Page 118 of Promise Not to Fall for the Rich & Famous

“I just love that we’ve got these experts using this incredible formula to line people up.”

“… incredible formula,” they played back in slow mo. “It’s all about the formula.”

It shot to an interview she’d done with Marsha on the dock.

“You put a lot of faith into this process,” Marsha said from behind the lens. “It’s one of the reasons our specialists had you at the top of their list.”

“…because of how much faith I had in the process?” Kat said back. “I thought the only consideration was the level of compatibility in the matches.”

They repeated the last line in slow motion once more. “…level of compatibility in the matches.”

Lastly, it went to a clip from Kat’s very first introductory video. “I don’t want to go off feelings anymore. I’m looking for something that works.”

Silence sank over the stage and the audience too as the clip ended.

“Well,” Lisa finally said, breaking into the quiet. “If that’s any indication, I think you might be in trouble.” She pointed a finger at Zander. “It seems that you have gained access to her feelings, strong ones at that. But…” She moved that pointed finger to Duke next.

“This man…he’s the one who matched up with her in the formula. So while this might seem like a choice between one twin or the other, what it really comes down to is feelings or formula. Let’s find out which it will be after one quick break.”

Kat couldn’t have said it more clearly herself. Push was coming to shove now, all on live TV. She clung onto that one ribbon of hope, and prayed it would be enough to get her through this.

CHAPTER 25

Everything Zander wanted in life—all that he’d worked for and hoped to achieve—seemed to pivot on this one moment on the set of a reality TV show.

Lisa had broken for commercial, and the audience was buzzing like hornets. Zander kept his eyes pasted on the curtain, knowing Kat stood on just the other side. A fierce need ripped through him—the urgency to take her in his arms and erase the madness surrounding them. To make up for the hurt he’d caused. To make everything right in her world, since she was now his world.

That thought was disrupted as Duke tapped him on the arm. “Hey, I’ve got a confession.”

Zander lifted a brow. “Okay…” That should have been enough to get his brother to come clean but the guy only grimaced instead.

“I should have told you this sooner,” he admitted.

“Well, hurry and do it now before we get back from break.”

Duke ducked his head behind him, blocked his mouth with his hand, and mumbled a few short words. “I lied on the application.”

Zander’s pulse spiked a notch. “Lied about what?” he hissed, pulling back to meet his brother’s eye.

Duke shrugged and pulled the grimace face again. “I knew a guy like you was more likely to get picked than a guy like me…”

Zander gave him a nod of encouragement to finish out the thought. “So…”

“Welcome back to our special live episode of Married at First Meet.”

Zander and Duke straightened up.

“I’m your host, Lisa Throw, the envy of every lady out there as I sit with two of the most smashing men to ever grace this stage, the Benton twins.”

Sparks were shooting in every direction as Zander pieced together what Duke shared. And though he hadn’t finished his thought, Zander could use what he already shared: Duke had lied on his submission papers for the selection process. Beyond that, he’d said Zander was more likely to get picked for the show. Which meant he could have answered in the way that Zander would.

But what exactly did that mean? His insides seemed to figure it out before his brain. Stirs of warmth, excitement, and the overwhelming feeling that this was the answer he’d been wanting all along.

If Duke filled out the submission forms as if he were Zander—and who knew a man better than his own twin—then it meant Zander was, in essence, both the man science matched her up with and the one she had feelings for.

Another rush of adrenaline carried this idea to new heights, until he recalled the part that had made Kat angry in the first place. Because despite who said what on whichever questions they’d answered, only Zander lied straight to Kat’s face about who he was, day after day.

Lisa was shifting the audience’s attention to another video clip. Once it started to play, Duke leaned back in, but Zander stayed him; they were live now, and their microphones were on even as the video clip played. The Bentons had already learned how things could go awry when both Winston and Duke mumbled words that weren’t meant to be heard by their viewing audience.