Max raised his hand.

Rex did his best to ignore him.

But it’s kind of hard to ignore someone who starts whistling and then jumping up and down.

“Max?” Rex sighed. “Yes, what is it?”

“If I win, does that mean I go on a date with myself?”

I could have sworn I saw a blood vessel swell and then pop on Rex’s forehead as he answered. “No, Max. The final lady will go on the breakfast outing with you in the morning, but if you win you get to pick who you go to breakfast with.”

“Gotcha.” Max nodded seriously, then winked at me. His winks were too sexy, just like the rest of him. Thankfully he had the mouth of an absolute lunatic so it was easy for all the charm and sexiness to fall into the cracks. Imagine if Max were actually not trying to act like the world was one giant joke?

Yeah, he’d probably be king of the universe.

Women would sob in his presence.

And I wouldn’t be able to walk away—maybe it was for the best that he had such a crazy sense of humor. That way I was safe. I could handle his sense of humor because he came across as a harmless flirt.

Right?

“Contestants!” Rex shouted. “Find a dot and stand on it!”

I quickly moved to a red dot and waited for instructions as Reid came up behind me and wrapped a blindfold around my face. “Kinky, huh?”

“Say that again while you’re facing me and we’ll see just how kinky,” I muttered.

“I think I’ll keep my balls, but thanks for the offer.” Reid playfully shoved me before I could react and walked away laughing. Damn men!

“All right, Max,” Rex called. “Make your first move.”

And just like that the game started.

I was one of the last to be moved.

I couldn’t see any of the other girls or where they were so it was all up to Max to keep me stable so I didn’t fall on my ass and lose the game for both of us. I mean, did he really want to go on a morning boat ride with any of those women? And when had I turned into his protector? Since when did it make my chest hurt to imagine him drinking mimosas and watching the sunrise with anyone but me?

“Ready?” Max whispered in my ear. I shivered and gave him a firm nod.

His hands moved to my hips, resting there as if he had all the time in the world. After a few seconds he slid his hands up and then down again. What? What was he doing?

“Right hand,” Max said in a commanding voice.

I shot out my right hand and shivered again as he slowly grabbed my hand and whispered in my ear again. “Bend over.”

“What?” I hissed.

Max sighed. “I need you to either bend over or get down on your haunches, I figured bending over would be better, trust me, it’s not like anyone can see you. Well except, me, Reid, the film crew, and Rex, though to be fair I think he’s blind in his right eye from all that twitching it keeps doing. Oh, and there’s also Little G, he’s in my pocket, and the goat who’s watching us creepily from the trees, and always the possibility of sharks and—”

“Fine!” I snapped. “Fine, which direction do I bend?”

Max sighed. “If we were alone you wouldn’t have to ask me that . . .”

I licked my lips.

“Pity,” he whispered in my ear. Something touched my ear, his tongue? His hands moved all the way down both legs, until finally he picked up my foot and moved it to the yellow dot and then instructed me, once again, in a silky smooth voice, to bend over. What? “Bend down to your right, place your right hand and right foot exactly where I tell you. Yellow.”

I hated that my body heated at the sensual sound of his low voice.

It was the blindfold and humidity and, well, the lingering picture I had of him and his nakedness. NOTHING more.

“This okay?” I breathed.

“I’d say more than okay.” He laughed softly and moved away. And so went the next hour. I’d love to say it got easier, but really, it was what I imagined hell was like.

For one, it was hot, and I was so sweaty that my shirt was sticking to my body like a second skin. Sweat kept dripping from my arms and legs—it wasn’t like I was a gymnast or anything! And there was no way to know how many girls were left because Max had distracted me so much with his words and touching that I hadn’t kept track!

“And now our Bachelor will join you. Blindfolds off,” Rex commanded.

Finally I peeled off my blindfold and threw it onto the sand. The girls who were left were not the girls I would have picked.

He’d kept the girls he’d originally made fun of. Doc, Amazon, Grumpy, Sneezy, and me. But why keep the girls who scared him? Or the ones who made him want to run and hide?

I didn’t have any more time to wonder. Because in an instant Max was placed in the midst of all five of us and the game continued. Only this time he was going to be in the giant pretzel with us.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

MAX

If the roles had been reversed and I had been at home watching this on TV, I would have probably thought, “Lucky bastard.” By any guy’s standards I was standing in Eden. Every man’s utopia. Not only had I just touched fifteen attractive women (according to those who would be watching), but I was smack-dab in the middle of them. They were in bikinis, short shorts, and tank tops, and they were sweaty. And I was the king of their island, for now.

All right, so this is where those rose-colored glasses come off. Don’t be envious, you poor couch potato, as you drink your Coke Zero and eat another Twizzler, wishing it were you who had won the chance to be stuck on the Island. Go ahead, eat another chip. I’ll wait.