Fairytale Love - Becca & Brian(17)

"Hi," Becca said, not sure why the producer would be calling her phone  unless they were looking for Brian. Or maybe they were looking for  information on Brian. They always used each other as references. She  figured that must be it.

"You have been chosen as a cast member on Fairytale Love," Gavin said in an almost comical-style announcer voice.                       
       
           



       

Becca wasn't sure if this was a joke or not. "Are you serious?"

She looked up at Brian, who still seemed as if he was having a serious  internal battle raging inside of him as he stared down at the full plate  of breakfast food. He wasn't eating; which meant he was not okay.

Brian had had to grow up way too fast. He'd had more responsibilities,  before he had been legally allowed to drive, than most adults. The  weight of the world had been on his shoulders then, and sadly, still  was.

Becca hated seeing him like that. Every instinct inside of her just  wanted to take all the stress and worry away from him. She used to just  want to distract him by watching movies, playing board games, and  hanging out. Now, she still wanted to distract him, but the methods she  wanted to use weren't nearly as innocent.

"Am I serious? Of course I'm serious. I've already emailed you the contract and your call sheet."

"Call sheet?" Becca repeated as her mind began spinning like a pinwheel.  She didn't have any idea what this Gavin was talking about. Her  audition had been a fluke. She did not want to be on a reality show.

At the words ‘call sheet,' Brian's head snapped up and his eyes widened.

He mouthed, "Who is that?"

Gavin spoke quickly. "That's right, and I need you to get it back to me  tonight by midnight, Eastern Standard Time. I'll see you tomorrow-"

"Hold on." Becca lowered the phone and covered the speaker with her hand  as she whispered to Brian, "It's the show. They said I got cast."

Brian's face lit up like it used to when they had an unexpected assembly  in elementary school. Or when he'd hit the ball over the fence in  little league in middle school. Or when she'd show up at his house with  cheesecake in high school.

Sounding happier than she'd heard him in she couldn't remember how long, he asked, "You did?"

Becca nodded. Seeing his mood change so drastically made her feel like  she was going to throw up. How was she going to break it to him that she  didn't want to do it? She'd broken out in hives during the audition; in  front of the camera was not where she belonged. Plus, this was a dating  show. She didn't want her business broadcast for everyone to see.

But the last thing she wanted to do was disappoint Brian, she had just  been wishing that there was something she could do to cheer him up.  Unfortunately, watching him romance some girl in front of her was not  what she had in mind. Also, her sister's wedding was in a month. She  needed to be here to help Krista.

That's it.

Putting the phone back to her ear, she said, "What is the schedule? My sister is getting married in a month."

If she could get out of this on a scheduling technicality, then yes, she  would still be disappointing Brian but it would be out of her hands.  Sure, she knew that she was being a big, fat, clucking chicken  but … cluck, cluck.

"Perfect. We're filming for three weeks. Then there is a two-week break before the finale."

"Oh." Becca's mind was doing a mental Google search for any other  reason-other than she really freaking did not want to do this-to get out  of the show.

Before she could come up with anything, Gavin said he would talk to her  soon and disconnected the call. As she placed her phone back in her  purse, all she could think was, Crap, crap, crap.

When she looked back up at Bri, he was smiling from ear to ear. "Can you believe this?" he asked her excitedly.

"No," Becca answered honestly.

"We're going to be on a TV show together," Brian said with the same  excitement Becca thought someone would have from winning the lottery.

She did not share his elation.

"Yep." She nodded.

Her mind was scrambling to come up with how she was going to get out of  this. She hadn't signed anything yet. Technically, she hadn't even given  her verbal agreement. Gavin had interpreted her "Oh" like it had been  touchdown and spiked the ball when really they were still at the  fifty-yard line and the game was far from over.

Brian stared at her in disbelief, shaking his head before saying, "Man,  this is perfect." Then he picked up his fork and started shoveling food  into his mouth like he didn't have a care in the world.

Seeing his face void of worry and turmoil, and that his appetite had not  just come back but it had come back in full force, Becca knew that  there was only one thing to do-pack the clothes she had just unpacked  yesterday. It looked like she was going to be spending three weeks  filming a dating reality show.





Chapter Eight



                       
       
           



       

Brian leaned to the right as he took the sharp curve at a cautious  twenty miles per hour even though the posted traffic sign suggested  thirty. He straightened the car out and glanced over at Becca, who was  seated beside him in his Jeep, white-knuckling the windy drive up to  Whisper Lake. Literally¸ he could see the whites of her knuckles as she  gripped the door handle.

When they'd received their contracts with all the filming details, his  first reaction to seeing that they'd be filming up at Whisper Lake was  nostalgic. He'd spent most of his summers up here, either with family  and friends or at camps.

His second response was, Oh shit,-because Brian knew all too well how  much Becca hated the windy, narrow, two-lane road that was the only way  in and out of Whisper Lake.

His third thought was that they'd be returning to the scene of the  crime-if you considered the kiss they'd shared criminal. Which, in  Brian's opinion, that indiscretion had been so hot that, if it weren't  illegal, it should have been. He still felt guilty over it. That was for  damn sure.

Becca hadn't just been tipsy-she'd been toasted. Not three sheets to the  wind either. It had been more like thirty sheets. But when she'd  started kissing him, he hadn't been able to pull away from her. Even if  he'd just been a passive participant, he might not feel as bad as he did  about what had happened. But he'd been engaged in that kiss from the  moment her soft lips had touched his.

Brian reminisced about the way that she'd slumped against him. He'd  wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close to him. Her soft  body had sunk into the hard planes of his body, and his planes weren't  the only things that were hard. He'd gone to full mast in a matter of  seconds, and once she'd opened her mouth and her sweet, wet tongue had  swept across, licking his bottom lip, Brian had defied the laws of  physics and grown even more rock hard. Something had snapped inside of  him, and as his tongue had plunged into the hot suction of her mouth,  sensations he'd never felt before had rocketed through him to the point  that he'd thought there'd been a very real possibility that he was going  to explode in his pants.

Even now, six months later, he could still taste the sweetness of the  girly drinks Becca had been drinking the entire night, which had led to  her intoxication. He could still feel her lips pressed against his, her  tongue meeting him lick for lick, her fingernails digging to the point  of stinging through his dress shirt on his back. She'd kissed him like  she needed him more than she needed oxygen. She'd clung to him as if  he'd been the only thing she'd ever had or ever would need.

He hadn't ever messed with drugs after his short stint during his  freshman year of high school, but Becca's kiss had made him higher than  anything he'd ever smoked and drunker than anything he'd ever had to  drink. Her kiss was potent.

Shifting uncomfortably in his chair and looking down at his lap, he saw  the fairly impressive-if he did say so himself-bulge that was pressing  behind his zipper. Brian hoped Becca wouldn't glance over and notice the  visible proof of what he'd been thinking about. Not that she'd know  what he was thinking about. Damn. The last thing he wanted was for her  to think he got his kicks from driving on winding roads, which he was  sure was some people's thing, but not his.

"What did your mom need?" Brian asked, hoping to distract his raging  hormone soldiers from their march down south. He needed his troops to  stand down.

That question was the first thing that had popped (no pun intended) into  his head. They'd stopped by Mr. and Mrs. Sloan's house on the way out  of town because Mrs. Sloan had called and said that she'd needed to see  Becca.