Page 32 of His Choice

“What?” I exclaimed. “Why would James tell Cliff? He said he would think about the best way to handle the information and get back to us.”

Aaron shrugged. “You can’t trust anyone.”

I sat up as well, adding a couple of pillows behind my head. “Well, we were being deceitful.”

“Exactly. That’s my point. Nobody is trustworthy.”

“Was Cliff angry? Are we in trouble?” I wondered.

Aaron huffed a laugh. “He was a little irritated at first. He summoned me to his bedroom where he was half-naked, pretending he wanted to have sex with me.”

“Wait, what?”

Aaron placed a hand on my arm. “Calm down, jealous Johnny. I just said, Cliff was yanking my chain. He wanted me to know what it felt like to have someone come on to them under false pretenses. I admit, for a few minutes, I worried I’d need to suck his dick or something to maintain my cover.”

I was trying to catch up, but I couldn’t help dropping a smart remark. “A real friend would have come to wake me so I could watch.”

He cast a side-eye before smirking. “I said I worried about it—not that I did it. Closet slut.”

“So, what happened?” I pressed, ignoring his new favorite nickname for me.

“At first, I told him I was falling in love with you,” Aaron replied.

My heart skipped a beat. “Huh?”

“You know, per our plan. I figured I would make him believe that, so he’d back off.” I shouldn’t have been disappointed by his confession. Of course, he hadn’t meant what he’d said. “That’s when Cliff told me James spilled what you shared.”

“Crap. So, he hates us now,” I concluded. “We should just go home.”

“We signed a contract,” Aaron reminded me. “Besides, he’s not mad. Not anymore, anyway. He understands we were trying to protect him from embarrassment as much as anything. And I convinced him that you’re very much into him.”

“Oh.”

“He suggested we stick to our plan, and we don’t tell anyone else what we’re up to,” Aaron added. “That means you, Loose Lips.”

I nodded, then we both stared straight ahead for a couple of moments. “So, half-naked, huh?”

Aaron chuckled. “That might have been an exaggeration. His shirt was open.”

“And?”

He glared at me. “And what? I’m not into big muscular, hairy-chested dudes. What am I supposed to say here?”

“I don’t know. Did everything look true to his pictures, or were those enhanced?” I asked.

He shook his head. “They weren’t enhanced.”

“Hmm.”

“Don’t get a boner,” Aaron warned. “I don’t need you taking forever in the bathroom and leaving me only five minutes to get ready.”

I scowled. “I’m not hard.” Well, not totally.

* * * *

The cast and crew dined on a typical breakfast buffet served on the expansive back patio, with each contestant waiting to be called inside for their photo shoot. As we ate, the hair and makeup team worked on each of us. I found it odd to be chowing down on eggs while someone was primping my hair and another person was filling in my eyebrows.

I had just put a sausage link to my lips when Cliff emerged from the house, looking like an old-time Hollywood movie star in his preppy plaid shorts, white polo shirt, and black sunglasses.