Flaming Hearts (Beyond Reality Book 2) Read Free

embarrassing and she was trying to work on it, but there was no way she’d remember everyone’s name here tonight. She sighed.
    Becky kept her eye on Marissa and saw her sitting on a couch with a circle of men around her. She seemed at ease and flirtatiously talked to each one. Occasionally, she’d touch them on the knee or the arm or hand. She had the art of flirting down to a science. The longer the evening went on, the more uncomfortable Becky felt. What was the point of this? She knew which woman the men would prefer…maybe that was it! Maybe this would be the end of this torture! Maybe the men would get to choose who they’d vie for and she could go home with a nice consolation prize. A girl could dream, right?
    Finally their host, Robert, brought Marissa and Becky into a back room and told them they’d each be choosing seven men to stay, and the other four men not chosen would be going home. It was a lot like the singles shows she’d watched with her mom in the past, but it was weird that there were two girls this time. She guessed it was an interesting twist on the premise of the bachelor/bachelorette concept. Darn it, Becky was really hoping Robert would’ve told them the guys were choosing which woman they wanted to compete for and the other woman had to go home right then.
    Robert asked each of them if they knew who they’d ask to stay and Marissa asked him slyly, “What if I want more than seven to stay? Can I ask Becky to use one of her slots to add one of the men I want?” After a pause she added, “And vice versa, of course.” Marissa giggled, thinking her words were the funniest thing ever.
    “Of course,” Robert told her, “Any way you want to split up the decision you can. It’s up to the two of you.”
    Marissa turned to Becky and said, “I think Derek and David are soooo hot. They both have to stay. I love Trevon’s name. Jose is rich as hell, so he has to stay as well. I also want to keep Samuel, Ryan, Joel, Dexter, and Conner, John, and Alex because they paid the most attention to me. I don’t want Ned and Carter to stay. You can choose the other three that you want to stay and two that you want to go.” She shrugged as if she didn’t just take over the show entirely.
    At this point Becky didn’t really care as she didn’t know any of the men, but she also didn’t want Marissa to think she could walk all over her for the entire show.
    “So who does that leave?” Becky asked Marissa sarcastically.
    “Duh,” Marissa said with disdain. “Patrick, James, Chris, Oliver, and Tommy.”
    Becky didn’t like Marissa all that much, but she couldn’t help but be impressed with her memory of all the men’s names.
    Becky didn’t want to make someone go home solely based on what they looked like, as that wasn’t the type of person she was, but Marissa seemed to know who she wanted, and since none of the men really stood out in her eyes, she’d agree, but with conditions.
    “You know you just chose eleven guys to stay when really you only get to choose seven, right?” She waited for Marissa to nod and then continued. “But since I don’t know any of them that well, I’ll let you have more than your fair share this time. But if in the future I want to negotiate, you’ll let me.”
    Happy that she’d gotten her way Marissa beamed at Becky and agreed immediately. They walked back out into the main room to let the men know who would stay and who would go.
    Robert lined all the men up in the typical way these things were done on reality shows, into two lines with nine men in each line. They had a platform set up so the men in back were standing taller than the men in front. Becky and Marissa stood across from the men with Robert between them.
    “Welcome to Arizona Reality !” Robert boomed, arms spread wide. Becky inwardly cringed. Who the hell came up with the names of these shows? It sounded like they were selling a house or something.
    Robert continued dramatically, “Hopefully