Page 61 of Insta Bride

Bree stood between two unfamiliar suits. I mean, literal men in dark grey suits. Sweating up a storm surrounded by the rest of us in board shorts and not much else. Bree took great pride in claiming it as her idea that she’d floated by me to make sure at least one couple would be up for it.

“Legally, we can do it. You were right, someone had included the licence application in the set of papers everyone signed. Someone else had at least thought to lodge the papers.”

“Why?” I had to ask.

“Because it would make for a great story.”

“So, you’re gonna go through with it?” It had been a long shot and I couldn’t believe no risk-adverse lawyer had killed the idea.

“Oh, Kye,” Bree sounded like a disappointed parent. “Do you really think I’m going to give you a heads up on the next twist? I only called you here to thank you for your time.”

Yeah, sure.

For the first time in days, I felt confident Elena and I might have a tomorrow.

Elena

There were only four couples left on the island, and I couldn’t believe Kye and I had been together less than a month. In the real world, a month wasn’t enough time to fall in love with anyone. I’d been with—no—I wasn’t going to even think his name. My previous relationship had lasted a lot longer, but in the blink of an eye, it had ended.

Even though I’d originally wanted to peg him as a lying, cheating, asshole, Kye was nothing like my ex.

Kye was tentative, thoughtful and had even started telling the production crew that we wanted more fuck time just so we could talk. Occasionally, we kissed or mucked around, but we used the privacy to talk about stuff without the cameras and microphones.

We might have been put on the island to let the world watch us fall in love, but it was in the stolen moments when I got to know the real Kye—the Kye who had slept with more women than even I had thought possible. But, I had come to believe him. I believed he wanted a chance with me. Our no-camera time was usually spent semi-naked so if the cameras turned on before the end of the hour, it would at least appear we’d been having intimate relations.

Kye got me to talk about me, my career, his career, our clients. We even found out we had a couple of clients in common. In these few, brief, private hours, we built a relationship that I wanted to believe could withstand the reality of our lives.

His confession about never having been in a relationship shouldn’t have made me as glad as it did. Relationships meant monogamy and he’d never wanted to try—until me. I didn’t want other people in my bed. If I was with the person, I just wanted to be with that person. I didn’t even care if he thought me old fashioned, but I wanted the sort of love my friends Olivia and Hunter shared. The sort that made Tash and me want to believe in happily ever afters.

When Kye and I were together without the world watching, I stopped caring about being on the island, on the show, or winning.

To each their own, but for me, I wanted one man in my life. I wanted to be his only woman. If he was the right man, I wouldn’t need any others.

By day, we still fought like crazy.

Kye joked our situation meant his blue balls had taken control of his brain. But at night, in the privacy of our villa, he stopped trying to convince me of why we should be a couple. He relaxed and let me see the real Kye.

And as for his body—oh, where could I start. At my request, Kye had started wearing briefs to bed but they barely hid his body. My best nights’ of sleep were before I’d wake up with him spooning me. A hard erection attached to the small of my back.

I wanted to be offended, but I wasn’t.

I wanted to push him away, but never did.

Instead, I suffered the female version of blue balls.

I wanted to wriggle my ass into his cock. I wanted him to take control—to make me forget all the reasons why we shouldn’t be a couple.

I wanted him to give me one reason why we could ride off into the sunset together and have the happily ever after ending in old age.

Except, Kye respected the boundaries I’d set after our fight.

No matter how much I willed him to break them down, he never did.

I had been clam-jammed by my own rules.

I was such a dick.

After arguing over the rules of Monopoly all night—proving we loved arguing over anything—the last thing we needed was an elimination challenge. Except, here we were. Kye in his golden tan and white surf shorts, and me in my white bikini. The producers had made sure we were all packed and ready to be evicted, but also that we were all matched up.