Playing Games (20 page)

My choked gasp of pleasure echoed in the
small room. My entire body tensed, ready to slide right into
orgasm. This would take no time at all - I was already so turned on
I was practically writhing against his hand.

Then, he pushed inside me.

The strangest little mewing sound came from
my throat, involuntary. And then Liam was pressing forward, his
mouth moving to capture mine even as he stroked deep. My leg was
stretched onto his shoulder, my knee mashed up against my breast as
he leaned in to kiss away my moans. And he began to thrust. Not
hard, but quick and fast, and I felt each one deep inside me,
stretched and exposed as I was.

I moaned again, the sounds muffled by the
thrust of Liam's tongue in time with his cock. The sensations were
driving me wild, and I couldn't keep quiet. Soft, whimpering little
gasps escaped me with every thrust of his cock as he rocked into
me, over and over again. I was wild with pleasure, and that orgasm
that had been so close? Spiraled out of control within moments, and
then I was crying out, heedless of his quiet shushings, the kisses
that tried to drown me out. My entire body was locked around his as
pleasure overtook me, and a moment later, overtook him.

When I came down, I realized that Liam had
collapsed on top of me, breathing hard, just as spent as I was. The
only sound was our mingled, rapid breaths and the constant steady
hum of the train as it moved along the tracks.

Liam groaned once more, then leaned up to
kiss my mouth in a hard, insistent claim. I kissed him back, dazed.
That had been amazing.

"Is it wrong of me to hope that we have a
private train car on every leg of the race from here on out?"

"Nah," I said in a shaky voice, curling up
against him when he rolled next to me on the narrow cot. I'd kinda
been thinking the same thing.

~~ * * * ~~

The Goreme Open Air Museum looked like
something out of the Flintstones. Buildings of rock with square
windows had been carved out of the side of the cliff. It was really
interesting, but not half as fascinating as the colorful hot air
balloons we'd passed on the way here. There was one waiting on the
ground nearby, and I gave it a wistful look. We didn't have time to
do something like that.

Liam tugged at my hand when I headed toward
the stone building, turning me away. "I think I see the flag over
there, in that field."

To my delight, he pointed at the hot air
balloon. Sure enough, there was The World Races flag, and someone
already in the nearest balloon, waiting. "Oh my gosh, do you think
we get to go up in the balloon? How freaking cool is that?"

Liam chuckled at my excitement. "I take it
you want to do this one?"

I gave a little bounce of pleasure. "Can I?
Do you mind?"

"Not at all," he told me, and leaned in to
give me a private smile. "Have fun. I'll be here when you get
back."

I gave him a happy, enthusiastic kiss, not
even caring that we were being filmed anymore. What did it matter?
Liam was a great guy, and gorgeous. Who cared if the world was
going to see us kissing?

I sprinted for the brilliant purple and
yellow balloon, leaving my heavy pack with Liam and carrying only
my necessities - my ID, some money, and of course, the Ace. As part
of the race rules, we were never to let those leave our sight.

I bounded to the mat and gave the man at the
flag a smile of thanks as he handed me the disk, then read it
quickly.
Take a ride in the hot air balloon and look for clues
as to where you are to head next. Each hot air balloon ride lasts
one hour and holds two players. If you do not see the message on
your first ride, you must get back in line and wait to ride
again.

A bit of anxiety clenched my stomach. What if
I didn't find the message on the first round? We might be here all
day. I looked back at Liam, but he only waved at me, clearly not
seeing my distress. No sense in worrying about it, I told myself,
and got into the basket of the balloon.

A player was already there, seated and
waiting on a small bench inside the basket.

Brodie.

He grinned at the sight of me. "Hey there,
sis."

"I see you got here ahead of us," I told him,
taking a seat next to him. I couldn't even be mad about it.
Everyone had to take taxis from the train station out to Goreme. It
was entirely possible that he'd beaten us out here, though I hadn't
seen Tesla. "Where's your partner?"

"Probably ran off to find a restroom," he
told me. "She's got a killer hangover from last night."

Spending all their money on drinking?
Figured. Maybe that was another reason the producers kept giving us
so much money per leg. They wanted Tesla to get wasted. Lovely. My
opinion of the show dropped a few notches as I sat down next to
Brodie.

A cameraman got onto the balloon as another
assistant handed us each binoculars.

"Can we share answers?" Brodie asked the
assistant.

The man shrugged. "Not against the
rules."

I gave Brodie a sour look. He was assuming
I'd share with him? Because I had to suspect that if it was the
other way around, it wouldn't happen.

As the balloon lifted off, I hung on to one
of the basket's bright red railings - the hot air balloon
equivalent of a chicken bar. We lifted into the air, and no one
said anything for a long time, the sound of the burner flame
echoing in our ears. The ride was surprisingly smooth, and before
long, the ground was mere specks below us. My breath caught in my
lungs at the wonder of being so high in the air, weightless and
free. It was incredible. The countryside of Cappadocia spread out
below us, all rusts and brown rock formations and craggy
valleys.

At my side, Brodie turned and got to his
feet, putting his binoculars to his eyes. I did the same, not
wanting to be shown up by my brother. Strange how we'd started this
race as partners and ended up as rivals.

"So if you see the message, you gonna share?"
Brodie asked me.

I glanced over at him, but he hadn't looked
away from his binoculars. He continued to scan the ground, as
supremely confident and utterly casual that my answer would be a
positive one. Which irritated me. I ignored him.

"Katy?"

"I haven't decided," I said after a long
minute.

"Are you serious?"

"This is a race for two hundred and fifty
grand, Brodie. Why should I hand it over to you? That kind of money
buys me a lot of advertising for a start-up business, you
know."

"Yeah, but this was my dream, not yours,
Katy. You know it's not about the money. We can split the money if
we win. Either one of us." He leaned in. "You know what I want out
of this more than anything."

Publicity. Fame. His fifteen minutes. And if
he won, he'd get that much closer. And if I stepped all over him on
the way to the money, I'd ruin his dream. Ugh. My stomach twisted,
and I couldn't really blame it on the balloon ride. "Brodie," I
sighed. "I can't just think about me in this. You know if it was
just me, we could talk it out. But Liam's my partner in this."

"So I hear," Brodie said in that brotherly
tone of voice. "And I want you to be careful around him, Katy."

I rolled my eyes and put down my binoculars.
"Are you serious, Brodie? You of all people are going to lecture
me? You, that's been hooking up with Tesla Spooner for this entire
race? Who couldn't wait to be her partner? Who wanted to be with
her so bad that you ditched me at the first opportunity?"

"I didn't know the Ace was going to make us
flip partners, Katy." Brodie threw up his hands in disgust. "How
many times do I have to say that? You think if I'd have known that,
I'd have screwed you over? You're my little sister. I care about
you. I honestly just thought we'd save them for another round, and,
you know." He gave me a dopey grin. "Tesla'd be appreciative."

"Yuck, Brodie. Just yuck."

"Hey, you asked." He nudged me. "You scan
that side, and I'll scan this side."

I did, turning back to the rocky hills of
Cappadocia. There was nothing that could be written anywhere on
these hills, I determined, but enjoyed looking anyhow. The balloon
ride was incredibly peaceful, and I was happy that Brodie and I
seemed to be back firmly on brother-sister ground. I liked my
brother, even though he was a bit of a selfish brat at times. And
if he hadn't been a brat, I wouldn't have gotten the chance to
spend all this time with Liam. It had worked out really well,
actually.

And I smiled to myself as I scanned the
countryside. It had worked out wonderfully, if I was honest with
myself. And Brodie just wanted to get ahead in the race. There was
no harm in that. At least he hadn't asked me for money.

"See anything?"

"Not yet," I told him. "Nothing that even
looks like a message."

"Me either. Keep looking."

I did, obediently scanning the countryside
with the binoculars.

"Hey, Katy?" Brodie said after a few more
minutes.

"Hmm?"

"So…what are you and Liam planning to do with
that Ace?"

I sighed. "Leave it alone, Brodie."

"Oh, come on," my brother said in a pleading
voice. "You and Liam have been hovering around first place for
several legs now. Tesla and I have a good leg, and then we drop all
the way to the back of the pack again depending on whether or not
she's having a good day or a bad day. And guess what kind of day
she's having today?" There was an unpleasant tone in his normally
cheery voice.

"A bad day?" I said, trying to hide my
gloating and failing.

"She's hot, but man, she's really high
maintenance. You can ask Liam about that." Brodie sounded a bit
disgusted with his partner. "She drinks like a fish, insists on
using all of our money, and she's horrible with a freaking
map."

I chuckled. "Is she good at anything?"

A pause, and then Brodie gave me a sly grin.
"Well, yeah. She's pretty good at
something
."

My face flamed. "Yuck again, Brodie! I did
not want to know that."

"You asked!" He reached over and tried to
give my head a brotherly noogie. "So, come on. Are you going to
help your brother out?"

I turned back to my side of the balloon,
scanning for the message. "Shouldn't we be looking for the
clue?"

"I found it about five minutes ago,
actually."

"What?" I yelped, rushing over to his side of
the basket. My stomach heaved when the thing lurched in response,
and the others in the basket glared at me. I clung to the chicken
bar and raised my binoculars again. "You saw it and didn't tell
me?"

"Well," Brodie said. "That's why I wanted to
talk about the Ace."

I scanned the hills behind us with my
binoculars, but could see no hidden messages, no nothing. Crap.
Double crap. I'd lost the message and Brodie was going to hold it
over my head. "I can't believe you!"

"Like you said, it's a race for two hundred
and fifty grand, Katy."

"You really, really suck."

"And you have the Ace."

I resisted the urge to fling my binoculars at
my brother's head. "So you're blackmailing me? Is that it? If I
don't give you the Ace, I'll end up in last place because I'll have
to go up again. But if I do give you the Ace, I'm helping you win.
What exactly am I supposed to do here, Brodie? Either way, I
lose."

"You should give me the Ace because I'm your
brother," he said, his face earnest. He gave me a puppy dog look.
"And Tesla hasn't done her challenge yet. You know whatever it is,
she's going to suck at it. She's hung over like hell. And then
we're going to be last, and I'm going to be eliminated." His face,
so similar to mine, drew into sad lines. "It doesn't matter if you
go up twice in this stupid balloon. I'll still be the one going
home at the end of the day."

"Brodie," I began.

"You don't need it," he pleaded with me.
"Liam's a great partner. And even if he wasn't, you never wanted to
win. Not really. But I have to win, Katy. I have to stay on the
show for as long as possible. And I can, if you give me the Ace.
Think of what good TV it'll make - a secret brother/sister
alliance."

I wavered. "It's not exactly secret if we
work together. People kind of expect that, don't you think?" But
that 'good TV' comment had me thinking, and thinking hard. I could
save my brother and make him happy, get the clue from Brodie and
ensure Liam and I stayed at the front of the pack, and the sneaky
exchange would make good TV.

Except Liam would be mad that I'd given away
our advantage. He wanted to win. And he hated Brodie.

And I'd promised Abby that I'd save her if it
came time. Abby, my best friend on this race, and the one who'd
really helped us out from day one. Not Brodie.

But Brodie was my brother. And he had the
clue I needed.

I pulled the Ace out of my pocket and held it
out to him. When he reached for it, I snatched it out of his grasp.
"Just a second. I need you to make me a promise, first."

His eyes lit up. "What's that?"

"I promised Abby and Dean that we'd save
them. If they get into danger and you don't, I want you to use it
on them."

"Done," Brodie said quickly. He reached for
it again.

This time, I smacked it into his hand,
feeling uncomfortable as I watched his fingers curl over that
important packet. He stuffed it into his pocket and then enveloped
me in a boisterous hug. "You're the best, Katy. You know that?"

"Yeah, yeah," I murmured, but I hugged my
brother back. Liam had said it was mine to use as I judged, after
all. Maybe he wouldn't be too mad about this.

Maybe. Or maybe he'd be pissed that I'd given
Brodie and Tesla the chance they needed to push ahead. He wanted to
beat Tesla, and he wanted the money. He also hated Brodie.