Stuck on You (11 page)

“Hey, Miles. You look tired tonight. Want me to give you a massage?” she asked, her eyelashes fluttering.

Nope.

“Thanks. That’s really nice of you to offer.” He paused, glancing over to the table where Ben and the girls sat, heads still bowed as if they were conspiring together. Maybe they were. Except for Paige. She might be listening to the others, but her eyes were locked on Eve. If eyes really could shoot daggers, Eve would be painted with a giant bull’s-eye target.

Jealous?
The thought made him smile.

“Great. Let’s go back to my room so you can get out of that shirt. I have some delicious black raspberry massage oils. They’re edible.” She licked her lips.

“Eve, you’re a beautiful woman and you make a tempting offer, but I’m not really on the market right now. I hope you understand.” He started to move away from her, trying to ignore the hurt in her eyes.

Paige had gotten pulled into the conversation with Ben and Zoe again. Whatever they discussed, she found it more interesting than seeing him with Eve. Although you’d never know that by the look she’d shot at him a few seconds ago. Or maybe he’d misread her expression.

Regardless, he wanted to be a part of their conversation if it involved his partner. When he got to the table, he turned a chair around, straddling it and folding his arms along the back.

“What are you all whispering about over here?” he asked.

“Oh good, sleeping beauty finally woke up to grace us with his presence,” Zoe snapped.

“I see someone’s been hitting the bitch juice pretty hard tonight,” he shot back with a smile. Damn, Zoe pissed him off.

“Zoe, stop. That’s not going to help us convince him.” Paige looked down at her hands, obviously embarrassed by their little outburst.

As Paige slammed the door, he noticed she appeared about as tired as he felt. She had dark circles forming under her eyes and her hair pulled back into a messy ponytail, a few stray hairs framing her face. It took all the control he had not to reach out and tuck them behind her ear for her.

Damn. Even tired and in need of a shower, she was smokin’ hot.

A vision of Paige standing in a steaming shower, rubbing a soap-filled sponge across her chest flickered to life in his brain. A shot of heat spiked through him, hardening him to half-mast instantly. Good thing his jeans were of the baggier variety tonight or his fantasy-induced semi would be on display for the neighboring tables to see.

Not something he wanted wandering eyes to find. Unless those eyes were deep brown and belonging to the fantasy-inducer herself — she could look all she wanted.

“Convince me of what?” he asked, addressing everyone at the table and not focusing solely on Paige. She could probably convince him of anything she wanted and all it would take was another moment between her thighs like the other night in the kitchen.

And there’s full mast.

“Well,” Paige started, turning her attention on him, “we have a little proposition for you.”

Yes, sign me up.

He cleared his throat. “I’m intrigued.”

Ben gave him the look that said he knew exactly what kind of proposition Miles was hoping for. “They want our help.”

“It would be a mutual agreement actually. One in which both teams would benefit.” The bitchy tone in Zoe’s voice had disappeared. Good. He was sick of hearing that voice.

“We thought since both of our teams seem to be falling a little behind the other teams, maybe we’d all benefit from … an alliance.” Paige whispered the last part, leaning in even closer as she did.

Miles found himself leaning forward too. Intrigued at the thought of an alliance or intrigued because of the beautiful woman?

“We’re not that bad off,” he said quietly, hoping Ben would back him up. “We checked off another six locations in our logbook today alone.”

“That’ll help you catch up to the firefighters who are well over a hundred at this point.” Zoe rolled her eyes, like he’d seen her do so many times before. “Well, if you want to keep losing, don’t let us stop you.”

“You’re not winning either, if my count is correct. You have what, five or ten more than we do.”

“That’s enough not to come in last.”

“Possibly. But they said it would come down to point value in the end.” Miles took a swig of his beer and shrugged. Zoe really knew how to get under his skin. “So let’s say I’m entertaining this idea. How would this alliance work?”

Paige perked up. “We’d work together to find the caches neither of us have done and along the way, if we drive near any caches either of our teams have done, then we’ll stop so that the other team can collect it too. And we’d have four sets of eyes looking for each cache instead of only two. That’s bound to make them easier to find.”

Miles nodded. Hearing Paige talk strategy was surprisingly hot. He enjoyed watching her take on the challenge of figuring out how their teams could work together and so far, it sounded like a pretty decent plan. Working with another team the way she’d specified could help a lot. And he and Ben had talked once before, earlier in the game, about the possibility of allying with another team. But were the girls really their best hope?

“We were just discussing how the prizes would work for caches we find together first and it seems like alternating the team who opens the cache would solve that little problem just fine. Then it’s fair.”

Seemed they’d come to an agreement before he’d even gotten to the table. Nice of Ben to consult his teammate. Although, he couldn’t really be mad at Ben. The alliance did sound pretty good. The girls would tip them off to the caches they already knew about, they’d find the rest of them together, hopefully faster, and they’d still get a chance to find some prizes.

He glanced toward Paige where she sat quietly, waiting while he weighed the possibilities. An alliance with the girls would mean more time spent putting up with Zoe, who was already sufficiently annoying at base camp each night.

But it also meant spending more time with Paige. And that couldn’t be a bad thing.

Well, it could be a bad thing if she distracted him so much he couldn’t concentrate on finding the caches. But distraction by Paige certainly felt worth it at the moment.

And then there was Ben. This could be exactly what Ben needed to get him excited about being in the competition again. This could be the thing that gave him a little push to keep going and not give up all hope of winning. Sure, Miles had wanted to be the one to do that for him, but if he couldn’t, then he still wanted someone else to. Maybe that was Zoe and Paige.

“Okay, I’m in if Ben is.” If the smiles beaming back at him from around the table were any indication, everyone was happy with their new arrangement. “So what should we do first, allies?”

“First, we compare logbooks,” Zoe said, flipping theirs open to the first page and sliding it to the middle of the table. The wall-mounted cameras might see what they were doing, but the other teams couldn’t and that was all that mattered. “Then we decide where to begin our search tomorrow.”

• • •

Miles kicked a tiny patch of dirt with the toe of his shoe while he waited for the start time to finally roll around. He hated this morning send off ritual they were forced to participate in for the show. But that was part of being on a reality show whether he liked it or not.

Now if only the rest of the teams would show up so they could get started … of course, it was his new alliance that was missing. Figures.

The girls came around the corner of the lodge and out to the front lawn where they started each day. Zoe looked her usual high-maintenance self, but Paige …

Well, Paige looked like a brunette version of Zoe.

Instead of her usual hiking boots, she came strolling — teetering, actually — toward them on the spindliest heels he’d seen on anyone other than Zoe. The sun reflected off the surface, causing a million sparkles to shoot from her feet.

Interesting choice for the day’s activities, which included a fair amount of hiking if every other day they’d been on the show was any indication.

Along with her shining high heels, she wore another pair of tight jeans and her usual yoga top. Although there was something decidedly different about her shirt today. He couldn’t quite pinpoint what was unusual about it. He was sure he’d seen her wear it at least once before, and yet it looked … even sexier than before somehow.

As they strolled up to the start line to join everyone else, Miles realized exactly what was different about Paige.

Boobs.

And cleavage. Where the hell had those been hiding? Maybe she’d been wearing one of those workout bras before today. Those things always made even the most voluptuous women look flat-chested. That had to be it.

And why the hell had she been keeping them under wraps? Breasts like those deserved to be served up front and center for the world to admire. Or at least every straight man in the area … and possibly some gay ones too. They really were great breasts.

Paige folded her arms across her chest and it was as if a fog lifted from his brain. As his gaze traveled up to her face, he noticed she was staring back at him, but he couldn’t tell if her expression was one of amusement or annoyance.

“Welcome to day ten of
Treasure Trekkers,
” Spencer started. “Before you head out for the day, let’s tell everyone at home how our teams are doing so far. The team who has stayed at the top of the leader board for the entire week is Team Firefighters with an outstanding one hundred and twenty-five caches logged so far.”

The firefighters patted each other on the back. The other teams smiled and cheered a little, but no one was really thrilled with having a team so far in the lead.

“The next in line is Team Father Daughter who has a very impressive eighty-eight caches logged.”

Miles tuned out while Spencer went through the ten teams, listing off their cache totals so far. By the time he got to Miles and Ben, the pit in his stomach had grown into a giant lump of embarrassment. He’d known the show would be a challenge, but somehow, he never thought they’d get this brutally beaten.

An alliance, even one with the stiletto girls, was looking better and better all the time.

“Now,” Spencer spoke again, drawing Miles’s attention back. “Before you head out for the day, we have a little surprise for you.”

Great.

“Today we’re mixing things up a little. Instead of racing with your normal partner, you’ll each join forces with another team. One member of each team will pair up together for the day.”

Well, that wasn’t so terrible,
Miles thought. At least they’d made their alliance last night so the choice was an easy one. Surely other teams had alliances formed in secret already too. Seeing who paired up together might even give them a little insight into the teams working in alliances.

“One more thing. All of the caches you find today will apply to both teams. That means if you find any prizes, they are to be shared. And any points for the cache are awarded to each team. So choose your partner wisely. This could help you or it could help another team. I’ll let you have a moment to discuss your choice with your partner before we begin the day.”

Miles and Ben moved to stand beside Paige and Zoe. Obviously as a new alliance, it wasn’t a question of which team to work with, only how to split up.

“So how are we going to split the teams?” Ben asked as if reading his mind.

“I’ll go with Ben and Paige can go with Miles,” Zoe said as if it was already discussed and decided. Annoying, but definitely not worth the effort of complaining.

“Sounds good,” he said, trying to come off as indifferent.

“Has everyone picked their new team and their new partner?” Spencer asked. The new teams all nodded and voiced their agreement. “Great. Then, treasure hunters, start searching.”

The other teams raced into the parking lot while their two teams sort of moseyed. Miles sighed. This wasn’t a better start then usual. Maybe teaming up with the girls wasn’t going to be as beneficial as some of the other pairings.

“Paige and I’ll go in our SUV and Ben can ride with Zoe.” They nodded as they came up to the vehicles. The other teams were pulling out of the parking lot already so they were able to talk candidly.

“We’ll take cameraman Evan with us,” Zoe said, pulling Evan toward their SUV.

“No way,” Paige shrieked, pulling on Evan’s other arm. “He’s coming with me and Miles, no exceptions. I know how you are, Zoe, and I don’t trust you with him.”

“Why, you two hooking up or something?” Ben asked motioning between Paige and Evan.

Better not be.

“No, he’s engaged to my best friend. And I know how much Zoe loved flirting with him on
The One
. Cassidy would never forgive me if I left Evan in her care for the day.”

Friend’s fiancé.

Miles couldn’t stop the smile of relief from coming to his lips. For some reason, it made him so happy to know she wasn’t hanging on Evan because she liked him.

Ben sagged against the girls’ SUV, already looking tired when the day had barely started. Maybe following each other around wasn’t the most effective use of their time. Paige scooted past Ben, opening the back door and leaned in to grab her things, then transferred them quickly to the boys’ SUV. Maybe going their separate ways would be a better idea just for today. That way, Zoe and Ben could travel a little slower while Miles and Paige tried to cover as much ground as possible.

As Paige slammed the back door closed, she wobbled on her heels, falling back against the vehicle. Or maybe they were screwed either way with both girls in those silly heels. Of all the days she decided to wear ridiculous shoes. Still, they’d probably be better off on their own. Besides, the thought of spending the day alone with Paige was pretty appealing. And not only because of her new boobs. It was nice to hang out with her in the evenings with everyone else, but a little alone time on the race wouldn’t be bad either.

“I know we talked about following each other around in the cars today and doing the caches together, but today all the caches we find will count for both teams even if we’re not together. If we split up, we may be able to get more done, quicker,” Miles offered.