Fool's Gold Collection Part 2. Susan Mallery

nodded. She knew that a lot of the couples had no trouble being around the cameras. But she was always aware of them, afraid of how she looked. Afraid of what people would say. After the show first aired, her mother called with her critique. It was not kind. She didn’t like her daughter’s clothes, or her hair or what she said. She also didn’t like how young Stephen was but agreed there was nothing to be done about it. It wasn’t as if Aurelia had picked him.

      The only bright spot was the fact that Aurelia wasn’t expected to visit her mother as much.

      “I need to get back to the office,” Karen said. “Please don’t say anything. I’m not supposed to tell you, but I wanted to.”

      “We won’t say anything,” Stephen promised. “We’ll do better next time.”

      Aurelia waited until the production assistant had left, then turned to him. “I guess we’re done,” she said. “The twin factor helped us the first couple of weeks, but the thrill is probably wearing off.”

      Or it was her. A conversation she didn’t want to have with Stephen.

      They were sitting on the grass in the large park in the center of town. The live portion of the show had been the previous night, and now they were on their own for a couple of days. For Aurelia, that meant going back to work. Show or no show, she still had clients.

      “I’m not ready for this to be over,” Stephen told her. “Do you want to be finished with the show?”

      “No, but we’re not like your brother and Lani. Do you want to play with Fire Poi to get more votes?”

      “I would prefer to get out of the show unscarred,” he said with a grin. “But we could do something.”

      “What I should do is grow a spine,” she murmured. “Stand up to my mother. I’m a lot more afraid of her than I am of Geoff.”

      Stephen sat across from her. His blue eyes darkened with concern. “Why does she scare you?”

      “Scared isn’t exactly the right word. When I’m with her, I feel bad about myself. I feel guilty. Like I’m always doing something wrong. When I was a kid, it was just the two of us. We felt like a team. We did everything together. But then something changed. I’m not sure exactly when, but one day there were expectations. Rather than going off with my friends, I was supposed to come home and hang out with her. In high school, I didn’t date. Some of it was me. I was bookish and not very pretty. Some of it was her, though. When I did get asked out, she always had a dozen reasons as to why I couldn’t go.”

      “Because she wanted to keep you for herself?”

      Aurelia hesitated. “I’m not sure. Although she’s always complaining I’m not married or giving her grandchildren, I’m not sure she would be happy if I was. She has a sense of entitlement. She believes that it’s my responsibility to take care of her.”

      “Is she sick?”

      “No. She works, but she expects me to pay most of her expenses. It’s as if I only exist to serve her. She doesn’t like that I have a life. And somehow I’ve let that be okay. She talks about all the things she did for me and tells me over and over again that I should be grateful. I am. It’s just, when do I get to have a life of my own?”

      Stephen leaned toward her and took her hands in his. “Now,” he said softly. “You get to have a life now. The longer you let her do this to you, the harder it’s going to be to break away. Don’t you want more?”

      What she wanted was someone to look at her the way he was looking at her now. With caring and concern. With an intensity that made her fingers tremble.

      She must be dehydrated or something. This was Stephen. He was young enough to be her baby brother. Nothing about him should make her tremble or even see him as anything but a friend. He was practically a teenager.

      “I do want more,” she said. “I want what most women want. A husband and children.”

      “That’s not going to happen until you’re willing to stand up to her. So which is bigger—your fear of her or your desire for your dreams? Because that’s what it comes down to.”

      In the space of a few minutes, he’d managed to articulate everything she’d been thinking for the past five years. “You’re right,” she whispered. “I do have to confront her.” She looked at him, then bit her lower lip. “Does it have to be today?”

      He laughed. “No, it doesn’t.”

      “Good. I need to work on my courage a little bit.”

      “So you’re not ready for the show to be over yet?”

      She shook her head. Even just another week with Stephen would be wonderful. He was so easy to be with, someone she could really talk to. He was…safe. Not a description he would like, but to her it meant the world.

      “Then we’re going to have to work on giving the camera something,” he said, moving toward her. “I suggest we start with this.”

      Before she knew what he was talking about, he’d taken her in his arms and pressed his mouth to hers.

      She didn’t know which shocked her more—the kiss or the fact that they were outside, in the middle of the afternoon, where anyone could see. She wasn’t a middle-of-the-day kind of girl. Not that she had a whole lot of kissing experience. There had been a few boys in college, but still. Those had all been night kisses.

      Yet she couldn’t seem to summon the indignation to protest. Not when he had one hand on her shoulder and the other on her thigh. Not when she could feel the heat from his body and feel how her heart bumped around in her chest. Not when his lips on hers felt so good.

      Tentatively, she raised her arm so it rested on his shoulder. She slowly, very slowly, tilted her head and let her lips soften. She found herself straining toward him, wanting more than just a simple kiss.

      Then it happened. Somewhere deep inside of her a small, cold, empty space came to life. Instead of feeling inadequate, she felt powerful. Instead of wondering what everyone else was thinking, she found herself thinking about what she wanted. Instead of holding back and being scared, she leaned in and touched his bottom lip with her tongue.

      Stephen responded by wrapping both arms around her, lowering her to the grass, then kissing her with a passionate intensity that stole her breath away.

      She met him stroke for stroke, enjoying the warmth that poured through her, feeling long-numb parts come to life. At that moment it didn’t matter that he was nine years younger or that she was a wallflower who hadn’t been on a date in six years. In his arms, with the bright sun blessing them, she was a woman and he was a man and everything about this moment was right.

      DAKOTA WALKED THROUGH the production offices, looking for Finn. She hadn’t seen him in a couple of days and felt badly about their last conversation. In truth, he should be the one coming to look for her, but she wasn’t going to wait for that to happen. She liked Finn and wanted to make sure they stayed friends.

      She found him in one of the empty offices, working a column of numbers with a calculator.

      “Hi,” she said as she leaned against the door frame. “How’s it going?”

      He looked up. “Things are good.” He grinned. “I talked to your boss about the flying school.”

      “How did that go?”

      “Great. He had a lot of information on starting a nonprofit business. It’s going to take a hell of a lot of money, but he gave me some ideas on where to start.”

      “You sound excited.”

      “I am. I’ve been playing with the idea for a while, but never thought anything could come of it.”

      “See what happens when you come down to the lower forty-eight?”

      “Yes, I do. I have a lot to