Taking the Heat - Real Heat Book 1

Chapter 2

'You!' I hissed, stomping over to where he leaned against the wall. 'Mr "I'm-so-superior-to-anyone-auditioning-for-that-show!" You are such a hypocrite!'

With his wide mouth, he smiled at me. 'Congratulations on making it through.'

'Oh, go to hell,' I spat back. 'What are you doing here anyway?'

'I'm auditioning, same as you.' He gazed around the auditorium casually and I felt my irritation growing.

'Were you always going to try out? Was it your plan to make me feel bad so you'd have one less person to compete against?' I was sure I was right. Why else would he be there?

He turned his aqua eyes on me and I read hurt inside their cool depths. It dissipated as he said, 'I never gave you my name. I'm-'

'Don't bother,' I said. 'I've already christened you Douche-face.'

'Creative.'

'Thanks.'

We stared at each other for a minute and I wished things were different. It would have been so much less complicated if I hadn't been auditioning for the show. We could have drunk our tea and coffee, chatted, arranged another date. In a few nights, I could have been fluttering around, trying on the perfect outfit, choosing to wear my nice underwear, just in case ...

Instead, I stood there, conflicted by feelings of indignation and lust and something more confusing. Connection? I wanted to kiss him as much as I wanted to slap him.

Before I could do either, a production manager got up on the stage. 'Hey gang! Can I get you all to come and sit, please?'

Rolling my eyes at Douche-face, I stalked off to the other end of the seating, as far away from him as I could get.

In his nasal American accent, the manager went on. 'Okay, so I'm Matt, and you guys are the final twenty contenders for the entire city of Melbourne!' I smiled at his pronunciation-MelBOORN.

A raucous cheer went up, and Matt waved down the noise. 'Now, now, don't get too excited. We're only looking for two people from Australia and we're auditioning in Sydney as well. Erotic Island will be made up of ten different nationalities, and held on a private island at an undisclosed location, and with a guaranteed million dollars for each contestant, we're being pretty picky about who we cast.'

I looked around at the other people in the room. To be fair, we were all young and good-looking. The girls flicked heads of shiny hair around, while I'd have been happy to take any of the guys to second base without a second thought.

So I knew the final selection wasn't going to be based on looks: it would come down to who would make for more interesting TV. Smoothing my straight hair down in a calming fashion, I steeled myself. I'll give you interesting ...

Matt consulted his iPad. 'We're asking each of you to jump up on stage and tell us why you think you'll make a great addition to Erotic Island. You'll be filmed, so bring your A-game.'

He twirled his fingers at the camera guy at the back of the seating. 'Let's start with Kylie Merton.'

A giggling girl with dark blonde hair scampered up onto the stage, and became the first person of eighteen people to say almost exactly the same thing.

'So, I really want to go on Erotic Island because I'm fun and sexy and this is such an exciting show and I'm totally looking for love and I'm up for anything!'

The repetition was painful. No one mentioned the obvious-the gigantic cash prize. Do they really think anyone will believe they're here for the experience? When Matt finally called my name, I still wasn't sure what I was going to say, but I knew it would be different from the rest of them.