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She just never expected to receive them before the show even began.
Snow wasn’t going to let a harmless, anonymous threat sway her in the slightest. For dinner, she ordered room service from the Elir resort’s front desk and opened her phone to daydream a little longer about the gorgeous guys she was about to meet.
2
The cosmetician, a woman named May, dusted Snow’s cheeks, readied her lashes, and curled her silver hair. She was presented several outfits to choose from forHeartthrob’s Most Wanted’s debut episode, so she opted for a classy-casual blouse in power-color red that offset the silver of her hair, jeans, and leopard-print heels. By the time Snow was waiting in the set’s wings, she felt like she was about to walk down the red carpet.
“Ready to meet your bachelors tonight?” Eloise said, clipboard in hand. Though she was a producer, she looked as though she owned her personal makeup team who’d readied her for the night as well. Eyes lined, skin glowing and bronzed.
“If I’m not it’s too late now,” Snow said with a laugh. But she was ready—utterly and completely. She was competitive by nature and thrived on the energy that came from a challenge.
Voices and male laughter could be heard from the set. Waiting in the wings as she was, she could only see glimpses of Oswald and Amira, the show’s hosts, and the bachelors as they entered from the other side of the stage. Security members skulked around the perimeter, wearing black and looking contemplative and serious.
A screen on a wheeled stand showed the footage as it was being taken. Though the sound was turned off, she watched the handsome men strolling onto the set one by one.
One of the cameramen approached and offered her a small black contraption with a few cords. He explained that it was her mic and instructed her how to position it to her blouse and thread it behind to secure it beneath her shirt at the top of her pants. Snow did so.
“Want to hear what’s going on?” Eloise’s heels were silent. She approached with a smile and offered Snow a headset. “Oswald is introducing your bachelors,” Eloise continued, catching her up as Snow held the headset to her ear. All at once, sound coupled with the image on the screen.
“Tell me, Preston,” Oswald said to one of the seven handsome men. “You’re an actor, so you’re used to being on the stage. What are you most nervous about tonight?”
Snow recognized Preston from the headshot she’d been given, and she knew from his profile that he liked mangoes and pizza. He was lanky, taller than she’d pictured him to be.
“Meeting someone as incredible as Snow,” Preston said, running a hand through his curly brown hair. The gelled curls settled back into place. “I mean, she’s got an incredible profile. Degree in health and wellness? She seems like she’s got this enthusiasm for life, and I can’t wait to meet her.”
“She really does,” Oswald said, moving down the line toward the Hispanic man standing beside Preston.
“Marcos. You’ve come a long way to be on the show. You’re here from the Dominican Republic, is that correct?”
“Ah, yes. I comed here to the United States for to go to the school. When I see the advertisement to be dating with Snow, I took a chance. And here I am.” He flashed an adorable grin. Snow liked his winsome, approachable personality.
“Conversation starter potential,” she muttered to herself, grateful that though she could hear through the headset, no one could hear her. Marcos had mentioned school. She had more than a few questions she could ask him about that if the occasion called for it.
“Two minutes,” Eloise said in a low voice, and those two words set off a drumline in Snow’s bloodstream. Two minutes and she would be on. Two minutes and she would meet these men she’d been reading about. She would have to date them—on live TV.
She so couldn’t wait.
Oswald spoke with Tys, the video gamer, and finished with Eric, the construction worker, but Snow missed the last of their conversation before Eloise took the headset from her, smiled, and signaled her on.
At Eloise’s nod, Snow fixed her smile into place and stepped past the set’s backdrop and into the blinding lights. Applause bombarded her, making her smile all the wider. The crowd was relatively small, talk-show-sized, filling the entire arena of seats facing the stage. Cameras pointed in her direction, Snow paused to give them a wave, lifting two hands to maximize the effort.
This wasincredible.This was a supercharge, a dream coming true right before her eyes. She could hardly believe this was finally happening!
“Come on over here, Snow,” Oswald said before the applause quieted down. “I’ve got several young men here who’d like to meet you.”
The audience laughed, and their applause died down. Snow lifted her chin and beamed at the older host with his graying hair and glasses in his magenta shirt and tie. Amira was around here somewhere too, she knew, though Snow wasn’t sure where the accompanying host was.
“They think that now, but they might regret it later,” she teased.
Several of the men laughed, while a few others fidgeted. The seven bachelors were situated in tall chairs beside several potted plants and in front of an elevated screen where images of Snow—images she’d submitted for consideration when she’d first auditioned—continued on a slideshow. The moment she stepped onto the podium, the slideshow faded in place of the show’s logo instead.
Snow strode straight to Oswald. She took his outstretched hand and was careful not to turn her back to the cameras. Though she had acting experience on a stage, being in front of cameras was a different experience entirely.
“Snow Hendricks, the belle of our show.”
“A whistle, maybe,” Snow joked again. “I wouldn’t know about bells.”
More laughter came from the audience. Oswald gestured for her to situate herself on the tall vacant chair at the end of the lineup of men. She did so, grinning and buzzing with the excitement of finally being here and casting a smile at the men. Several of them smiled back at her, making her stomach flop.
