After shooting one last glance over to Lance Sparrow-who, up close, almost looked like the wax figures she'd seen at Madame Tussauds in Hollywood-she took her spot back in the pack.
Leaning down, Colton whispered encouragingly in a barely audible tone, "Good job."
Becca grinned, feeling ridiculously proud of herself. Had she cured cancer, uncovered a drug ring, fed starving children? Nope. All she'd managed to do was follow directions that were easy enough for a child to perform. Still, it felt nice to hear Colton say that she'd done well anyway.
Her attention was, once again, pulled to the center of the room as she watched as Brooklyn made her way to the front. The pretty blond wiggled her fingers at Lance in greeting before making a big show of digging into the bowl and selecting a card. When she turned to the group at large, Becca found out exactly what ‘seductive plotting' looked like. Brooklyn had nailed it as she looked at each one of the guys, in turn, like she had plans of the sexy variety in mind.
It was impressive. No way in a million gazillion years could Becca have pulled it off, but she had to give credit where credit was due.
After each contestant had selected their blank cards, Lance Sparrow held his hands out much like she remembered seeing Mr. Roarke do on the television show Fantasy Island. "Welcome to Stone Castle, where one lucky couple will find their fairytale love."
He held his too-big smile for several seconds before dropping his hands down by his sides. The second he did that, his entire demeanor switched right before her eyes. It was bizarre.
His face fell and he spoke-to whom, she wasn't sure because he wasn't looking at anyone in the room. He was looking down at the ground as he said, "Do we have it?" There was a pause, and then, without another word, he nodded and turned around, disappearing to … somewhere.
Becca looked around to see if anyone else thought that this was odd. And by anyone else, she meant Brian. What she saw was that his head was leaned down as Brooklyn whispered something in his ear.
The sight made Becca sick to her stomach.
"Okay. We need everyone to grab your luggage and head upstairs to find your rooms. The girls are in one suite and the guys are in another. There are cards with your names on them above the beds you've been assigned."
Everyone moved back to the foyer, and Becca was, once again, struck by just how breathtaking the castle was. She couldn't get over how much the entryway looked like what she imagined a Roman cathedral looking like.
Just as she was reaching for her bag, she saw Brian's hand reach for it.
"I've got it," she heard herself snap.
He froze, and she looked up at him. Obviously, he was taken aback by her tone. She was taken aback by her tone.
"I got it." This time, her words came out sounding much friendlier.
It looked like he might have a follow-up question for her, but Brooklyn showed up beside them and started talking to Brian. Becca took the opportunity of him being distracted to grab her bags and head upstairs.
Halfway up the grand staircase, Becca couldn't help herself. She looked over her shoulder to see if Brian was still talking to her. He was. And not only that, but Brooklyn also had her hand ‘casually' resting on Brian's chest.
Turning her head back around so fast that she was worried she might have given herself whiplash, Becca decided no more looking back. Best to keep her eyes straight ahead from here on out.
Chapter Twelve
The doorway rattled as all the men made their way inside the dining hall. Brian tried to take in the amazing works of art hanging around the room, but he was having a hard time seeing since his eyes were watering. He was practically choking on the intense smell of aftershave and cologne. Apparently, most of these guys did not operate on the ‘less is more' philosophy. At least, down here in the dining area, there wasn't a cloud of the stuff like upstairs. In the guys' suite, Brian had barely been able to see a foot in front of him.
There was a quiet rumble of trash talk going on. The guys in this group seemed highly competitive. Not that Brian wasn't-he absolutely was. He just didn't usually talk out his ass. And since he had no idea what the next few weeks would entail, he didn't feel like making an idiot out of himself by predicting that he would be the last guy standing, especially when everything they said was being recorded for posterity.
"Okay, fellas." Jennifer, the PA, walked in looking down at her clipboard. When she looked up, she stopped up short. "Wow. You guys look nice."
Brian looked at the other four guys and had to admit that they had all cleaned up pretty nicely, himself included. Tonight, they'd been instructed to dress in cocktail attire. He was wearing a maroon button-up shirt, dark gray slacks, and black dress shoes. Most of the other guys were wearing variations of the same thing. With the exception of Colton, who was wearing cowboy boots, and Jax, who was wearing a white button-up shirt-which he had decided not to button up-and cargo shorts with tennis shoes.
Brian had seen Gavin's expression when he'd seen what Jax was wearing. For a moment, Brian had thought he was going to say something about it, but instead, he'd just briefed the guys on what to expect the first night in the house and once again went over the ‘no sex in the champagne room' rule that he'd said would only be lifted on the final overnight dates the two remaining couples would be going on.
Brian didn't blame Gavin for not saying something to Jax about how he was dressed. There was no way he'd want to get into it with Jax. Not only was that guy huge and a professional weightlifter, but he also seemed like he had a short fuse. Not a combo anyone in his right mind would want to agitate. ‘Don't poke the bear' fit better in this situation than any he'd ever encountered before.
"Sorry." Jennifer shook her head, looking a little embarrassed for making that observation. "The girls are running late, but they should be down any minute." With that declaration, she spun on her heels and was out the door so fast that her ponytail trailed after her as she sped through the door.
When she was gone, Jax turned and threw his arms up. Even in this massive space, he filled the room. "Of course they're running late! Probably caking that shit all over their faces. Don't they know all we care about is tits and ass? We don't give a shit about anything from the neck up. It's all the same when the lights go out."
As Jax moved to give Blake a high five, Brian noticed that all five of the women were now standing in the doorway of the dining room. He had no idea how much of Jax's little speech they'd overheard, but from the looks on their faces, they'd definitely caught a sentence or two.
"Excuse me?" Brooklyn crossed her arms and looked like she was about to spit fire from her eyes.
Jax's face froze in horror as he stared at the other guys, his eyes pleading for a little help. None came.
You're on your own big guy.
"What?" Jax turned to the girls, a huge smile on his face. "I was kidding. I knew you were there."
All of the ladies looked at him like they knew exactly where he could put that apology, and it involved someplace where the sun don't shine.
Brian tried not to laugh. He didn't want to make the situation any worse or add fuel to the fire. He was rescued when Gavin stepped into the room, speaking quietly to both Lance and Sabrina. Lance was holding his script in his hands, rehearsing his lines under his breath. Sabrina's eyes were glued to her iPad, and it looked like the only one listening to Gavin was Gavin.
"All right. So here's the deal, kids." He clapped his hands together loudly, and it felt like it shook the walls.
Brian was still getting used the acoustics in this place. The smallest noise could sound a thousand times louder, and the opposite was true as well. In the staircase and foyer, someone could be right next to him talking in a normal voice and it sounded like they were whispering.
Continuing, Gavin said, "You've all been paired up, and from now on, you will be doing things as couples. You'll eat together, compete together, and play together. But please, let's keep it PG-13."
Brian noted that Gavin stared pointedly at Brooklyn when he made that statement.
"All right. So here are the couples. First, we have Madison and Jax."
Jax looked over at Madison, who looked not so happy about the prince she'd been given.
"Next up is Leah and Blake. Then Brian and Brooklyn."
Brian heard Brooklyn say, "Yes," under her breath as she turned and winked at him. He also saw Becca's entire body tense at the announcement. He was glad that Becca hadn't been paired with Jax. That guy was an asshole. The other guys seemed fine. The only one he really wouldn't want her to be with was-