LITMIR.BIZ

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across the pool deck to the lounge chair where he’d left his things. “I do press all the time. I really don’t think I need to prep.”

      What he really wanted to do was go after Ronnie. He had a feeling that the more time he gave her, the more she’d be able to convince herself that nothing had happened between them.

      “Of course we have to prep,” Garett said, coming up behind him. “We need an angle. Something that will make you stand out from the other contestants.”

      Ace shrugged, drying himself off with his towel. “I’ll stand out from the others when I win.”

      “We can’t wait until then. We need to find an angle now. Something that will make them follow you for the entire competition.”

      Ace pulled his on T-shirt over his head. He should have been used to Garett’s push for publicity stunts by now.

      Instead, he chose to ignore him most of the time. And it wasn’t lost on his friend that Ace was distracted at the moment.

      “You’re not focused. Does this have anything to do with the girl I saw hurrying away from you just now?”

      “She’s not just some girl. That’s Ronnie.” At his friend’s blank expression, Ace continued. “You know, Veronica Howard. She’s in the competition.”

      “Are you kidding me? I didn’t even recognize her.” Garett rubbed his chin. “I don’t know how I feel about you mingling with your competitors. Unless, of course, you were trying to get in her head. Psych her out a bit?”

      Ace waved him off. “We have a healthy rivalry going, but I’m not trying to get in her head. Ronnie and I are friends.”

      Garett studied him for a minute, nodding his head. “I get it. Not in her head, just in her pants.”

      Ace was so taken aback, he didn’t deny it. He just gaped at Garett.

      He snapped his fingers. “Yeah, that’s perfect. We’ve found our angle.”

      “What are you talking about?” Ace asked, stepping into his flip-flops.

      “I’m talking about the ‘showmance,’ my friend. The classic reality-TV romance. We let it leak that there may be a little more than competition heating up between you and your competitor, Ms. Veronica Howard. The press will eat it up. They’ll be jumping out of trash cans to catch you two sneaking around together.”

      “Hold on, Garett, that’s the last thing I want. You’d better go back to the drawing board, because that angle’s not going to work.”

      Garett slung an arm around Ace’s shoulder as theyheaded inside the hotel. “So you’re denying that you’re interested in her?”

      “No,” Ace said, twisting out from under his friend’s arm. “But my interest in her has nothing to do with manufacturing a ‘showmance’ for the sake of the press.”

      “Look, if you’re going to pursue her anyway, why not kill two birds with one stone? Let your little fling work to our advantage?”

      “It’s not going to happen, Garett. That’s final.”

      Once Ronnie was safe in her hotel room, she breathed a sigh of relief. Had she and Ace really been flirting with each other?

      Never in a million years had she imagined that he could actually see her that way. Of course, circumstances were different now. She’d lost a lot of weight. Now she was finally in the ballpark of being his type.

      She didn’t know why, but that thought bothered her quite a bit. It was understandable that wearing a smaller size would make her more attractive to a wider pool of men. But she secretly wished she’d been his type before she’d lost the weight.

      Ronnie hopped into the shower and washed and dried her hair. When she came out of the bathroom, her mind was still whirling with the memory of what had happened at the pool.

      What she needed now was a bit of perspective. Picking up her cell phone, she dialed Cara.

      “Hello?”

      “Greetings from Vegas, baby!”

      “Ronnie. You made it.” Her friend’s voice sounded far away. “If you’re calling to check up on Baxter, relax. He’s having the time of his life playing with the kids.”

      “I’m so glad. But I miss my little puppy.” At eightypounds, her German shepherd was well into adulthood, but Baxter would always be a puppy to Ronnie.

      “He misses you, too,” Cara said and Ronnie heard an echo in the background.

      “Do you have me on speakerphone?”

      “Yes, I’m in the car. I’m on my way to pick up the kids from day care. A.J.’s working late today.”

      “Then I won’t keep you. You can call me back later.”

      “Wait a minute. I know you didn’t call just to say hello and good-bye. What’s on your mind?”

      “I think I’m in trouble,” Ronnie said, sinking down on the edge of her bed.

      “Oh, no. What kind of trouble?”

      “The usual. Man trouble.”

      “You haven’t been in Las Vegas for even twenty-four hours and you already have man trouble. Good for you!”

      “I’m glad you think this is funny.”

      “It’s not funny. It’s great. Who’s the guy?”

      “Ace Brown.” Ronnie flopped onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. She felt like a high school girl with a crush. It was embarrassing.

      “I should have known. He caught sight of your new hot bod and couldn’t resist you.”

      Ronnie sighed. “Something like that.”

      “Then what’s the problem? You two have been friends for years. He’s a good guy. You like him. He’s gorgeous. Sounds like a win/win to me.”

      “Yeah, but he’s always been a player. And he never showed any interest in me when I was … pleasantly plump.”

      “Ahh, I see. I guess I can understand why that would bother you. But, you’ve got to get over it. Tell me exactly what happened.”

      “Well, I ran into him at the airport, and he didn’t even recognize me. I mean I know I’ve lost weight, but do I really look that different?”

      “No, but you have to give him the benefit of the doubt. It was probably a context thing. You probably caught him off guard. He didn’t know how much you’ve changed. What happened after that?”

      Ronnie told her friend about the ride to the hotel and running into Ace at the pool.

      “Ooh, steamy. Well, he’s clearly into you. You might have actually gotten somewhere with him if you hadn’t run away.”

      “You’re not helping me at all here, Cara.”

      “What? Because I’m not encouraging you to continue your forced celibacy? No one was happier than me when you finally got Andre out of your life. But you can’t keep punishing yourself for that mistake.”

      Sure, if her on-and-off relationship with Andre Roberts had been her only mistake, maybe she could get past it. But every guy she’d dated since high school had treated her poorly. For the longest time she thought that was just how relationships were. And then her best friend found her own soulmate in A. J. Gray, and Ronnie began to realize she deserved more.

      “He wasn’t the first. I have a pattern of picking guys like Andre. How am I ever supposed to trust my own judgment again?”

      “Now that your eyes are wide-open, you’ll never let a man take advantage of you like that again. Ronnie, believe me, it’s time to get back in the game.”

      She

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