Love Me, Cupid Page 5

  Jasmine exhales. "Shit, you made a mess in less than forty-eight hours, honey."

  "It's not a mess. It's love," Sean clarifies. My heart explodes over his words.

  "Okay," Jasmine laughs. "Whatever you want to call it, I mean, I suppose love, at first sight, is real."

  "It is," I say.

  "In that case, I think I know how I can help."

  My brows crease. "What did you have in mind?"

  "Well, Charlene pulled me aside today. She said you and I were the front runners, that she and Josh already decided you and I would be the two at the end."

  "That's all decided a few days into the season?" I ask, continuously disenfranchised by this entire show I used to believe created HEA's.

  "It is," Sean confirms. "And I know Charlene plans on pinning you against one another. The vixen and the saint."

  Jasmine grins. "Good call, considering I fucked Josh this afternoon in the limo. I was scared to tell you, I thought you genuinely liked the guy."

  I cover my mouth, speechless.

  Sean grins. "I have to hand it to you, Jasmine, you really went for what you wanted."

  "Looks like Hailey and I both did." Jasmine smiles. "Now listen, I want to get to the end -- it’s my best shot at getting an agent. And you want to stick around so you and Sean will still have his million-dollar nest egg for you and your future insta-love babies."

  "I don't follow," I tell her.

  "So, we play our parts for the next six weeks. You refuse to kiss Josh, I make sweet love to Josh, and we all live happily ever after."

  Sean smiles, pulling me back into his arms. "And in the meantime, Jasmine will be our cover."

  Jasmine wags her eyebrows. "I think we have a plan."

  "And what if, in the end, Josh chooses me?" I ask.

  Sean and Jasmine grimace.

  "One hurdle at a time," Sean says, calming my fears. "And in six weeks we can deal with that one."

  Chapter Ten

  SEAN

  The next six weeks are torture. One week after another, girls are sent home and Josh continues to focus on Hailey and Jasmine with reverence the rest of the girls hate.

  I hate it too.

  I watch Hailey play the part of an ingénue, and I'm proud of her, for doing this for our love, and our future. And I do what I can too, to plant seeds in Charlene's ear that Jasmine should win the final arrow.

  Hailey though has a lot of emotional ups and downs. This is taking an understandable toll on her. She was lounging at the pool when I found her, we made eye contact, and she didn't hesitate. She made an excuse about needing to go shower before her date tonight and followed me up the stairs in the mansion toward her bedroom.

  I pull her into her bedroom, Jasmine promising to cover for us.

  "I've missed you so much, baby," I tell her. It's been a few days since we've could sneak away and have some time together.

  "This is so hard, Sean," she cries into my shoulder. My hands wrap around her bare back, she's in a tiny string bikini, and I grab her ass, pulling her closer to me, wanting to protect her any way I can.

  "I know, baby, but only one more week," I tell her. "Then we can live the life we've planned."

  Over the past five weeks, we have learned everything there is to know about one another. We've shared our hopes and dreams, both of us wanting a family, her wanting to pursue teaching at some point, me wanting to write a book about my experience on the most famous television show in the country.

  We've talked about what it would look like to start a life together, she plans on leaving Chicago--even though her roommate Jessa is going to kill her, and I have told her about my family who lives in Northern California, how they are going to be so happy that I've finally found a partner.

  "I'm just so tired and I swear I'm nauseous half the time. Sean, this show is wearing me out." Hailey says, her eyes rimmed in red.

  "I know this has been a grueling schedule. But the final arrow ceremony is in a few days. And then we can take a real rest." The hardest thing about this, for me, is feeling like shit for having Hailey go through all of this. But I even spoke with my lawyer, and the contract is air tight--which makes sense. The lesson here is, read every contract with care.

  "I'm so ready to move out of this mansion," she tells me.

  Jasmine driving you nuts?" I ask, knowing all the other women are gone.

  "No, she’s fine, it's just the none stop cameras following us."

  I nod, understanding. "Are you nervous for tonight?" I ask, knowing it is the topic of conversation her and I have been avoiding.

  She blows air out of cheeks. "Josh has become almost a brother to me if I'm being perfectly honest, but tonight, in the Cupid Suite, the cameras will be gone. And I get nervous that he's going to try and make a move."

  "Do you feel safe with him?"

  "I swear we've spent so much time together, and since he knows sex is off the table, we've become some weird version of friends ... so no, I'm not scared."

  I kiss her softly, so grateful for this time with her.

  "We just need to get through the next few days," I tell her. "And then we will have a lifetime together."

  She exhales, slowing her breath, and nodding.

  "We have right now together, too," she tells me, dropping to her knees. "And I want to show you that I will never waste a second of our time together."

  My head falls back, my cock immediately hard. Hailey has gone from being an inexperienced virgin to a sexually liberated woman in a matter of weeks. I love how fucking confident she is, knowing what she wanted --when and how.

  On her knees, she unbuttons my jeans, pulling them down, and wrapping her hands around my cock.

  "Oh, baby," I groan as she widens her mouth around my cock and starts sucking me off.

  Her tongues swirls over my tip, then she licks me up and down, fondling my balls like they are precious jewels. She moves her mouth closer to them, filling her mouth with my balls, and I feel my cock harden to the point of bursting. I run my fingers through her long hair, as she sucks my balls with generous attention.

  Then she lowers her lips to my cock, sucking me hard, I push her head against my groin, and she takes me deep into her throat. She told me she loves the burn of my cock in her throat, loves the idea of gagging on me, and I know she feels that way right now, because she moves one of her hands between her thighs, pressing aside the tiny piece of fabric covering her bare little pussy. She started shaving herself completely bare, wanting to show me all her sweet pussy.

  As she sucks my cock, she starts touching herself. Her finger pressing against her perfect clit, rubbing in hard circles, getting herself off as she gets me off. She presses her slippery fingers against my cock, and that about does me in.

  "Fuck, I'm going to come, baby," I groan.

  "Good," she moans. "Come on my face, I always want to be your dirty little girl."

  I do as my baby asks, she pulls herself from her mouth and sprays my come all over her heart shaped face. My release coats her cheeks and drips from her lips and she loves it so fucking much. She pulls down the triangle cups of her top, exposing her luscious breasts and her hard nipples and my cock goes rigid again.

  "Come on me some more," she begs me. "I want more of you."

  Unable to stop myself, I pull her up, and then bend her over the bed, stroking my hard cock as I rip off her bikini bottoms. "I'm gonna fuck you, baby like you asked." I spread her round ass, running my fingers up and down her dripping cunt, and use her juice to coat my cock nice and good. Then I spread her ass more, edging my solid cock into her tight little asshole.

  "Oh, fuck, oh fuck, baby," she cries, muffling her cries in the pillow, and I press deeper into her ass just like she wanted. She feels so fucking tight; she loves it so fucking much. Her hand is back between her legs touching herself, my chest is coated in sweat as I thrust myself deep inside her. She arches her back, coming with a crash, and I love that I can get her off repeatedly.

  I'm dee
p in her perfect ass and I come in her with a thrust that causes her to moan with fervent passion.

  We are so lost in ecstasy that we don't hear Jasmine calling for us at first. But then we hear Jasmine shouting in the hall, giving us a head’s up.

  "Okay, Charlene," Jasmine calls. "I'll go get Hailey for the final run through of the next two days’ schedule. We will be down in five minutes."

  I pull out of Hailey's perfect body, knowing Jasmine will be here in a second. "God I love you, Hailey."

  "I love you too, Sean. And nothing can ever get between us."

  Chapter Eleven

  HAILEY

  The Cupid's Suite is everything I expected.

  Awkward as hell.

  "Is everything okay?" Josh asks as we sit on a couch in the hotel room, him inching closer and closer. Closer than I'd like. We've just had a "romantic" dinner for two on a beach in Malibu where the singer, Seal, serenaded us. After which he handed me an envelope with an invitation to the Cupid's Suite.

  I couldn't say no... Charlene had sat Jasmine and I down this afternoon spelling out the do's and don'ts of the next two episodes we were filming. One would document the time Josh spent in the suite with each potential fiancé, and the next episode would reveal who he chooses to award his final arrow.

  At the meeting, I was sure Charlene was gunning for me. She thought I would make a better wife for Josh--yeah right. As if he wanted to be tied down. Of course, I hadn't been on the dates with Jasmine and Josh, but word on the street was they were going at it like rabbits ... an analogy I understood all too well.

  I had been going at it like a rabbit too.

  And I guess I just assumed he would choose Jasmine in the end ... after all they were getting it on hot and heavy every other day.

  But apparently, Josh likes the chase.

  Me, though? I can't even focus on Josh right now. All I am thinking about is going down on Sean. I'm so ready to be done with all of this and become Sean's live-in lover.

  Every time I close my eyes I imagine Sean's magnificent cock in my mouth. When I suck him, I feel like the most beautiful woman on Earth. I could suck his cock and lick his balls every day of my life.

  "Hailey, is everything okay? You seem a million miles away," Josh asks again.

  I shake my head. "I'm fine. I just... Listen, we need to talk."

  "Talk? Girl, I know that isn't what either of us wants to do. The cameras are gone; now we can finally have some fun." He cocks his head to the bedroom and I can no longer stomach my lies.

  I shake my head. "I don't want you to choose me tomorrow. Charlene made it sound like you wanted me, but I think Jasmine would be a better choice."

  Josh's eyes narrow. "Hailey, I've been waiting six weeks to kiss you. Have held back over and over again--"

  "Which wasn't too hard considering you had Jasmine to sleep with every other day."

  Josh raises his hands, giving me that. "But I want to be with you. I have given you all the time and space and in two days I plan on getting down on one knee. And when I do, I plan on kissing you. And then later, taking your virginity. You owe me that, Hai."

  "I don't owe you anything."

  "Like hell, you don't. I've kept you around because you're a virgin. I kept you around for the thrill of the chase."

  I shake my head, my stomach rumbling. "I'm not a prize."

  "Yes, you are."

  "No, I'm not. I don't want to marry you, and--" I throw my hands over my mouth. "I'm going to get sick." I run to the bathroom and heave into the toilet.

  I fall to the floor, utterly spent. But there is more that wants out. Leaning over the toilet, I recall that the same thing happened this morning. And yesterday morning. I had chalked it up to the exhaustion and pressure put on me by the show, but in a flash, I know it isn't about nerves at all.

  "Hailey, can I come in?" Josh asks, standing in the doorway. "Should I get a producer?" He crouches down on his knees, patting my back as I puke my guts out.

  When I finish, I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand. "I'm so disgusting." I blink back tears, wanting Sean so badly to be at my side.

  Josh pulls me in for a hug, mistaking my tears for intimacy; he takes my hand in his hands, pulls me close for a post-vomit kiss.

  I jerk back. "I can't. Don't make this harder than it already is."

  "Do you know how beautiful you are even when you're on the tiled floor getting sick?"

  I swallow, wanting him to stop before he does something stupid.

  "You just want to get in my pants, so stop, please."

  Josh tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "I'm sorry, I should never have said you owed me anything. Are you hurt that I've been sleeping with Jasmine?"

  "No, God no."

  Josh shakes his head. "Okay. I thought you were upset about that."

  "Josh, it's not Jasmine. I adore her, really ... and I want her to be happy."

  "Well, me choosing her isn't going to make her happy. She doesn't want to get married, everyone knows that. She wanted to be on TV, she got what she wanted, she isn't planning our wedding, and I know she isn't going to be heartbroken," Josh tells me. "I want to choose you. Maybe you and I... I don't know ... maybe we can have a real relationship. We've had so much fun together, gone skydiving and zip lining and surfing over the last few weeks. I like you. I want to meet your family and I want you to me mine... and maybe the fact that we've become friends first is a good thing for our future."

  "No," I shake my head adamant. "There isn't going to be a future. That's what I'm trying to tell you." Tears cover my face, and I reach for toilet paper, blowing my nose. This is a disaster. I feel horrible for stringing Josh along, even if he is a Creeper with a capital C. If someone tricked me like this I would be so hurt. Mortified, really.

  And I have been playing Josh for weeks. What kind of woman will I be if I don't tell him the truth?

  Josh reach for my hands. "Give me a chance. Give us a chance."

  "I can't," I say.

  "Why not?"

  I close my eyes, biting my lip, tears still falling. "I think I'm pregnant, Josh."

  His eyes widen, shaking his head. "What? I thought you were a virgin."

  "When I came on the show I was."

  He pushes his lips forward, as my stomach threatens to empty itself again. "Then what?"

  "Then I fell in love."

  "I'm so fucking confused, you know that, right?"

  I nod, confused too. Why am I saying this to Josh?

  "I'm in love with Sean. And I think I'm having his baby."

  "Sean who?"

  "Sean the host."

  At this Josh is speechless.

  "Holy shit, Hailey."

  I throw my hands up. "I know."

  "This is going to make Charlene so happy, you know that right?"

  "What do you mean? She's going to want to murder me."

  Josh shakes his head, smiling, looking as if a weight has been lifted. He takes my hands, and pulls me to stand, getting me a glass of water, and sitting next to me on the couch.

  I explain the last six weeks to Josh -- except the details on my newfound sex life.

  "You are a fucking sneaky devil, you know that?" Josh laughs.

  "Why are you being so nice about this? I thought you were going to hate me."

  Josh grins. "Charlene has been pushing me to choose you since day one. And don't get me wrong, you were smoking hot when you stepped out of the limo, and have been really cool to be around -- not as much pressure as the other women. But I haven't felt any chemistry between us, have you?"

  I shake my head, relief covering me. I thought Josh was going to be so upset.

  "The truth is, I was going to pick you because you've been such a trooper the whole time, and I thought you were really outside of your comfort zone. But damn, sounds like you've been having more sex than me."

  I smile. "I'm not sure, Jasmine says you two go at it pretty good. But I still don't see how this is going to make Charlene h
appy."

  "You have to reveal the pregnancy at the final Arrow Ceremony. Think of the ratings!"

  "But, what about, Sean, his career. It would ruin him."

  "Naw," Josh brushes off my worry. "The network is going to eat up this forbidden love story. I say we go big before we all go home."

  Chapter Twelve

  SEAN

  Two days go by and I don't hear a single word from Hailey. The girls have left the mansion, so my access to her is gone. After their nights in the Cupid Suite, Jasmine and Hailey were put up in a downtown Los Angeles hotel.

  I try to ask questions without looking like a creep, but it doesn't go anywhere. I’m not going to risk everything the last few days of the show after we've been playing it so cool for six weeks.

  I'm called to the set on the Malibu beachfront where the final Cupid's Arrow ceremony is set to take place later in the day. For now, there are what seems to be a hundred production people running around with massive bouquets of red roses, there's an organza trellis being made at the shore--it's going to be a masterpiece of a set when it's finished.

  Arrows are in the sand, leading the way to the altar, where Josh will be standing and breaking one contestant’s heart and proposing to the other.

  I'm trying to not get sick over the idea of Josh bending down on one knee and popping the question. I was hoping I'd see Hailey so we could work through the details of this final moment, but, like I said, I haven't had a chance to talk to her.

  Charlene comes into the makeup room where a makeup artist is getting ready for it today's ceremony.

  "So, word on the street is he's going with our girl Hailey." Charlene's fist pumps the air.

  "You have a final word? Really?" It's not unusual, most often a bachelor has made it damn clear who he is going to give the final arrow to before the ceremony. But I had really hoped Hailey had made it clear in the Cupid Suite that she would be not accepting his proposal. Now I don't know what is going through her mind.