Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 28472 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 142(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28472 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 142(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
“She’s a brat,” he mutters. Ethan hates that he can’t get one of our biggest female cats to like him.
“Storm is a sweetheart,” I lie.
“Unless you got a dick.” Ethan covers his junk. Yeah, she might be a bit sexist. I don’t know what it is about males of any kind, but she won’t tolerate them. She’s actually very protective of the other female felines.
I chew on my bottom lip, my anxiety starting to grow as the reality of this settles in.
“You signed a contract.” Laura reminds me knowing I’m thinking of ways to get out of this. I’m supposed to be leaving soon. “We got this.”
“Hey.” Ethan throws his arm around my shoulder.
“You’re sweaty.” I try to wiggle away from him, but it’s useless. He’s almost twice my size. He stole all the height and muscle in the womb. Big jerk.
“They’re going to be fighting over you.” Ethan’s face grows soft.
“I hate when you do that,” I huff.
It didn’t go unnoticed by me that when I was in college, I didn’t get asked on dates. This is going to be awkward. Ethan has pointed out a time or two when someone was hitting on me but I wasn’t aware of it. He swears James, one of the delivery guys, has a thing for me. I tried to see if I could notice, but I think James is just a nice, friendly guy.
I clearly don’t know how to try to date one man let alone multiple. What does scare me is the thought of no one wanting me. I know it shouldn’t bother me. I don’t need to date or be with anyone. I’m fine here. I’ve got my cats and my annoying twin. But no matter how many times I tell myself that, it doesn’t stop those thoughts from creeping in.
“You’re worried no one will want to date you?” Laura looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “You’re turning into a crazy cat lady.”
“You say that as though it’s an insult.” I might have resigned myself to die a virgin. A sacrifice to the cats. Okay, maybe I am going crazy.
“I honestly think you’re going to enjoy this more than you think.” Ethan drops his arm.
“Now you’re the crazy one.” I’ve already thought this through. Even if I did fall madly in love with someone, it couldn’t go anywhere. My life will always be here. No man is going to give up their life to come live with a crazy cat lady in the middle of nowhere. I don’t want to toy with the idea in my mind that one would.
It will make me want something I’ll never have.
CHAPTER 3
LEO
“There are six paths for each male participant. You will all start at the same time. At the bottom of the hill is a fire pit. Inside the fire pit are six fireproof balls. Fish one out and then go to the tent number that matches the number on the ball. What you do in the tent is up to you,” instructs the director. She smacks her lips together and winks at me. I stare back stone-faced. I hope Binnie has written her will because I’m killing her after this.
“Maybe you could try smiling,” suggests another crew member.
I stare straight ahead.
“Or no. I guess the big angry man trope could sell.” In an overloud whisper, the same woman turns to her closest coworker and says, “Where did Binnie pick this Neanderthal up?”
“Friend, I guess,” is the reply.
The woman with the headset claps her hands together. “It’s fine. He’s hot and rich. He doesn’t need to smile. Everyone get to your marks. The cameras are on in five. You—“ She points a sharp nail in my direction. “I don’t care what you do on camera but remember being an asshole will only result in a lot of hate for you, and you won’t get any screen time if the audience doesn’t like you.”
Don’t give me any ideas. A makeup artist comes over to pat something on my face, but one glower sends her scuttling. “Have a shiny fucking face then,” I hear her mutter as she runs off.
I rub a hand over my nose. Killing Binnie won’t be enough. I’m going to have to make it hurt. Like there’s going to be some torture involved. I’ll spend my three weeks in “paradise” to plan this out. Someone shouts that it’s go time, which I guess means for me to walk out and meet the other contestants. I push aside the canvas flap of the large tent and start down the rocky path. The flames of the fire can be seen in the distance. I can also make out the figures of the other men. One of them is running. Given that none of us have seen the women and even if we did, we don’t know what tent they are in, racing to the fire is senseless. That doesn’t stop the other men from feeling challenged. They all start running. The poor camera crews assigned to each member are also running. They hadn’t prepared for this. The camera guy and the person who handles his cords are running backward. The staff assigned to me start to look worried.