The clapping and cheering immediately halts. It’s so dead silent that I’m pretty sure that I’d able to hear a fucking pin drop all the way in the back of the room. Seriously, it’s fucking crickets in here.
My heart races, and my pulse swooshes in my ears.
My nipples are hard against the stage floor. My ass is in the air, probably flashing my tight little hole and dripping cunt at whatever poor girl is waiting to walk on behind me.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
I need to stand up now and recompose myself. Yes, I have my face planted naked in front of, like, a billion people, but I need to peel myself up off the floor (literally) and continue my strut.
I don’t have that far to go. The podium is only a few strides away.
I can do this.
I can definitely, probably, maybe do this.
But I’m rocking a blush that goes all the way from the tips of my ears down to the points of my nipples, and I know that when I get up, I’m not just going to be the Girl Who Fell in this competition.
I’m going to look like a half-woman, half-lobster besides.
It’s then that I see them—Chase and Eric, jogging toward me down the aisle.
They rush the stage like a couple of paramedics,
hop the barrier, and pick me up in one scoop. They brush me off, frantic and panicked looks spread across their faces.
Their horror-glazed eyes do nothing but kill my confidence that’s already plummeted when I face-planted.
Well, fuck. All the time they spent grooming me for this—all the money, the training, those long nights at the gym—and I’m already out of the competition before we even get started. There’s no way anyone is going to choose me to represent the country in Miss Sexy Universe now.
“I’m sorry,” I mumble as Eric pulls me against his chest.
“You don’t have anything to be sorry about,” Eric reassures me. “Are you hurt?”
“No.” I shake my head. “Just bruised.”
“It was a nasty fall,” Chase whispers back. “You sure?”
“Thanks for the reminder, but I already lived through it once already,” I say sarcastically.
“Wanna blow this joint?” Chase asks.
“No shame in it,” Eric adds. He shrugs off his jacket and offers it to me. “We just want to make sure our girl is okay.”
For a second, I consider it. They’ve given me the perfect out—and if there’s any way to recover from a naked face plant, it’s being carried from the building by two sexy billionaires.
“The only thing I’m blowing,” I say, gently pushing them off of me, “is you two after I win this thing.”
I’m here to build my confidence, dammit! Not to have the Rescue Twins come and whisk me away.
I’m a strong, independent woman, and I can fend for myself out there in the shark tank. Besides, I was getting a standing fucking ovation before my fall. I can recover from this.
The crowd loved me before I face planted. I’ll make them love me again.
The show must go on, right?
“Thanks,” I say, kissing them both. “I’m gonna make you boys proud.”
“You’re making me more than proud right now,” Chase says, and I giggle as I see the way his cock is straining his black slacks.