This competition was getting more out of reach by the second.
The makeup department turned out to be a tiny room with a walled mirror and a bank of high, spinning chairs. A duo of artists, Janice and Beverly, were already hard at work on two other contestants, a blond woman with a cute lisp named Stacey and an African American man named Roberto. Stacey was quickly dismissed, and Ember took her place on the chair.
“I don’t need this stuff,” Roberto grumbled from his seat.
“I know, right?” Ember agreed under her breath. Her eyes immediately cut to the two artists. “Not that you don’t do great work, trust me, I know this isn’t an easy gig. I just don’t see why I need a full face of makeup to bake. I mean, I usually do it without showering, my head up in a hairnet with some lip balm if it’s a dry winter, and that is it.”
“It’s a different story when you have three high definition cameras on you, filming your face from all kinds of angles. Trust me,” the tall, thin artist said. “You’ll take me. You would look gray and dead without some kind of help. But your eyes are good. I won’t touch those.”
Ember beamed and quickly explained how she had come to be an expert in lining her eyes. Both makeup artists stopped in their tracks.
“Your sister is Cinder Brady?” Janice said.
“I would die if I met her,” Beverly agreed.
“Well, maybe she could come to visit me on set one day?”
“Do not tease me, lady, or I swear, I’ll make you look like a clown.”
“I would never,” Ember insisted. “This is just the first day of shooting, so I’m not sure how everything works, but maybe Cinder could pop in one day.”
“Good luck getting that by Ashleigh and Greg,” Janice quipped, earning her a fist bump from Beverly.
“Who is Cinder Brady?” Roberto asked from his seat, reminding Ember that he was still there.
“My sister is a makeup influencer on social media. She does all of these makeup tutorials.”
“She’s younger than me, and I want to be her when I grow up,” Beverly cut in, turning her focus back onto Roberto. “You’re gorgeous,” she told him. “When this is all over, we should go for drinks.”
Roberto shook his head. “Why do we have to wait until the show is over? Let’s go tonight.” He winked at the blushing Beverly.
“We can’t fraternize with the talent,” she answered. “It’s a firing offense, and I need this job.”
“Hmm,” Roberto sighed. “Too bad.”
Ember watched the whole exchange in pure fascination. If Janice hadn’t been running some natural-looking pink lipstick on her lips, Ember’s jaw would have been somewhere on the floor.
Never, not once in her life, had she asked a man out as easily as Beverly had done. She lacked the courage to do that. Was that something women did? She couldn’t be sure. She was positive neither one of her sisters had ever done that either.
All three Brady sisters were single as eighty-year-old nuns.
Each of them had somehow decided to focus on their careers. For Ember, it wasn’t easy to date. Not because she was shy, though that was true, but also because of a baker’s hours. She was up at two in the morning, at the bakery by three for deliveries, and by four, she had batches of sweet confections in the oven. That meant she was in bed by seven o’clock at night. No man wanted to take her out on a dinner date at four o’clock. Even a breakfast date was out of the question.
Unless the man didn’t mind hunkering down with the misshapen cookies or crooked cupcakes, which was her favorite breakfast.
Ember was mentally listing the types of compatible professions as she walked back to the green room once Janice was done making her camera ready. She knew she didn’t need a man to be happy or to feel complete, but Ember had a very vivid vision of showing her kids how to bake. How was that ever going to happen if she never found someone? Her head was full, focusing on the wrong thing.
It was probably because it was simpler to keep her thoughts on her relationship status than on the fact that today, the competition of a lifetime was starting. Thinking that she hadn’t had sex with anyone but her vibrator in over a year didn’t give her nausea. But burning a batch of cupcakes on air? That made her want to toss her cookies — literally.
That is why Ember never saw it, the falling open-faced light fixture coming down from the ceiling.
The huge metal box collided with her head, making her fall to the concrete floor before Ember even knew what happened.
Chapter Four
Kai
The business had been in the family for generations, but it had only recently acquired its biggest client yet: F&D Network.
The Food & Drink Network was the channel with all of the best cooking shows, or so his mother and sister-in-law had gushed when Kai and Lee had met with the executives. It had been a game-changer. It had moved Mason Security from strip malls and office buildings to the big leagues.
Along with his brother and father, Kai took over the entire F&D property’s protection, from state of the art surveillance equipment to a small army of security guards. It was a big contract that would see the family through for the next few generations, and then some. It was that much of a financial win.
His father was mostly retired, only choosing to pop in when he got bored with golfing or traveling. With baby number three on the way, Lee had taken the backseat. He dealt with their smaller contracts, orchestrating the business side of things with their administrative assistant. That left Kai as top dog. He ran the F&D Network contract like it was his birthright: with a no-nonsense attitude and very little margin for error.
There was no way he was going to mess this up for the family.
It meant that all three of Lee’s kids could have a good home and padded college funds.
It meant that maybe, if Kai ever got so lucky as to meet his own mate, he could have his dream house built, filled to the rafters with little lion cubs.
Kai sipped his coffee as he scanned the bank of screens while also going over all of the studio’s events for the day. He had already had the morning briefing with the crew, but he liked to stay on top of things. After another quick scan of the cameras over his employee’s head, Kai completed his rounds of the property. It was an excellent way to ensure that all of his guards were at their posts and doing their jobs.
There was no “three-strikes” policy with Mason Security. If you fucked up once, you were out on your ass. Most security guards understood this. They knew they were getting a good deal with their employer. The pay was good, the health insurance decent, and even though Kai knew he was the hardass boss, he knew how to make his employees loyal.
He fully used his alpha attributes to lead the company. And why not? He had the skills, so he would use them to his benefit.
The golf cart in which he did his rounds whirred noisily as he drove by each lot. It wasn’t even nine am yet, but the place was hopping. There were all kinds of people milling about, from personal assistants, to writers, to directors.
The network’s executives would be locked away in their offices, not caring what happened on the lots so long as money-making shows were being produced.