Whose Bride Is She Anyway (14 page)

This was so not good. All night long, guilt plagued her, keeping her tossing and turning. She was
not
here to sample the beefcake, yet she’d clung to August like he was the last granola bar on Survivor. Behaved like a tart and she wasn’t even into the second week. This was
not
something Tara did on a regular basis. She’d never felt an attraction this strong to any man, and even if she had, she certainly wouldn’t have behaved the way she did last night.

Well, wait a second—she didn’t know that because she’d just said it herself, she’d never felt something like
this
. And, it was sooo good.

Good it was, powerful and explosive and
forbidden
…

She didn’t have to go through with this. She could simply stop right now. Choose a man for Kelsey, a decent one and walk away, sans national humiliation. If she could keep it that way she might leave without an ulcer. No one knew her real motives for being here except Tara and her conscience. That was one thing the cameras couldn’t have.

Tara heard August’s deep laughter rumble as he and Vinny joked about something from across the pool. “That August sure is cute, huh, Tara?” Ms. Mary said. “I sure as hell hope he’s up to taking on Kelsey. She’s a real viper.”

Tara giggled. She couldn’t help it. “August seems like he’s man enough to take Kelsey on, don’t you think? Maybe we’ve just been catching her at the wrong times. This show can be very stressful, Mary. All the cameras and stuff.”

Ms. Mary wrinkled her nose. “Well then, Kelsey sure is stressed
a lot
. I hope August gets to see that side of her too, seeing as we can’t actually
tell him
.”

Tara understood Mary’s frustration in ways she couldn’t imagine. “Eyes open and mouths shut, Ms. Mary. It’s the jury’s motto. We have to remain objective.”

“Then I’m just going to hope August finds out about Kelsey on his own while I’m being so
objective
,” Ms. Mary said with a fierceness Tara didn’t quite understand.

Tara had her own worries about what August might find out.

What if August found out about her too? Found out that she was a spiteful, vengeful, dried up old loser from the graduating class of nineteen-ninety-two.

A geek with a grudge.

But … but, what about the shitty stuff Kelsey did to me? Tara asked herself, outraged at her thoughts.
Kelsey humiliated me. Made me the laughing stock of my entire senior class. Should I just let that go? Leave the beast to rape and pillage yet another of my villages?

That was rather dramatic, she admitted. She couldn’t change what had happened. But she could change how she handled it
now.

Tara also couldn’t change what had happened between them last night at the cove. She wasn’t all that sure she wanted to anyway. If this was some island fling, then so be it. It was uncharacteristic of her, but who said you had to have character when the sex was that hot?

August adjusted his dark glasses and peered out over them at Tara. She narrowed her eyes at him and she knew he got her drift because he raised one eyebrow and shoved his sunglasses back over his nose.

Kelsey strode toward August, her perky, bikini clad breasts bouncing up and down. Tara wondered if she stuck a pin in one of those silicone bad-boys, would they deflate? Handing August the key, Kelsey smiled and kissed him full on the mouth. As she pulled away, August shuffled from foot to foot and pushed his thumb along the bridge of his nose as he glanced Tara’s way.

There better not have been any tongues involved… The bitch needed to
die
.

“See, I told you Kelsey liked him,” Ms. Mary reminded her, setting Tara’s teeth on edge.

If Ms. Mary only knew about all the men Kelsey had zapped with her
like
radar.

August caught her eye one last time. Tara couldn’t quite make out the emotion in his gaze from so far away, but he sorta had the deer in the headlight thing going on from this distance. Which meant what? He was happy Kelsey kissed him?

Jerk.

The nervous tension grew, ha nging thick in the humid air as Kelsey made a big production out of giving the final contestant a key. The losers exited stage left, heads hanging low.

Now, all that they had left to do was find out which man Kelsey would go out on a date with tonight. August just better hope he had a bum key…

Kiss me once, kiss me twice…

W
ell, fuck. August looked at his copper key, bewildered. Where the hell was all this luck when he’d been in the tenth grade, lusting for Kelsey?

Now, he couldn’t get rid of it if he tried. As the cameras rolled and each contestant tried their key, he thought surely he was safe until he was almost the last man up at bat.

Well, think again. Second-to-last at trying the lock, August’s key, (miracle of all miracles), opened Kelsey’s hut. Squeals of delight clung to his ears as Kelsey bounced excitedly up and down and hugged him. All at once, everyone was slapping him on the back and congratulating him.

Crap, crap, crap.

“Oh, August, we’ll have so much fun, ” Kelsey cooed, running her fingertips along his arm.

Not a single response, not one shiver, not even a tingle. August smiled warily, ever aware that the cameras were on him. “Yeah, it’ll be fun.”

Preston Weichert babbled into the camera about when and where they would meet for this
date.
Some famous dried up lava pit.

“So, August, how do you feel about winning the date with Kelsey? ” George the cameraman asked as he zoomed in on August’s face.

August tempered his tongue before replying, “I guess we’ll see if Kelsey and I have anything in common for sure now. Gotta go get ready! ” August smiled cheerfully and ducked past George.

Damn, damn, damn. He didn’t want to go on a date with Kelsey. He wanted to meet Tara in the cove. Stomping off to his hut to shower, he went to prepare for his
date.

Stop being a baby, his conscience berated him as he prepared himself mentally for a rendezvous he didn’t want to go on. Why couldn’t the competition for the date be something he could totally blunder? No, it was the luck of the draw and if he got any luckier he’d be a rabbit’s foot.

His roommate Gordon poked his head into the bathroom. “You pumped or what, buddy? ”

August slapped a grin on his face. “Yep, like a hot air balloon. ”

Gordon shook his head. “Sure wish it was me going on that date.”

August nodded with real sympathy. “Me too, Gordon. ”
Me too

“I’m outta here. Going to slug back some brews with the rest of the guys and ease my pain. Catch ya later.”

August slapped on some cologne and wondered absently if Tara would like it.

Shouldn’t he wonder if Kelsey would?

He didn’t care.

You know, you have no way of knowing whether you’ll enjoy Kelsey’s company or not. Can’t you just give this a chance?
Isn’t that what Tara had said?

Damn woman, she wasn’t just explosively hot, she was
right.

Reluctantly, August agreed that giving this a chance was the only way to prove to himself that he really meant his high school hard-on for Kelsey was over. His choices were few, and if he gave it a chance, then there would be no doubt. He only hoped Tara realized he was doing this for her, not because he wanted to. Their encounter last night had been volatile, to say the least. Physical attraction was important and his body definitely had some of that goin’ on for Tara. There was more too, he sensed it intuitively. If he’d met Tara anywhere but here, he would have dragged her off by her hair to his hut and had his way with her for the rest of the night. Circumstances wouldn’t allow that, neither would his air-tight contract, but as soon as it was remotely possible, he would find a way to be with her and ditch this show. This TV thing was a stupid idea, hatched from adolescent angst, and nothing more than a distant memory. Kelsey no longer interested him, but Tara did.

* * *

Okay, “giving this a chance” time was officially up. August wanted out.

O-u-t.

He was having trouble focusing on the words Kelsey was spouting, because well, she really wasn’t all that interesting and Tara was waiting.

“Oh, August, who would have ever thought you’d turn out to be so darn cute?” Kelsey was gushing for the cameras again and turning him right toward them. They were sipping champagne from fancy glasses and eating strawberries with whipped cream.

“Well, my mom
always
thought I was cute.” August smirked and winked at the camera that was about an eighth of an inch from his face, while popping a plump strawberry in his mouth. August knew he was supposed to pretend it wasn’t peering into his soul, but what the heck.

He was getting much better at this. Very movie star-ish.

Kelsey ran a pink-tipped nail down the front of his shirt. “Of course, she did. I did too, you know. ” She gave him a knowing smile.

Oh, she did not either, his bullshit thermometer warned. He would not fall for this mountain of crap and it was pissing him off that he’d never realized before now what a liar she was. Just went to show you that a man’s head was definitely ruled by his winky.

August tugged his earlobe to stop his thoughts from driving him insane. He wasn’t stupid anymore. Now he was just playing the game…and getting better at it by the second.

It would seem someone tipped Kelsey off about August and she’d finally recognized him. A blast from the past. So, exactly what did Kelsey remember about August Guthrie? It was time to find out and do it so the camera crew had it all on tape, because the crap she was feeding him so far was all just that—crap.

“Yeah? ” August challenged her. “
When
did you notice I was cute?” Atta way to toy with Kelsey’s gray matter, he congratulated himself.
Answer that why don’t you? Was it before or after I helped you ace English?

Kelsey tilted her head and widened her big green eyes in feigned interest. “It must have been in chemistry class.”

“Did we have chemistry class together? I had Mr. Gambino, I don’t remember you being there.” August leaned back in the lounger, casually placing his arm around her shoulders, waiting for an answer, knowing full well there was no answer, nor any chemistry class. Speaking of which, wasn’t it funny that before he’d had all these muscles, Kelsey never looked twice at him?

The low hum of the camera echoed in the silence of the quiet evening. One of the crew snickered. Probably George. He loved a good laugh.

Kelsey placed a hand on his thigh as she wiggled into a more comfortable position. A position obviously best suited for lying. “No, I didn’t have Mr. Gambino,” she flashed a mind-blowing smile at him and shrugged. “Oh, well it doesn’t matter. I still thought you were cute.” Kelsey cuddled closer to his side and August let her. First, because nothing short of a crowbar was going to unglue her from him and second, all this false I-thought-you-were-cute-in-high-school crap deserved some looking into. Because if Kelsey thought he was anything more than an easy A in English he’d never been aware of it, but he was aware that she’d used him and maybe back in high school he’d talked himself out of it, but not anymore. If there was one thing that pissed him off it was a liar and she was lying. Making nice for the cameras and America, so they wouldn’t see who she really was—a stuck up, using liar.

“Which did you think was cuter, my bifocals or my buck teeth? ” Raising an inquiring eyebrow August patted himself on the back again
. Beautifully executed.

“Oh, August…” Kelsey sighed as her eyes became shifty. “Let’s not talk about high school. Let’s get to know each other in the here and now. ”

“Here and now” kind of sucked. There wasn’t a single thing he found interesting about her. They’d spent two hours up on this damn lava pit, swinging on a lounger, eating rabbit food and he was bored to tears. Kelsey didn’t remember him, but she’d let all of the free world watching think she did.

Not gonna happen. August was having way too much fun proving she didn’t, which also made it easier for him to pursue Tara. Now the shoe was on the other foot and he was feeling omnipotent. If Kelsey had just been honest at the outset of this date—if she’d just been truthful about not really remembering him … but then that would make her look
shallow.
If America knew what August looked like in high school, and then they found out Kelsey Little never paid attention to him unless she was sucking up for a test to copy, she’d have to admit she was superficial at best. That would look really bad for America’s newest bride.

August decided to take this game to another level and play it up for all it was worth to the cameras. For every test she’d copied off of him, for every night August had spent thinking this one test would be the one that made Kelsey notice him—he was going to screw with her. Just a little before he left this dumb fantasy behind for good.

Catching Kelsey’s hand with his, August tugged her onto his lap and fought not to groan out loud. Damn, she was heavier than she looked. “Okay, what do you want to talk about?”
The theory of evolution?

“You’re a graphic artist, right?”

“Yep.”

“That’s sooo interesting.”

August fought back a yawn, remaining silent.
How interesting?

Kelsey leaned in next to him, hiding her mouth with her hand from the cameras and whispered into his ear, “Don’t you want to kiss me?”

August pulled back, aligning his face with hers. To the viewing audience it looked like they were sharing a romantic moment. “Not really, I hardly know you, ” he whispered back.

“But, isn’t this how we get to know each other?” Kelsey let her bottom lip fall into a pretty pout.

“With our lips?”

“We only have a month. ”

“A month to what?”

“Get to know each other, silly.”

“But, this is only our first date.”

“Do you have any idea how many men…”she stopped short, “—how many
times
I thought of kissing you? ”

“In high school? You didn’t even know me.”

“Yes, I
did
,” she hissed.

“You did not, not the real August Guthrie. You only knew his IQ.”

“Does it really matter now? You must have wanted to be on the show for a reason. They told me that we went to school together and you knew that before you tried out for the show. So that reason was
me,
” she hissed.

“Yeah, that’s true,” he conceded, albeit begrudgingly and a stupid triple-dog dare .

“Then why won’t you kiss me?” Kelsey was beginning to sound like a petulant child, whiny and sniveling.

August tilted his head and pecked the corner of her mouth. “There, how’s that?”

“Like the kind of kiss you’d give your grandmother,” she said dryly.

“Grams never minded. Sorry, maybe we just weren’t meant for each other.” August was doing his best to worm his way out of this. When the jury saw the video tape, he was sure they would see that he and Kelsey had very little in common and zilch in the chemistry department. He’d be voted out and then he could chase some Tara tail back home.

“How can you know that? We haven’t had a chance to get to know one another.”

“I already said that, but
you
wanted to kiss me anyway. ”

“And you didn’t want to kiss me?”

August sighed, “I already told you,
not yet
.” What did she want from him, a lung?

She wasn’t used to being turned down, that much was obvious. “Well, that’s fine.”

“Good, so is this over?” August began to rise, pulling away from Kelsey’s clutches.
Let’s get the hell outta dodge,
was all he could think.

Kelsey wasn’t letting go so easily. She tugged his arm, pulling him back down on the lounger. August tripped over his feet and landed on top of her. Kelsey giggled.

August was trying to get a glimpse of his watch over all of her blonde hair. He spit spidery strands of it—coated with hairspray—out of his mouth. Shit, it was getting late and he wanted to spend some more time with Tara. As gracefully as possible, he untangled himself from Kelsey’s octopus like limbs and held out his hand gallantly. “Let me walk you to your hut.”

Taking his hand, she used it as leverage to hurl herself at August. Throwing her arms around his neck, she tried to kiss him full on his mouth. As Kelsey hung from his neck, it was all August could do not to fall backward.

August gasped and coughed loudly. Dayum, she had big bones.

“Thanks for a wonderful time, August.” Kelsey batted her eyelashes, giving him a dreamy look.

“Um, you’re welcome,” he grabbed her by the wrists and set her down as gently, but firmly as possible. He looked at the camera crew, “I think we’re done.” August departed as quickly as possible, leaving a fuming, angry Kelsey and a stunned camera crew behind.