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)
“I have no intention of moving any faster than this for three weeks,” I tell them. Their shoulders sag in relief. I guess they’re paid by the hour and not the number of minutes of screen time used because my sedate pace has to be boring material compared to the men who’ve reached the fire pit and are now busy rooting around the logs with long pokers. Sparks fly in the air, and I hear someone scream in pain as a stray cinder flies into the air and lands where it shouldn’t.
When I finally reach the pit, the other men all have a ball at their feet. An extra one is rolling around in a small divot.
“We got yours for you,” says one of them. He’s tall with light reddish hair and a gym rat’s build with overly bulky arms and thin legs. One hard wind on this island and he’s on his ass.
“Thanks.” I toe the ball over and read the number. Six. I give the other men a brief nod and start walking toward the tents.
“Hey, wait,” another one calls.
I look over my shoulder. “You having a hard time reading the number?”
This man, blond and looking as plastic as a Ken doll, shifts awkwardly. “No, but don’t you want to talk about your number? We thought we could have a competition between us to decide who gets what number.”
“Do you know who is in which tent?”
“Uhhh, not really?”
“Then what’s the point?” I turn and head toward number six. It doesn’t matter to me who is inside the tent. I just want to kick off my shoes, lie down, and sleep. I spent most of last night packing and then writing down instructions for Binnie on how to take care of things in my absence. Basically, she needs to water my plants and get my mail. It struck me that I don’t have a very complicated life. For the first ten years post high school, I was caught up in the tech rat race, trying to one-up all the other eggheads on creating the latest and greatest piece of software. It was exhausting, and at the time, I thought it was rewarding, but now that I’ve sold my app platform, my life is feeling empty. I don’t have a girlfriend or even a pet. I just bought the plants a couple of months ago because I looked around my apartment with its white walls and black and gray decor and wondered if I was living in a prison. I guess one of my own making. Maybe I should be grateful for Binnie pushing me outside my comfort zone. Never in a billion years would I have agreed to be on a dating show.
I reach tent number six. Maybe this is my destiny.
I give myself a little shake. Wake up, Leo. You’re not finding the mother of your children on a dating show. This is a fame-hungry wench who wouldn’t know how to keep a secret if her life depended on it. She probably is here to increase her social networking status and not much more.
“Hope you’re decent because I’m coming in.” I unzip the tent opening and step inside.
The big eyes of a goddess blink up at me. Okay, fuck that. This is my destiny.
CHAPTER 4
QUINN
“Ahh, hi.” I tuck my hair behind my ear. When I tried to put it up and out of my way, they’d asked me to keep it down.
I suppose they’d spent thirty minutes doing it so I should leave it be. It never dawned on me that they would want to doll me up. They hadn’t done much to the other women, but they all showed up already in full glam.
Which seems crazy to me since we’re staying in tents on an island. But I guess they all want to put their best foot forward to try to find a husband or maybe a hookup, so it makes sense. Not to mention we’re going to be on television. I try not to remind myself of that. It’s kind of creepy to think of so many people watching me.
“Hi,” the handsome man responds, staring at me. I try not to fidget under his gaze. It’s awkward standing here in a bikini while he’s got shorts and a shirt on. A bit unfair as well.
“You’re Leo, right?” I finally ask when he doesn’t speak. Is he disappointed that he got me?
“You know who I am?”
“Yes, they showed us pictures of all of you with names.”
“They didn’t tell me your name or show us anything.”
“Really?” That was not my understanding of what was to happen. “You didn’t read the cards after you got your ball thing?”
“I grabbed the last one and came to my tent.”
“They told us that you’d select a ball and then would be given a card with details of the girl inside the tent with that number. Then you could keep your card or put the card back and compete against the others for a different one if you didn’t think the girl was….” I trail off, not sure how to phrase it.