Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 28472 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 142(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28472 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 142(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
Quinn Severs has a growing social media presence—as the cat lady. No, really. Quinn and her family run a big cat rescue sanctuary where they take in leopards and tigers who have been abandoned or mistreated by private owners. It takes a lot of money and her family convinces her this dating show would be perfect to attract attention to their cause. She doesn’t expect to fall in love on the dating show. No one really does that but Leo seems different. Under his surly behavior, she thinks if she pets him just the right way, he might want to stay by her side forever. But he’s a big city guy and she’s a wildlife sanctuary girl. Maybe they just won’t fit.
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CHAPTER 1
LEO
“Leo, please. I’m on my knees,” Binnie cries. My friend is not on her knees but sitting in a chair across from me at our favorite Italian restaurant. The conversation is making me regret agreeing to meet her, but I’ve known Binnie since we were kids, and she’s never asked me to do dumb things before. I hadn’t realized I’d be walking into a trap.
“No.” I scrape the rest of the arrabbiata sauce off the plate with my bread and shove it into my mouth. I’m not letting a little thing ruin my dinner. There’s still tiramisu to be ordered and eaten. I wave my hand at Matteo, our waiter. He pops over right away.
“Tiramisu?” he asks.
“Yes.”
“On it. So, Binnie, I hear you’re casting for The Island again.” He touches his bow tie. “I think you need a little flavor this year. Heard your ratings were a little soft in the last season,” he adds. Binnie doesn’t appreciate that remark and growls at him.
I cock my head and give my friend a bright smile. “There you go. The last contestant for your dating show.”
Matteo’s eyebrows shoot up. “Really? I can’t believe it. I mean”—he cuts himself off and then lifts his chin—“of course, you’d want me. Who wouldn’t want a piece of this fine cut of manliness?” He waves his hand over his aproned front.
“I can’t have you, Matteo. We’ve already got one Italian, and he’s a real count. Has a whole villa overlooking Lake Como and used to race the Formula 1 circuit. But we do need one more because my tech guy dropped out.”
“Dropped out is a cute way of saying he’s being sent to jail for hacking Google and selling three hundred million passwords.” Binnie texted me in all caps about how she was going to cut off the guy’s balls and feed them to her dog for ruining her show.
She makes a face. “It doesn’t matter why he’s gone, only that he’s gone and I’m short one bachelor.”
“I’m right here, Binnie,” declares Matteo, patting his chest and holding out his arms wide.
“He’s right there,” I add helpfully. Matteo would be good for her show. He’s young, and by the number of single women that come in here in hopes that he serves them, he seems like he’d be a good fit for Binnie’s dating show.
“Matteo, no offense, but I need to replace the tech guy with another tech guy. We have a lawyer, a doctor, a count from Italy, a former athlete, and I’m just missing the millionaire techie. We need to fill that spot because the audience has types.”
“Can’t you fill the tech spot with say, a professor?” I wonder.
“I could play a professor,” chirps Matteo.
“The techie is there because he’s rich not because he’s smart. You’re rich, and so you fit the profile.”
“I’m also smart, so that counts me out,” I say.
“I’m dumb as hell,” Matteo says.
“But not rich,” Binnie points out.
“No one would know. This is television,” Matteo argues.
“The viewers would know. They do deeper background checks than the FBI once the show airs. They would know you are a waiter at your second cousin’s restaurant and that your one moment of fame was when you were arrested for backing into the mayor’s car and fleeing the scene.”
“That was an accident!”
Having heard this argument before and knowing that it goes nowhere, I interject, “Am I going to get my tiramisu?” This is really the only important thing.
Matteo sighs in defeat. “On it.”
Binnie waits for Matteo to slide away before attacking me again. “Why won’t you do it? Anyone in the restaurant would jump at this chance.”
“Then you should ask the other men here.”
“They could be serial killers, and I’ve banned those types because they are bad for PR.”
“Do I have to kill multiple people to be ruled out or just one?” I quip.
“Not funny.” When I don’t respond, Binnie adds, “It’s just three weeks of your life. It’s nothing.”
“I have to live on an island and sleep on a cot in a tent with five other guys for three weeks with every move being filmed. I’d rather be fed raw cow intestines.”
“You get to go to a tropical paradise and sleep in a custom made canvas bed frame with top of the line linens and chances to go off the island to spend time on one of the most expensive yachts ever built,” she counters.
“I hate being on camera. I’m not going to date any girl who goes on a reality show. I’m too busy.”
“Doing what? Ever since you sold your app, you hike, take random classes on everything from pottery to pizza making, and watch too much TV. You told me two days ago you think you’ve seen everything on Netflix. You’re so bored you said you watched eight hours of some faceless person making 3D printed toys.”