Ineligible Bachelor by Kathryn Quick

back.
    She didn’t know when he’d pulled her to her feet or when he had put his arms around her. But suddenly, they were wrapped around each other, kissing with every ounce of passion they could muster.
    How long the kisses lasted, she didn’t know that either, only that it had not been nearly long enough when he took his mouth from hers far enough to speak. “Well, this is a development the producers won’t see coming.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I felt the way you kissed me back, Freddy. You can’t want me to kiss anyone else.”
    He was right, so terribly right. She didn’t want him to kiss anyone else; she wanted him to kiss her and only her. Already well into the show, doing anything but fulfilling the contract she signed—albeit without reading it—would have serious consequences for Logan and his job. She had no choice but to finish what she started, no matter how much she hated the thought.
    Her head swam from the kiss, but somehow she managed to clear the fog enough to speak. “It doesn’t matter much what either of us wants. It only matters about a signed contract with heavy-duty penalty clauses if either of us tries to break it.”
    “Then you want me to kiss other women.”
    “You know it’s not that simple anymore. The show’s filming. A lot of money has already been spent, money for the mansion, money to bring everyone here. And let’s not even mention the food and wardrobe bill for the cast and production staff. I bet it’s astronomical already. Have you seen the size of the key grips alone?”
    “So it boils down to appearances and protocols?”
    She shrugged. “What else could it be?” Had her face stayed neutral? Gawd, she hoped so because her insides were reeling.
    “Okay.” He straightened and the warmth that bubbled between them dissipated, as fast as she imagined an ice cube probably would melt on Venus.
    “Okay,” she repeated.
    The ensuing silence roared, broken mercifully in a few moments by a chorus of voices in the hallway. Freddy looked over Logan’s shoulder toward the din. A large gang of people gathered in the hallway.
    A woman with big hair and even bigger eyeliner pushed her way into the room. “We have two hours for hair and makeup.” She walked to Freddy and ran a hand through Freddy’s hair. “And I think we’ll need every minute of it.” She turned to Logan andmade a dismissing gesture. “So if you wouldn’t mind, I believe someone is laying out wardrobe for you in your suite.”
    As three people surrounded her, Freddy watched Logan leave. Her heart sank deeper into her stomach. Someone pushed a chair right behind her knees, and she fell into it. She felt hairbrushes tangle into her hair.
    “And this is the dress for tonight, people,” she heard Roberto say. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a flash of blue she had never seen on any color wheel. The dress hung from a satin hanger and looked ridiculously soft with the way it poured to the floor in graceful curves.
    The makeup artist opened a huge train case and began mixing colors to match it. “Don’t worry, honey,” he said, setting out more brushes than Michelangelo would have used painting the Sistine Chapel. “I promise you’re not going to recognize yourself after I’m done with you.”
    That’s good,
Freddy thought—because when she watched the show when it aired in a few weeks, she’d rather think someone else handed Logan over to another woman for the day.

Logan rubbed the back of his neck, trying to shake the headache that came on suddenly, almost dislodging the earpiece in his left ear.
    “Remember to keep the left side of your body out of the camera angles as much as possible to hide the earpiece,” Roberto’s cautioning voice said. “If there seems to be a lull in the action, I’ll prompt you with something to do to pick up the pace.”
    Logan shot Roberto a thumbs-up just as Emily approached.
    She handed him a folded bit of paper. “I wrote this for