I woke up early and insisted on getting some work done over a cup of coffee. The producers had balked and glared at my stipulations but when I threatened them with my departure they soon changed their tune. They still limited my use of the phone and the Internet, but my business was my priority and I wouldn’t let them threaten it.

My hand went to my hair, an old habit I still couldn’t break despite the cut, as a crew of people came into the large bedroom and began to dress a table with fine china, a linen tablecloth with an autumn theme, and spread out jams and butters. They didn’t even ask to come in, but they didn’t even acknowledge my existence, so I guess my privacy wasn’t an issue.

I’d showered and dressed while the camera crew set up, and now we waited for the lady of the hour to come take her place. I tapped nervously at the table top, shifting in my dark blue jeans, an old pair that fit me just right, with a wheat brown knit sweater keeping out the chill in the room.

I had quite a few dates to get through in the coming days, and it wasn’t going to take nearly as long as I thought if we were each going to eliminate three at one time. I didn’t care about the other girls. Laney’s smile and her kind eyes had already caught my attention. This “date” was just a formality as far as I was concerned.

“Look, Jake, you obviously like Laney, but we really need you to set up something with Arabella. She’s our main focus for the next few segments, so we need you to give her some time, okay? Trent and David are playing ball, we need you to get on board with this.” A woman I knew to be a producer came into the room, her blasé manner putting me on edge. I was unsure if her name was actually Carol, so I avoided using it.

“I thought the point of the game was for us to choose who we wanted, and they have to figure out which of us is the billionaire. It would be nice to know I’m wanted for something other than my money.” I gave the woman a wave of my hand, a dismissal I had never used before but the woman put me on edge.

“Oh, like that, are we?” Her red brow pointed, a sign of irritation she seemed to think would bring me into line. Her garish red hair was piled onto her head in an artfully haphazard way that was meant to convey carelessness, but with the amount of hairspray she had in it, you knew it was by design. “You have read the contract, right?”

“I have, yes.” I bristled and wondered if I’d missed something but one of the other producers came in to tell everybody to get out but me and the cameraman, Laney was on her way. The conversation ended, but Carol gave me a side-eyed glance that I knew meant I needed to do as she dictated.

A man came in with a cue card and a single camera on a tripod.

“We just need a few minutes of ‘diary film’, please,” he said, yet another of those that didn’t even bother to look at me.

I sat down in the chair he indicated and waited.

“Why did you choose Laney?” he asked, without even warming me up first.

“Because she seems so sweet and down to earth. I saw her walking down those stairs and she just seemed... I don’t know, real, I guess.”

“Right,” he said without inflection. “Why not one of the others? This is your first date after all, why not one of the more fun ones?”

“Laney looks like she’s intelligent, fun, and full of life. What do you mean?”

“Maybe I should have been blunt. Why not one of the sexier ones that might get their clothes off for the camera?” He looked up now, his gaze nailing me to the chair.

Apparently, I’d done something wrong.

“Because I can get sex anywhere. I’m here to find a wife, aren’t I? The woman I can spend the rest of my life with? Laney looks like that kind of a woman.”

“Okay. That’s all. See you next time.”

The man left then, and I was glad to see the back of him. What stupid questions. Yeah, you can be blatantly sexy, you can put everything you have on display, but to be able to take part in erotic play, to be able to seduce with your eyes and your brain? Yeah, Laney was at the very top of my list.

I’d nearly jumped out of my chair when she bit into the orange slice. She’d looked so confused, uncertain, as we’d first started to play, but when she caught on, her eyes had lit up and she’d followed my lead. Not afraid of sex, smart, and beautiful. Why would I choose anyone else?

With a sigh of frustration, I stood. I wanted to be alone with her, I wanted to touch her and taste her, but I knew this had to go slow. There were cameras everywhere, and I didn’t want to rush anything with her. She was more than just a fuck and a goodbye, this one. She was worth getting to know.

As soon as Laney came into the room and I saw how her eyes were bright and her cheeks were bare of makeup, the frustration fled. She wore a pair of black velour pants and a white cable-knit sweater with a low neckline. Comfy but still sexy, I decided. Just like the woman wearing them.

“Hi.” I took her hand with the simple greeting and led her to the chair directly across from me. “How are you today?”

“Fine. Nervous.” She gave me a wobbly smile that soon firmed into a grin as she took her seat, brushing back a stray lock of her hair. “Those cameras are everywhere!”

I smiled at her conspiratorially. “Evil, aren’t they?”

“Very.” She breathed the word as she picked up a menu at the plate beside her.

“Did you sleep alright?” I was making small talk, my own nerves getting the better of me with her in front of me.

I knew she was the reason my tongue felt tied, and my legs were jiggling almost involuntarily. I’d never reacted to a woman quite like I did to Laney, and I’d barely held a conversation with her that could be called anything but small talk. Yet, here I was, wanting to stroke those long delicate artist’s fingers. I wasn’t sure if she was an artist but she should have been with fingers like that. Slim and elegant, they were tipped with clear nail polish that brought a sheen to the not so long but not too short nails.

My gaze traveled up the length of her arm and I appreciated how smooth her skin looked, soft and silky. My gaze moved on as she spoke, and she told me about the intricacies of sleeping with three other women in the same room. Her throat was just as elegant as the rest of her, made to cradle my head perfectly. And her mouth…

Peach-tinted lips moved, the flash of white teeth with a slight crook to the front two caught my eye. Her front bicuspid overlapped the other one just slightly, a fault I found endearing. And then I was looking at her smiling eyes.

“So you like wearing pink yoga pants and bows in your hair, do you?” She looked pleased with herself and I knew I’d been caught.

“Pardon?” I blinked and knew I’d been caught as I stared at her. I’d been too caught up in memorizing every inch of her I could spot to hear exactly what she’d said or asked.

“You started to say “mmm” to everything. So I asked if you liked wearing yoga pants and hair bows and you nodded and murmured “mmm”, so there you go. Own it, buddy, you like pink yoga pants.”

“Maybe on you, Laney, but never on me.” The playfully spoken words were out before I could draw them back and I felt something unusual happen, a burn in my cheeks I haven’t felt since I was an awkward teenager.

“It’s alright, I was only teasing you.” She reached out for my hand, a move that seemed to surprise even her, but I took her hand in mine gratefully.

“I don’t seem to be myself, either.” Don’t get me wrong, I’m no virgin, I’ve had my share of girlfriends and affairs, but something about Laney returned me to the sixteen-year-old I used to be.

I wasn’t very cool back then. I was overweight, a computer nerd seeing the world in computer languages I wanted to invent, dreaming of building my own empire. I started to exercise when I went to college at seventeen, and I built a physique that many envied. I’d also learned a lot about what women want and how to satisfy them. I’d come into this a little jaded and a whole lot of cynical; Laney changed all of that.

“What do you want?” She gave me a calm smile and my pulse thudded in my neck. Her effect on me was immediate.

“I’d love nothing more than to take you out on that beach and walk for miles with you.” I waved in the general direction of where I thought the beach was in relation to the house.

With a laugh, she held up the menu. “I meant for breakfast?”

“I, uh, well, I guess I should look first.” My cheeks were burning again, I just knew it.

She leaned back as she looked over the menu once more and I couldn’t help but notice the way the heavy cotton of her sweater made the neckline fall open. I could see the curve of generous breasts and a cleavage made for, well, things that good boys didn’t think about.

I’d never said I was an angel though, had I? I wanted to run my finger down that scented valley, to explore those soft globes with my hands, my tongue, and all the things that would make her frantic for more. I needed to stop my train of thought because soon standing up without embarrassment would be impossible.

We moved through breakfast, and she told me about her life, her roommate, her goals, and I was quite impressed. A young woman with drive. She pushed for what she wanted and took it. That was a strong pull for me.

I’d been lucky and had attended college at an early age on a full scholarship, and some would say money was just drawn to me. I rarely touched a project that didn’t succeed, in fact, I’ve never had one fail. Laney, on the other hand, struggled for what she had, even if she did have help from her parents on occasion. She didn’t complain, though, she just gave me the facts. I really admired that.

I’d almost forgotten the cameras, she put me at ease so well, but I saw them when we stood to go for that walk I suggested.

“Carol says you have twenty minutes, then there are other things to do. Other choices to make.” He looked at me with an apology and I couldn’t be mad at him.

“Fine. Tell her we’ll be back soon enough.” I put my hand in the small of Laney’s back and we moved through the house, the heels of her boots clicking on the hardwood floors.

We were soon in the fresh air. A slight breeze blew her long hair around her face. She really took my breath away.

“So, what do you, well… I suppose you can’t answer that. What do you do for fun?”

I knew she’d been about to ask what I did for a living, but the girls weren’t supposed to outright ask.

“I don’t have a lot of time for fun, really.” Shit, would that give it away? I wondered as she looked at me sharply. “There’s a lot of work involved in what I do, and well, there isn’t much down time. If I do have any, I’m usually helping my grandmother with her house.”

Yeah, that sounded better than me telling her I live in my Gran’s basement, and when I’m not working on projects I’m fixing the leaking roof or nailing down carpet that she refused to let me replace but came loose from the floor regularly. She wanted to keep the house the way it was when my grandfather was alive, and I wasn’t going to force her to change it.

“That’s very kind of you.” She glanced at me as we avoided the surf. It wasn’t the time of year for dances in the surf.

“It’s what a grandchild should do for someone who loves them, right?” I looked off into the distance, thinking of the blue eyes of my grandmother. More to me than a grandmother, she’d filled two roles since my parents died, and I could never repay that with money.

I’d been an awkward, subdued thirteen-year-old after they died in a house fire that took their lives but spared me. She’d done her best to make life normal for me as I’d eaten my way through my grief. She’d been the one that bought me a gym membership when I went off to college. I’d slowly started to be able to control the memory of flames and my parents’ screams and moved on with life. Grief still plagued me, but not as often as it had in the beginning.

“I suppose so. Both sets of my grandparents are gone now, I never really knew what that was like.” She sounded wistful and I knew what she was feeling. That longing for something that you aren’t quite sure is real.

“She’s a star. Ooof!” She’d tumbled over a hidden piece of driftwood and I caught her before she fell. Her body fell against mine and awareness singed through us both, sparking like static electricity. “You’re beautiful.”

I felt the words breathe over my lips before I could stop them and she gave me a happy smile. I couldn’t help what I did next, it just happened, before I even knew I intended to do it.

One minute I was looking into her eyes, the next, her lips were beneath mine, stirring a longing I’d never felt before. The soft flesh of her mouth moved beneath mine, shy, but exploring, and I tasted the cinnamon of her French toast in the corner of her smile.

“You taste beautiful, too,” I told her as she pulled away, a secret smile of delight on her face. Her eyes burned with a desire to explore further, a desire I felt keenly myself, but the sight of Carol, furious and tearing through the sand in our direction, halted that desire.

“What did I say to you?” She called out as she came near. “You have to follow our instructions, or this is not going to work!”

“That’s fine by me.” Again with the impulsive tongue. I was going to have to learn to control it.

She stared at me, her lips moving but not forming words. “I need to see you in the office.” Her words were cold and without emotion when she finally spoke.

She stormed off, her straight back and stiff neck told me she expected me to follow but I hesitated.

“I really like you, Laney. Don’t lose faith, alright?”

I knew Carol was trying to push me toward this Arabella, she’d mentioned her incessantly, but I wasn’t interested. I also knew Carol was about to drop a bomb on me, I’d seen it in the cold anger in her eyes.

Laney gave me a gentle smile and I left her in the sand, an assistant helping her to navigate around the beach in her boots.

This was not going to end well for me, Carol’s demeanor screamed it at me as she walked away. I just hope it didn’t ruin the start to what I knew could be something beautiful. I could still taste Laney on my lips, and my hands went to brush against them, remembering how much I’d wanted to take it further. I remembered how hard I’d grown looking at her this morning as I fantasized about her. This was more than just desire though, I knew that the same as I knew my own name. Laney might really be the one.