Page 120 of One to Watch

“What’s going on?” she asked. “Aren’t we finished?”

“Not quite,” Johnny said, and paused dramatically. “Because we have one more man we need to bring out.”

“What?” Bea blurted. “Who?”

Bea looked wildly around, but she didn’t see anyone—and Johnny was still talking.

“Bea, all of us at Main Squeeze admire how brave you’ve been in your search for love. We want you to find the right man to be with for the rest of your life, so even though it’s unorthodox, when we heard we might be depriving you of a serious option, we felt that bringing this man here was the right thing to do.”

Johnny gestured toward the hotel doorway, where Bea saw that a figure was approaching. It wasn’t anyone she recognized from the show—but there was something familiar about his height, his gait. As his features slid into focus, an unspeakable dread took hold of Bea.

It was Ray.

Bea’s insides seized up and contracted—she couldn’t breathe. There he was, walking toward her, the first time she’d seen him since they’d slept together nine months ago, a ghost, a bomb, the shrapnel of him still radiating pain throughout her body.

“Asher, Sam,” Johnny was saying, “I apologize for this unusual turn of events. This is Ray, a man from Bea’s past, and he believes he may belong in her present.”

Bea tried to read Asher’s and Sam’s expressions—Sam’s face was shocked, Asher’s frighteningly dark—but then Ray was in front of her, taking her hands.

“Hiya,” he said, and she could see that he was a mess too; his hands were shaking.

“What are you doing here?” She fought for breath.

“I was trying to get in touch with you for weeks, but none of my messages went through,” he explained. “I finally emailed the producers and told them I had to see you.”

“Even though you’re engaged?” Bea asked before she could stop herself—shit, she shouldn’t have said that on TV. But if Ray was here, then surely … She looked into his eyes for confirmation of the thing she’d wanted so much for so many months, the unspoken, fervent wish that had made her feel so disgustingly guilty.

“I broke off the engagement,” Ray confessed. “I moved out last week; I should have done that a long time ago. And I know—listen, I know how bad this timing is, it’s not how I would want to do this for you, for us. I wish we could have more time. But they told me you could be getting engaged next week, and I just—I couldn’t let that happen. I had to come and see you. So, here I am.”

He went to hug her, but Bea stepped back, wobbling in her heels.

“Okay!” Johnny clapped his hands. “There will be plenty of time for you two to catch up, but right now, we need to make some decisions. Bea, I need to ask you whether you’d like for Ray to join you on the show, or if you want to send him away right now?”

Bea’s head was spinning, but before she could respond, Asher stepped forward.

“No—I’m sorry, no.” He turned to Bea. “Is this the guy you told me about?”

Bea nodded, no longer able to stop herself from crying, her body quaking with sobs.

“And you just, what, you forgot to mention he was engaged?”

“Asher—” She started toward him.

“I can’t believe you,” he seethed. “After you met my children, after I told you about Vanessa, after you promised to be honest with me, you lied?”

“No.” Bea shook her head. “No, Asher, I didn’t—we were on camera, and I thought they were still engaged, I couldn’t say what happened on TV, it wouldn’t have been right—”

“You’re still lying,” Asher snapped, “you’re lying to me right now. You didn’t tell me what happened because you wanted to protect your image, and you wanted me to protect you.”

“That’s not fair.” Bea’s voice was ragged. “I made a mistake, Asher, please, it was a long time ago—”

“No,” he shot back. “It was two nights ago. To think how bad I felt for not spending the night with you, when this whole time, you’ve been hiding who you really are.”

“Hiding who I am? Are you serious?” Bea cried. “Asher, maybe if we’d had some time together off camera, I could have explained, but you didn’t give us that chance.”

“I see.” He pressed his lips together. “So, I’m responsible for your lies because I made a decision to put my children’s interests first? I’m sure you would have preferred I rush right into sharing a room with you, but fortunately for both of us, I’m not Luc.”

“Is that what this is about?” Bea was irate. “Tell me, Asher—and don’t you lie to me. Are you angry because I withheld one piece of information that I had a right to keep private? Or are you angry that I slept with someone else?”