Fairytale Love - Becca & Brian(41)

"Sit," Haley said in her ‘mom' voice. "I'll get your coffee. And are you hungry? Do you want some oatmeal?"

"Toast." Becca had never been so grateful for her big sister's nurturing nature as she was right in this moment.

Shuffling over to the table in her slippers, she sat and another doozy of a yawn escaped her mouth.

"I saw Brian leave this morning," Haley said casually. Her back was  facing Becca, so all she could see was her sister's long, blond hair  cascading down her back. She couldn't see the look in her eye to see if  she knew or not. Haley's voice went up an octave as she asked, "Did you  not get much sleep last night?"

Yep. She knew.

Becca was not ready to talk about anything, especially until she talked to Brian.

"Actually, I can't remember the last time I slept that good." Which was  totally true. Becca had slept like a rock. No tossing and turning with  thoughts of Brian running through her head. She'd slept in the best  place in the world-wrapped in Brian's arms.

At that thought, she felt herself getting a little misty-eyed, and for  the first time since she'd woken up, she also felt a little anxious.  Maybe it was because it had taken her a minute to wake up, and now that  she was really coming to, she realized that she'd had sex with Brian.  Still, even as she waited for the panic to rise up within her, she  didn't regret it. Not one iota. Because now, no matter what happened,  she'd always have last night.

One perfect night.

"Thanks, sissy," Becca said as Haley brought over the coffee and  buttered toast, which Haley had prepared like they used to eat when they  were kids-with sprinkled sugar and cinnamon-and sat quietly while Becca  drank the hot java and ate her cinnamon-sugar toast.

After finishing her first cup of coffee and two scrumdiddlyumptious pieces of toast, Becca felt semi-human again.

As she stood to pour herself another cup of liquid energy, Haley asked, "Soooo, are things okay with you and Brian?"

"Yep," Becca immediately shot back. "I mean … yeah …  I think so."

Grabbing the pot, Becca tried to assure herself that things had to be  okay. Right? This was her and Brian. Yes, they'd had sex, but they were  still them.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Haley's brow rose as Becca once again took her seat across from her sister.                       
       
           



       

"No." That was an answer she was absolutely certain of.

"Okay." Haley leaned forward, and Becca saw a glimmer of excitement in her eye.

Hmmm. Odd.

Haley laid her perfectly manicured hands flat on the table. "Then can we talk about Colton?"

Becca's head fell back and she laughed. When she raised her head back  up, her sister still had the same excited look in her eye. "Are you  fan-girling over Colton?"

Haley lifted her hand, her forefinger and thumb about an inch apart, and  tilted her head as she scrunched her nose. "Maybe just a little bit."

Becca smiled. When she had a layover in Miami, she hadn't been able to  count the number of Team Colton fans who had come up and asked what he  was really like, if he was really hot in person, if he really had an  accent. The same look she'd seen in those teeny-bopper fans, she saw in  her sister's eyes now.

"I mean, of course, he's no Eddie." The moment Haley spoke her husband's  name, she looked like she should have little hearts circling around her  head. "But he just seemed so … "

"Manly? Alpha?" Becca offered.

"Yes." Haley pointed at her sister like she'd nailed it on the head.

"He is. And he's a really nice guy." Becca couldn't help but smile when she thought about her ‘prince.'

"So, is he …  I mean, do you think you guys will …  Is he … ?" Haley waved her  hands like she was trying to come up with the right words.

"Is he my fairytale love?" Becca joked.

"You know what I mean. Does he know about Brian? Do you two really get  along like it seems on the show? Are there sparks? Does he think you  guys are really a couple?" Haley asked all in one breath.

Becca had figured this was going to come up. If it hadn't been Krista's  wedding yesterday, she was sure it would have come up earlier. "Yes,  Colton figured out how I felt about Brian. Apparently, I am not that  good of an actress. And he's totally cool with it." Becca chuckled. "We  had a lot of time at the resort last week. Especially, since we were  sleeping in the same room with no camera crews. We started talking and  he admitted that he actually had a one-that-got-away. It was his high  school girlfriend. He still sounded pretty hung up on her. And when he  asked me about Brian, I don't know if it was all the cosmos I'd had, but  I confessed like he was a priest and I was in a confessional.

"Then he just smiled and said that he knew it would never work out  between us. I said, ‘Yeah, because we're both in love with other  people.' He said, ‘No, because you're a vegetarian and I'm a cattle  rancher.'"

Haley's eyes widened and she laughed. "That's so funny. I didn't even think about that."

"I didn't either, but it's true."

"So, what if you guys win? What are you going to do?" Haley's face looked sympathetic.

"I guess we'll talk about it then." Becca shrugged. "He said he wouldn't  mind doing the other show and collecting the money. He went on the show  for his sister who is in remission, but has leukemia. I guess she's  been happier than he's heard her in a long time seeing him on TV and  also seeing all the fans"-Becca inclined her head towards Haley,  indicating that she was one-"that Colton has."

"So it would be like a business arrangement?" Haley asked. Her tone was  not judgmental at all, but Becca could definitely hear the concern in  her sister's voice.

"I guess." Becca hadn't really thought of it like that. She'd been  thinking of it as more like honoring her contract … which now she saw was  exactly a business arrangement.

"What about Brian?"

Good question. Unfortunately, Becca had no answer for it-at least not until she talked to him.

"Well," Haley said brightly, probably picking up on the fact that Becca  was at a loss for words, "you guys are coming to the viewing party  tonight, right?"

"Viewing party?" Becca had no idea what her sister was talking about.

"Yeah, at The Grill. Every Sunday night, they put the show up on the big  screens." Haley lifted her hands animatedly, as if displaying the  televisions. She seemed beside herself with excitement about it.

Becca did not feel the same. Of course, she knew that people were  watching her. She wasn't delusional. But there was a big difference  between people watching in the privacy of their own homes and the entire  town gathering together to watch it on big screen TVs at the local  sports bar and grill.                       
       
           



       

"I haven't even seen the show," Becca explained, her voice cracking slightly.

Haley clapped her hands together, "Oooh good. This will be so fun. You  look amazing on it. And Amber has had so many orders that she's hired  Sophie full time as her merchandising manager."

"Oh, that's good." Becca was actually happy that Amber's dresses had  seen an uptake in sales. They were incredible, so she wasn't surprised.  And Sophie, who was married to her cousin Bobby-the youngest of the  Sloan boys-had been looking for full-time work.

"Okay. I'll see you tonight. I have to go open Tempting. Oh, and I  brought you these." Haley pulled out a bag from behind her chair and  handed it to Becca before giving her a quick hug.

"What's this?"

Haley looked over her shoulder as she headed towards the door, "I  thought you might want to up your lingerie game." Her sister winked and  then was out the door.

Becca slowly opened the black bag with the word ‘Tempting' written in  pink across it in cursive. She pulled out a satin bra-and-panty set that  was a lot racier than anything Becca had ever worn. Next, there was a  see-through lace set that made Becca blush just from holding it. There  were several more combinations of bras and panties, all equally  blush-worthy.

Becca had never seen herself as particularly sexy. But she had to admit that she wanted Brian to see her in all of these.

* * *

"All right. We'll call you when it's ready. I'll get it back to you  tonight," Brian assured a customer that was worried she wouldn't have  her car back to get to work tomorrow.

Setting the phone back on the receiver, he saw that, while he'd taken  that call, he'd received four new messages. He wanted to pick up the  phone and throw it through the window.