Page 74 of Heart to Heart
As I reluctantly followed him back, I spotted the cameraman on board, and it struck me that Tristan’s and my, well, tryst,hadn’t been filmed at all. Everything Tristan had been saying to me, the things he’d been doing to my body, had all been authentically him, with no faking involved at all.
CHAPTER 39
TRISTAN
I. Am.Fucked.
Actually, no, I wasn’t. Brittney L. made sure of that. Not that I was actually going to take Avery in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Oh God, was I?
When I saw the cameraman head back to the boat with Brittney L. and Charlie, I realized I could have a chance at a few rare moments alone with Avery. But I wasn’t planning on the way our bodies fit together, her legs wrapped tightly around my waist, my lips skirting the edge of her breasts. Her sighs turning into moans whenever I did something she clearly liked. Bringing her pleasure was the biggest turn-on.
The more I thought about her, the more I wanted her, and not just underneath me. I wanted to get to know her outside the confines ofHeart to Heart; I needed to travel back to Michigan with her to meet her family; I wanted to make her laugh, to dry her tears, to hold her while we talked about everything and nothing.
“Fuck, I’m in love,” I blurted out, much to John’s discomfort.
“Look, I like you and all, but I usually go for slightly less body hair and way less penis.”
Since the whole brownie incident, I’d asked John to look into the happenings inside the house. He’d been on set with me every day and was now escorting me back to my room at an inn a half-mile from the villa where the contestants were staying.
“Avery. I’m in love with Avery.”
“Yeah, no shit,” he said matter-of-factly.
“Is it that obvious?”
“Is that a serious question?”
“I guess not.”
John grinned. “You know that’s why Wanda has had a hard-on for that girl. She sees it, we see it, and the audience at home sees it. Hell, I’m even sure my nana back home can see it, and she began losing her vision in ’99.
We reached my room on the second floor of the small seaside inn, a Spanish Colonial with a view I could get used to waking up to every day. “What am I going to do?” I asked, standing outside the door.
“I can’t help you with that,” he said with a shrug. “All I know with any kind of measure of certainty is that a connection like the two of you have doesn’t happen more than a couple of times in a person’s life, or at all sometimes. If it’s just a matter of deciding what you want more, whether your career is more important to you than your love life, or whether you can manage to have both, that’s a choice you’ll have to make. Just do me a favor and make sure I’m nowhere near Wanda when you make it.”
I nodded. I knew what I wanted. And how it could permanently alter the trajectory of my life. But what did Avery want? She had to know we weren’t being filmed today. Was there a chance that what she’d come here to accomplish had changed?”
“Hang on a second,” I said to John as I opened the door to my room, making a beeline to the nightstand, where a complementary pad of paper had been provided by the inn. I opened the nightstand drawer and found a pen, quickly scribbling a note on the top page. Once written, I tore the page from the rest of the pad, folded it, and handed it to John. “Will you take this to Avery for me?”
He nodded. “For what it’s worth, I think you’re making the right choice.”
I nodded. “I do, too.”
I sank down on the bed, mulling over what I was going to say to Wanda as John walked out the door, note in hand. I couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t fake faking. Tonight, I would lay my heart on the line for Avery to either accept or rip in two.
CHAPTER 40
AVERY
I was exhausted.A day spent in one of the most beautiful places on Earth and in Tristan’s arms—also one of the most beautiful places on Earth—was enough to render me useless after his final goodbyes to us at dinner. He’d been quieter than usual, like something had been on his mind. From the look on his face, it had to have been something heavy.
The zipper to my suitcase became stuck on something inside it as I struggled to open it to fish out my pajamas, planning to stay in for the rest of the night instead of joining a few of the others for cocktails in the villa’s lounge. I’d just gotten it unstuck, and my camisole and shorts freed when a knock on my door startled me.
Holy shit. What if it’s Tristan?
I hated myself for how much I was hoping that was the case; knowing the odds were high I was going to be disappointed. Still, the anticipation was there, and I’d be lying if I said my heart didn’t skip a beat, my body positively charged with anticipation.
