Page 99 of The Love Dare
Except maybe for Tyler.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
tyler
Beneath the heatof the late-afternoon sun, Tyler paces back and forth across the sand. Sweat drips down his spine, making his dress shirt stick to his skin. It’s eighty-eight degrees. He’s in a three-piece suit. And they’re an hour late.
What the hell is going on?
He glances at the cameramen stationed around the beach, then to the table by his side set with two gleaming puzzle pieces, then at the currently empty petal-strewn rug his final three women are supposed to be occupying. It’s not as if he’s looking forward to the ceremony, but he’ll get to see Winnie, he’ll get to say goodbye to Cynthia, and afterward, he’ll get to eat dinner. So really, for once, there’s no downside. And if he’s being honest, he’s sort of looking forward to these last few days—an admission he would rather choke on than confess to Nina. But it’s true. When he first signed the contract, the thought of having to propose at the end made him physically ill. The idea of bending down on one knee before some woman he’d only just met and telling her a whole bunch of bullshit he knew he didn’t mean felt cruel. Now, he can’t wait. Picking out a ring, placing it onWinnie’s finger, proving to the whole world that she’s his? Yeah, that day can’t come fast enough.
So if they could just get a fucking move on…
“We’re here!” Nina’s voice cuts through the tense quiet.
Tyler whips his head toward the producer. “About damn time.”
“Sorry we’re late. We had a bit of a…situation.”
“Situation?” He frowns.
“One sec,” she calls to him before muttering into her headset. The longer she ignores him, the more he mulls over that word.
Situation? What situation?
He scans the beach for clues. The crew don’t seem overly panicked. A few of them speak softly into their headsets, clearly discussing something with Nina, but they don’t seem tense. They’re not scrambling. The cameras still blink red. They’re still trained on him. Above, the skies remain blue. Behind, the waves continue to crash. Everything seems exactly as it’s supposed to. Then Tyler catches a flash of silk through the foliage.
Scratch that—twoflashes of silk.
As in, two dresses. Two women. And the moment they step onto the rug, everything becomes clear.
“Where’s Winnie?” he roars.
Nina glances at him with a tired expression. “That’s the situation.”
“What do you mean, that’s the situation?”
“She’s gone.”
“Gone?” His heart swoops like a trick plane in his chest. “Gone where?”
“The airport.”
He frowns, hating these frank answers from Nina, as if they’re the most obvious thing in the world to everyone except him. No, to him, it’s as if the entire world is crumbling. He canbarely even find his voice, his throat is so clogged with emotion. Somehow he manages a strangled, “Why?”
Nina releases a heavy sigh, softness flickering in her dark brown eyes. Then she murmurs something to her colleague before marching across the beach. When she reaches him, she leans in, keeping her voice low and the moment private. His pulse pounds. This is a hundred times worse than if she yelled across the beach for everyone to hear. The fact that she wants to ease him into this revelation, as if she’s afraid of how he might react, is terrifying. Because he knows her, and he knows how she plays the game. She should want his crazy. She should want his explosion. The fact that she doesn’t makes the world go still, go quiet, as if his entire life hangs on what she’s about to say.
“Look, I think Winnie was shielding you from this, but she hasn’t exactly had an easy time with the other women on the show.” Nina offers him a meaningful glance, then flicks her gaze to the two remaining contestants before returning it to him. “Some stuff just went down with Cynthia, and Victoria’s never been her biggest fan. I think it all became too much for her. She left about two hours ago.”
Nina steps out of the shot, done, as if that explained anything at all. Tyler shakes his head, trying to make sense of it. Scenes flash across his eyes. Winnie with ketchup spilled down the front of her shirt. Winnie tripping over air in the middle of a ballroom. Winnie off to the side with her friends while the other girls leered and jeered and whispered and smirked. He saw it all, but he neversawit until right now. And those were just the incidents while he was around. There were countless afternoons where he was off filming and she was left alone in a den of vipers. That level of bullying would be enough to undo anyone, let alone someone with her history, her past.
I’m not worried about you. I’m worried about me, she told him, all those nights ago.I don’t trust myself, Ty. I’m not a safe bet.
He spins toward the ocean and bunches his fist against his mouth to stop from making a sound. The water and sky blur into a blue swirl as panic steals his vision.
Why didn’t she say anything?
Why didn’t she ask for help?
