Falling Fast Read online

  Alexa’s ribcage felt like it was going to explode, her heart was beating so fast. The room had started spinning, right around when Brandon said, “Just looking at you makes me happy.”

  She tried to shake some sense into herself, and moved to pull her hand away from Brandon’s sensual onslaught, but he was true to his word and refused to let her go. In a husky voice that surprised her as it fell from her lips, she said, “What about the other women? Are you telling each of them the same thing?”

  “No, Alexa. God, no. You’re the only woman I want to be with. That’s how I knew I had made such a huge mistake when I signed the contract.”

  Alexa shook her head, trying to block out his words, trying to push away how happy they made her. What had she read recently? A woman must depend on herself and only herself for her happiness. Once a woman gives this power away to a man, she has lost it forever.

  But instead of walking to the door and leaving her heart safe within the thick walls she had built up so long ago, she said, her voice thick with emotion, “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

  “Maybe this will help,” he said and leaned in to capture her mouth in a sweet kiss. Alexa didn’t know much about kisses – she’d hardly been kissed more than a handful of times in her life, including their kiss in the limo – but everything about Brandon’s kiss was full of yearning and promise.

  Her brain was telling her no, but her body was screaming yes. Brandon braided his strong fingers through her hair and she instinctively leaned closer to him to give herself up to his kiss. All night, she had wanted to taste him again, and now she had her chance. Her tongue swept into his mouth and he growled deep in his throat.

  A loud voice resonated through the door. “Brandon, Alexa, you need to open up the door, immediately! This is a direct order from the producer.”

  Alexa looked about her in bewilderment. In a flash she pulled out of Brandon’s embrace and stood, shaking out her dress, trying to fix her hair all at the same time. “Does my makeup look all right?” she asked, desperate that no one should know what they were doing in the room.

  Brandon sat back on his heels, looking disgusted. “I hate these damn cameras,” he said as another loud knock sounded on the door. “We’ll be out in a minute,” he hollered. “Do you have any lipstick in your purse?”

  She nodded.

  “While you put some on, I’ll help you untangle your hair.”

  Alexa reapplied her lipstick, using the compact mirror to guide her actions. “I never thought there’d come a day when I’d be happy about having makeup on me.”

  Brandon was about to finger-comb her hair when her words stopped him. “Haven’t you always carried makeup around with you?”

  Alexa looked momentarily startled. Forcing a laugh, she said, “Of course I do. What kind of girl would leave the house without her lipstick?”

  Brandon looked as if he wasn’t going to buy her act for a moment, and then he grunted and began to gently untangle her wild mane.

  Alexa ignored the goose bumps his touch sent through her body. “What do we do now?

  Say the door locked behind us and we were looking for the key?”

  But Brandon didn’t answer her questions. Instead, absorbed with reiterating his intentions towards her, he said, “I promise you, regardless of the other dates I have to go on, I’m not going to fool around with any of the contestants. Just you.” He bent his head down to give her a gentle kiss.

  And then, he took her hand, and together they walked to the door and back through it.

  “Sorry about that, fellas,” he said to the cameramen with a cheeky grin. “The lady and I wanted a few minutes in private to talk.”

  During their silent drive back to the contestant’s mansion, Alexa was plagued with conflict. On the one hand, she had a hard time believing that anyone, let alone a gorgeous guy like Brandon, could have fallen for her. Considering that no man had ever poured his heart out to her like that, or said that he thought she was beautiful, it was doubtful at best.

  But another part of her, the part that wanted to believe Brandon did desire her, was racked with guilt. Because although she had to write her story for ROAR to further her career, she felt more and more like a terrible liar with every passing day she spent undercover.

  If Brandon was telling the truth, if he really did have strong feelings for her, he was going to hate her guts when her story hit the press. It saddened Alexa to realize that the list of people she was going to have to betray at the end of the show was getting longer by the second.

  Especially since it looked like she was going to have to betray her heart at the same time.

  To make matters worse, the minute she had reentered the mansion, she had been bombarded with questions.

  “What was it like being all alone with Brandon?”

  “Did he kiss you?”

  “What did you talk about?”

  “Did you kiss him?”

  Alexa had pasted a smile on her face then answered everyone’s questions in as forthcoming a manner as she could without divulging much of anything at all. Of course, she denied having kissed Brandon.

  Finally everyone’s enthusiasm waned, and Alexa breathed a sigh of relief. Peeking her head into the refrigerator to see if there was any chocolate cake hiding behind the bottled water, she was surprised to hear a nasty voice behind her.

  “I know you’re lying.”

  Alexa spun around. Shelby stood next to the kitchen island, her hands in tight fists and her face pinched and tight.

  “Excuse me?” Alexa said, trying to keep the innocent and open smile on her face.

  “I said, I know you’re lying.”

  Alexa refused to let the redhead get the best of her. Every movement deliberate, she closed the fridge and reached into the cupboard for a glass, then filled up her glass at the sink as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

  “What exactly am I lying about?” Alexa said in a voice laced with humor, implying, in no uncertain terms, that Shelby was making up things out of jealousy. She kept her eyes wide and innocent. “How could anyone have a bad date with Brandon? He’s such a hunk.”

  Alexa knew she was asking for trouble, but she couldn’t resist rubbing her solo date with Mr. Right in Shelby’s face. A face, she noted cattily, that looked considerably worse for the wear without its usual coating of expensive cosmetics.

  Shelby took a step closer and pointed a glossy red nail at her. “You kissed him.”

  Alexa smiled enigmatically. “Now what makes you say that?”

  The redhead narrowed her eyes and took another step closer. “You better watch your back. Because I’m not going to let your slutty tricks get in the way of getting his diamond ring put onto my finger.”

  Shelby stormed out of the kitchen. Alexa waved after her, calling out, “Good night, Shelby.”

  When she was finally back in her room, she grabbed her contraband cell-phone and locked herself into one of the bathrooms.

  “Jared, I’m so screwed,” she said when her friend picked up.

  “You’re telling me,” he said. “Smooth move getting out of the limo.”

  Alexa rolled her eyes. Was there anyone in the United States that hadn’t seen her trip like a moose wearing heels? “Jared, I have bigger problems than the fact that I’m a clumsy loser,”

  she moaned, suddenly unwilling to spill the beans about Brandon’s kiss and confession.

  “And I was totally rooting for you against that Shelby bitch on the beach. You nailed her ass to the sand in the obstacle course.”

  Alexa groaned. “No more instant repeat. I can’t deal with it right now.”

  “Sorry about that. You need to talk and I’m all ears,” her friend said, but suddenly Alexa was too tired to explain everything. Especially when she couldn’t explain her new feelings for Brandon even to herself yet.

  “Never mind,” she said. “I’ve got to get off the phone before someone catches me and I get busted. I’ll call you l
ater.”

  Suddenly Alexa knew she had it bad—she couldn’t even talk to her best friend about her problems because she was afraid he might say something like, “No more kissing,” or “You need to stay out of Brandon’s way.” She wasn’t ready to make such iron-clad choices.

  Not yet, anyway.

  Alexa’s dreams were wild and colorful that night. She was on the chateau balcony with Brandon, and he was about to say, “I love you,” when from out of the blue, Shelby arrived and handcuffed herself to him.

  Alexa woke up at 4am with a fine sheen of sweat covering her body. Quietly slipping out of bed, she threw on a sweatshirt and left the bedroom, tiptoeing out to the kitchen. Opening the fridge, she began her search for chocolate again in earnest and stuffed the slice of cake she found into her mouth with her hands even though she knew it couldn’t possibly solve her problems.

  As the sun began to slowly rise up from the ocean, she plopped into a chaise lounge by the pool, covered herself with a blanket she’d grabbed from one of the couches inside, and closed her eyes. But even as she tried to work out a plan of action to get back on track for her story, even as she vowed never to kiss Brandon again, she couldn’t stop reliving the passion that swept through her when she was in Brandon’s arms.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Brandon spent the next day acting as a San Francisco tour guide for the ten contestants in a luxurious tour bus. As they traveled from one scenic, famous landmark after another - the Golden Gate Bridge, Chinatown, Union Square, Golden Gate Park - Brandon made a sincere effort to get to know each of the nine other women.

  Alexa hung at the back of the group, and Brandon was thankful for her understanding. It was as if she recognized that he needed the space to play his Mr. Right role for the camera. It was difficult to even be on the same bus as her, however. Every time she brushed by him, his heart started an up tempo beat.

  He was pleased by how friendly and gracious Alexa was to the other women. Even though they were in direct competition with her for an engagement ring, she was happy to point out her favorite places, including a restaurant in Chinatown that had everyone groaning with pleasure after lunch.

  By 8 pm Brandon was beat to the core. The muscles on his face were on the verge of cracking from smiling so much. It wasn’t that the other contestants weren’t nice. It wasn’t that they weren’t attractive. It was just simply that they weren’t Alexa. He was greatly looking forward to the next selection ceremony, so that he would only have to go through the motions with two other women, instead of nine. As far as Brandon was concerned, the sooner the show was over, the better.

  Everyone showered and changed and then met back up at Brandon’s mansion at 9pm.

  Joe greeted all of the women with a hug and a kiss, which Brandon thought was rather forward of the producer, but he kept his thoughts to himself.

  While the women helped themselves to glasses of champagne from the bartender, Joe pulled Brandon into a private room with no cameras. “I take it you enjoyed your private date with Alexa in Napa?”

  Brandon made certain his poker face was firmly on. “It was great.”

  “And I’m sure that we won’t have any more problems in the future with door locks?” Joe said menacingly.

  Brandon forced an innocent grin onto his lips. “I doubt it.”

  “Your wild-card for tonight is Shelby.”

  “Couldn’t you pick somebody else? Anybody else?”

  “I’m afraid not. Thousands of viewers have been placing bets on the Internet regarding when and where Shelby and Alexa are going to pull each other’s hair out.”

  Brandon rolled his eyes. “Look, I know you think their problems with each other are good for ratings, but isn’t there some other way you could keep people interested?”

  Joe stood up, effectively putting an end to their private discussion. “Make sure she’s in your final three.”

  Brandon fumed. He hated how Shelby behaved with Alexa and he dreaded Alexa’s reaction when he allowed Shelby to stay tonight. Sighing loudly, Brandon got up and prepared to break seven women’s hearts, absolutely certain of one thing: Hell had nothing on this show.

  *

  Once everyone was seated on the plush couches, Joe said, “Ladies, I hope you all had a perfect day in San Francisco with Mr. Right,” looking smug as the women murmured their agreement. “Tonight Brandon must choose three lucky ladies who will be receiving an 18 carat gold heart charm bracelet and going on to the next round of dates.”

  Brandon cleared his throat. “I know I sound like a broken record, but I want to thank each and every one of you for coming here to meet me. You are all amazing, intelligent, and the perfect catch for some lucky guy”

  Alexa was stunned by the honest affection in Brandon’s expression. Judging by the unabashed adoration she saw in her fellow contestant’s eyes, she knew that his speech had met its mark.

  She hated how nervous she was. Even though Brandon said he had strong feelings for her, what if he had given the same speech to everyone? Sure, the other women had been complaining that he hadn’t kissed any of them, but what if they were lying, just as she had?

  Worst of all, Alexa could no longer deny the awful truth: She desperately wanted the bracelet. She hardly even cared about her story any more, she was so consumed with wanting to be with Brandon.

  During their tour of San Francisco, she had stayed as far away from him as possible, afraid that if she got too close, she would have thrown herself onto him, pleading, “Take me, big boy!”

  She snorted at the ridiculous image and everyone turned to look at her. She put her hand over her mouth and grimaced.

  “Sorry. Please continue.”

  Brandon picked up the first delicate gold bracelet. “Brigit,” he said with a smile.

  Alexa’s friend jumped up and bounced over to Brandon. In spite of her initial attempts to keep an emotional distance from the other contestants, her friendship with Brigit had continued to deepen over the past week. In fact, Alexa was amazed by how much fun she had with the other women while touring through San Francisco. She hadn’t suspected that one of the upsides to being on the TV show would be making new friends with women who accepted her as cool and fun at face value. Since college, she’d only spent time with other women who wanted to further the feminist cause. And on the rare occasions when she didn’t agree with their politics, she’d been cut cold from their lives.

  While Alexa was contemplating her unexpected new friendships, Brandon reached for the next bracelet. “Shelby,” he said, looking slightly disgusted.

  Shelby gasped in mock surprise. She wiggled her hips way too much while making her way towards Brandon in impossibly high, bright pink heels.

  How could he have possibly chosen Shelby?

  The question was on everyone’s lips as the women exchanged confused glances with one another. It was the icing on the cake when Shelby threw her arms around Brandon and pressed a kiss onto his lips.

  Never before had Alexa felt such unadulterated hatred for someone. It seethed through her veins and made the tips of her fingers burn with the urge to strangle the redhead.

  Wondering how anyone in his right mind could possibly pick someone like Shelby over seven accomplished, friendly, beautiful women, she barely heard Brandon say, “Alexa.”

  Unwanted joy shot through her veins. Yet again, her brain had made a logical decision and her heart was betraying her by ignoring it.

  Vowing to keep tighter reins on her emotions, she smiled and walked up to Brandon. She reached out her arm and he brushed his fingers lightly over her wrists as he closed the small clasp, sending a shiver through her. He leaned in to kiss her cheek and she stood perfectly still, willing herself to be unaffected by his touch.

  She felt his warm breath on her face and her body swayed towards him. He pressed his lips to her skin and Alexa felt more alive, more attuned to every touch, sound, and smell than ever before.

  Joe cleared his throat, reminding her where she was, and
just barely managed to turn away from Brandon’s scalding hot gaze. She walked back to the couch on shaky legs.

  How was she going to protect herself from Brandon? How was she ever going to be able to go back to the life she had been perfectly happy with before?

  All she had ever wanted was to make a difference in the world with her writing. But now, everything had changed.

  Alexa Atkison, dedicated feminist, had never wanted anything as bad as she wanted Brandon Philips.

  *

  Alexa, Brigit and Shelby had been told to wait in the living room of their mansion at 4

  pm the next day to await information on their next dates with Brandon. By the time Joe entered the room, the tension was so thick she could have cut through it with one of Shelby’s claws.

  “Ladies,” Joe said in his smarmy I’m-on-TV-voice, “I’m sure you are very excited about what we have in store for your next date with Mr. Right.”

  Alexa forced herself to nod vapidly. On the contrary, she was increasingly anxious about being alone with Brandon again, not sure if she could handle another intimate, romantic dinner without giving in to her growing sexual urges.

  “Each of you will be taking Brandon home to meet your family this week.”

  Alexa snapped to attention. “Excuse me?” she said, hoping she had heard wrong. “He’s going to meet our families?”

  “He certainly is. In fact, we’ve already set up the details for each date.”

  Alexa shot up out of her seat and clenched her hands into fists at her side. “I can’t take him home,” she blurted out.

  Joe approached her, stroking her back in a nauseatingly familiar way. “Sophie and Melanie are waiting on pins and needles to meet Brandon tonight.”

  “Tonight?” she exclaimed, her eyes wild with anxiety.