All Out Of Love

Rough Terrain

Author Note: Finally after a really long break and health battle for the last couple of months, I am back with a new chapter. This chapter was written very differently but I'm so pleased with how it turned out. Thank you so much for the support and love.

Rat-a-tat-tat

With a loud groan of frustration, Madison crawled out of large king sized bed, hissing as her toe collided with the bedside dresser. A few days into her new reality, the honeymoon period had come to an abrupt and premature end as Madison discovered that signing away her life away came at the sacrifice of a good night's sleep.

Keeping up with the rigorous production schedule while being expected to make one of the most important decisions of her life seemed almost impossible. As someone who prided themselves on aiming for 8-hours of ASMR induced sleep each night, surviving on the mere 4 hours threatened to erode her sanity until there was nothing left.

How was a woman supposed to choose a husband under these circumstances?

"I'm awake," she whimpered, resisting the urge to crawl back into bed, knowing that the sleep that she craved wouldn't descend upon her even if she willed it with all her heart.

Since the first night, her thoughts had kept her awake running marathons in her head. In the two days since, she replayed each moment a million times, beating herself up for the calm way she had , there were men who had to be sent home without so much as a second chance of a first impression on the same night they had taken such a huge gamble to find love.

Madison was no Blindsiding Queen. While her heart was in the recovery process of getting over Ethan Wright, in her heart she couldn't play with anyone's emotions. Despite lacking the savagery gene that didn't exist in her DNA, on the first night she had mustered up the strength to send four guys home.

Still nursing a headache from indulging in fancy champagne on her date with single dad and real estate agent Cole, her mind drifted to the men who had given up their entire lives to woo her. It was still early days of remembering the men's names but one stood out from the others.

Preston...

While he was far from her usual type with his ruggedly handsome features and subtly tan skin, there was something about the man that peaked her interest. On the first night, he had been the calming presence she had needed to avoid crawling into the corner of the room and hiding there until production admitted that casting her as the lead was the biggest mistake of the century.

She didn't believe in love at first sight. Madison relinquished the silly notions for sheltered girls who had no idea of how the world worked. Scowling, she realized that she had been exactly one of the same girls who loved the idea of being in love until Ethan Wright had set her straight and broken her heart.

Her thoughts drifted back to Preston. As mysterious as the man was, she could feel he had much more depth to him than he was letting on. The man had more layers than an onion yet seemed content in flying under the radar among the other men. He admitted just enough information to keep her on her toes without spilling his guts like some of the men had been guilty of doing on the first night.

Tying the satin robe around her waist, Madison said goodbye to the comfort of her bed as she began her day way more early than she considered "a decent hour'. The five am call-time often left her brain wrecked for the entire day. Early morning confessionals meant she would give production exactly what they wanted. Raw, honest commentary on her experiences had led her to this point. Capitalizing on that would only make the season that much more successful.

As she entered the green room, a small fraction of the crew greeted her with less than enthusiastic grunts, scarfing down donuts and coffee while setting up their cameras.