The Consequence of Revenge

Reid froze behind Rex, his face hinting that he was a bit concerned about what Rex had just divulged.

“Oh, that.” I waved him off. “I made a deal with my parents. They pay for two years I pay for two years. So I thought, why not try to win the money? I’m pretty competitive and I can be sneaky when I want to be.”

“So was it you?” Rex asked.

“Was what me?” I looked nervously around the crew.

“The kiss with Max last night, was it you?”

“Um.” I chewed my lower lip. Reid made a cutting motion with his hand. Did that mean I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone about the kiss? “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I was . . . exhausted after last night’s win.”

“Ah, last night’s win. Just how confident are you that Max will chose you over Gina? She’s a lovely girl.” The camera panned away from me to the girls on the beach. Gina looked like she was trying to fish with her bare hands, either that or she was really, really aggressive when it came to hunting for seashells.

“Yeah.” I swallowed. “A regular gem.”

“All right,” Rex waved at the camera. “That’s enough, let’s get the remaining girls taken care of and then set up the game. You may go, Becca.”

Huh, that was fast. Reid walked up to me, but I’d already started pulling the microphone off. No way was the guy going to put his hands down my shirt for the second time that morning.

When I handed him the microphone, he chuckled. “Didn’t want any help?”

“No, not your kind of help at least.” I stepped back, keeping my eyes trained on Reid just in case he decided to make a sudden movement. The back of my foot hit something hard and then I was airborne, flying backward, ready to hit the hard sand.

“Whoa there!” Reid yelled, his arms wrapping around my waist as he pulled me down onto the sand. I fell on top of him like a turtle unable to get off its shell.

“Hey, good catch!” Max ran up next to us. “Shocking, since he used to get picked last for little league.”

“Did not!” Reid said from underneath me.

“Don’t lie, Reid.” Max laughed and offered me his hand, helping me to my feet. “Fun fact, Reid was so dedicated to the sport he slept with his helmet on. When Mom told him to take it off he cried. Poor thing.”

“Max—”

“Also, he can’t hit a ball to save his life. I’m a firm believer that men should be talented in all areas of ball handling . . . aren’t you, Reid?”

“Don’t you have a shark to feed?” Reid asked from behind me.

“Why?” Max’s eyes narrowed. “You offering to sacrifice your body?”

“Only if I was saving Becca!” Reid argued. “Hell, yeah, I’d sacrifice my body for her!”

With a gleam in his eye Max pushed Reid back to the ground and then tilted his head. “Sorry, I was just checking to make sure you weren’t a liar. Look, Becca, he fell for you!”

Reid glared from his position on the ground while I rolled my eyes and tried to walk away from all the testosterone. The air reeked of “My horse is bigger than your horse.” Or in Reid and Max’s case, “My ball is bigger than yours.”

A loud horn sounded on the beach.

Oh, no. Either there was a hurricane coming or they were prepping us for the next game.

“Contestants! Gather round!” Rex shouted. The poor guy was still sweating buckets, the man needed to wear something other than linen pants.

A few of the camera crews put down their equipment. Reid hurried off to his crew and started filming; the other two crews were already in front of Rex.

“The game you’ll be playing is for a sunrise breakfast with our Bachelor.”

“Sunrise?” Max raised his hand. “As in, when the sun rises over the earth?”

Reid chuckled to himself. “Sorry, boss, telling time isn’t his thing. Max, remember, it’s when the big hand goes—” Max smacked Reid in the stomach and took his position with the rest of the contestants.

“The sunrise breakfast will include local foods as well as a morning boat ride.”

That actually sounded really fun. I could be a morning person for some good food and a boat ride.

Throw Max in the mix and . . . yeah, well, it would be nice.

Rex held up his hands. “Contestants, follow me!”

We all walked toward the far end of the beach, where a giant game board was set up on the sand. There were dots of every color—and that’s when it hit me, they wanted us to play Twister? Really?

“A giant game of Twister,” Rex announced. “Sounds easy enough, right?”

We all nodded and shrugged in unison.

“Wrong!” Rex pointed and laughed. Was it wrong that I had this really strong urge to grab his finger and break it in half? Wow, island life was turning me violent. What was wrong with me? I was the kind of girl who felt guilty when she stepped on a spider!

“This game of Twister has two parts. For the first part, the women will be blindfolded while the Bachelor moves you around himself. When only five of you are left standing, the Bachelor will join the game and play right along with you. The winner takes all!”

Rex cleared his throat. “Max will spin the wheel and call out instructions, and once he joins the game I’ll take over. The eliminated girls will also help us referee the game to make sure no cheating occurs.”