All my life, I’ve been searching for something… maybe a way to fill the shotgun-blast hole in my chest leftover from when I was a kid. I don’t know. I can’t explain it to myself, let alone to Jack.
“And if you’re not attracted to them,” Jack goes on, “you will have to fake it. Just be as friendly as you can. Show the world a different side of you. And Kayden… don’t break any of the cameras.”
I sigh, nodding. Jack is right. If this is going to help the company, I have to do it.
“How many days do we shoot for?”
“Two weeks,” Jack says. “The finale is when you make your selection. They want the show to end with a kiss, too. Is that okay?”
The thought of kissing some stranger, a woman who isn’t going to be with me forever – a woman who isn’t going to give me children, who isn’t mine – makes me sick. But if it’s just one kiss… one kiss to save my company, I have no choice.
“I guess it has to be,” I groan. “Fucking hell, Jack. This is going to be a nightmare.”
Chapter Two
Kyra
“Don’t get offended if some of the crew are a little curt with you,” Lisa explains, as she leads me onto the set.
All around us, crew members are bustling around, cameras being adjusted as men and women with clipboards and headsets rush here and there. The first scene is taking place on a well-lit stage, with five Xs on the floor to mark where the contestants will stand, and an armchair for the CEO to sit in.
Lisa glances at me, frowning. She’s a tall imposing woman, with sharp features and gorgeous hair. Its dyed silver and piled atop her head artfully. “Are you with me, Kyra?”
“Sorry,” I say quickly. “This is the first time I’ve ever been on a set. I’ve always dreamed of… Sorry.”
I apologize again when I realize her frown has turned into a glare.
“Don’t make a habit of daydreaming. As a runner, you need to be ready at all times. You’ll make the coffee and take whatever notes we need you to. You might be called on to help with the wardrobe, to run to the store for extra bulbs… anything, be ready for anything and you can’t go wrong.”
“Okay, I will. I promise. I’m really grateful for this opportunity.”
“Don’t let us down. That’s all I ask.” Without warning, she raises her voice. “Everybody, this is Kyra, our fresh-faced runner. She has kindly volunteered to do a coffee run for everyone. Please tell her what you’d like.”
She leans close to me, lowering her voice. “If I was you, I’d get your phone out, ready to take notes. That will be all for now.”
I rush around the set, my head spinning as I quickly write down everyone’s choices and their names. People speak in hurried tones, as though they’re too busy to give much thought to hot drinks. I feel my cheeks burning when I mishear one cameraman and have to clarify. My heart beating way too fast.
But this is the first step in my lifelong desire to become a director. I need some on-set experience. I’m in an incredibly lucky position. I’ve got a two-week job as a runner on set, something I never could have hoped for before, and my boss at the restaurant has agreed to let me take my vacation in one big lump.
Sure, it’ll mean working nonstop when this is done, but it’s worth it.
I rush out of the studio and over to my car. As usual, my old hunk of junk sputters and coughs a few times before purring to life.
As I drive to the coffee shop down the street, my mind wanders to Kayden Kater, the CEO who’s going to be searching for love on the show.
My belly swims and my insides tingle when I think about him.
I researched him online last night, finding photos of him, his stark and striking green eyes staring from countless magazine covers. He’s forty-three years old with the body of an MMA fighter, six and a half feet tall with rippling muscles covering every inch of him.
He served in the Marines and won three medals for his bravery, and then started his company from nothing.
Biting my lip, I remember the way my hand snaked down between my legs as I stared at a shirtless picture of him.
It was taken on a beach at a long distance as he was emerging from the water, his muscled body catching the sunlight as water dripped down his skin.
I couldn’t stop myself, driven by hungry desire, as I rubbed at my sex and brought myself to a body-searing orgasm. I imagined my fingers clawing down his chest, taking in how hard his muscles felt, so solid they could threaten to break my fingernails.