Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 63068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 315(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 315(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
“Lauren,” Nadia said, running over to hug her as soon as we stepped into the lobby. “I’m so glad to see you back on your feet again. You’ll spend the next two days here while we wrap up filming, but if you’re not up for traveling back home then, we’d be glad to extend your stay.”
Lauren thanked her while I glowered. Of course they were willing to pay for a few more nights here—they’d fucked up. Lauren and Linda never should have been left in that jungle alone. I hoped Linda would sue the shit out of her employer over what had happened to her. I’d gone with Lauren when her bed had been wheeled into Linda’s room so they could see each other and Linda had told us she’d have a long road to recovery ahead of her with her leg. Surgeries, rehab, and she might never be able to walk as well as she had before.
I was over Exiled and everyone affiliated with it. The show’s only premise was an exploitation of our past pain, and Lauren had gotten seriously ill and badly injured. We were obligated to do publicity for the show, but I planned to do as little as possible.
“I’ll show you to your rooms,” a resort hostess told Lauren and me.
Our rooms were on the resort’s second floor, right across the hall from each other. As soon as the hostess opened Lauren’s room and she walked inside, it hit me that we’d be spending tonight apart for the first time in twenty-eight days.
Four weeks of sleeping beside her every night, with the exception of the night she’d had to spend at Maks’s camp and the night she’d spent at the bottom of the ravine while I’d searched for her. And now it was over.
I went into my room, dropped my key card on a table and flopped onto the bed face first, hoping to get the first decent night’s sleep I’d had since before our final competition.
When I woke up a few hours later, it was because someone was knocking on my door. I got up, walked over to the door and opened it.
Lauren was standing there, looking stunning in a white sleeveless dress that showed off her tan, her hair up and her makeup perfectly done.
“Were you asleep?” she asked me. “I didn’t mean to wake you up, but I wanted to see if you’re going to the luau.”
“Luau?”
The producers asked the resort to throw a luau for us tonight, to make up for the one we didn’t get after the competition.
“This isn’t Hawaii,” I said, still feeling surly about how everything went down.
“No, but I’m going anyway. Do you want to come with me?”
I sure as hell wasn’t letting her go alone looking like that. She’d have guys trying to persuade her to come back to their rooms all night long.
“Can I take a five-minute shower?” I asked.
“Sure. Nadia left this for you.” She picked up a bag from the floor outside the door. “Clean clothes.”
I let her into the room to wait for me, and while it was nice to get a shower and put on clean clothes, I wasn’t wearing anything I would have chosen for myself.
“A Hawaiian shirt?” Lauren laughed when she saw me.
“I considered putting my dirty clothes back on instead, but to be honest, they’re rank,” I said wryly.
“You look great,” she said. “Did you decide to keep the beard?”
I shook my head. “I just haven’t had any time to shave it, but I will.”
When we arrived at the oceanfront luau, many of the contestants who had already been eliminated from the show were already there. There were two different camps—those who were having friendly conversations with their exes, and those who were staying as far away from their exes as possible. There was a cluster of hockey players at the bar and a group of women sitting on chairs around a fire, everyone with a drink in hand.
“This is nice,” Lauren said, smiling.
It was nice to see her happy and feeling good, but tonight would be another evening we passed making small talk about things that didn’t really matter. I’d driven a wedge between us by telling her about my almost proposal.
“Lauren!”
Mariah, one of the women who had been eliminated from the show early on, was waving Lauren over to the women-only group.
“I’m just going to go say hi,” she said.
“Want me to get you a drink?”
She nodded. “Sure, thanks. A margarita or a piña colada if they have them.”
When I approached the bar, the group of players there greeted me.
“Archer Holt,” Tyler McGann said. “My money was on you to win, bro.”
“Life’s better here,” Carter Lynch said with a grin. “We spend our days at the pool or the beach, drinking and acting as the welcoming committee for all the single women at the resort.”