“Right,” she said. “There are two parts. I’m sending the other one now.”
James couldn’t imagine why Adel would be forwarding such a thing onto him, unless she’d run into someone who’d auditioned for the show and been rejected. Perhaps she wanted to pull a favor on a friend’s behalf.
He hurried onto the second page of the application, but stiffened as he registered what he’d just seen. With one quick swipe, the first page came back into view. The portion that had been filled in with blue ink. It was the name that had caught his eye.Camila Lopez.
A hot and hollow ache tore through his chest as he stared at her name, trying to figure out what it meant.
“I guess you guys did some…stretch on the show where you paid off college loans or something?”
He nodded. “Yes. A couple years ago. It was for self-employed graduates. We were investing in their small businesses too.”
“Well, the chick you’re dating applied for it, but she got turned down.”
There were too many details in that sentence to unpack them all. “How did you know we were dating?”
“You’ve been spotted on Myrtle Beach by a ton of tourists, James. Are youseriouslydating that clumsy chef from Shimwah’s party? I mean, youdoknow thatyou’rethe reason you and I are not a thing, right? You could havemeanytime you want. Don’t act like I haven’t made that clear.”
She’d made it clear, all right. James just hadn’t been interested. But still, someplace in the back of his mind, an image of what was happening began to unfold.
Adel couldn’t have gotten this information on her own. Which meant someone had put her up to it. And James knew exactly who that somebody was.
“Did Stephanie send this to you?” he asked.
The line went quiet.
“Adel?”
“Maybe. What difference does it make? You’re dating a poor little gold digger who couldn’t get money by getting onto your show.Thisis her Plan B.”
A new explosion of heat ripped through his chest at the thought. “That’s not true.” And perhaps it wasn’t. Stephanie had been trying to get dirt on Camila since day one. Was it possible Stephanie had set all of this up? Filled out a form to make it look like Camila had applied for the show?
James pulled the documents up on his phone once more. He’d seen Camila’s signature before, enough to know that she always used a heart to dot the ‘I’.
With frantic fingers, he scanned to the second page, scrolled down the bottom, and zoomed in on the signature beside the X.
And there it was. Camila’s round, cursive script, tall and precise. And there, nestled between the letters, was that tiny heart.
His pulse raced hard and fast.
How could seeing something with his eyes make his whole body hurt? The ache was everywhere but nowhere all at once.
She really had tried out for the show.
“There’s a reason you don’t date women like her,” Adel chirped. “They’re too much of a risk.”
His eyes were starting to blur. Gone was the crisp view of the ocean meeting the shore. He could hardly make out the villa just yards away.
Throat tightening, his pulse climbing faster with each breath, James lowered himself onto the sand. “I really don’t think she’s like that.” He was saying it more to himself, but Adel replied with a trill of laughter.
“I’m sure you don’t. Listen, this doesn’t look good. For either of us, really. The sooner you can send her packing, the better. Goodbye, James.”
The phone went dead, leaving him with his thoughts in a wild whirl. What did this mean? That Camila hadn’t been upfront with him?
But that didn’t mean she’d done something scandalous, right? In fact, who could blame her for auditioning for the episode? Anyone with school loans and a small business would be a foolnotto try out for it. Camila was a confident, assertive woman who—had it been up to him—would have made it all the way to that stage.
He nodded, forcing his next breath to come out paced and slow.
It was the fact that she hadn’t told him. That’s what bothered him most. Not that he could blame her. It might be embarrassing to admit it. Especially since she knew James and his family were leery of people wanting them for their money.
