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staring.
    She wanted to go back to being the old ugly Alexa as soon as was humanly possible. She didn’t like this overpowering male attention one bit.

    * * *
    Alexa was several blocks away from the TV studio when her sports watch, which was stuffed in her bag in deference to the shiny gold-plated timepiece currently on her arm, beeped 5pm. The audition materials Jane had given her last night made it very clear that the doors would be locked after 5pm.
    At 5:05 pm she stood in the lobby of the TV station, trying to get the unsympathetic receptionist, who hadn’t even looked up from her computer screen yet, to cut her some slack.
    “You should have been here waiting all afternoon like the other girls,” she droned.

    Alexa barely held her temper in check. “I’m so sorry,” she said, lying again. “I was so busy getting ready for the audition, I ran a little over.”
    The receptionist snorted derisively. “Too bad. Doors locked at 5 pm.”
    Alexa’s temper burst through and she slammed her palm down onto the shiny metal counter separating her from the receptionist. It was going to take more than one bad-attitude gatekeeper to keep her from getting into this audition.
    “Maybe I wasn’t making myself perfectly clear,” she said, raising her voice and enjoying the sound of it echoing in the steel and glass entryway. “I am going to audition, whether you like it or not.” Alexa marched past the receptionist who was, just as Alexa suspected, relatively easy to outrun.
    Hearing the clicking heels of the woman behind the front desk close behind her, Alexa threw herself against the door, barely managing to open it and stick her body halfway in the large auditorium.
    “Mr. Randall,” the receptionist cried, out of breath from her exertions. “I tried to tell her the auditions were closed!”
    Joe got up quickly to deal with the situation. One look at the woman who had barged into the room, and he knew he had his ratings secured.
    He shook Alexa’s hand and said, “I’m really sorry about this. Please, have a seat. I’m thrilled you made it here just in time for the audition.”
    Grabbing the receptionist’s arm firmly, he led her out of the room and back into the foyer.
    “Are you crazy? Did you see her? You were going to turn that girl away?”
    Brenda rubbed her arm and whined, “I didn’t get a good look at her face, Joe.”
    But Joe wasn’t interested in anything the receptionist had to say, too busy rubbing his hands together with glee, thinking about how good this new woman and Mr. Right were going to look together on screen.
    Joe hurried back inside to continue briefing the final two hundred women auditioning on the reality show, secure in the knowledge that as long as Alexa ended up falling for Brandon, he had just opened the door for his next promotion towards becoming head of the network.

CHAPTER FIVE
    Alexa looked at the women she was competing against and had to fight the urge to run from the room with her tail between her legs. Oh sure, she could beat any of them in a vocabulary test. But given the criteria on which the judges were sure to be basing their selections, how could she possibly compete? No amount of waxing, makeup classes, and personal shoppers could ever make her seem as polished and confident as these women.
    A cute blonde with bright blue eyes and a wide smile leaned over and said, “I love how you got right past the receptionist. She was giving us nasty looks all day.”
    Alexa couldn’t help but smile, there was something so innately likeable about this girl sitting next to her.
    “I’m Brigit,” she said, reaching out her hand.
    Alexa clasped it firmly. “I’m Alexa. Frankly, I’m wondering if it was worth the effort.”
    Brigit cocked her head to the side in surprise. “Why would you say that?”
    Alexa waved her arm in the general direction of the rest of the women in the room.
    “Look at everyone, including you. You’re so good looking.”
    “So are you!”