Page 44 of Enticing Her Love

“It’s not a priority.”

“What about dating? Is that a priority?”

“Not really.”

She was quiet for a minute. “Was it ever a priority?”

“Sex or dating? Actually, it doesn’t matter. The answer is the same. When I was in college, sure, both were as important as school and doing the things I enjoyed in my free time with family and friends.”

“When did that change?”

“After I won the reality show.”

“When you became the it guy? Why would that turn you off to sex and dating?”

“It didn’t at first. I played the field for a while. Then I met a girl who I thought was pretty special. But I was getting tired of being in the spotlight. I was brought up to take pride in whatever I did, and I didn’t feel that. I didn’t like knowing people were pursuing me for superficial reasons. Whether it was for my status, money, or looks didn’t matter. It was all bullshit, so I started going out less and turning down the pretty-boy jobs. After a few weeks of the girl I was seeing pushing me to accept those offers, I realized that was why she was with me. It’s a shitty feeling to put yourself out there and think you’re connecting with someone only to realize it was all a farce. That’s when I said fuck it all and took control of my life. I ended that relationship, finished out my contracts, packed my shit, and got the hell out of the country.”

“And that was it? Women have taken a back seat since then?”

“I’m no saint, but yes. Everyone took a back seat except my family.”

SUTTON’S REPORTER BRAIN kicked in. “What does that mean?”

“Are you asking about women?”

“I guess, but also in general.”

“It means I learned to value myself and what I want. I’m a commitment guy. I like relationships, but I wasn’t in a position where I felt I could trust people’s motives. So I stopped trying to connect with women for anything more than sex, and it’s been a long damn time since I’ve even looked for that.”

“At least fifteen minutes,” she teased, giving herself a moment to process what he’d said.

“Yeah, well, you broke my dry streak, that’s for sure.”

“But we’re connecting, or at least it feels like we are.” She felt him tensing up.

“You’re different, Sutton. This thing between us has been building for a long time, and we have to work together when we go back. I think in this circumstance, it’s best if we understand each other and where we’re coming from.”

It stung to hear him say it so matter-of-factly, but that was their reality. “Where did you go when you left the country? From what I read about you before we started working together, it seemed like nobody knew where you went.”

“I can’t tell you all my secrets. What if I have to go into hiding again? You might sell me out to the tabloids.”

“We could pinkie swear that I won’t.”

His chest rocked with his low laugh. “I knew if I didn’t take steps to disappear, it would never stop. I had the money to make it happen, so I went where I knew people would help me get it done. After a few international stops, I had a new identity to travel under the radar.”

“Like in the movies.”

“It wasn’t anything like in the movies. I hated it. I hated giving up who I was for even a minute, but I would’ve lost my mind if I’d stuck around.”

“Nobody recognized you?”

“I was the it guy in the US, but twelve and a half years ago it wasn’t that hard to disappear once I was off US soil. I stayed off the main travel routes. My cousin Ty’s father is ex-military, and he connected me with an old buddy of his in Indonesia who got me a boat to New Guinea, where I met up with one of my father’s friends. He helped me get what I needed to stay on an uninhabited island, and that’s where I ended up.”

“Uninhabited, like this?”

“Similar, but with no deadly plants or animals.”

“Why didn’t you take us there for the show?”