Walk of Shame (10 page)

I woke up the next morning early
and refreshed, thank goodness. I grabbed a bottle of water, headed into the
home gym, put on a morning show, and hopped on the treadmill, since today's
date wouldn't be as physically demanding as the last two had been. It also
promised to be a mentally somewhat easier day, since I was finally going on a
one-on-one.

After my workout, I showered, and
by then Hair and Makeup were there to do their thing. I'd learned to put in
some ear buds, queue up some music, and go to my happy place of conjuring my
next novel, while they did their thing on my head. Next up was Wardrobe, and
then I was just about ready to head up to the big house.

"What's that?" I asked
Troy, pointing to a paper plate on the side table by the door.

"Camera guys saw Trevor come
down the path and knock on your door last evening. When you didn't answer, he
left it at the door and went back up the path."

I walked over and looked at the
offering. "Is that steak and grilled vegetables?"

"Yeah, that's what we sent
up to them yesterday for dinner."

"Oh man, that sure beats the
PB&J I had."

"The crew had leftovers they
packed up. I'll have some meals boxed up for you and put in your fridge.
There's no reason for you to worry about making something for yourself when
you're too tired to bother cooking for one."

"I know," I said with a
sigh. "I guess I'm just used to fending for myself."

"Well, get over it for
awhile."

I laughed.

"You ready?"

I nodded. "Let's roll."

Some wonderful soul had laid a
griddle across the stovetop and Phillip now stood there, making French toast. Ardent
stood, offering his stool at the island. Liam put down a plate in front of me
that held French toast with powdered sugar, syrup, butter, whipped cream, and freshly
sliced strawberries on top.

I was in the company of some
truly excellent men. I mean, I'm sure the catering department probably sliced
the berries, but still, I was enjoying myself.

"So," Mike sidled up to
me and said, "who's on the docket for today?"

"You are," I turned to
him and said.

His eyes swept down and over me
before meeting my eyes again. "Casual clothes?"

"Yep, and bring some swim
trunks."

"Well, all right," he
said and headed for the stairs.

"Twenty minutes," I
called after him.

Less than an hour later, our
driver was pulling into a parking spot. "The aquarium?" he asked.

"Don't knock it. I've got
some cool stuff planned."

"All right."

We spent a couple hours touring
around, feeding lorikeets and sharks, and soon it was time for our first behind
the scenes encounter. We got to go pet the penguins, feed them, and watch the
trainers working with the willing ones. I enjoyed the experience, but Mike
didn't look so enthused. We'd talked, but I didn't really feel like his heart
was in it.

We grabbed a snack in the
cafeteria and found a spot for the two of us, positioned so that the camera
could spy, without catching many people in the background.

"You don't look like you're
having a good time," I remarked as casually as I could.

"I'm liking it just
fine," he said, but he couldn't even look me in the eye when he said it.

"Something's bothering
you."

"I guess I just had
different expectations."

My eyes darted down and to the
side, my lips pursed, and I started slowly nodding my head.

"Circus stunts and a Mudrun,
that's what the others got to do. I get the aquarium."

"The trapeze class is set up
for a group. So was the Mudrun. They very easily lent themselves to be group
dates. I wanted a one-on-one date with you. That was my choice."

"What's Stephen doing with
you tomorrow?"

"Something that won't take
nearly as long as everything we're doing today."

"You know where I'm going
with this."

"Production had a concern
about the leg, I didn't. I knew which two guys I wanted the one-on-one dates
with, and of the two of you, you're the only one with open water scuba
certification."

"We're diving?" he
asked, the first hint of a true smile on his face.

"Yeah, that's our next
animal encounter. We're scuba diving in the tropical reef habitat. Four of you
guys are scuba certified high enough to go, but you're the only one of them I
wanted a one-on-one with this week. Walking around was intended to give us a
good amount of time to get to know each other, and then what comes after this
is a bit more involved than sitting on a beach or outside a bar."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why am I the one that gets
the most time and attention?"

"Bottom line, I want to know
if my attention was caught solely by the uniform and the idea of the Purple
Heart, or not."

He sat back in his chair.
"And I've been quiet and stewing, instead of taking advantage of the time
I've been given."

I leaned forward in my chair and
lowered my voice. "The leg doesn't bother me. It doesn't freak me out, and
it doesn't make me feel sorry for you. I am impressed with the sacrifice you
made for this country, but it's not going to make me fall at your remaining
foot in adoration. The amount it interferes in our relationship is solely up to
you."

"Okay, I get it. I hear you.
It's my hang up, not yours."

I smirked at him. "Hey, you
know, if you want to be included in group dates from here on out, I can certainly
make sure you get them."

His eyes danced a little.
"Far be it from me to question your judgment again. If you want one-on-one
time with me, I'll take it."

I started gathering our trash.
"In the meantime, we have a dive and another activity to get to."

He took the trash out of my hands
got up to throw it away. "Let's get to it."

He was more at ease throughout
our dive in the main exhibit and guided tour. And on our private whale watching
tour - with the boat and camera crews along for the ride - he really seemed to
loosen up and started showing his sense of humor as our eyes searched the
waters, hoping to spot a blue whale.

It was night by the time we
returned to the houses. But, since I didn't have to exhaust myself mentally by
trying to hold five simultaneous dates throughout the day, I was still in the
mood to spend time with the guys. I followed Mike through the main house, as
the camera crew assigned to me trailed behind us, and out onto the back patio,
where the guys had themselves a little barbecue and pool party going on.

Mike had been holding my hand since
we'd exited the car, but he let go as soon as we came into view of the others.

They all called out to me when
they saw me coming, happy to have me join them.

"Hungry?" Phillip
called out.

"Absolutely," I
answered. Mike and I hadn't eaten since we'd grabbed snacks around lunchtime.

Liam got up and ushered me into
his vacated patio chair. Drake had been behind the bar and brought a plastic
cup filled with cola over to me.

I thanked them and took a healthy
gulp of the soda. I looked back over to Drake and grinned at him when I realized
he'd spiked it with amaretto.

Drake winked at me and went back
to the bar.

Now, I could take this one of two
ways. One, the man was spiking a woman's drink, or, two, he'd somehow taken it
upon himself to find out what my favorite drink was and had wanted me to know
it. I thought back to his group date and how he'd tried to take care of my
needs.

Phillip brought a large plate
over to me filled with a loaded baked potato, grilled pineapple, and ribs.

I almost drooled. I'd never be
able to eat it all, but I was more than willing to let somebody in production
wrap up my leftovers and make it magically appear in my fridge. I took a bite
off the first rib and sighed. It was better than any restaurant rib I'd ever
tasted. "Phillip, is this your masterpiece I'm tasting?"

He smiled, "Yes, Ma'am, it
is."

I looked over to the closest
crewmember. "Somebody find that man a red flower."

Most of the guys at least
chuckled. Though, in retrospect, they probably only did so for my benefit. Outwardly
saying that Phillip was safe through the next round of elimination, and
reminding them that they weren't, probably wasn't that amusing to them.

The guys had kept up a continuous
flow of conversation with me as I ate. I'd just finished when Jared caught my
attention.

He'd started chuckling as he
looked towards the far corner of the house. "Here she comes."

Mitch picked up a tennis ball and
hurled it into the pool as Goldie came around the corner at full speed. The dog
saw it and headed straight for it, launching herself from the edge of the pool
and belly flopping in. She clamped her teeth around the ball and swam to the built-in
steps. She climbed out and spotted me. The ball hit the ground and she flew
into my lap before she put her paws on my stomach and shook herself, water
flying everywhere.

Three guys started for me,
probably to rescue me from the dog. But I just giggled and threw my arms around
Goldie, letting her soak me. The guys stopped and smiled at me before looking
at each other, silently agreeing to let the dog be.

Goldie started licking at my face
and I heard one of the camera guys cue up their walkie-talkie and tell everyone
listening that they needed the makeup artist down by the main pool.

That just made me laugh all the
more. I continued to give the dog some more loving until Jared grabbed a
Frisbee, whistled, and sent the disc sailing across the lawn. Goldie seemed to
think I was worthless after that because she left me to go play in the night
with the guys.

The makeup artist appeared by my
side. She took one look at me and muttered that they'd need someone from
wardrobe down here as well.

"You may as well not even
bother," I said. "I have my bikini on under the clothes. I'll just get
in the pool."

"All right. Go ahead and
take your shirt off before I touch up your makeup."

I rolled my eyes as I shed the
outfit. She touched up my face and went back to her trailer. I went over, got
in the pool, and settled myself on a built-in seat at the far corner. The lay
of the lights left the corner in shadows. One-by-one, the guys began to take it
as the cue I'd meant it to be and took turns sitting on the seat with me,
chatting so we could get to know each other a little more.

Trevor, Stephen, and Mike all
hung back. Trevor, I'd imagine, because of the same reasons he'd kept most of
our known meetings short and sweet. Mike, I was guessing, because he'd spent
the entire day with me and didn't want to rock the boat by trying to steal even
more time. And I was guessing Stephen had figured he'd get all the time he
needed tomorrow on his one-on-one. But, I also noticed that Mack wasn't trying
to join me in the shadows at all. I stared at him a little, mentally tagging
him with a white flower.

Somebody's cell phone rang when I
was on my fifth guy. When I looked up, Ardent had a phone to his ear, talking
into it as he took a seat nearby to talk. I continued my conversation with
Drake, but I was distracted every once in a while, wondering why Ardent had chosen
a patio chair so close to us when everyone else was being reasonably respectful
of keeping a distance from my corner. On the other hand, he wasn't paying us
any mind, and he was keeping his voice low. So I just figured maybe a family
member had called and he was looking for a little privacy of his own in the
shadows. I refocused my attention on Drake and finished our conversation.

As soon as Drake left my side,
Ardent raised his voice. "Ok, Chloe, she's done with him, so you can talk
to her now. It was good getting to know you."

My jaw dropped before I started
laughing at him as he rose to bring me my own cell phone.

He handed the phone to me.
"Hey, others standby and wait for you to have an empty seat beside you. I
saw an opening through your sister and took it."

At least you did it in front of
my face and not behind my back, I thought as I grasped my phone and put it to
my ear. "Hey."

"Hey!" Chloe said.
"I like him. He's the one that digs in the dirt, right?"

I smiled and glanced around,
realizing they were all watching me. "A few of them dig in the dirt. But,
yes, he's one of them."

"The one that doesn't do
dinosaurs?"

"None of them 'do
dinosaurs'," I answered, realizing this wasn't going to be a quick call.

"Em!" she hissed,
frustration replacing her enjoyment.

I sighed and stood on the seat to
step out of the pool. "The word is archaeologist."

The guys were realizing that I
was about to leave them to go carry on my conversation in private. Ardent
walked over to the patio chair I'd left my clothes on, got them, picked up my
shoes from their spot next to the chair, and walked them over to me.

"You should give him a red
flower, he's cool," Chloe said into my ear.

"Chloe..." I groaned
into the phone as I took my shoes from Ardent's hand. I dropped them on the
ground and braced my hand on his arm as I stepped into my shoes.

"I mean it. He seems
good-natured, and I liked his sense of humor. My opinion has to count for
something, right?"

I could hear the veiled laughter
in her voice. "Yes, you're opinion counts for a lot," I said as I looked
up into Ardent's eyes and accepted the clothing he was handing me. "But
I'm not giving a man a red flower because he made you laugh."

Ardent smiled knowingly as he met
my eye contact.

"Well, does it at least rate
him a pink one?" she asked.

"Maybe, but he needs to get
me to like him, not you," I said.

She harrumphed in my ear.