say about my last date. When it’s time to boot someone off the island, Damien gets my vote.” She turned, then glanced over her shoulder at the camera. “And when he leaves, he can take his crusty little friend with him.” Opening the door, Ally stepped out.
Mitch leaned back away from the camera. That last little tidbit of information had been no slip-up. Ally had an agenda, no doubt about it. Before he had a minute to determine if her sly revelation had anything to do with him and the goddess, he heard someone else enter the booth.
Mitch peered into the lens of the camera and saw a woman. A redhead. Pretty. Hell, they were all pretty. Even Damien. Weary of it all, he slumped on his stool and yawned.
The woman sat in the chair facing the curtain, her back erect, her feet crossed at the ankles. Her toenail polish was a mess. She had something on her heel, too, though he couldn’t tell what. He lifted his attention to her face. A sprinkle of freckles crossed her nose and fanned onto her cheeks. Cute. Mitch yawned again.
Lifting her chin, she stared at the camera…and blushed. “I…” Her left eye twitched. “This ritual is humiliating.”
Mitch slammed his mouth shut and sat up straighter. That sultry Texas drawl. He’d recognize it anywhere. His foot hit the tripod the camera sat on and he had to grab quickly to keep it from toppling over.
“Everything okay back there?”
“Fine,” he rasped.
“Okay, then. I’m Claire Mulligan from Prairie, Texas.”
So she wasn’t a complete liar. At least the Prairie, Texas, part had been true.
“I think I know what you’re hoping I’ll say. You’d just love to hear that James and I are on the outs, that he’s playing hoochie-coochie behind my back or that I’m doing so behind his.”
Mitch frowned. James? James who?
“Conflict is intriguing,” Claire went on. “So is deceit. And that’s what this show’s all about, right?”
Mitch opened his mouth to answer her, then remembered she spoke to the camera, not him.
“Well, I’m afraid I’m going to disappoint you by being pathetically boring—”
Pathetically boring? Aphrodite, goddess of the sea? Born of Uranus’s genital sea foam? Mitch thought of her striptease on the beach last night. Even from a distance, even considering the fact that, at the time, he couldn’t see every gorgeous detail he was looking at now, she’d knocked his socks off. Or she would’ve if he’d been wearing any. Claire Mulligan…alias Aphrodite O’Malley…was definitely the least pathetically boring woman he’d met so far on this island. As a matter of fact, she was the least boring woman he’d ever met, period.
“But the simple truth is,” Claire continued, “James and I will leave this island every bit as committed as we were the day we arrived, if not more so.”
Committed. That was the word Ally had used in reference to the player who’d “looked to the crew for a little fun on the side”. The puzzle pieces began to snap into place in Mitch’s mind. He recalled talk of one committed couple competing among the other contestants. An engaged couple the producers had tossed into the mix of singles to see if they stuck together or were ripped apart. Of course, being producers, they hoped for the latter. This was prime-time television, after all. He had never met up with the couple because, during the first round of the show, they had not been in the group of contestants he’d been assigned to follow and film.
Claire lowered her gaze to her pink polish-smeared toenails and kept it there. “Nothing’s changed. Nothing except…” She glanced up at the camera and burst into tears. “Nothing except the fact that I’ve become a total and complete liar.”
Not a very good one, either, Mitch thought. Damn, he hated it when women cried. It was all he could do not to part the curtain and go out to comfort her.
“James is treating me like yesterday’s newspaper. He’s flirting with anything in a
Mitch leaned back away from the camera. That last little tidbit of information had been no slip-up. Ally had an agenda, no doubt about it. Before he had a minute to determine if her sly revelation had anything to do with him and the goddess, he heard someone else enter the booth.
Mitch peered into the lens of the camera and saw a woman. A redhead. Pretty. Hell, they were all pretty. Even Damien. Weary of it all, he slumped on his stool and yawned.
The woman sat in the chair facing the curtain, her back erect, her feet crossed at the ankles. Her toenail polish was a mess. She had something on her heel, too, though he couldn’t tell what. He lifted his attention to her face. A sprinkle of freckles crossed her nose and fanned onto her cheeks. Cute. Mitch yawned again.
Lifting her chin, she stared at the camera…and blushed. “I…” Her left eye twitched. “This ritual is humiliating.”
Mitch slammed his mouth shut and sat up straighter. That sultry Texas drawl. He’d recognize it anywhere. His foot hit the tripod the camera sat on and he had to grab quickly to keep it from toppling over.
“Everything okay back there?”
“Fine,” he rasped.
“Okay, then. I’m Claire Mulligan from Prairie, Texas.”
So she wasn’t a complete liar. At least the Prairie, Texas, part had been true.
“I think I know what you’re hoping I’ll say. You’d just love to hear that James and I are on the outs, that he’s playing hoochie-coochie behind my back or that I’m doing so behind his.”
Mitch frowned. James? James who?
“Conflict is intriguing,” Claire went on. “So is deceit. And that’s what this show’s all about, right?”
Mitch opened his mouth to answer her, then remembered she spoke to the camera, not him.
“Well, I’m afraid I’m going to disappoint you by being pathetically boring—”
Pathetically boring? Aphrodite, goddess of the sea? Born of Uranus’s genital sea foam? Mitch thought of her striptease on the beach last night. Even from a distance, even considering the fact that, at the time, he couldn’t see every gorgeous detail he was looking at now, she’d knocked his socks off. Or she would’ve if he’d been wearing any. Claire Mulligan…alias Aphrodite O’Malley…was definitely the least pathetically boring woman he’d met so far on this island. As a matter of fact, she was the least boring woman he’d ever met, period.
“But the simple truth is,” Claire continued, “James and I will leave this island every bit as committed as we were the day we arrived, if not more so.”
Committed. That was the word Ally had used in reference to the player who’d “looked to the crew for a little fun on the side”. The puzzle pieces began to snap into place in Mitch’s mind. He recalled talk of one committed couple competing among the other contestants. An engaged couple the producers had tossed into the mix of singles to see if they stuck together or were ripped apart. Of course, being producers, they hoped for the latter. This was prime-time television, after all. He had never met up with the couple because, during the first round of the show, they had not been in the group of contestants he’d been assigned to follow and film.
Claire lowered her gaze to her pink polish-smeared toenails and kept it there. “Nothing’s changed. Nothing except…” She glanced up at the camera and burst into tears. “Nothing except the fact that I’ve become a total and complete liar.”
Not a very good one, either, Mitch thought. Damn, he hated it when women cried. It was all he could do not to part the curtain and go out to comfort her.
“James is treating me like yesterday’s newspaper. He’s flirting with anything in a
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