Molly woke to a note slipped under her door. Heart racing, she rushed to read it, only to feel a surge of disappointment when she saw the handwriting.
Duncan.
Not the man she’d had the most vivid – and extremely erotic – dream about. The man she’d been a second away from dragging into her room last night.
Damn Ben for getting her so worked up she’d nearly lost her mind. And yet … would it really have been so bad if she had slept with him? Wasn’t she already in danger of falling for him all over again anyway? Even if, by his own admission, he might fail her again?
Pushing the thoughts aside, she opened the note.
You were meant to find me last night. Wise up fast, babe. Remember what that dickhead did to you. D x
Guilt slithered through her. While she’d been dancing with Ben, she’d totally forgotten Duncan had wanted to see her before they made their ditch or stick choices. Was the decision now out of her hands? Had Duncan assumed she was staying with Ben, so he was going to stick with Jasmine?
And did that even matter to her? Because it wasn’t Duncan’s face she saw when she closed her eyes at night.
I’m going while I still can.
Arousal flushed through her as she remembered Ben’s final words to her yesterday. How his eyes had turned smoky, his voice holding a sexy husk that made her knees weak. The automatic response of a man who’d not had sex for a long time, as he’d admitted, or a specific response to her? He’d made it feel like the latter, but he’d always been so good at that.
She glanced at the clock on her phone and yelped. Time to get a move on. She was due in the orangery in ten minutes to meet up with the rest of the girls for decision time.
The options hummed through her as she got ready. They continued to bounce around her brain as she dashed down the stairs. Option one, stick with Ben, have stupendous sex, fall for him all over again. Live out her fantasy of walking down the aisle to him. She pressed a hand to her stomach, feeling the butterflies going crazy at the thought. Yet the most likely end to that scenario was her being turned down at the altar.
Option two, ditch Ben, ditch the fantasy, and be paired with someone else … who could quite possibly be Duncan. That path held the greater chance of love that was reciprocated, and of the ending she’d wanted when she’d agreed to come on the show. Marriage to Duncan.
Her pace slowed as she spotted Maya and Marcus ahead of her, holding hands. Wow. That was a dial up in their relationship.
Behind her someone cleared their throat, and she turned to find Ben. He looked crisp and handsome in black faded jeans with a striped white and grey collared shirt buttoned loosely at the top. ‘Morning.’
‘Hi.’ God, why was her heart so responsive when he was around? ‘Did you … err … sleep well?’
His mouth curled at her awkward politeness. ‘No. But thanks for asking.’
‘No?’
He gave a slight shake of his head, then bent to whisper in her ear. ‘Too many dreams featuring a hot redhead.’
‘Oh.’ She had no clue how to reply to that.
He looked over to where Marcus was giving Maya a seductive kiss before they each went separate ways, her turning left to the orangery and the rest of the girls, him to the right, to the sitting room where the guys were gathering.
‘That could be us,’ Ben murmured.
‘You’d hold my hand?’
His heated gaze pinned hers. ‘I’d hold every part of you as often as I could, for as long as you allowed me.’
With that, he turned to follow Marcus, leaving her standing in the middle of the corridor, her core aching, her cheeks flushed.
‘Hey, are you feeling okay?’
Molly jumped at the sound of Chloe’s voice. ‘Yes, I’m fine.’
‘Good, ’cos you look kind of hot and bothered. Hope you’re not coming down with anything.’
Lust. ‘Nope, all good.’
They walked together into the orangery where they were met with the buzz of female chatter. Natalie, dressed this morning on the more demure end of the spectrum in a pair of flared white trousers and a multi-coloured kaftan-like top, flitted between the contestants. The camera team were setting up and Rachel was busy working out where to sit everyone around the large oval coffee table. Their eyes met and Molly gave her an awkward smile, wondering if Ben had already told his sister of his decision.
As if she’d read her mind, Rachel walked over to her. ‘I bumped into Ben in the corridor earlier. He told me you know what he’s going to do,’ she whispered.
I told you, I want to stay with you. ‘I don’t think any of us know for certain what we’re going to say until the moment we say it.’
Rachel gave her a sad smile. ‘I get it. Must be very hard to trust anything he says after what happened. But, though he might be really bad at articulating his feelings, he’s not a liar.’
There followed a few minutes of shuffling and scraping chairs before they were all finally settled around the table, Molly sitting next to Chloe.
Rachel gave Natalie the nod.
‘Okay, ladies, we’ve reached the midway stage of the show and with it comes decision time. Will you decide to stick or ditch?’ She beamed, drawing out the moment as her dark gaze swept across the group. ‘Let’s start with you, Maya.’
‘Oh, well.’ Maya drew in a breath, then gave a shy smile. ‘I’ve decided to stay with Marcus. We had a good night, last night.’ A series of wolf whistles echoed round the table and Maya laughed. ‘Stop it. It wasn’t like that.’ Then she groaned and put her head in her hands. ‘Okay, maybe it was like that.’
Natalie whooped. ‘Well, well, yours sounds like it’s a relationship going in the right direction. Let’s hope Marcus is thinking the same. I’ll pop over to the men right after I’ve got answers from you all.’ She turned to Jasmine. ‘Have you decided to stick or ditch?
‘Yeah, well, Duncan and me had a bust up after the fete. He said I hadn’t pulled my weight, left him to do everything, which was out of line because I made the freaking brownies.’ She flicked her blonde locks back over her shoulder and glanced sideways at Molly. ‘I thought maybe he was thinking of ditching me and asking to swop to Molly ’cos I know he still has feelings for her.’ She shrugged. ‘But he was all contrite last night, said he didn’t want our journey to end yet, so I guess I should give him another chance.’ Again she looked at Molly, and this time there was a triumphant gleam in her eye. ‘I choose to stick with Duncan.’
Had that been why Duncan had approached her in the corridor the other day? He’d had a row with Jasmine and wanted to make sure he had a back-up option if she ditched him?
God, she really was naive when it came to men.
‘Well, that’s two of our original matches making it into the second week so far. How about you, Chloe?’ Natalie shifted her focus and Molly felt her pulse start to race. It was her turn next.
‘James and me might have looked good on paper, but we don’t work in real life. I’m going to ditch him and take my chances on someone else.’ She gave Molly the side eye. ‘With any luck you guys will put me with Ben.’
‘Okay, so that’s a ditch for James, and a potential swop to Ben.’ Natalie’s eyes landed on hers. ‘Don’t keep us in suspense, Molly. Have you decided to ditch Ben and let someone else have a go with him? Or would you like to stick with him and see if you can make it work a second time around?’
Molly drew in a breath, her heart thumping at the significance of her decision and what it might mean for the next two weeks. ‘I’d like to stick with Ben.’
‘Seriously?’ Chloe gaped at her. ‘What happened to your pride? Didn’t the guy already reject you once?’
Ouch, that flipping hurt. Had she lost her backbone, her sense of worth, even her common sense, by choosing to go down this road again? ‘Thanks for the reminder, Chloe. But maybe I’m more forgiving than you.’
‘Yeah, but there’s a line between being forgiving and losing all your dignity, honey,’ Chloe retorted. ‘And I think you’ve just crossed it.’
Tears stung her eyes and Molly instinctively ducked her head so the camera wouldn’t see how upset she was.
Would giving Ben another chance turn out to be the most stupid thing she’d ever done?
* * *
It felt like the worst meeting in history. A group of guys gathered round a table, ready to be interrogated not about their latest sales figures, but about their relationships.
‘That’s the seventh time you’ve sighed since you got here, man.’ James gave him a wry grin. ‘Something tells me you don’t want to be here.’
‘That or he’s worried Molly’s going to ditch him,’ Duncan interjected.
He gave the personal trainer a bland look, though his stomach was pitching like a row boat on the North Sea in November. ‘I’m not worried.’
‘Maybe you should be.’ Duncan leant back on his chair and folded his arms behind his head, no doubt so everyone could get a good look at his biceps.
‘Know something I don’t?’ And damn, that hurt to ask, but he’d rather take shitty news now, before the cameras started rolling.
Duncan couldn’t hide his pleasure at seeing Ben rattled. ‘Only that I told Molly last night I was going to stick with Jasmine, so you don’t have to worry about her ditching you in the hope of getting me.’
Disappointment curdled in Ben’s gut. Even if Molly had decided to stick, he’d never know if it was because she preferred him, or just made do with him because she couldn’t have the man she did want.
But hell, if he managed nothing else this next two weeks, let him at least convince her she was worth more than the cocksure personal trainer.
Thankfully they were interrupted by Natalie – was that a tablecloth she was wearing? – who swept into the room, closely followed by the camera team and Rachel. As if there was some sort of sibling telepathy, her gaze swung to his. Silently he pleaded with her to let him know what Molly’s answer had been, but she shook her head. Yet as she turned away, there was just the slightest curve to her mouth that gave him hope. Happy because he was going to get the answer he wanted?
Or amused to see him so bothered?
‘Gentlemen,’ Natalie began once Rachel gave her the go-ahead. ‘Now is your turn to let us know your decisions – stick or ditch? If you choose stick, and your match has chosen stick, you’ll spend the next two weeks deciding whether to marry them.’ Ben’s stomach clenched. He’d conveniently forgotten that’s what they’d be gearing up to. But it was a worry for further down the line. If he got to spend the next half of the show with her. ‘Any other combination, and you’ll be dating someone new.’ She looked around the table. ‘Marcus, stick … or ditch?’
Marcus chuckled. ‘Come on, I shouldn’t even need to tell you. Obviously I’m going to choose to stick with the gorgeous Maya, if she’ll have me.’
There was a beat of silence, and though Ben knew Natalie was doing it deliberately to ramp up the tension, if she kept him waiting like that, he might lose his breakfast.
‘It’s your lucky day, Marcus. Maya chose to stick with you, too. Whoop, whoop!’
Everyone around the table clapped, which Ben thought was really weird because it’s not like Marcus had done anything. Then again, he had managed to persuade Maya to stick with him.
Slowly Ben raised his hands and joined in the clapping.
‘Duncan.’ Natalie swivelled her attention to the man next to Marcus. ‘Are you sticking or ditching?’
‘Sticking.’ Duncan slowly let his arms down – probably because his biceps were proving too heavy to keep lifting. ‘Jasmine and I are going all the way,’ he added with what Ben guessed was meant to be a sexy grin, but looked like something he’d practised too hard in the mirror.
‘Looks like you are,’ Natalie confirmed. ‘Jasmine said yes, too. So that’s two out of two so far. Seems those matchmakers know their stuff. How about you, James? Going to make it three out of three?’
‘Nah. Me and Chloe don’t have a good vibe. I’m ditching. Bet she said the same.’
Natalie chuckled. ‘You’d have won some money if you’d made the bet. So that’s new partners for you and Chloe. Could be someone else from the house, or someone from the reserve list.’ Her attention fell on Ben. ‘How about you and Molly?’
‘Stick.’
Natalie raised her eyebrows. ‘We know you don’t like saying much to the cameras, Ben, but how about a few more words.’
He huffed out a breath. ‘I’d like to stay with Molly.’
‘Question is, does she want to stay with him?’ Duncan interjected. ‘Then again, she knows I’m not up for grabs, so maybe it’s better the devil she knows for the next two weeks. Or maybe she’ll figure anyone else is better than Ben.’
Duncan’s neat put-down sent anger fizzing through Ben, but even if he could come back with one of his own, there was no time because Natalie’s eyes were on him.
‘Ben.’ She paused again, and his heart hammered so loud he was sure the microphones would pick it up. ‘Molly chose to stay with you, too.’
Relief washed through him, and he hadn’t realised how rigidly he’d been holding himself until he felt his shoulders come down from his ears and his fists unclench.
Further up the table, he heard Duncan mutter, ‘Figures she’d settle for a guy she thinks still likes her, rather than risk someone new.’
So many things wrong with that statement, he thought angrily. The fact Duncan thought he knew Molly at all, never mind the dismissive tone, or the implication she was somehow desperate to be liked. To love and be loved. Yet it also niggled, because didn’t he get that sense from her too, sometimes? Why else would she even have given Duncan the time of day?
And why else would she have fallen so fast, so hard for him, despite the fact he’d been battling demons he’d been unable to vocalise?
The moment Natalie wrapped up, Ben leapt to his feet. He needed to see Molly. Yet as he was about to leave, Rachel motioned for him to hang back. Frustrated, he shoved his hands in his pockets and waited impatiently while the rest of the guys filed out.
‘I know you want to find Molly.’ His sister put a hand on his arm, concern written across her face. ‘But before you do, I thought you should know that she’s upset.’
His insides cramped. ‘What happened?’
‘After Molly said she wanted to stick with you, Chloe basically told her she had no dignity, sticking with a guy who’d rejected her once.’
‘Chloe should butt out of our business.’
‘Of course she should. But you are on a reality TV show, so normal rules don’t apply.’ Rachel shook her head. ‘She actually wanted you for herself.’
‘Not even if hell freezes over.’ He took a breath, tried to get his insides to settle back to some sort of normality. ‘When are we due to have one of those damn camera chats again?’
‘Later today.’
‘Fine. I’ll see you then.’ He was about to march out, when he remembered his manners and turned back to give his sister a hug. ‘Thanks for the heads up.’
‘No problem.’ Rachel paused, eyes searching his face.
‘Out with it.’
‘Okay. I’m worried, for both of you. Dating someone a second time around isn’t an easy situation to navigate in normal circumstances. Add in cameras, a TV show, another ex, your history…’
‘You wanted fireworks,’ he told her grimly.
‘I did. But not for anyone to get burnt by them.’
‘What did you think would happen when you shoved me at the end of an aisle and asked me if I want to marry Molly?’ He asked her bitterly.
Rachel winced, her expression full of guilt. ‘I didn’t think that far ahead.’
He nodded grimly. Maybe he shouldn’t, either. After all, a lot could happen in two weeks, especially in the emotional soup of this show, with four couples – make that five now, thanks to James and Chloe both getting new partners – trying to work out whether or not to marry each other, all while living under the same roof.