Love 'Em or Leave 'Em by Angie Stanton Read Free Book Online Page B

to talk to than most of the eligible women back by the pool. However, he found he was a bit annoyed at her not caring enough about him or the chance to get to know him.
     

Another day, another date. Thank goodness she wasn't on it. Ashley woke up feeling sore all over. Liz took one look at her and started laughing. Rachel just shook her head with a look of pity. Ashley moved to the dresser mirror. Her face was beet red. She stretched her T-shirt to expose a painfully burned shoulder, the white strap mark proving her skin had once been something other than fire-engine red.
    Just what she needed, another reason to feel inferior. Yesterday she'd been the only one with pasty white skin. Today she would stand out like a beacon.
    Tami barreled down the hall shoving people out of her way.
    "Who took my lip gloss?" Steam practically poured out of her nose and ears. "So help me, Gwen, if I find `Charged up Cherry' on your skinny little lips, I swear I'll scratch it off with my fingernails and there will be one less person to give a rose to!"
    Ashley tried to move through the chaos. Gwen wiped her mouth on the inside hem of her dress. The women were getting ready for the next big rose ceremony. Tempers flared as the ladies rushed to prepare for the long night ahead of them. Ashley just wanted to escape the insanity and find a few minutes of peace and quiet.
    Women rushed from room to room comparing notes about who was wearing what and how they should do their hair. Many rushed back to their rooms to do more. At the rate things were going, they would all end up with too much makeup and hairspray.
    In the larger bathroom, beauty queen Shelby hogged the mirror. Huge hollow rollers covered her head. She looked like a giant air-head doll, but then she pretty much was. She stood in a skin-tight tank top, posing and posturing before the mirror, examining every angle as Kate tried to squeeze in long enough to apply her mascara without stabbing an eye.
    "Do you think my left one is higher than my right?" Shelby asked, holding a breast in each hand. She lifted each one up and down. "Look, this one doesn't bounce as much as the other."
    "So sue 'em," Kate said skeptically.
    Ashley couldn't believe fourteen women could scurry around so frantically for the big night, all of them aflutter at the prospect of five women being let go. It seemed like too many of them gone too soon. Most of them hadn't even had a group date with Luke.
    "He can't possibly make a fair decision when we've only been on one date," said Jenny the snuggler.
    "At least you've had a date," complained Melissa.
    "Yeah, but I couldn't even get him alone. How can I possibly make the right impression when I can't get him alone?"
    "What kind of impression did you have in mind?" asked Kris.
    Looking sly and seductive, she answered, "Oh honey, the kind of impression that makes a man return for more."
    Ashley's tolerance hit its limit. She edged through the group and snuck into her small bedroom and out onto the secluded balcony. Finally. A little peace and quiet. She took a deep calming breath to ease the stress. These women made her nuts. She gazed out over the trees at the setting sun. What a beautiful combination of pinks, ambers, and purples. A soft, warm breeze brought the scent of lilacs wafting through the air. After a few minutes, Ashley felt much more relaxed.
    She could still hear the commotion inside, but it didn't bother her now. Even her own roommates, who normally acted down-to-earth, were getting ready with a high level of stress. Rachel had fallen for Luke on the very first date of the show. She did her best to act nonchalant, but with little success. Ashley hoped Rachel received a rose. Rachel was fun and adventurous and had been totally caught off guard by the game.
    Ashley's view, however, hadn't changed. She still felt the whole thing was a joke, including most of the women; they represented some of the worst female stereotypes. Take Shelby. While very beautiful, she