Playing Games (15 page)

I breathed a sigh of relief. This room was
not all that scary, and I found my anxiety slipping away again. "I
guess we should search for the next clue, huh?"

"In a minute," Liam said, and tugged on my
hands, helping me to my feet. When I was standing, though, he
didn't let go of my hands. He continued to hold them and stared
down at me. "You're still avoiding the question."

"The question?" I asked, a little flustered
at his intense gaze.

His hand released mine, and he reached up to
tug on one of my pigtails. "I want to know if all of this chemistry
between us is just for TV."

Just like that, the breath escaped my lungs
again. I gazed up at him. "Not on my side," I admitted.

"Good. Mine neither." His hand cupped the
back of my head and he bent down to press a light, grazing kiss on
my mouth. "You want to know what's keeping me going right now?"

His lips remained so close to mine that it
was making desire surge through my body, blocking out any thoughts
of fear or the race. "What?"

"The thought that at the end of this leg?"
His mouth slicked over mine again, his tongue flicking against the
parted seam of my mouth. "That we have enough money for another
hotel room." Again, that stealthy, sweet kiss that was more of a
tease than anything. "And that maybe we don't have to go anywhere
or do anything for a nice, long twelve hours." Again, that flick of
tongue. "And we get to spend that twelve hours in bed.
Together."

Each stroke of his tongue felt like it was
moving directly to my clit. I gave a small moan of response, my
hands releasing his to cling to the front of his shirt.

"But maybe I'm the only one that wants that?"
he asked in a low, sultry whisper. "Because you're not saying
anything."

I shuddered, barely suppressing the moan
rising in my throat. "No, I want that too." The thought of sliding
into bed with this gorgeous man and exploring each other for twelve
glorious hours? It sounded like heaven. I thought of his body
curled around mine in our chaste bed in Italy. It had been
delicious…and it had been torture. Torture because I wanted the
real thing. Liam naked, in bed with me, his skin sliding over mine,
his tongue doing that erotic dance along my mouth like it was right
now.

And so I decided to show him just how much I
wanted it. I dragged his mouth to mine in a hard kiss, my tongue
sweeping into his mouth. My leg rose and curled around his,
dragging our hips together.

He groaned and his hands planted on my ass,
curving my body against his larger one until I was pressed against
him, and our mouths met and meshed over and over again. It didn't
matter that we were at the bottom of a pyramid, or that it was hot
and muggy inside, or we were in the middle of a race. All I knew at
this moment was that this delicious man wanted to sleep with
me.

And I wanted him, too. I couldn't wait for
tonight.

The kiss broke off after a moment, leaving us
both gasping. I could feel Liam growing hard against my thigh, and
my nipples felt like they were about to come through my shirt, they
were so tight.

"Well," he said raggedly, and then slicked
another kiss over my mouth, as if he couldn't leave me alone. "I
guess we should look for that clue."

"I guess so," I said, and nipped at his jaw
again, not moving from his arms.

He chuckled and gave my ass a firm squeeze
with his hands - such strong hands - and slid me back down to the
ground. "Come on."

"Gotcha," I said breathlessly. We gave the
room a cursory look, though there wasn't all that much to see.

There was, however, a black hole carved into
the shadowy wall. Another tunnel, small and cramped and barely wide
enough to crawl into.

Liam glanced over at me. "I don't suppose you
want to go in there and check?"

"How about no?"

He grinned and dropped to his knees in front
of it. "Somehow, I thought you'd say that."

"I'll make it worth your while," I said in a
flirty voice. "Later tonight."

He looked back at me and grinned. "Now you're
talking." Then he dropped to his elbows, and began to shimmy into
the hole.

I shuddered and looked away, unable to watch
him climbing even deeper into this hellhole pyramid. Rubbing my
arms, I glanced around the chamber…

And just barely caught a green light
flashing. Frowning, I headed over to that light, and noticed that
there was a small camera mounted in the wall next to one of the
lights.

Well, damn. So much for not caring about
making good TV. We'd just made some pretty awesome TV with our
impromptu make out session.

And somehow, I couldn't find it in me to be
upset. I was looking forward to more kisses far too much.

~~ * * * ~~

By the time we'd visited all three pyramids,
the sun was coming up and we had eight different figurines. Liam
had done all the hard work. I'd mostly clung to him and suffered my
way through the series of small tunnels. The Great Pyramid had been
the worst; the others were just mildly unpleasant.

When we were finished with the last, we laid
the figures out on the ground outside and studied them, moving
words around. When we figured it out, it read:
Head to the
Sphinx Temple for your clue
.

We were like a well-oiled machine at this
point. Liam and I looked at each other. Wordlessly, he grabbed my
backpack and we sprinted back towards the Sphinx. It was a bit of a
trot and by the time we arrived, we were both winded.

There was a flag at the entrance, and a man
in a white cotton robe and turban waiting for us. The sun had come
up and it was getting warmer, and I envied him his cool-seeming
clothing. I took the disk with a thank you, and then retreated to
read it.

"Individual Task," I read aloud as Liam
dropped our packs. "One of you will go step by step and reproduce a
traditional Egyptian mummy, complete with linens, scarabs, and
mummification rituals. A judge will be waiting nearby to give you
your next clue once you have completed the task to his
satisfaction." I looked up at Liam in horror. "Please tell me we're
not going to have to mummify a real body."

"This is TV, Katy. I doubt they found someone
willing to volunteer for that."

Good point. I considered things, then
shrugged. If it was nasty, well, I had the stronger stomach. "I'll
do it."

Liam grinned. "I was hoping you'd say
that."

I gave him a quick kiss and dashed into the
designated area. And stopped being amused. There were six tables
laid out, each one with a 'body.' A cameraman dashed forward,
recording my flinch of reaction. I moved closer to the nearest
table and heaved a sigh of relief when I realized that the 'person'
on the table was plastic. Thank god for that. Next to the table was
a scroll, and next to that was a series of tools and jars.

I considered the implements laid out before
me, and picked up a small hook, then shuddered. I did not want to
know what that was for.

After examining the items, I unrolled the
scroll. It was done in a cheesy sort of hieroglyphic, complete with
pictures detailing each step of mummification. Here was where you
washed the body. Here was where you removed the internal organs and
put them in jars. Here was where you shoved the hook up the nose
and scooped the brains out.

I brushed my fingers over the dummy’s
skin…and it felt almost like real skin. It was even warm.

Ew.

I swallowed hard and looked down at my dummy.
"You're lucky it's me and not Liam, mister."

~~ * * * ~~

A short time later, I wiped my hands clean
and took the disk that the judge held out for me, feeling vaguely
queasy. That had been a little more realistic - dummy and all -
than I had preferred.

No sooner had I received my disk and went out
to greet my partner than another team showed up - Summer and Polly.
Damn. How did they constantly get to the head of the pack? It was
crazy. Hot on their heels were Abby and Dean and Tesla and Brodie.
Almost everyone had caught up. I didn't see the other two teams,
but I was pretty sure they weren't far behind.

Off to the side, Liam waved me down and I
raced over to him with the disk. We hunched over it, reading the
clue quietly. "Head to the harbor of Alexandria and look for the
Pharos Lighthouse," I read aloud.

"One of the seven wonders of the ancient
world," Liam murmured. "Interesting. I thought it was
destroyed."

I'd never heard of the darn thing. "So how do
we find something that's destroyed?"

"It says to head to Alexandria," he pointed
out. "Maybe someone there will know more."

We gathered up our things and returned to our
waiting taxi.

~~ * * * ~~

Several hours later, we departed the train
that had taken us to Alexandria and hailed another cab. While
riding on the train, we'd borrowed someone's smartphone and had a
chance to do some research on the Pharos Lighthouse - it had
apparently been found under the sea and there were diving tours
that could get us to where we needed to go. I suspected that we'd
find a flag at one of the diving stations.

With our cab driver, we searched the bay
section. I spotted the cameras before I spotted the flag, and
nudged Liam. "Over there."

He nodded, and we bounded out of the cab
after paying the driver. Off atop a nearby hill, I could see Chip
Brubaker waiting at the finish line. This had to be the right
place. I took Liam's pack as he headed to the scuba diving shop,
meeting the judge with the flag.

The man handed him his task and Liam read it
aloud. "Dive in the waters of Alexandria's Eastern Harbor. Search
the treasure chests along the bottom of the ocean for ten coins
that depict the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Once you have all ten
coins, proceed to the finish line." Liam glanced back at me and
grinned. "Wish me luck."

“How about a good luck kiss?”

“Even better,” he said, moving toward me.
Before I could take the initiative, his hand went to the back of my
neck and he dragged me toward him in a quick, fierce kiss that left
my knees weak.

"Good luck," I said, hugging his oversized
backpack to my front, wobbly. "I'll, um, be here."

He disappeared off with the production crew,
and I sat down on a chair at the dock, waiting. I could at least
watch and see who else showed up and make note of the order they
arrived in. Unless Joel/Derron and Hal/Stefan showed up ahead of
the others, they had to be in last place. A bad flight, maybe. It
didn't matter. We seemed to be safe for now.

Of course, as soon as that thought crossed my
mind, I knocked on wood.

The diving shop sold snacks and cold bottles
of water, and I made myself comfortable, waiting in a shady spot
and eying the flag stop.

At least an hour crawled by. No Liam. No
other contestants. I spun my water bottle and then purchased
another and more snacks for Liam, because I knew he'd be hungry.
We'd been going all morning long, and if his dive was taking this
long, he was bound to be exhausted when he returned. I peered at
the waters of the harbor, but didn't see anything. I'd just wait
here for him to return, since Chip was so close by.

A taxi pulled up a few minutes later. To my
dismay, Brodie and Tesla jumped out of the cab. They'd gotten ahead
of the rest of the group. Damn it. And now I was going to have to
sit with one of them. Double damn.

I nearly groaned aloud when Tesla disappeared
into the dive shop, leaving me with Brodie. Figured.

My brother sprawled onto the deck next to me
and rested his head on his pack. "Hey, sis." He gestured at my
water bottle. "I don't suppose you'd give that to me? I'm
wiped."

"They sell them in the shop, Brodie."

"Yeah, but Tesla and I are pretty low on
funds at the moment." He grimaced. "She likes to spend money and we
keep running out."

I eyed my brother's sweaty hair and cracked
lips, and sighed, handing the water bottle to him. "You hungry,
too?"

"God yes, I'm starving."

I wordlessly handed him the bag of trail mix
I'd been saving for Liam. "I'd give you some money but it's not
just mine."

"That's okay," Brodie said, stuffing food
into his mouth and taking a huge swig of water. "You are awesome,
Katy, you know that?"

I just shook my head at Brodie. "I'm your
sister. I'm not going to let you die on a dumb race."

He grinned and flopped back down on his bag.
"This race is pretty awesome, actually."

It was, I had to admit. I was having a lot
more fun than I'd anticipated…but most of that was due to Liam.
"I'm still a bit mad at you for the partner swap," I told him. "You
should have talked to me first."

"I just didn't want Tesla to go, you know? I
didn't realize they were going to flip us." He shielded his eyes
from the sun and squinted up at me. "I
am
sorry. You’re my
sister. I didn’t want to screw you over."

I sighed. "I know." Brodie was just Brodie.
Kind of thoughtless, really impulsive, but didn't mean any harm.
"So how's Tesla in the partner department?"

"She's pretty good," he said and gave me a
wicked grin. "And she's pretty good at the race."

"Gross, Brodie. Just gross."

He laughed, finished his water, and then gave
the empty bottle a mournful look. Jeez, how long had they been
without water or anything to eat? I returned to the shop, bought
two more bottles and two more bags of trail mix, then sat next to
Brodie again and wordlessly handed him one of each.

My brother enveloped me in a bear hug. "I
love you, Katy."

"Yeah, yeah," I said, but I was feeling a
little better about me and Brodie. I gave my brother a hug back and
then nudged his shoulder. "You tell Tesla to watch it on the money,
all right? We don't get that much for each leg, and it's probably
stupid of me to be buying you stuff since we're competing."