Undercover Bachelor - Maria Geraci Page 0,1
your shoes. So, Sam, do you feel like you’re ready to get married?”
“If I was to meet the right person, sure.”
“Do you feel that if you were to meet the right person, you’d be ready to propose in a few weeks?”
He loosened the knot on his tie. “I think a couple should know each other a while before they make a big commitment.”
“How long is a while?”
“I don’t know. A year, maybe?” That seemed like a good answer.
She frowned. “You do know that filming only lasts six weeks?”
“Sure.” Then, because it seemed like she wanted more, he added, “I mean, yeah, it could happen in six weeks.” Not likely, but hey, anything was possible. His grandfather had loved to tell everyone how he’d taken one look at Sam’s grandmother and fallen head over heels in love. It was a nice fairytale and one that had always made Becks sigh, but Sam had never fallen for any of Cyrus Byrd’s sentimental BS.
Hannah wet her lips. Her smile didn’t reach her hazel eyes. “Tell me about your previous relationships.”
“What do you want to know?” He took another slow, deliberate sip of his drink and braced himself for the conversation to come. His personal life was about to be dissected in front of millions of people. Clearly, he hadn’t thought this whole reality TV dating thing through. Thanks a lot, Becks. Only he couldn’t blame his sister. This was one hundred percent on him. He should have known better than to have fallen into her trap.
“You know, the usual. Ever been married? Any serious girlfriends?”
“Never been married. One serious girlfriend.”
Hannah nodded like now they were finally getting down to business. “What happened?”
“She was a Longhorn. I was an Aggie. It was never going to work out.”
Hannah smiled like she was confused. Okay, so she wasn’t a college football fan. Either that, or she didn’t appreciate his sense of humor.
“What’s your family like?” she asked, going down another route.
“They’re great. My mom and my sister, Becks, that’s short for Rebecca, are big fans of yours. They’re the ones who submitted my application for the show.”
“That’s so sweet. I love them already!”
“Yeah, well, they love you too.”
From the moment Mom and Becks had found out that Hannah was going to be the star of this season’s Single Gal, neither of them had stopped talking about her.
She’s so wonderful. Poor thing! I can’t believe that horrible Jeremy picked Sydney instead of her.
You have to meet her, Sam. You just have to! She’s perfect for you.
You’re thirty-five, Sam. I want grandkids!
If you apply for the show, I’ll apply for college.
It was that last one that had sunk him.
Becks had just finished up her senior year in high school and wanted a gap year before heading to college. Which was fine by Sam, except Becks’s idea of a gap year was backpacking through Europe, courtesy of her trust fund. Luckily, the old man had put Sam in charge of Becks’s inheritance until she turned twenty-one. Sam wasn’t opposed to Becks waiting a year to go to college, but if that was the case, she’d either spend the year working or pay her own way through Europe.
Teaching his baby sister the value of a hard-earned dollar was just one of the familial duties Sam had inherited when his father had succumbed to a three-year battle with lung cancer. That, and keeping the family business afloat. The latter was a piece of cake. Thanks to a well-structured company, the business practically ran itself. But helping his mother parent a teenage girl? Yeah, not so easy.
So Sam had taken Becks up on her deal. She had applied to colleges, and Sam had applied to the show. And now here he was, sweating in front of a camera while America sat back in their recliners, eating popcorn and watching him stumble through the most awkward conversation of his life.
“How old is your sister?” asked Hannah.
“She just turned eighteen.”
“That’s a bit of an age difference, isn’t it? You’re, what …?”
“Thirty-five,” he said.
After an excruciating five more minutes of conversation that felt more like an hour, the guy in the duck suit waddled up to the couch. “Sorry to interrupt, but can I steal this beautiful lady from you?”
Hannah giggled and batted her eyelashes up at the Duck. “You’re just so cute!” She turned to Sam. “Do you mind?”
Mind? Hell, no. Sam had never been so happy to see a guy dressed in feathers in his life. “Of course not.”
“I’ll never forget our talk,