped on the door leading to Freddy’s suite and pushed it open. “You in here?”

“Yes, but stay out.”

He ignored her. “You’re mad at me for going on the date, aren’t you?”

“I am not.”

“Then what’s the problem?” He stepped inside the room and saw the problem immediately.

Still wearing her bathing suit, Freddy lay on the bed, eyes closed, on top of the thousand-thread-count sheets. The stark contrast of red skin against the white sheets looked painful to him. He walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. “What on earth did you do?”

“Ouch, ouch, ouch,” Freddy groaned as the mattress shifted with Logan’s weight. Even the luxury sheets didn’t stop the painful abrasion against her sensitive skin. She opened one eye. “Stop moving.”

“You look like…”

She cut him off. “Don’t say it.”

He finished anyway. “Like you’ve been boiled in oil.”

“I think that would have been less painful.” She opened both eyes. “I floated in the pool a little too long.”

“How long?”

“All afternoon.”

He shook his head. “You never heard of sunscreen?”

“Yes.”

“It doesn’t do any good unless you put it on.”

“Ha-ha.” The pause between words announced her annoyance.

He shifted, and she groaned again. “Every time you move, you make every part of me touching something hurt, so stop.” He got up, and she gave him as much of a surly look as her sunburned face would allow.