“Ouch.”
Holly bit her lip.
“I’m sorry. You shouldn’t sneak up on a person like that,” she said defensively. The dark-haired man was bent over, rubbing the side of his head.
“My bad,” he said. When he straightened and looked at her, his clearwater-blue eyes widened with recognition.
“You!” they both said at the same time.
Holly’s insides squirmed and a flurry of excitement flew to her chest as she stared at the man who she had attacked twice in the last twenty-four hours.
William Harrington.
Chapter Six
“You shouldn’t be talking to me,” Holly said to William. The whole room was quiet, and all eyes were on them. Holly glimpsed Emily standing on the other side of the room. She was staring at Holly like she was a deer in headlights.
“I know. Next time we talk I might end up with a concussion,” William said with a laugh. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“Me? I didn’t get hit over the head,” Holly said, her face flooding with color.
“Right? What do you keep in that purse? Rocks?”
They shared a laugh. Someone coughed but Holly didn’t care.
“I’m so sorry. But the good news is, you’ve still got a handsome face. No marks.” Holly touched his cheekbone as she inspected the side of his head. William’s face lit up like a kid at Christmas.
“You think I’m handsome?”
Holly’s heart fluttered as she reciprocated his grin. The two of them stared at each other for a few moments, then someone started clapping.
“And that’s a wrap. Did you get that? Wow. That was perfect.”
A tall gentleman wearing a headset and spectacles approached them with a broad grin on his face. Emily hurried over to join them.
“No, there’s been a misunderstanding,” she said, flustered. “She’s not one of the contestants.”
The gentleman scoffed.
“Who cares? The chemistry between these two is electric.”
Emily opened her mouth and closed it again. Meanwhile, Holly looked around at the sea of faces, wondering what was going on.
“William, do you want to take this young lady on a date?” the cameraman asked. William looked at Holly and bit his lip.
“If she’s willing… yes.”
“You might need a crash helmet,” muttered one of the crew. A rumble of laughter followed.
“I’ll take my chances,” William said, shooting the sniggering group a look.
“Hold on. Let me look at this,” Emily said, springing into action. She pulled out a tablet and furiously tapped on the screen. Thatcher gave Holly the thumbs up in the background.
After a few minutes of everyone waiting, hardly daring to move as Emily worked on the tablet, she looked up and shook her head.
“I’m sorry. You two score twenty-one percent and that’s definitely not a good match.”
Holly frowned but it was William who walked over to Emily and craned his neck to look at the tablet.
“What is that?” he asked. Emily cleared her throat and turned official.
“This is the matchmaking formula. We take the profiles of two people and the app analyzes whether or not they would be a good couple.”
William’s brows shot up.
“Twenty-one percent isn’t that bad,” he said, rubbing his chin. A brunette stepped forward and raised a hand.
“But William honey, we’re a ninety-four percent match,” she said in a sickly-sweet voice.
Holly started backing away.
“I should go,” she said, perspiration gathering on her upper lip. She brushed it away and swallowed against the rising nausea. “I haven’t been feeling too good anyway. Don’t worry about paying me. This was all just a big mistake.” She continued to ramble as she edged away.
No one argued with her. It was a big mistake; everyone was thinking it.
Satisfied no one was going to follow, Holly turned on her heel and made a run for it. And she continued to run. She didn’t look back.
Chapter Seven
“Holly. Come on, open the door. You’ve been in the bathroom for three hours.” Josie banged on the door. Holly groaned as she sat in the bath and slid under the bubbles.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said, turning on the tap for more hot water.
After a couple of seconds of scraping, the door flung open. Josie and Thatcher walked in, like a couple of cops ready to bust a criminal.
“What are you doing in here?” Holly shrieked, covering herself with her arms.
“Are you serious? The whole bathroom is covered in bubbles. I can see more flesh on Josie than I can see on you,” Thatcher said as he sat on the toilet. Josie crossed her arms and remained standing.
“This is an intervention,” she announced.
Holly sighed and let her head go under the water, dampening the sound of Josie’s ranting. When she broke the surface again, Josie had stopped.
“Were you even listening to me?” she asked, her hands on her hips. Holly gave her an innocent smile.
“Sure,” she said slowly.
“Don’t you want to know what happened after you left?” Thatcher asked incredulously.
No. Holly didn’t have even a tiny bit of curiosity about what went down. She dreaded to think what sensational stories would be passed around the models now. If she had any hope of getting work when Thatcher moved away, it was gone now. Her career was over before it truly began.
“Emily and Martin had a massive fight in front of everyone.”
“Who’s Martin?” Holly asked.
“You know. The guy who was talking to you earlier. With the headphones.”
Holly nodded.
“Right. Carry on,” she said, resting her head on the bath pillow and closing her eyes.
“William chose you. But Emily said it was against her policy. Martin stepped in and threatened to pull the plug on the show if she didn’t set you up with William on a date.”
Holly opened her eyes with a start.
“Wow.”
Thatcher nodded, a little more enthusiastic now.
“They settled on a compromise. William will take you and the brunette on a date.”
Holly wasn’t sure whether to burst into laughter or tears.
“You don’t look happy,” Josie said blankly.
“Why would I be happy? Now I get another chance to make a fool of myself? This time with cameras following my
