The Showmance: BWWM Romance

By Sherie Keys

 

Tilly is a cute, confident BBW of African American heritage who gets her fair share of men. However, even she would admit that sexy underwear model William is a bit out of her league...

So when she finds herself on a dating show competing with size zero bikini models trying to win a date with William she is just waiting to be rejected and she can not wait to just go home and get over the humiliation.

To her surprise, William rejects all the other girls and picks her for the date. Tilly can not believe she was picked and can not wait to get a feel of his rock hard abs in person.

However, she is in for a BIG shock when she discovers the TRUTH behind the reason that William picked her....

Is this Romance? Or is this Showmance?

• Language: English
• Publisher: BWWM Romance
• Release date: Feb 25, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524282172

Book preview

Chapter1

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Tilly stood in the wings, staring out anxiously at the brightly lit stage. Her hands were sweating, and she had to concentrate to keep her balance. The heels she wore were ridiculously large; she only wore them because her friend Lily insisted she looked better in them. Her feet ached.

Everything seemed to move too slowly and too fast all at once. Loud noises came from her stomach, and one of the aides snorted at her as he passed. Self-conscious, Tilly stepped away from the group of girls to get a better look at the stage.  Six fancy red chairs were set up under the spotlight, and one of them had her name on it. From where she was standing, she could see people start to surge into the seating area and the room began to quickly fill. Several other girls stood behind her, chatting without a care.

Ten minutes! she heard several ushers cry from their spots in the aisles. The horde of people seemed to increase. As the number of people swelled, so did the sick feeling in her stomach.

Ten minutes! said one of the camera operators as he brushed past Tilly. She watched him walk along the side of the stage and slide behind one of the large cameras. There were so many cameras. The girls behind her squealed in delight and pushed to peer out onto the stage and into the audience. One of them attempted to move past Tilly but she didn’t budge. They were intimidating but in this matter Tilly was determined not to be shoved out of her spot. They weren’t worried about being on TV, they weren’t worried about whether they would be picked or not. But Tilly was.

She’d applied to the ad on a whim. It was an open call for a dating show, and she had submitted an application in desperation, never really thinking she would be picked. It had been a horrible day when the ad came to her. She had just gotten home from an interview with the financial aid department at her university.

We’re sorry. Their voices echoed in her head. We just don’t think you have sufficient need to qualify for any more aid. They had showed her out as politely as possible, and she gave them the birdie as politely as possible. She managed to hold it together until she reached her car, despite the emotions that threatened to spill out into the open. When she slid behind the wheel and shut the door, then the tears came. She cried all the way home and didn’t stop until she was on the couch with a bowl of rocky road ice cream. The university had denied her financial aid, and her saving account was shrinking rapidly as she paid for classes and just to live.

Her pride prevented her from calling her mother, who was struggling to afford her tiny condo apartment in her hometown. Her father had died three years ago, and now her mother worked two jobs just to afford her condo and take care of her little brother, Archie. Archie was attending high school and was involved in the theater department. One wouldn’t think so but the theater demanded hefty fees for participating in plays and similar events. Her mother had enough to deal with as it was. 

She had no rich friends to request favors from, and a second job proved fruitless. Every place she had applied demanded experience. Where they expected her to get that experience from was beyond her. By the time she had gotten off of the couch and started cleaning her apartment, she was delirious with stress. The mail was pushed through the door slot as she was vacuuming the carpet. At the top of the pile was a letter, addressed to her, inviting her to apply for The Dating Game. At the time she thought it would be a good opportunity. Tilly had applied without a thought, sure that no harm could come from it. She wasn’t so sure now. This was a crazy idea.

The $250 check seemed to burn a hole in her handbag, and she shifted it nervously to the other hand. The reason she had applied was the $1000 prize if you were picked for a date. The game was simple. There were five guys and six girls. Each boy would come out one at a time and ask questions. After his three questions were asked and answered, he picked a girl for a date. There would be fanfare and applause as he escorted his girl off the stage and the next boy came on. One girl would go home without a date.

Her chances seemed slim compared to the Barbie blonde and model thin girls who stood behind her. Tilly was short and round. Her skin was dark, similar to the black coffee her father drank when she was younger. Her mother always compared it to dark chocolate but Tilly hated being compared to food. It felt degrading. But standing next to the lily-white blondes, that was all Tilly could think of. Dark coffee and bitter chocolate. At least she got $250 for showing up.

Maybe she could slip away? Carefully Tilly stepped back, letting the pushy blonde take her place. There was no one else around. The blondes were too busy talking about the size of the audience, and everyone else was focused on their jobs, adjusting the lighting or checking the cameras. Who would notice? Tilly turned and walked away. No one looked up as she passed the soundboard. No one spoke up as she passed the refreshment table. Her heart was pounding as she came closer and closer to the large door at the back of the stag. A bright green EXIT hung above the door, promising her relief. All she had to do was get through it. Her car was parked just around the corner and then she was home free. It would all be an unpleasant nightmare