Playing Games (12 page)

For once, the penalty would end up being in
their favor, because all they had to do was look at our models and
pattern theirs after ours. Damn it. I felt the strongest urge to
kick mine over, but I didn't know if that would make us have to
restart.

The next clue was for an individual task.
“I’ll take this one,” I told Liam. “You did all the heavy lifting
of the temple pieces. Sit down and rest a few.”

He nodded and collapsed in the shade of one
of the buildings. His brow was beaded with sweat and he pulled out
a bottle of water, looking rather winded. I didn’t blame him – he
and Dean had worked like animals on the last challenge while Abby
and I stood around and pointed out directions.

My task was a simple one – theoretically. It
was a visual scavenger hunt. I had to go to one villa, pick up a
scroll, go to the next villa, pick up a feather pen, and the next
villa had a shopping list of ‘items’ I had to find in the paintings
and frescoes. Then, I needed to visit sixteen different marked
villas in the ruins and note where each object was found. Then, I
had to run to a judge and show him my list. If I had everything
marked correctly, we could move on to the next task.

It seemed almost too easy. Of course, I
hadn't realized why the producers had wanted to do this particular
challenge until I arrived at the first villa and saw the cameraman
set up in front of the mural, ready to film reactions.

The murals in Pompeii? Were dirty. Hugely
dirty. There were murals of a woman receiving oral in a bathhouse,
murals of a threesome, murals of gods with penises longer than an
arm. You name it? The Pompeiians had made a beautiful mural of it.
I giggled and blushed my way through each one, ran into Abby about
halfway through, and we compared notes.

She pointed at the house with the mural of
the well-hung god. "I called that one 'Dean.'"

I died laughing. I almost joked that I hadn't
found one to call Liam, but my mind flashed back to the mural of
the woman in the bathhouse receiving oral from the guy kneeling in
front of her, and my face flamed bright red.

My partner and I hadn't done much more than
hold hands. I couldn't be thinking such dirty things about him.

Unfortunately, I thought them anyhow.

We snickered our way through the last house
and then ran back to the judge with our answers, laughing the
entire time.

Once we had the next clue, it was our turn to
rest and the boys took over. Abby and I sat in the shade of a
building and drank bottles of now-warm water as the boys performed
a grape stomping challenge that would somehow end up as wine. By
that time, Brodie and Tesla had caught back up with us, and Brodie
climbed in to his grape bucket next to Liam.

I was thrilled for Abby when she and Dean
finished first with the grapes and received their clue token. She
gave me an excited look, then they ran off to find the pit stop. I
tried not to feel impatient as Liam stomped grapes in a slow,
methodical motion even as Brodie was stomping so fast and so hard
that he looked like he was dancing a jig. He was determined to beat
us to the next task. My brother wanted this so bad he could taste
it. So bad that he was willing to fight with my partner over a
guidebook that might give an advantage.

Guilt flickered through me. Was it such a
terrible thing if Brodie wanted this badly enough to play dirty?
Was I a bad sister for not helping him out? He'd never pretended
that he didn't want anything except to be a star.

And me, I was playing at a fake relationship
with my partner to get more TV time. It made me feel a little dirty
just to think about. I mean, here I was fantasizing about Liam and
he was just making sure we were interesting on TV. That seemed
wrong.

"Done," Liam shouted, holding up his wine
amphora, now full of foot-stomped grape juice. The judge nodded and
handed him a disk, and I jerked to my feet. I hauled our backpacks
even as Liam hopped on one foot, trying to shove a sock back onto
his grape-stained foot. "Read it," he breathed to me as he worked
on putting on his shoes.

I read it silently, noticing Tesla hovering a
bit too close nearby.

Make your way to the finish line for this leg
of the race. Chip's waiting where you met him.

I hugged the disk to my chest and grinned at
Liam. Finally, a freaking break. A finish line meant a twelve hour
rest period between this leg of the race and the next one, and I
couldn't wait to sleep and take a hot shower. Preferably both.

Ten minutes later, we crossed the finish
line, hand in hand, and stopped in front of Chip Brubaker.

He gave us a brilliant white smile, his face
heavily caked with makeup that was looking streaky thanks to the
sweat on his brow. "Katy and Liam, you are the second team to
arrive. Congratulations!"

I gave a weak cheer and flung my arms around
Liam's waist, too tired and hot to do more than that.

"You have twelve hours between now and the
next task. I suggest you find a place to get some rest," Chip told
us.

We nodded and walked off the mat, away from
the cameras. As soon as we did, all the tension seemed to leave my
body, and I felt exhausted. I wiped at my own sweaty brow, wishing
that my backpack wasn't quite so heavy.

As if reading my mind, Liam tugged at my
backpack and pulled it off my shoulders. "Let me get that for
you."

"You don't have to," I protested. "We don't
need to be anywhere fast."

"Yeah, but you're small and you look
wiped."

I
was
small - barely five foot. But it
wasn't fair to him. I protested again.

He shook his head. "You and Abby had to run
all over the city for your task. Did you see how tired she was? I
wouldn't be surprised if she and Dean left to find a private hotel
room."

"Can we do that? Do we have the money?"

"Won't hurt to check, will it?" He slung my
backpack over his shoulder. "Come on."

He took my hand and we headed into the city
around the ruins.

It didn't take long to find a few hotels. The
first two we tried were pricier than we wanted to spend, but the
third one had a room for about the right price - eighty dollars for
a night. We decided we could give up that much money, paid, and
headed up the stairs to our room.

I blinked at the sight of the small, clean
hotel bedroom. It was nice enough. There was a large window
overlooking the city, a nightstand, a bathroom…and a single
bed.

Again.

Liam didn't notice my hesitation. He set down
the bags, moved over to the air conditioner, and turned it on.
Then, he sat down on the edge of the bed and began to pull off his
shoes, grimacing at his purple-stained feet. "Okay with you if I
use the shower first?"

I nodded. He was definitely dirtier than I
was.

Liam grinned and stripped off his shirt,
displaying his bare chest. I tried not to look, but couldn't help
myself. When it had been Abby, Dean, and both of us in the room?
He'd been careful to stay fully clothed. Now that it was just me,
though? All bets seemed to be off. I watched him as he undressed.
His back was decorated with several random, smaller tattoos, and
one pectoral seemed to be covered in a giant spider-web tattoo.
After a moment, he undid the fly of his jeans and dropped them to
the ground, standing in only his boxers. When he turned, I saw his
back was sculpted enough that he actually had back dimples just
above his rather tight ass.

Oh. Damn. I lay back on the bed and grabbed
one of the pillows, closing my eyes and pretending to sleep. I
didn't move a muscle until I heard the bathroom door shut and the
water turn on. After that, I relaxed, flipping onto my back and
staring up at the ceiling of the small hotel room.

Was Liam this casual with Tesla? Did he strip
down to his boxers in front of any chick? Or was it just because of
our special situation?

And why was I paying so much attention to
it?

I shook my head, annoyed with myself. The guy
probably had no idea I was so ultra-focused on everything he
did.

~~ * * * ~~

An arm slid around my waist, a warm body
spooning against my back. I gave a small sigh and snuggled in
closer, enjoying the feel of the person wrapped around me. His body
was big and long compared to mine, entangling with my limbs, and
the arm around my waist felt heavenly. And as my bottom shifted, I
heard a barely audible male groan.

My eyes flew open. I stared around me,
disoriented. Hotel room. Okay. Unfamiliar hotel room. Through the
window, I could see the skies were pink with dusk, the curtains
fluttering as the air conditioner blasted. I lay on a comfortable
bed, and a man had his arm around my waist. I glanced down and saw
the familiar black lines of Liam's tattoos.

We were spooning in the only bed.

It was my fault, I told myself, squeezing my
eyes closed. I'd sprawled on the bed and grabbed at pillows while
he showered. I must have fallen asleep, and when he'd gotten out,
instead of waking me up, he'd crawled into bed next to me to catch
a few hours of sleep. Totally plausible. Logical. No problem.

Except for that tiny groan that had made my
pulse race and my nipples harden. They were hard even now, aching
points of awareness as my backside pressed against him.

Okay, maybe he'd been asleep and hadn't
realized that he'd groaned aloud. Maybe he didn't realize that my
bottom was pressed up against his groin, and I could feel his cock
growing hard. Guys got boners when they slept, right? Right. No
problem. I'd just sneak away, hop into the shower, and make enough
noise that would wake him up and we'd go back to our normal
companionship.

After all, there were no cameras around right
now. There was zero benefit to kissing me. None. Zilch.

I rolled onto my back, slowly, and opened an
eye, daring a look at Liam.

He was awake. His hair was nearly dry, he'd
shaved, and the look in his eyes was sleepy, but he was awake.

Heat flushed through my body all over again,
and I lay there, frozen in place, my heart thumping in my chest. He
was inches away from my face, his arm still around my waist.

He'd groaned while
awake
.

My nipples were so incredibly hard at the
realization. We were in bed together. Alone. For the first time
since we'd started this crazy journey, we were alone.

And suddenly, I wanted to kiss him again. I
reached out, hesitant, and brushed my fingers along the planes of
his jaw. He gave another soft, low groan, but didn't move. His eyes
watched me with intensity as I stroked my fingers along his skin,
then brushed them against the ring on the side of his lip, the mark
that Brodie's elbow had left on his mouth, and then just traced his
lips because they were there.

He nipped at my fingers as I did.

I whimpered then, feeling heat pool between
my legs. I leaned in closer, until my forehead pressed against his,
and my gaze went to his mouth. I hesitated for a moment, then
changed the angle, slanting my face so I'd meet with his mouth in a
light, teasing kiss.

"Katy," he whispered, my name a mere breath
on his lips. And that made me shiver all over again.

I brushed my lips against his once more, then
ran my tongue along his lower lip, exploring it. His mouth parted
under mine, and I sucked on his lower lip, gently, tasting him. He
groaned against me, and his tongue brushed against my lips, a
silent entreaty. I angled my mouth against his again, and met his
tongue with mine. Suddenly, the kisses changed in intensity from a
slow exploration to a wild hunger. The kiss grew deep, and I felt
Liam's arm tighten around my waist, dragging me closer to him in
the bed. My nipples brushed against his chest and I gasped, even as
his tongue thrust into my mouth.

And then I forgot about everything but that
kiss. Because holy hell, the man could kiss. His tongue stud
flicked against my mouth, at once foreign and titillating as his
tongue stroked over mine. The kiss deepened again, his tongue
stroking deep into my mouth, even as his thigh moved over my leg,
twining my body with his. I dragged a hand to his hair, wanting to
twist my fingers in those dark locks, and gasped when he used his
tongue stud to flick against my tongue again. I whimpered when the
kiss grew deep once more, as his hips rolled against mine in a
suggestive manner that left nothing to the imagination, and felt my
own body move in response.

He groaned and his hand slid from my side up
to my breast, cupping it. I felt his thumb brush over the hard,
aching peak and my cry of pleasure was swallowed into his kiss. I
pushed against his hand, need ratcheting upward as our kisses grew
more intense.

And then my stomach growled. Loud.

I broke the kiss in horror, my eyes flying
open.

Liam chuckled. "Hungry?"

"I…I guess." But he was still giving me that
sleepy, delicious look that made me want to fling my arms back
around him, roll him onto his back and then straddle those hips
that had rocked so deliciously against mine a second ago.

"Your stomach probably has more sense than
us," he said in a low voice. "We should eat a big meal and sleep it
off before continuing on the race."

"You're probably right," I said, my voice
sounding far more normal than I felt. "How long was I asleep?"

"About two hours," he told me, and rolled
away to sit on the edge of the bed. "You want to take a shower? We
can head out afterward."

"Okay," I said breathlessly, but didn't move.
My body was still thinking about that deep, wicked kiss, the way
his mouth had moved against mine, the way his hips had ground
against my own. That strange and wonderful tongue piercing. His big
hand on my breast.

But Liam put on his earbuds and dragged his
backpack over to his lap, and began to tap out a song. It was as if
I wasn't there all over again. And that made me feel…weird. Like I
was just a convenient stand-in for Tesla.