One To Watch(87)

“Oh?” Steve asked, an edge to his voice. “Enlighten us.”

“Well …” Bea looked to Sam, but his face was inscrutable. “I don’t know how much of the show you’ve watched, but it hasn’t been the easiest experience. Some of the men I’ve met were really cruel to me.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Claudette said sincerely.

“There were times when it got so bad, I even thought about quitting. But right from our first date, Sam has been such a source of joy and compassion. Obviously he’s incredibly smart, but he never rubs your nose in it. He always finds a way to make me laugh, no matter how awful I’m feeling. He’s been patient, and caring, and never rushes me when I need to take things slowly—which is kind of an alarmingly rare trait in men.”

“And it doesn’t bother you that he’s unemployed, living at home?” Steve prodded. “If you two get engaged at the end of this ridiculous exercise, you’re planning to support him financially?”

“I mean, I don’t know how happy he’d be if we had to make things work on my salary.” Bea laughed. “But I have faith in him. He’d figure it out. We both would.”

Sam looked over at her with a pained, hard-to-read expression, and she reached under the table to squeeze his hand. The rest of the meal was polite, but reserved—and Sam barely said a word, leaving Bea to wonder if perhaps she’d done something horribly wrong by sticking her nose in the middle of a family squabble.

At the end of the evening, Sam walked Bea outside to where the production van was waiting to drive her back to New York—they’d shoot the kiss-off ceremony there tomorrow.

“Bea,” Sam said, taking her hands, “I need to say something to you.”

Suddenly, Bea’s heart was thumping—was everything okay?

“I don’t know if you really meant everything you said to my dad in there, or if you were just trying to stick up for me, but either way, it meant a lot.”

Bea looked up to meet his gaze—he seemed shifty, nervous, so unlike himself.

“And I know that some of these other guys you’ve got here, they can offer you a lot more than I can. They’ve got careers, got their lives together. And as you saw today, I really don’t.”

“Sam,” Bea broke in, but he put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

“I’ve liked you from the beginning,” he said. “I’ve never met anyone who could be so tough and so sweet at the same time. You never let anyone tell you what to think—not the idiots we met on the show, not the producers, not even my dad. And tonight, watching you stand up to him, all I could think was, Sam, you idiot. You’re in love with this girl. And you have to tell her.”

Bea’s breath caught in her throat. “What?”

“I’m in love with you, Bea.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “I love you.”

An amazed grin crept across Bea’s face. Her first impulse was to doubt Sam, to tell him he didn’t know what he was feeling, that it couldn’t possibly be love. But as they kissed and held each other, Bea had another, more powerful—and, frankly, much more terrifying—thought: What if this was working?

What if this was real?



@Reali-Tea Okay team, we ready for a kiss-off ceremony?? Bea looks HAWT in that bronze dress, here’s hoping whoever she sends home this week doesn’t turn into a raging monster.

@Reali-Tea This is the most difficult ceremony yet, blah blah blah, all these men mean so much to her, WHO CARES BEA, GET TO THE GOOD STUFF!

@Reali-Tea Here we go! First name called is Asher, obvi. Ugh those two are so sweet together, and how much did you love Bea with his KIDS???

@Reali-Tea Next is Sam, no surprises there—hard to get sent home after you drop the L-bomb. Awww, he looks so happy, nicely done!

@Reali-Tea Meep, that just leaves Luc and Wyatt! HMMM. Who will it be????





Bea stood in her artfully draped Maria Cornejo gown, which she’d selected as a nod to Keria’s creation from the day before, wearing this week’s shade of lipstick (Ain’t Life Peachy?), looking from Luc to Wyatt, Wyatt to Luc.

She had no fucking idea what to do.

This was the first kiss-off ceremony she’d gone into without a clear plan, which Lauren hadn’t liked at all.

“Bea, I need to know where to point the cameras before you make your decision,” Lauren explained for what felt like the billionth time.

“I don’t know what to say.” Bea threw up her hands in frustration. “You’re telling me we’re an hour behind schedule, and I’m telling you I don’t know yet.”

Lauren pinched the bridge of her nose between her fingers and closed her eyes.

“Keeping Wyatt is the smart play,” she said. “You’ve said it from night one, and your conversation in Oklahoma confirmed it. He’s the one you can be sure will stand by your side at the end. No fuss, no drama.”

“And you don’t think it would be the same old problem?” Bea pressed. “People disbelieving our relationship, saying I look miserable?”

“Bea, when you’re with Wyatt, you don’t look miserable. You look totally at ease, like you’ve finally found a man who lets you be yourself. Trust me, with the big swelling music and the gorgeous light at sunset, you two are the picture of fairy-tale romance—exactly the kind of couple I’ve been selling to the public for years.”