Chapter 17: Cora

It wasa concerted effort for Cora to not gnaw on her fingernails as she watched Willow and Leith across the pool. It wasn't that she was jealous—at least not in the traditional sense. It was that she saw the effort that the two of them put into one another. They were always together. Always laughing and exchanging small touches. Leaning into one another and saying things that none of the rest of them would ever be privy to. She'd even seen him kiss Willow's hip.

Cora'd shuddered when she'd seen it. She couldn't imagine anyone showing her that type of intimacy. Something so understated and unsexual. Just a desire to press lips to skin because it was another way to touch.

She almost believed the two of them were half in love already.

Cora didn't have that kind of connection with Foster. She didn't have it with any of the contestants. But was that only because she wasn't trying? Should Cora be plastering herself to Foster's side, like Willow did to Leith or like Eloise had done to Killian, a few days ago?

She glanced around the backyard at the others. Maia wasn't touchy-feely like that. And Danica and Maxon weren't attached at their unkissed hips. She'd say Silas wasn't all over Eloise but anyone with eyes could see that he wanted to be.

So maybe Cora wasn't failing spectacularly at this. It wasn't like everyone's experience had to look the same. It was just that she was starting to feel like she wasn't having much of an experience at all.

Well, fuck it. She wasn't here to observe. She was here to find love and be loved, god dammit.

Cora sat herself on the side of the pool, submerging her feet in the water. Foster remained unaware of her movements, floating on a raft in the middle and tanning himself, so she kicked a little stream of it to him. The splash startled him enough to have him tipping off the raft into the pool and Cora winced.

That wasn't exactly the greatest start to a flirtationship.

But Foster was unbothered when he resurfaced, only running his hands over his hair to push it back and shaking the droplets from the sunglasses she'd sacrificed. He searched the surrounding area, ruling out Willow and Leith as culprits immediately due to their intense focus on one another. The others were locked in conversations away from the pool so that really only left Cora.

Foster grinned at her, swimming over with the ease only someone who lived their life on the water could possess.

"You tryin' to get my attention?"

"Not just trying," Cora teased. "Succeeding."

"I should warn you that I believe in equality."

"That's a warning?"

"It is when you're dunking me in the pool."

She snickered. "I didn't dunk you. You fell off your floatie."

Foster raised one of his bushy blond brows and wrapped his fingers around Cora's ankle. He tugged, not enough to send her into the water but enough to send her hands searching for purchase. With an impressive smoothness, he collected one of those hands and the next thing she knew, she was in the pool. Sputtering water onto his chest.

He never lost that easy smile, nor did he lose control over the situation. Cora couldn't quite stand comfortably in this depth so Foster wound an arm around her waist and kept her lifted and pressed against him.

She pretended to glare at him, which only made him laugh. "What?" he asked innocently. "I didn't dunk you. You fell off the ledge."

"I deserved that," she allowed before she smacked the water and sent a couple more splashes right into his face. "But I don't accept it."

And like they were matched in mischief, they played like a couple of kids. Chasing each other around the pool—Foster was much faster—and getting each other wetter than almost any man had managed to get Cora so far, though not in the way that counted. This was a good sign, though. They could have fun together. Wasn't that the first step in a relationship?

When they'd tired themselves out, Cora ventured to ask if Foster was interested in getting to know her a little better, if she might get to know him. His responses were easy and thoughtful. He was engaged and he was kind. But the warm feeling in Cora's chest wasn't the kind that had her picturing a future with Foster. It was one that had her picturing a nice, playful friendship. A closeness void of romantic intimacy, even if he was an insatiable flirt.

She liked him, absolutely. She just couldn't conjure any stronger feelings than that.

But, honestly, so what?

Not every relationship had to burn fast and hard. Maybe those types of feelings—the kinds that made you want to rip each other's clothes off and pillow talk after—could come later. It would be silly to close herself off from it now. Just like it would be silly to close herself from the other contestants, too. Sure, she didn't feel anything groundbreaking now, but that didn't mean Cora had to stop trying.

At the very least, she'd see this week through.

She hated to admit it, but Cora found that week's coupling ceremony to be almost boring. Lainey announced with excitement that none of the girls had put in for a swap—not even Eloise!—and that just kinda sucked the delicious tension from the affair. It could have been salvaged, perhaps, when she'd gone through and made each of them explain why they'd chosen to stay. But clearly everyone thought it was too early in the experience for declarations of love or lust and none of them had any special words to offer other than a canned we just want to see where it goes. Even Cora.

The saving grace of it all was, of course, that they were all then competing in Carter's challenge. She'd smiled when they'd been ushered down to the side yard their rooftop area overlooked. Someone on the production team had thrown together a cute, campy little kissing booth area, behind which were an assorted collection of blindfolds and noise-canceling headphones.

Lainey clapped her hands in front of her once the contestants had lined up. "Alright, here's how this is going to work: since the girls had the choice this week, it'll be up to the girls to prove your partnerships are strong enough to remain in your honeymoon pairs." She gestured to the booth. "One at a time, the girls will get in the booth with their blindfolds and headphones on and the boys will then take turns stealing a kiss. Once she's kissed every frog, the girl will be asked to pick out which one of them was her honeymoon partner.

"To keep things fair, we'll blind and deafen our boys, as well, so they can't tell who they're kissing." One by one, Lainey handed out headphones and blindfolds to the boys. "Suit up, then we'll pick our first girl."

So this was what Carter'd been so excited about. Cora could see why it was important to have as many competitors as possible and she was glad he'd taken her advice and just moved it to this week instead.

It also happened that this was the perfect way to expand her horizons, just like she'd promised herself she would. Maybe a kiss was what she needed to kickstart her attraction to Foster. Or maybe she'd feel a spark with another one of the guys and wouldn't have to worry about forcing something with him.

Really, this couldn't have worked out better.

Once the boys were handicapped and had their backs turned, Cora volunteered to go first. She felt herself getting excited as her senses were stripped away and they arranged her on a little step stool behind the booth. One of these kisses was going to lead to something. She just knew it.

She also knew that she wasn't obligated to pick out any of the boys but Foster. Yet, when they started pressing their lips to hers and sticking their tongues in her mouth, Cora found herself naming every one of them.

The first, she could tell, was Silas. His touch was tentative, rather than exploratory. Like he wanted to make sure he was kissing the right person before going all in. It was also obvious, considering that, even on her stool, her neck was angled towards the sky and his hair was tickling her cheeks.

After Silas came Maxon, which also felt glaringly obvious. If Silas didn't put enough effort in, Maxon put in too much. He was aggressive with his tongue, trying to spear Cora's mouth rather than taste it. And his face was smooth, like an over-moisturized bottom, and Cora couldn't have forgotten his nightly skincare routine if she tried.

Leith followed Maxon and Cora almost felt bad for him. He approached the challenge with an eagerness that was approximately three hundred times more endearing than Maxon had. But that eagerness was quickly squashed when he realized he wasn't kissing Willow. Cora wondered what her tell was, for him to know so quickly.

And then there was Foster. Precious Foster who smelled like sunshine and SPF and tackled kissing her with the same amount of enthusiasm as he did anything—which was, of course, not much at all. This challenge was merely a train he'd hitched a ride on and he wasn't going to steer it. He was merely going to enjoy it.

It wasn't a bad kiss, by any means. Clearly, he knew what he was doing. But it wasn't the kind of kiss that had Cora's toes curling or her core tightening or her skin shivering. It was just…a kiss.

The last to step up to the plate was Killian. If Cora hadn't already eliminated all the other possibilities, she still thought she might've been able to pick him out. His kisses reminded her a little of Foster's, in that he was experienced and easy about it. But Cora didn't think Foster really wanted anything out of these kisses. Killian did.

Cora just didn't know what.

When she was finished, Cora wasn't allowed to reveal her answer. If the guys already knew their partner won, they might not give the rest of the challenge their all. So Cora wrote down her answer on a cute little heart-shaped chalkboard and resigned herself to watch the others.

Like she always did, it seemed.

She turned her eyes absently to the rooftop and her breath caught in her throat when she saw Carter. His arms crossed over his almost-heaving chest. His stormy eyes murderous. What would it be like, Cora wondered, to kiss him? She would bet she could pick him out, too. He'd be forceful and dominating. He'd use his teeth just as often as his tongue.

He'd make Cora feel something and he wouldn't stop at one kiss.

Would he let her find him tonight, too, once this was all over?

Maia was the next to go, practically forced into the booth by Lainey. When she was blindfolded, Lainey took down their original order and then rearranged the boys before leading them to her one-by-one. And Maia wasn't into it, at all.

Cora hid her smile, though Maia couldn't have seen it anyway. She knew that Maia had told Killian she wanted to get to know other people but the other girl hadn't made any sort of effort towards that all week and this challenge was just further proof: Maia wasn't interested in any of the other guys.

And Cora could tell when Maia realized she was kissing Killian. The way she swayed into him and braced herself on the shelf of the booth. The way her tongue snuck out for him when it hadn't for the others. It was especially obvious when she was back to the dead-fish kiss as soon as he stepped away.

Cora couldn't help but tease her when she came to stand beside her. "So which one do you think was Killian?"

Maia blanched, quickly, before glaring and pointing at Cora. "Shut up."

Danica went next, mustering up only slightly more excitement than Maia. When she got to Maxon, it became clear that this was something the two of them had probably partaken in plenty of times before tonight. Lainey had to practically pry him off of her so they could finish the game. Maxon would never be Cora's cup of tea but she was glad Danica had found something with him. The girl had been knocked down enough in the media and she deserved to find a little summer fling.

After Danica was Eloise, who tied her mountain of hair on her head so it wouldn't get in her way. It was like she wanted to be all-in on every kiss. She wanted that confidence but Cora saw the way she shied away from the next, and the next, before steeling herself and diving in. Maxon tried to suck her face off, same as he did with Danica and Cora. And Cora thought Eloise might have been excited about kissing Killian but, when it got to him, he didn't give her anything special. Pleasant and cute and Cora could tell it held no fire for Eloise, just like it hadn't for her.

But Silas?

Cora would swear on her grandmother's grave that Silas growled as soon as he touched his mouth to Eloise's. His hands clenched at his sides, into the legs of his trousers, so evidently trying to stop himself from grabbing her face and pulling her into him. Truly, Cora wondered how long it would take for Eloise to realize how gone for her that man was.

Willow was the last to go and it occurred to Cora, when Leith finally stepped up and kissed her, that this was the first kiss they'd shared. It made her feel almost hopeful, to know that they shared what they shared before they ever made it physical.

Would Cora ever be allowed a relationship like that? One where she didn't feel she had to use her body to get someone to want her? One where she didn't have to give in to sex to feel like she had a real shot of something more.

When it was over, Lainey made the girls reveal, one at a time, the number they'd written down. Cora was correct, as she knew she would be. As was Maia and Danica. When Lainey got to Eloise, the host set the girl's cheeks blazing when she asked if it were true that Eloise'd had her first kiss inside the manor. The boys' heads swung to the chart beside Lainey, where their order for Eloise's turn was listed. Maxon preened, asking Eloise if he was her first kiss, and Eloise's cheeks were tomato red when she answered that he wasn't.

Poor fucking girl. It was like everyone in this manor was determined to embarrass her.

But, of course, Lainey moved on to Willow without acknowledging how awkward it was for Eloise. She revealed Willow's chart and Willow paused for perfect dramatic effect when she swung her number around to show she'd guessed correctly.

Leith's excitement was like an explosion, the way he pounced on Willow, lifting her high in his oafish arms and planting another one on her, right there. Willow only laughed before tucking her hand under his chin and going in for one more. This one softer, sweeter. And who could help but to cheer them on?

Cora couldn't, even though it felt like her want was eating her from the inside out.