Wicked Games (6 page)

“I hate losing, and I think that we’d be a good team if we could just get it through our hard heads that we need to work together—“

I began to roll my eyes at him. “You don’t need to butter me up—“

“I’m serious,” he interrupted me again, and gestured at the fire he was slowly feeding. “Look what we’ve accomplished in a short hour. We’ve eaten, we’ve got fire, and we can boil our water. You have a shelter, but you’re still freezing at night. I have a blanket but no shelter, so I’m warm and covered in bug bites from sand fleas.” He paused to scratch his arm, as if emphasizing his point. “The point is, neither one of us is sleeping.”

I remained silent at that, thinking about how well I’d slept last night with his borrowed blanket. The blanket that he’d given to me. He’d gone and walked the beach the entire night, probably trying to keep warm, and spent the morning trying (unsuccessfully) to build a fire. Yeah, we weren’t exactly rocking Endurance Island with our skills.

At my silence, he sighed. “Look, Abby, I realize you’ve gotten into your head that you don’t like me because I’m a handsome, athletic guy—“

I sputtered at that, my goodwill towards him teetering dangerously towards zero.

“—But you can hate me after the game, when one of us has won two million dollars.”

“I don’t hate you,” I protested. “But you didn’t exactly endear yourself to me when you stepped on me to swim your way to shore and win, you know.”

“Was that you?” He grinned widely. “Oops.”

I clenched my jaw. Half of me wanted to sock him in the face – old, cocky Dean – but the other part of me wanted to laugh at the boyish smile he wore as he glanced up at me over the fire. To me, that seemed to be new Dean. The Dean I was going to be living and sleeping with for the next six weeks.

Sad to say, but in the past hour, I had really warmed up to new Dean. I scratched at my bug bites and gave him a small, reluctant shrug. “All right. We can work together.”

He nodded. “What’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine. I’ll stop hiding the axe and the map to the water well.”

My jaw dropped. “You were hiding stuff?”

Dean grinned and gave me an innocent look. “You’re hiding your peanut butter, aren’t you?”

I bristled at that. “The peanut butter is pure protein and sugar. I’m saving it,” I began, and then choked on the words when his expression changed. Sigh. “We need to save it,” I corrected myself. “For when we’re tired and exhausted and a challenge is coming up.”

“You mean like today?” He said and squinted at the shore. In the distance, a small red boat was pulling up, and I knew we were going to rush off to the challenge soon.

He did have a point, though. Even after a belly-full of coconut, I was still weak and shaky and he looked exhausted too. We could use a little energy before the challenge, and to cement our deal together. So I got up, brushing the sand off my bottom and glanced over at the boat.

Dean cursed under his breath. “Man, they have shit timing, don’t they? Just when we got our fire started.”

I moved toward the shelter, gesturing at a massive log I’d dragged over the other day. “Put that big hunk of wood over the fire. It’ll smolder and keep it burning.”

“More tips from that book?”

I smiled as I ducked into my makeshift shelter, digging for my bag. “Never piss me off.”

“Boy, no kidding.” But his laugh was admiring. “What are you doing?”

I pulled the peanut butter jar out of my bag and brandished it. “Cementing our alliance of two with a goodwill gesture,” I said, and when he reached for the jar, I pulled it out of his reach again. “Not so fast there, buddy. We need to parcel this out and make it last if we’re going to be taking hits before every challenge.”

I expected him to bitch about it, or get ugly with me, but his mouth only curled into that amused smile that made the corners of his eyes crinkle. Damn, his eyes were really blue, especially under the bright sunlight. “You’re the boss,” was all he said.

With deliberate, almost shaking fingers, I screwed off the cap of the peanut butter jar and removed the protective seal. A thin layer of peanut oil covered the top. The scent wafting up from the jar – roasted peanuts and oil – made my stomach growl, and Dean gave a small, deep moan. “Damn, that smells good,” he said.

I nodded and glanced around – the only sticks we could use for scooping out the peanut butter were covered in sand and camp filth, so I decided to use the next best thing. I stuck my dirty finger in my mouth and sucked all of the grit off of it, and then carefully dug into the jar with my somewhat-clean finger. After all, my mouth was probably the cleanest thing on this island at the moment. With careful precision, I scooped a glop of the chunky peanut butter onto my finger, the mound glistening, and held it out to Dean. Just a small amount, a tablespoon at the most. Just enough to stave off hunger pains and give us a burst of energy.

My thought was to hold out the peanut butter so he could transfer it to his own finger. Perhaps the sight of me sucking on my finger before had distracted him, because he leaned in and took my finger in his mouth, rasping his tongue against it.

And just like that, the world flipped.

Heat rushed through me at the feel of his tongue against my finger, his hot mouth sucking on my skin. I forgot about the peanut butter that was his original goal and my body flushed, my mind skidding to a halt at the sight of his beautiful mouth over my skin, the feel of his tongue against my flesh. I must have shivered or tried to pull away, because his hand grasped my own and held me there as he lapped and rasped against my finger, cleaning my skin.

Searing me to my core.

A wave of heat pulsed through my body and I inhaled sharply. Dean’s gaze moved to my face, and I knew that he was realizing the same thing I was. His tongue moved slowly against my skin, sensually. His eyes were locked on my own, and his tongue gave my finger one last flick that I felt all the way down to my sex. Then he released my hand. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” I said in a daze, my gaze still locked on his mouth.

He nodded at the shore and stepped past me, clearing his throat. “Boat’s here.”

In a daze, I stared down at my finger and wondered if I could put it in my own mouth after that...or would it be dangerously close to kissing him?

Our team dynamic had changed again. I touched my finger to my lips and stared after Dean thoughtfully.

I have no idea why I licked the peanut butter off of her finger. One moment she’s just standing there, taunting me, and the next, I’ve got her finger in my mouth and I’m licking her with my tongue and I’m getting turned on. And now I can’t stop looking at the way her butt looks in those bikinis. – Dean Woodall, Day 4

~*~

“Welcome to today’s challenge,” said Chip as the teams filed in and moved to stand on our numbered mats. When we were in place, he continued. “Today’s challenge is going to be a Luxury Challenge. Teams will compete in the race today, and instead of the bottom two being marked for Judgment, the rules are a little different. This time, the bottom five teams will not be eligible to win a reward. The teams that place in the top six of the event will be. Understand?”

We nodded our agreement, and my eyes kept straying out to the course. I could see a table from where I stood behind Dean. The tables were set up on the edge of the lagoon, and in the water I could see colorful, numbered floats bobbing out in the distance. It sure looked like a lot of swimming. My stomach clenched a little at the thought. Dean was great at swimming. I was not. And if I lost this for us, would our tenuous agreement to not kill each other end?

I liked being on Dean’s side, oddly enough.

For some reason, I kept picturing his mouth on my hand, and the feel of his tongue against my skin. I blushed at the memory and forced myself to concentrate on what Chip was saying.

Chip pointed out at the water. “Each colored buoys has a bag of puzzle pieces underneath. One partner will swim out to grab the bag. Once you have a bag, swim to shore and turn it over to your partner. You need five bags total. The other partner will use the puzzle pieces to solve their board and raise their team’s flag. The first six teams to raise their flags win a prize. Want to see what you’re playing for?”

I nodded and clapped my hands as eagerly as the others. After a few nights of being stuck on a barren beach, we were all excited at the prospect of luxury items.

Chip slowly pulled a decorative box off of the first plate. “Matches,” he called out, and held it aloft.

We clapped – who wouldn’t want matches when you had to build your fire by hand?

The next two items were shown – food. One plate had sandwiches, and the next had cookies. I heard a collective groan from the girls at the sight of the cookies. I had to admit that chocolate sounded pretty good right now.

The next few items were equally good – a blanket and a set of pillows. The last item to be revealed was the one that truly caught my attention. Chip lifted the final box and displayed a large dark-green bottle. “Something for the skin,” he announced. “A native bug repellent made from eucalyptus oil.”

Just hearing that made me scratch, and I glanced up at Dean, who was having the same reaction I was. Bug repellent would be very nice.

“Line up, teams, and let’s get ready!” Chip lifted his arm in the air, and we sprung into action.

It didn’t take much convincing for me to agree that Dean would be our swimmer. He nodded at me and moved out to the edge of the beach with the other men, and I stood behind our table, sizing up who else was working the puzzles. All the female partners had been left to do the puzzles except for ex-military Ginger, who was moving down to swim with the guys. If anyone could do it, it was her, I acknowledged with a wry smile.

I glanced down at my puzzle-board, noting the edges. The colors were striated in a zebra pattern that consisted of several different colors. It was supposed to be confusing, but that would actually make matching up the pieces easier. The best thing to do would be to create the edges and build in from the middle. Confident, I glanced down the line at the others designated with the puzzles. They weren’t even looking at their boards, but staring at the male partners. The men were stripping down to their swim trunks, and it was an impressive display of bronzed male flesh. Several eyes, I noted, seemed to be focused on my partner in particular and his rock hard body with the abs that you could bounce a quarter off of.

Not that I had noticed, of course.

“Contestants ready?” Chip raised his arm in the air, raising up a flag with the green Endurance Island logo on it. “Set...Go!”

Dean was the first one in the water, his muscular legs pumping as he splashed into the water until it was waist high, and then doing a half-dive into the water. Those of us waiting on the beach cheered our partners on – well, except for me. I didn’t want to cheer for Dean in front of the others. They were still giving us smirking looks, clearly expecting the two of us to self-destruct again. For some reason, that made me feel safe. They didn’t know of our little deal to try and get along, and they clearly didn’t see us as a threat. So I didn’t cheer him, just stood at my table with my fists clenched, my body a nervous pillar of tension.

The swimmers began to immediately tackle their first buoys, but Dean swam further out, to the far end of the lagoon, heading towards the furthest piece. I bit my lip at the sight, but realized that he was making a very smart move – when he was tired and the race was down to the wire, he wouldn’t have as far to swim.

Others began to notice too, and as the first puzzle pieces were handed off, I could hear scolding from the other partners. “Get the ones out farthest first! Go! Hurry!”

But they had their puzzle pieces in hand and I did not, so I was forced to stand on our mat and wring my hands, waiting for Dean to arrive again. We were far behind the others at this point, but I saw a couple adjusting their strategy and knew it would all make up in the end – I hoped. Some of the others were already tackling their puzzles, and all I could do was stare at Dean as he emerged from the water.

And oh my, was he gorgeous when he did. The water glistened off of his rock-hard abdomen and sluiced down his chest, and my mouth went dry when his loose shorts dipped low on his hips. Water dripped from his skin as he raced up to me, and I held out my hands like a marionette. He shoved the bag into my arms and turned around before I could talk to him, running back for the water again, his feet spraying sand in my face.

The moment was over.

I grabbed the puzzle pieces and ripped the bag open, throwing the puzzle pieces down on my board. There were ten pieces in my bag, so fifty altogether. I immediately flipped them and began to separate them by color and edge. Before I could start with the edges, Dean was back and threw another wet bag onto my table, then darted off again, and I started the whole process once more. All around me, people were screaming and running and spraying sand, and it was difficult to concentrate. I bent my head low and continued to sort my puzzle pieces, trying to tune out the others.

Three more times, Dean came and dropped a bag of puzzle pieces on my table, and the third time, he sat down on the mat, breathing hard. Good! Done! We had all of our pieces! I immediately finished sorting them by color and began to grab the ones I’d designated as edges, shoving them into place on the board. I’d been a whiz at puzzles when I was a kid, and a Tetris nerd as a teenager, and this was the same thing, I told myself. I worked rapidly, shoving pieces back and forth, filling in my puzzle by completing each color and working from right to left.

“How did they get all their pieces so fast?” Someone grumbled to the side of me, and I heard low whispering. I didn’t dare look up from my puzzle, but the tone of that voice had given me a cold shiver. If we weren’t perceived as useless and weak...we wouldn’t last long if we got in the bottom again. Not with Dean’s impressive athleticism.

I slowed down, shoving a yellow piece in the midst of several pink ones, and began to pretend to think hard, even though my mind was mentally fitting the pieces with ease and I was almost done with the puzzle. I didn’t want to be first. It’d be a death-knell for us if we were first.