Sienna arranged her sticks carefully, angling each one like Matty had shown. She lifted the flint, struck it against a piece of steel, and watched as a few embers shot out into the dried grass. A puff of smoke suddenly billowed up, stinging her eyes. She coughed, waved it off, and tried again. The second roundof sparks flickered along the sticks, and Sienna thought she had it. Actually, she wished she’d had it because, honestly, those cold drinks were calling her name. But then the tower of sticks wobbled and collapsed, a few falling close to the edge of the stone circle.
“Careful,” Vivian whispered behind her. She moved close enough that her shadow fell over Sienna’s shoulder. “We don’t want you setting the entire bush on fire.”
Sienna felt her face heat up. Her chest fluttered, and her hands started shaking as she tried to refocus.
“I think you should angle the sticks more,” Vivian said, stepping closer. “You don’t want them to collapse on themselves.”
Before Sienna could react, Vivian crouched beside her. She was so close that Sienna could smell sunblock and a perfume that was sweet and intoxicating. Then Vivian’s hand touched her back and brushed lightly against her blouse. Suddenly Sienna didn’t know if she was coming or going.
And then, without expecting it, without ever imagining it would happen, Vivian’s other hand reached for one of the sticks Sienna was holding. Their fingers met and lingered. They nearly melted together under the sun’s heat.
As if Vivian realized what she was doing, she yanked her hand back so fast it looked like she’d been burned. She was upright before Sienna could even glance over her shoulder. She was heading back to the lodge before Sienna could even process what had happened.
Whathadhappened?
Whatever it was, the other contestants had noticed it too. Every single one of them was staring, including the ladies at the other stations. Sienna felt their eyes boring into her like a thousand tiny spotlights.
She cleared her throat and hoped she could somehow direct everyone’s attention away from whatever that was. “So, what if we can’t get the fire going?”
Chapter Thirteen
Vivian didn’t embarrass easily. In fact, she’d trained embarrassment out of herself years ago, right around the time she auditioned forTransformers: Revenge of the Fallen. She’d worn heels too high for a casting call, jeans too tight, and a leather jacket she thought made her look edgy. Her line had literally been “Get down!” She’d actually practiced it for days.
When her turn came, she’d crouched dramatically behind an imaginary car, shouted the line with everything she had, and then her jeans had ripped right down the seam. The room had gone silent. The casting director hadn’t laughed—come on, it was funny—and Vivian had stood up, smiled, and backed out of the room. There had been no callback. Megan Fox had taken the role of Mikaela Banes and gotten her big break. Vivian had ended up with lots of tiny breaks that paid the bills. But still, she’d learned a valuable lesson that day… embarrassment was optional. You either learned to laugh at yourself or you never worked again.
And yet the memory of what had happened earlier at the fire-making station refused to climb off her chest and drown itself in the nearest watering hole.
Vivian dragged her fingers down her cheeks and fell back onto her bed. She didn’t care that her cell phone dug into her spine or that the back of her head was half resting on her iPad. She welcomed the discomfort. She wished cell phone radiation were actually lethal so she could get this over and done with.
“Fuck!” she yelled out loud as she suddenly realized the cameras had probably filmed the entire interaction. Perfect. Great. Now everyone was going to see her basically grope Siennaduring the fire-making activity. What the hell had she been thinking?
Or more so, why hadn’t she been thinking? One minute she had watched Sienna scrape that steel block against the flint with her arm muscles flexing, and the next she was crouching beside her, thinking how warm Sienna’s skin felt under her top.
Vivian groaned and covered her face with a pillow. She pressed down a little harder, cutting off her air supply, and immediately regretted it. Oxygen, she realized, was needed for a life that was still worth living for.
Outside, two birds called back and forth. One cackled and the other trilled, and Vivian had the distinct feeling they were laughing at her.
It was nearly lunchtime and, according to the itinerary, the contestants were headed to a buffet in the main lodge while the production crew would set up on the outdoor dining terrace.
But there was no way she was going anywhere but here. Why would she when her villa had everything she needed? Including a fully stocked mini-bar, a cold shower, and a huge eighty-inch flat-screen television she hadn’t yet switched on.
Vivian was just about to slide off the bed and mix herself a little Grey Goose and grapefruit juice, heavy on the Goose, when a knock sounded on the door.
She didn’t move. If she stayed perfectly still, if she didn’t even breathe—
“I know you’re in there,” Elise called through the door. “What I want to know is why you are in there and not out with the girls. They’re nearly done with the workshop. Sienna has to choose who she wants for the one-on-one.”
Vivian groaned and tossed the pillow to the side. “I thought you’d already chosen for her,” she said, her voice loud enough to carry through the door. “Don’t you always choose the dates?”
“I’m coming in,” Elise said. Clearly, she didn’t seem to think communicating over a closed door was appropriate. Before Vivian could protest, Elise walked in. She was frowning so deeply that Vivian wanted to remind her about wrinkles and aging gracefully, but the look on her face told her to keep her mouth shut.
“Do you have another headache?” Elise asked, walking to the foot of Vivian’s bed.
“Will you believe me if I said yes?” Vivian said, rubbing at her temples.
Elise shook her head. “No.”
“Well, then I don’t have a headache.” She sat up too quickly, saw stars, and blinked them away. “But I do feel a bit nauseous,” she added. “It’s hot out there.” Her upset stomach had nothing to do with the heat and everything to do with what she had done. “I’m surprised one of the contestants hasn’t fainted yet.”
