Outback Hearts (Beyond Reality Book 1) Read online

  Outback Hearts

  Beyond Reality

  Book 1

  by Susan Stoker

  Sam never thought she’d actually be chosen for a reality show--but next thing she knew, she was whisked away to Australia. Dealing with a producer willing to do whatever he had to do make the show a hit, other women ready to cheat and lie to gain the attention of the bachelor, and a camera operator ready to catch her at her worst every time she turned around, absolutely nothing was as simple as it seemed on TV. Not to mention the pigs, killer rattlesnakes and shoveling manure. Sam wasn’t sure she was going to make it through filming most days--never mind find true love.

  Alex never thought he’d be on a reality show, but how hard could being surrounded by beautiful women be? A lot harder than he’d thought. The producer changed the rules of the show behind his back, the women were nearly clawing at each other for this attention--and that one contestant he couldn’t get off his mind…

  Can two people who are meant to be together manage to fight the catty contestants, crazy producer and find true love on a reality show in the Australian Outback?

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2015 by Susan Stoker

  No part of this work may be used, stored, reproduced or transmitted without written permission from the publisher except for brief quotations for review purposes as permitted by law.

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  Cover Design by Chris Mackey, AURA Design Group

  Manufactured in the United States

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Epilogue

  Discover other titles by Susan Stoker

  Chapter One

  How in the world did I end up here? Sam thought to herself.

  ‘Here’ was Australia, the ‘Outback’ more specifically. It was almost a year ago that an article in the local paper announced there was going to be a new reality show set in the Australian Outback and they were looking for twenty to thirty-five-year-old women to audition. The ad was pretty vague and didn’t say what the show was going to be about. Beth had found the ad and one night, over several margaritas, Sam, Beth, and Christina had sat down together and each had filled out an application. It was a lark, something they did for “fun.” The ad requested that each application had to be accompanied by a headshot and a full body shot picture. They figured since it was for television they wanted to make sure they didn’t have any really ugly people picked. Months went by and all three had forgotten about the applications.

  Then a couple of months ago Sam got the phone call. It was the producers informing her that she’d been chosen to come in and interview in person. When she showed up, there were about one hundred other women there. Most of them looked like models. Sam had always been self-conscious about her weight. Beth and Christina were both slender. Beth was about five feet ten inches tall and Christina was a very petite five feet three inches. Sam was an average five feet six inches and weighed about one hundred and fifty pounds. She wasn’t really fat, but she also wasn’t skinny either. So she figured that with all these model look-alikes there was no way she was going to make it to the next round…but after a panel interview, a group interview with some of the other perspective contestants, a one-on-one interview with a psychologist, and a thorough medical exam…it turned out that she was one of sixteen women chosen for the show. And they still hadn’t really said what the show was going to be about.

  So, here I am. Sam thought. She’d taken two months leave at her job—luckily, she had a great boss and lots of leave saved up—and gotten on a plane to the Outback. The producers hadn’t told her much about the trip, except that there might be some camping involved. Sam had seen enough reality shows in her lifetime to know that “some” camping probably meant they would be spending the entire time in the wilds of the Outback. She thought back to a reality show a few years back where one guy “Jack”—which wasn’t even his real name, she thought to herself with disgust—had to pick from a bunch of spoiled rotten debutants which one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. She, Beth, and Christina had watched the show and laughed at all the women who complained about where to plug in their hairdryers and about the icky bugs. They couldn’t see why anyone would want to degrade themselves to be on a show like that and they didn’t understand how “Jack” could see past all of the “glamour” to really get to know any of the women.

  Sam loved camping and didn’t mind—indeed hoped—they’d get to spend some time outside, communing with nature. She didn’t mind being dirty and enjoyed being outside. So with that in mind, she packed a carry-on suitcase full of clothes appropriate for camping and another backpack with essentials.

  Sam was brought to a hotel room from the plane and told that tomorrow she would meet the other contestants and the day after that their adventure would start. She was handed a packet of information about the show and the “rules” they had to follow. Her name was written on the packet, but instead of Sam, her name was written “Sammi.” When she asked about it she was told that it was just a part of the show.

  Sam sat down to read the information she’d been given. The notes on the show were short and vague:

  You have been chosen as one of sixteen women to be on a reality show about dating, love, and real life. One by one, contestants will leave the show until there is only one left. You are not allowed to ask to be kicked off. The last remaining contestant will win.

  And that was all it said.

  “Whatever,” Sam mumbled to herself. They were certainly being as vague as possible about the whole thing. Sam was a bit cautious and suspicious in nature. She remembered the other reality show she and her friends had watched, where the entire show was a lie. There was only one person who didn’t know, and it was all based around him. She wondered if this was the case here as well.

  Now that she thought about it there was another reality show where the women went to Vegas and the rich man got to choose one of them for his wife and they had to get married right there on the show. Of course, it ended badly. Sam remembered an interview with that “winner” saying she’d agreed to be a contestant because she wanted a free trip to Las Vegas. Sam hoped that wasn’t what she’d gotten herself into.

  Sam went on to read the “rules” of the show. They went on for pages and pages, most of which were legal things like “contestants aren’t allow
ed to agree to share any prizes” and things like that. There were also provisions like, “contestants will agree to be taped at all times and will not engage camera personnel in conversation.” Sam thought to herself, This sounds more and more like Survivor. She figured there wasn’t anything more that she could do tonight and decided not to worry about it until tomorrow.

  Chapter Two

  Sam got dressed in a pair of jeans and a V-neck sweater then put on the nametag that was included in the packet she received the night before, and winced. She still didn’t like the fact she had to go by “Sammi.” She hadn’t been called Sammi since she was twelve years old and she moved to a different school. She’d decided it was more “grown-up” to be called Sam.

  She entered the ballroom in the hotel and saw there weren’t that many people there yet. There were little cocktail tables evenly set up around the room with long white tablecloths over them and a rose in a vase sitting on each one. There was also a bar in the corner with a man wearing a full tuxedo standing behind it waiting to take drink orders. A few people were milling around and clustered in groups, talking. Sam had never been comfortable just walking up to people and talking, so she went to get a soft drink from the bartender and sat at one of the little tables.

  The room quickly started filling up. The women who were wearing nametags were all beautiful. Most were tall. All of them could have been models. For what seemed like the hundredth time, Sam mumbled, “What am I doing here?” She didn’t belong. She knew it, and it seemed like everyone else in the room knew it also. They’d see her and then do a double take as if to make sure they were seeing her correctly. Sam knew she wasn’t wearing the appropriate outfit. Most of the other contestants were wearing short skirts or dresses, with their hair in fancy upsweeps and perfect made up faces. In contrast, she’d dressed comfortably. Sam knew this was going to go badly.

  Soon one of the producers got up on the podium in the front of the room. He seemed to be the person in charge. Sam remembered he’d introduced himself to her as Eddie.

  Eddie dramatically announced, “Welcome to the Outback. We are so pleased to have you all here. We know this is going to be the best reality show to air on television back in the States and you’re all going to be stars!”

  At that, the room broke out into spontaneous cheering and clapping.

  Oh brother, Sam thought, this is really over the top.

  Eddie on the podium continued, “I’d like to take this time to introduce all of our lovely contestants...”

  With that he started calling the women up to the stage one by one. “Katie from New York City, Brandi from Phoenix, Kimmie from San Diego, Ashley from Toledo, Cindee from Albany, Lori from Colorado Springs, KiKi from Miami, Courtnee from Pensacola…”

  Sam was starting to feel a little sick. All the women were lining up on stage and it seemed like they were automatically doing the “pageant pose” where one leg was a bit forward, their hips were swiveled, and their hands were on their hips. Most of them had long hair that was either flowing around their shoulders or up in an elegant updo.

  The man continued his dramatic introductions. “Candi from Greensboro, Jennie from Billings, Missy from Los Angeles, Sammi from Albuquerque…”

  Sam walked up on stage and stood next to Missy and stood there with her hands clasped in front of her nervously. She felt very awkward and out of place. She was a bit shorter than Missy and weighed about thirty pounds more. She felt like a beached whale next to all the other women. She knew she wasn’t obese. In fact, she was probably the most normal sized woman in the room, but compared to the others she definitely stood out. Missy was wearing a white miniskirt which showed off her mile long legs. Seeing them, Sam suddenly wondered if she had even remembered to shave her own legs before getting on the plane. She had to remember to do it tonight before the show started, just in case.

  “Wendi from Las Vegas, Nikki from Seattle, Amy from El Paso, and last but not least Kathi from Knoxville. Remember these faces everyone, these are our new contestants for our show called “Love in the Outback.”

  It was even worse than she could imagine. Love in the Outback? Good lord. Hopefully they’d reconsider that name before this stupid show ever aired. Sam wasn’t even really sure she wanted to find love. She had a great job that she enjoyed most of the time. She had great friends, she had a great rental house….she was content with her life for the most part. “Why did I let them talk me into this?” Sam mumbled as they were herded off the stage.

  The rest of the morning was torture. All the other contestants were busy talking amongst themselves, already figuring out that Sam didn’t fit into “their” crowd. Sam bet they were all rich. They talked about places they’d been to, stores they’d shopped in, and clothing they’d brought with them…all of which meant nothing to Sam.

  Later that night, lying alone in her hotel room, Sam thought about what her game-plan was going to be, then rolled her eyes at herself. She figured she’d be one of the first people kicked off the show. After all, who would choose her over the other women? She wasn’t as pretty, didn’t have any fashion sense, was heavier than all of them, and most of all she didn’t want fame as most of the others seemed to crave. She was content to fade into the background…not search out attention. She thought about some of the women she’d met that day. Missy and Katie had hit it off right away, formed their own clique, probably because they were from the “big” cities, LA and New York. Kiki and Courtnee had also paired up, probably because they were both from Florida.

  “Wait a minute,” Sam said out loud to the empty room. She sat up and started writing down as many names of the other women as she could remember…Brandi, Katie, Cindee, Candi, Amy, Kathi—even her own “name,” Sammi. Sam groaned out loud. It couldn’t be…it was beyond cheesy, beyond anything she could imagine…all of their names ended with the “ie” sound. Wendi, Nikki, Missy…it was going to be too embarrassing to be on this show. Sam flopped back on the bed and for what seemed like the millionth time that day, cursed Beth and Christina for getting her into this.

  Chapter Three

  Alexander David Sanders III watched the closed circuit television in his room intently. He wasn’t quite sure how he’d gotten into this situation. Last year he was approached in a local bar and asked if he would pose for a picture for a production company who was looking for reality show contestants. He wasn’t interested in doing anything like being on a reality show, but since he was with Craig and Pete, and they egged him into it, he posed. Apparently, the producers liked his picture and called him in for a round of interviews. He only went to the interviews because Craig and Pete dared him to do it and assured him he’d never get chosen.

  Two more rounds of interviews after that, he’d made the cut and was chosen. Alex wasn’t really sure what he was chosen for until they flew him out to Australia. A freakin’ dating show. Alex thought to himself. He’d never live it down. He liked women—hell, he’d dated more than his fair share of ladies back in Austin. He never had to worry about finding a date on a Friday or Saturday night for that matter. He wasn’t sure how he made it to where he was now, but he didn’t have any choice…he was locked into the contract and he had to go through with it.

  Alex was told there would be sixteen women who he’d be choosing from. Some weeks he’d be deciding who would go home, and other weeks the ladies themselves would choose. The producer also told him that other weeks there would be a competition and the “loser” would leave. At the end of the show, there’d be one lady left and that was supposed to be his “girlfriend” and hopefully future spouse. It was utterly ridiculous. How was he supposed to get to know sixteen women enough to know who they really were in a few weeks? He’d watched enough dating reality shows to know the women acted very differently to each other than to the “bachelor.” He knew some would only be there to be on TV.

  Alex wasn’t sure he even wanted to find a girlfriend. He knew the producers were going to tell the women that he was a rich cowboy who owned
a huge spread of land back in Texas, which wasn’t quite true. Yes, he did own his own piece of land and had a few cows and horses, but it definitely wasn’t a “huge spread” and he definitely wasn’t rich. He wasn’t hurting for money, true, but it wasn’t like he was a millionaire or anything.

  Thinking back to the concept of finding a girlfriend on a reality show, he was a busy man and sure hadn’t been able to find someone to love back home, so maybe he should give this reality show thing a chance. He figured if it didn’t work out, he’d have a great vacation in Australia, spend some time with beautiful women and maybe drum up some business for himself when it was all said and done.

  So here he was, in the Outback, in a hotel room, watching closed circuit television. When he arrived in Australia a few days ago Eddie and the other producers sat him down and explained how the show would work. This show would be a bit different than others because he’d have 24/7 access to any of the tapes of the women or locations that he wanted. He’d see what the contestants did when they weren’t around him. He could see their “true nature” when they were around the other contestants. He could see what they looked like without makeup on, he could see how they interacted, and most importantly, he could hear what they said about him when they weren’t around him. When Alex heard that, he became almost excited about this adventure he was about to go on. He knew how to manipulate people with the best of them, and it was going to be great to see how, and if, these women tried to manipulate him.

  So he was in his room, watching the “get to know you” function that the contestants were required to attend. It was his first chance to see the contestants before they met him. He kept his fingers crossed that they’d be beautiful. He’d seen one reality show where the “bachelorette” was introduced to the contestants and they were all unattractive, slightly awkward men. He wasn’t a snob, but he didn’t know if he could handle that, even with a signed contract.