Fairytale Love - Becca & Brian(28)

He turned to see Becca staring up at him. Her hair was pulled back in a  ponytail and it looked like it was still wet. Her skin was clean and  fresh, not a drop of makeup-unlike the half inch Brooklyn had on-and  instead of the booty shorts and shirts (if you could even call them  that, since they looked like bras to Brian) all the other girls were  wearing, Becca had on a pair of blue jeans and a white, ribbed tank top.  She looked so fucking beautiful that it broke his heart.

"That's a promise. Not a threat. I need that coffee."

"Rough night?" he asked as he poured the remaining java into her mug.

She'd lifted her mouth before he'd even had a chance to set the coffee  pot down. She moaned as she tilted the cup and sipped the hot contents  with a look of absolute euphoria on her face.

Damn. He wished he were the one putting those looks on her face. Not a cup of coffee.

After a few seconds of enjoying her cup o' joe, she let out a loud exhale and said, "You have no idea."

And just like always, when it came to Becca, every cell in his body went  on protective alert. He felt his posture stiffen as he asked, "Why?  What happened? Did someone do something?"

"Whoa. Slow your roll there, RoboCop." Becca smiled up at him and patted his chest.

And just like that, his world righted itself. One smile, one touch, from  Becca Sloan was all it took to make everything right. Just like that,  snap, his bad mood was gone. She was his sunshine that instantly made  all the gray clouds disappear.

"It's nothing like that, just … " She looked around them before stepping  closer and lowering her voice. "These girls were up all night. Madison  was upset because Jax is her prince. Leah and Natalie were crying-I  still don't know what that was about. And Brooklyn, well …  I don't know  what she was doing, but she was on her iPad until four a.m."

"Sorry, Beckles." Brian palmed the top of her head like he'd been doing  since he'd grown a head taller than her in middle school and pulled her  to his chest before kissing the top of her head.

Usually, she'd wrap her arms around him and just stay there for a  minute, leaning against him. Today, she pulled away and looked up at him  with a worried expression on her face.

"You can't do that here," she whispered through clenched teeth.

"Why not?" Brian asked. He heard that his tone was defensive, but he  couldn't help it. His mind had passed go and immediately jumped to the  space that said she was saying that he couldn't hug her because of  Colton.

Her bright, blue eyes widened like he'd officially lost his mind. "Are  you serious?" she asked as she cut her eyes towards the table.

He followed the direction she'd indicated and saw that Brooklyn was  staring right at them, and she looked so mad that he half-expected steam  to be coming out of her ears like a cartoon character.

"You need to remember why you're here," Becca said with a look he  couldn't quite place but was definitely in the ballpark of sad in her  eyes.

Then, without another word, she turned on her heels and headed to her  assigned seat. Which was next to Cowboy Colton. Colton stood when he saw  her and leaned down, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek.

And just like that, his bad mood was back. It was bad enough that he  knew he couldn't be with Becca, but seeing someone else get to touch  her, talk to her, flirt with her-it was torture. Pure torture.                       
       
           



       

"What were you two talking about?" Brooklyn asked as she stormed over on her six-inch heels.

Heels. Booty shorts and six-inch heels. Classy. This chick was a class act.

"Well?" She stopped right in front of him, fuming.

She could not be for real. They'd met yesterday.

He didn't owe her an explanation, but Becca was right. He needed to remember why he was here.

"Nothing. She's just my friend. I was seeing how she was. That's all."

Brooklyn's brown eyes narrowed. "She's just your friend?"

"Yep." Brian was done with this conversation. He turned, and as he  pulled out a coffee filter to make a new pot, he looked over his  shoulder and asked, "Do you want some coffee?"

She looked at him not unlike Becca had-like he'd lost his ever-loving mind. "There are people to do that."

"Do what?" Brian asked.

"Make coffee," she said slowly as if she were talking to someone who didn't speak English.

In fairness to her, after the few conversations they'd had, Brian was pretty sure they didn't speak the same language.

"I don't mind," Brian explained.

"Whatever," she said, rolling her eyes as she spun and headed back to sit down.

He had to say one thing for that girl. She could spin and stomp on those heels like a pro.

"Can I have everyone's attention please?" Jennifer spoke loudly as she  walked into the dining area. Her voice filled the space like it was  being broadcast through speakers. "We're going to need everyone dressed  in their active wear with makeup and hair ready in two hours. Two  hours," she repeated as she held up her hand, her fingers in a peace  sign, signifying the amount of time they had, before she turned and  hustled out of the room.

Several girls, Brooklyn included, shrieked at this announcement and  jumped from her seat. Apparently two hours was not ample time to get  ready to do something active. She and Leah rushed to each other and  started talking animatedly about their plan of how they could possibly  be camera-ready in two hours.

Brian shoulders relaxed at the thought of having two Brooklyn-free  hours. He realized his relaxation was a tad premature when his  ‘princess' popped up like a whack-a-mole in front of him.

"I hate to leave you, my prince, but I have to go get beautiful for  you," she purred. Then, she lifted up on her tiptoes and shocked the  hell out of him by pressing her lips to his and kissing him before  rushing out of the room.

Brian had to stop himself from reaching up and wiping his mouth with the  back of his hand. Her lips had been sticky, and she'd tasted like that  pink medicine he'd had to take when he was a kid. What could have  possibly possessed her to do that? There were no cameras rolling.

He looked around the room to see if she'd done it for their cast mates'  benefit. But no, it looked like no one was paying a bit of attention to  anything but the food in front of them. Except Becca.

She was paying attention to Colton. In fact, she looked like she was hanging on to every word he said.

Damn. Brian just lost his appetite.





Chapter Fourteen





Becca's heart was pounding so loud that she was sure the sound guys  could hear it since her mic was taped to the middle of her chest, right  between her lovely lady lumps. Her palms were not just sweaty-they were  drenched-and her vision was a little blurry.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Colton asked.

"What?" Becca looked at him, processing what he'd said. She'd heard him,  but at the moment, it was taking her a minute for her brain to figure  out what the words people said meant. And if she needed to come up with a  response, well …  That took at least another minute.

Luckily, in this case, a mere head nod would do.

He looked down at her with a crooked smile. "Has anyone ever told you you're a really bad liar?"

That question she didn't need to process to answer. "Yes. By my sisters. Actually, it's kind of a family joke."

"How many sisters do you have?" he asked.

"Three," she answered as she felt a strap tighten around her thigh.  Looking down, she saw a kid who could not be more than twelve kneeling  in front of her. "How old are you?" she heard herself asking not as  nicely as she probably should have.

"Huh?" he asked as he looked up at her.

Seriously?! Surely he couldn't have been having the same issues processing questions as she was.

"I am serious, and don't call me Shirley," Leslie Nielson's voice from Airplane played in her head.

She gave herself a mental shake. '80s movies quotes were not going to  make her feel better in this situation, but she did appreciate her inner  voice trying to lighten the mood.                       
       
           



       

One more tug on the nylon strap and "Huh" Boy just stood up and walked away.

She wanted to tell him to come back, not to leave, to check her harness  again, but she didn't. Mostly because she knew that the kid could check  it a hundred or a thousand times and it would not instill even an ounce  more confidence in her.

"Here. Do you want me to look at it?" she heard Colton's deep voice ask.

Her voice was shaky as she asked, "Do you know what you're doing?"

He stared at her for a moment, and she was surprised that she did  actually feel some butterflies from it. Or maybe it was just stomach  acid flitting around that had been agitated by the blinding fear she was  experiencing.