and throbbing but somehow felt like it was filled with cotton candy. At the very least, she didn’t have a concussion. That would have been pretty disastrous. It would have held her back from competing, and there was no way she wasn’t going to get her chance at winning.
Greg was pacing around nervously, clutching his clipboard as Ashleigh watched on, a few shades paler than she had been earlier.
“If Janice can just touch up around the bandage, I can do my first interview for the show,” Ember announced, slowly getting to her feet.
The sexy as sin security guard hadn’t left her side. Ember was trying not to read too much into it. He was probably only sticking around because he needed to make sure that she was safe and that the lot was secure. It had nothing to do with her.
That didn’t explain why he was gravitating toward her. When she took a step away, he took two forward. Ember had a tiny head injury. Maybe one of the symptoms of getting a light fixture to the head was imagining that gorgeous men were into you. Was that a thing? She was probably just confused from the hit to her brain.
Kai didn’t look like a security guard. He looked like he belonged on the cover of a magazine or as the leading man in a romantic comedy. Ember tried really hard not to get away with herself. Was she already writing a fantasy where Kai was going to protect her from more falling debris and kiss her passionately while off in the distance, someone started a slow clap?
Yup.
What the hell was wrong with her?
She had bigger and better things to worry about than sexy security guards who lingered. He was not devouring her with those beautiful eyes of his. He was not licking his lips while looking at her because he wanted to lick her like an ice cream cone.
He was just assessing the situation for his employer.
The zings up her spine and in her panties were a symptom of her headache. That was it.
“You want to do your interview?” Ashleigh gasped, her eyes going wide and sliding toward Greg.
“No, absolutely not,” the security guard’s words surprised everyone, including himself, judging by the scowl on his face.
“Well, I don’t want to hold up production because of a tiny mishap.”
Kai narrowed his gaze at her. She couldn’t tell if he wanted to kiss her or spank her, but she would be up for both. The image of it filled her mind with such a vivid force, she felt her cheeks heat. Yikes, Ember, cool the tingly vagina-fueled lust.
“You’re being ridiculous,” Kai growled at her. “You’re in danger if you continue on with this charade.”
“Charade?” Ember repeated, the naughty thoughts evaporating because of the judgment in Kai’s voice.
“Now, hold on,” Greg said. “This is actually a good idea. It would be quite the twist to have this be part of the show.”
“Absolutely not,” Kai and Ember snapped in unison.
Kai studied her carefully, making her dizzy. What did it matter that Kai Mason was the hottest man she had ever laid her eyes on? So what if he had luscious light brown hair that matched his short-cropped beard perfectly. Who cares if he had pretty brown eyes that always seemed to be flashing one emotion or another. There were other tall, muscular men she could drool over later.
Not this grumpy one who seemed dead set against letting her compete for her dream job.
“I want to be just like every other contestant,” Ember explained. “I want my shot at the bakery, but I don’t want there to be this underlining story. It makes it seem like I’m here for all the wrong reasons, and I hate that. I hate when reality TV does that. Let’s just keep it under wraps while—” she motioned toward Kai without looking at him. “While this man figures out who is after me. If someone is after me.”
“Someone is after you,” Kai growled.
Growled.
Again.
He was always growling at her like some kind of animal. Ember understood that he was a burly macho man, but that didn’t give him the right to behave like a beast, choosing to rumble through his sentences.
“Yes,” Ember said. “I know that is a possibility, given the letters. But are we actually positive that someone did cut the wire? Nope. We aren’t. We’re jumping to conclusions. We’re all assuming that the letters and the light incident were related.” She turned toward Kai, rolled her shoulders back,