Wade lifted his hands in surrender. “Look, I know Becky was the worst thing that could happen to a guy. She was selfish and greedy and narcissistic. But we’re not talking about her. We’re talking about Sienna.”
Fox shook his head and brushed some branches out of his way. “It doesn't matter who we’re talking about. Anyone is capable of doing horrible things to someone else.”
“Sure, they might be capable of it. But does your gut tell you that Sienna is going to do that?”
“She’s got this personality that comes out when the cameras are around and—”
“And you’re worried Sienna is going to somehow use that TV personality against you?” Wade interrupted. “Do you think she’s out to hurt you the way Becky was?”
Their feet rustled through the leaves and branches on the path. Fox thought about the moments he’d shared with Sienna. That first day, she’d acted immature and only allowed him to see the persona she adopted whenever Bruce and the cameras were around.
She put on a bright smile because she took her role as bridesmaid seriously. She wanted Audrey and Eli to have a great wedding and knew how to play the game. She’d spent years cultivating this persona and was using it to her advantage.
That didn’t mean the girl he saw in the stolen moments wasn’t genuine. In the days that followed Fox’s first impression, he’d seen glimpses of the girl—woman—she was beneath that facade. A woman who listened to Fox when he opened up about his past. A woman who didn't judge him for it. A woman who loved her family fiercely. A woman who was determined and worked hard.
“I’m guessing by your expression, you don’t think Sienna is out to get you,” Wade said, pulling Fox from his thoughts.
He smiled. “No, I don’t think she’s out to get me. I actually think she’s pretty incredible.”
“And how do you feel?” Wade asked. He grabbed a tree to steady himself as they hit a steep decline in the path.
There was a slight singsong quality to Wade’s tone that he knew made Fox uncomfortable. And it worked. The question made Fox feel even cheesier about the direction his thoughts had turned.
“I feel like...I’ve never felt like this before.” Fox stopped at the bottom of the decline and looked back up the hill. Luckily the trails were well marked because he had been paying zero attention to where they were going. “But what about everything that’s happened? Maybe I should just let her go.”
“Is that what you want?”
Fox shook his head. “No, the thought of never seeing her again afterWedding Gamesmakes me feel sick.”
The grin on Wade’s face grew. “And what are you going to do about it?”
Fox shoved him off the trail and into a bush. “I don’t know yet.” All he knew was that he had to do something big, and soon, before they went their separate ways.
Wade stood up and brushed the dirt off his pants. He smacked Fox’s back. “Good. And now that that’s settled, let’s head back down to the inn. This walk is only making my muscles feel worse.”
Fox said a silent thank you. His body was also protesting after last night’s rendezvous, but he hadn’t wanted to say anything. “Sounds like a plan.”
Twenty
6 Days Until Dream Wedding
Sienna pacedoutside her mother’s room.
The parents of the bride and groom were set up in a different wing of the Emerald Inn, and Sienna had avoided that part of the giant building like the plague—until now.
After Reagan refused to let her do another facial mask—using the annoyingly convincing argument that it would do more harm than good to her complexion—Sienna had retreated to her room.
She knew it was a bad idea to go anywhere that the cameras would be until that night’s competition. They could technically come into their rooms at any time, but there were only so many cameras, and Sienna hoped the drama was unfolding elsewhere at the moment.
Watching Sienna lay on her bed and sort out the tangle of her thoughts would not make for the most scintillating television.
Her mind jumped from Lila and the apartment, to Fox and the argument they’d had, then to the pressure ofWedding Gamesto Milo. Everything bounced around inside her head until she couldn’t take it anymore.
Sienna had told herself that shewasn’tgoing to talk to her mother, but inevitably, her feet had taken her there anyway. She still didn’t know what she was going to say, so she stayed in the hall threatening to wear a groove in the floor from her back and forth.
She could have kept it up indefinitely, but the door swung open and her mother’s head appeared in the doorway.
“Are you planning on staying out there all morning? Or did you want something?”
