Fairytale Love - Becca & Brian(16)

She nodded as he put the phone to his ear.

"Hello."

"Yes, is this Brian? Brian Scott?" a female voice he didn't recognize asked.

"Yes."

"Brian, this is Sabrina Denton, producer on Fairytale Love. I'm calling  to let you know that you've been chosen as a cast member. I'm emailing  you the details and contract now. I'll need you to return them to me by  midnight, Eastern Standard Time tonight."

With everything going on in his head about him and Becca and also his  family, he'd totally forgotten about the reality show. His life was not  in a place where he could take off for a month, and even though it was  for TV, and not real, his heart was not in a place where he could ‘date'  someone. Not with the feelings he had for Becca.

"Thank you so much for the opportunity. Unfortunately, my circumstances have changed and I won't be able to-"

The producer on the other end of the phone interrupted him, not seeming  at all surprised by his reluctance. "It's twenty thousand dollars  guaranteed. Five hundred thousand for the couple that wins the show,  five hundred thousand for the couple if they agree to shoot a spinoff,  and if they make it an entire year and the ratings support it, then a  bonus five hundred thousand per person. That's a chance at a million  dollars and a guaranteed twenty thousand."

The waitress showed up and delivered their food, but he barely noticed.  As he stared into the blue pools of Becca's gorgeous eyes, everything  inside of him was screaming to hang up the phone and tell her how he  felt about her. That he loved her. Not just as a friend. That he was  madly in love with her and he wanted to be with her. That it didn't  matter if she didn't return his feelings-she was the love of his life  and he had to tell her.

If it were just him, that's exactly what Brian would do. But it wasn't  just him. In the situation his parents had found themselves in, there  was no way Brian could be selfish enough to turn down that kind of  money. Twenty thousand dollars would go a long way in helping with  tuition. Not to mention the chance at a million.

Brian felt like he was caught between a love rock and a financial hard place. But he knew what he had to do.

"All right. Go ahead and email the details," Brian said. He heard the uncertainty in his own voice.

Apparently, Sabrina subscribed to the ‘stop while you're ahead' sales  philosophy because after a clipped, "Sounds good," the line disconnected  and she was gone.

Brian felt numb as he put the phone back in his pocket.

"Everything okay?" Becca asked sweetly.

"Yeah." Brian looked down at his plate filled with pancakes, eggs, and  bacon, and even though just minutes ago he'd been starving, he had  absolutely no appetite whatsoever now. Raking his fingers through his  hair, he let out a breath as he leaned back against the booth. Then,  looking up at his best friend, the girl he was ready to pledge his  unwavering, undying love for, he explained, "I got the show. I'm going  to be on Fairytale Love."

* * *

Becca's heart ached like it was breaking from the inside out. She knew that she should be happy for her friend. But … she wasn't.

Brian let out a frustrated breath as he sat up straighter and placed his  elbows on the table. When his eyes met hers, she felt his stare all the  way to the tips of her toes, with a special emphasis between her legs.

The energy between them crackled with electricity. Becca felt herself  holding her breath. She wasn't doing it on purpose. Her non-breathing  status was purely an involuntary response to Brian's golden eyes locked  with hers.

She could see that something was going on behind the amber-colored  windows to his soul. He was battling with something, and her instincts  were telling her that it was something big. But no matter how badly the  little voice inside of her head was screaming at her to speak, to say  something, anything, all she could do was sit, breath held, and wait.

"I don't want to do this, the show. But I can't turn down the money," Brian explained in an apologetic, tortured tone.

Becca finally took a breath. She wasn't sure exactly what she had  expected him to say. But it hadn't been that. Definitely not that.

Feeling like the worst friend, the worst person, in the world for not  being excited for her friend, she pasted the best fake smile she could  muster on her face. "Are you kidding me? This is so exciting!"

Brian stared at her, and she knew that he could see right through her Suzy-smiles-a-lot persona.                       
       
           



       

"So where does it shoot? How long will you be gone? Did they say what  prince they cast you as? Do you know if you're Phillip?" Becca  rapid-fired questions at Brian. She had a tendency to do that when she  was upset or nervous.

Thinking about whatever girl would be lucky enough to be Brian's  ‘princess,' she heard Watts from Some Kind of Wonderful in her head,  saying, "Break his heart, I'll break your face." She would, too. Whoever  it was better be good to him.

Brian shook his head slightly as if he were coming out of a fog. "You  know, what. I didn't even ask. But Sabrina, the producer, said that she  would be emailing me the details and contracts."

"That's great," Becca enthused brightly. Only after her response had  left her lips did she realize that he hadn't said anything that needed  that level of support. An ‘oh, okay' would have been sufficient. She  needed to pull it together and be Brian's friend. "So, if you win, does  that mean you'll get to go back to school?"

Brian let out a forced laugh as he said, "Yeah, if I win. That's a big  if, but the producer said that the couple who wins gets five hundred  thousand dollars then an additional five hundred large if they agree to  do a follow-up spinoff, and then, if that goes well and they make it a  full year, they get another five hundred thousand each."

"A year?" Becca heard herself repeat as she gulped over a large knot  that had formed instantly in her throat at Brian's words. He could  potentially be with his ‘princess' for a year? Of course, that made  sense.

Logically, Becca knew that the financial incentive made perfect sense.  The show would want the publicity of having the success story of the  relationship working out. Becca tried to quiet the voice inside of her  head that was screaming, "No, don't go. Please don't go find the love of  your life on a reality show!"

Brian's mouth pulled up in a half smile as he looked at Becca with so  much emotion that it almost caused her to get choked up. It also held  the panic that was bubbling up inside of her at bay.

"What?" she asked.

A lot of times, he got that look on his face when he thought she was  doing something cute, but she was abso-freaking-lutely sure that she was  not doing anything that could possibly be classified as even remotely  ‘cute' at the moment.

Brian's hands once again covered hers and his thumb brushed along the  sensitized skin of her palm right below her thumb. His featherlight  touch sent a shooting sensation straight to her lady parts. She had  never studied reflexology, but there had to be something to it, because  holy hot sauce, it was like there was a direct line from her palm to the  apex at her thighs.

"Anyone else would have asked about the money. But not you. You ask  about the time commitment," Brian said, his tone indicating that he  thought that was a good thing. Endearing, even.

Becca decided that she was going to have to assume that's how he meant  it, because at this moment, all of the cells in her body were currently  rising up in revolt against her very firm command of ‘no swooning.' She  was smack-dab in the middle of one of the biggest swoon moments in her  life from a brush of Brian's thumb. So she had no brain cells to spare  to try to come up with a follow-up question.

She felt a buzzing against her hip, and the thought, briefly, flashed in  her mind that it was weird that the sensation Brian's caress was  causing had migrated from between her legs. It wasn't until Brian  pointed out that Becca's phone was ringing that she realized that it was  not arousal but someone calling her.

"Oh, right." She pulled her hand away from him and pulled out her phone.

Her mom had wanted her to stop by this morning to go through some  pictures she'd found up in the attic. She'd agreed to go over there  before Brian had called and said that he needed to talk to her and asked  her to go to breakfast.

Thinking it was her mom checking to see where she was, Becca answered distractedly, "Hi."

"Hi, I'm looking for Becca Sloan." A deep, unfamiliar voice spoke with authority.

"This is she." Becca wished she would have checked the caller ID instead  of just assuming that it had been her mom calling. She had no idea who  this was.

"This is Gavin Halloway, a producer with Fairytale Love."