Free Flaming Hearts (Beyond Reality Book 2) by Susan Stoker Page B

straightforward and didn’t seem to hold back what they were thinking. That felt so good right now because it seemed like everyone else she’d been around over the last few weeks never said what they really meant and they were all out for themselves. She wanted to feel embarrassed all over again about the show and what had been going on, but she couldn’t really.
    Jonathan’s words meant a lot to her. It was hard to live in a “reality bubble” and not get sucked into what was happening around her all the time. It’d be great to have a link to the outside world just in case she needed it. She tried to imagine herself calling Dean just to chat and just couldn’t quite make it work in her head. She knew she’d never call him out of the blue. It just wasn’t in her nature to make the first move toward a guy. It did make her feel better to think Dean thought enough about her to want to give her a way to contact him or his brother. It lifted her spirits. She’d try to hold onto that feeling throughout the outing that was planned for the day. It was gonna suck. She knew it.
     
    * * *
     
    Dean sat and watched the dynamics of the people on the show. He was expecting Marissa to be horrible after what Jonathan had told him about the show, but it was hard to truly explain to someone who hadn’t met her and hadn’t seen how she acted, how bad she really was. He was sure she was a nice person, well, relatively sure, but on the show she presented a catty possessive side. She wanted all the men on the show to pay attention to her and she made sure to put Becky in a bad light whenever she could.
    Dean knew Becky was embarrassed to have him there, but he wanted to be sure to let her know that she had an ally. It didn’t seem like anyone else, especially not the director or Eddie or Robert, cared about her feelings. And the men on the show seemed to be just as bad. He honestly didn’t understand how they could not look past Marissa’s mechanisms and see that she was poison. How could they not see the beautiful person Becky was? Yes, she was his One and he was biased, but he’d always preferred a woman who was confident and beautiful on the inside to someone who was only beautiful on the outside.
     
    * * *
     
    Becky was beyond embarrassed. It was bad enough she had to endure the social events on the show, but now that Dean was there, it was worse. Holy crap. She went over in her head what she’d rather be doing at this very moment other than being on this show and having the man she wanted to like her, with every fiber of her being, watching her being humiliated. Gynecologist exam, dentist, having a broken arm set…geez, the list could go on and on.
    She was sure at any time he’d walk out never to come back. Hell, she wouldn’t blame him. Recently she’d been dreaming about walking out almost every day.
    She’d watched Marissa meet Dean with dismay. Just as she thought she would, Marissa simpered and fawned all over him. To be fair, Dean hadn’t seemed to give her any outward encouraging behavior. He was only polite, but Becky had learned the hard way that just because a man was nice to you didn’t mean he meant it. She’d seen it happen over and over on the show. The men seemed to want to get to know her, but inevitably conversation would always turn to Marissa and what she thought of the other men.
    This afternoon she and Marissa and their “dates” would be going to the spa. This was one of Marissa’s choices of activities for the day, no big surprise there, and Becky knew she’d be miserable. There wasn’t anything about a spa that she enjoyed. She didn’t like having gobs of makeup put on, she knew her hair didn’t hold a style very well because it was thin, and she’d never enjoyed getting a massage. On top of that her nails were short and her feet were so ticklish that pedicures were pure torture. The only good thing about the day would be that Dean wouldn’t be there. Becky sighed. Since they were