Bedroom Games (18 page)

We’d gone way past that.

Instead, he bit at my lower lip, and when I
whimpered in response, his hand moved to my jaw and coaxed my
barely parted lips wider. Then, he slanted over my mouth and his
tongue thrust against mine. Had I ever thought his mouth would be
too soft to kiss well? He was doing better than that—he was fucking
me with his tongue.

And oh god, I loved it. I rubbed my own
against his, and my hand clasped his shaft, trying to give him the
same wordless pleasure he was giving me with his tongue. He licked
and sucked at me, and when I dipped my tongue to his lips in a
tentative exploration, he caught it in his mouth and lightly sucked
at it.

The need in my body exploded. My hips rocked
against him, and I moaned into his mouth.

Brodie hushed me with another deep, slick
kiss, but he’d heard my need and he responded. Just like my hand
clasped his sex, his slid to my panties. Instead of moving into
them, though, his fingers skimmed along the outside of the fabric.
When my thighs parted for his exploration, he found my seam and
began to knead the damp fabric, pressing the cotton against my skin
and rubbing.

That drove me wild. My legs locked around his
hips, and I ground against his hand, whimpering.

“You are a vision, Kandis. God. You’ve been
driving me crazy for weeks now. And just look at how wet you are.”
His fingers moved along my seam, outlining it against the damp
material. “So turned on at the thought of kissing me, huh? Just
like the thought of kissing you made me so hard I couldn’t stand
it.”

I moaned into his mouth again.

“Sexy, sinful Kandis,” he murmured. His
fingers found my clit even through the panties, and rubbed it hard,
making stars spark in front of my eyes. My hips raised off the
mattress, and I bit at his lower lip fiercely, need driving me
wild. “We should probably stop,” he murmured against my mouth.

But he still kept rubbing my clit through the
fabric.

I didn’t want to stop. My hands moved on his
cock, and I rubbed, stroking him roughly in time with our twining
tongues. I didn’t tell him to let me go. I didn’t tell him to keep
going. I just showed him with my tongue and squeezed my thighs
around his hips even tighter, trapping his hand between my legs and
on my sex that shivered and rocked against his fingers.

I came moments later, in a wild gasp and a
rush of wetness that flooded my already-wet panties. He groaned in
response, and a moment later, the boxers I was holding onto were
wet in the front and sticking to his skin. Brodie gave me another
fierce kiss, his tongue claiming me, and then he pulled away,
panting.

“That was the best handjob I’ve ever had,” he
told me, and then he kissed me again. “Wish we’d been doing that
since day one. You have no idea how many times I’ve gone to bed
with blue balls at the thought of sleeping next to you.”

I should have been embarrassed at his words.
But I simply grinned into the darkness and leaned up to lick at his
full mouth, pleased. “I might have been thinking about you too,” I
teased. “But I will never admit it.”

“Ha,” he said, and then sat up, the blankets
falling down to pool at his waist. He leaned over to me. “I need a
new set of boxers, though.”

“I need panties,” I told him in a soft
voice.

“Give me yours and I’ll handle it,” he said
into my ear, and then he nipped at my earlobe.

I shivered and nodded and then shimmied out
of them under the blankets. They were wetter than I ever remembered
getting before, but I’d been so incredibly aroused that I wasn’t
ashamed. Heck, if Brodie could turn me on like that from simple
heavy petting, I wondered what it’d be like to actually sleep with
him.

Explosive, I decided. And that gave me all
new shivers.

I handed him my panties, and he bounded out
of the bed, heading for the bathroom. He returned a few minutes
later in a new pair of boxers and crawled back into bed. “All
set.”

I chuckled and leaned in to whisper again.
“Um, did you forget something?”

“Nope.”

I brushed a hand along his bare abs. “My
panties?”

He pulled me close and spooned me against
him, my back against his front. “Actually I kind of liked you like
this.”

“You sneak.”

But I wasn’t upset. I was actually kind of
pleased.

CHAPTER SEVEN

“What Kandis doesn’t seem to
realize is that every time I see that mohawk of hers, I get a
boner. It’s true. A chick with grit is the sexiest thing
possible.”
– Brodie Short, Day
31

I
rubbed my hands and smiled gleefully at the confessional TV
monitor. “This is the first time that Brodie and I have been in
Power this game.” I paused. “Well, I say it’s Brodie and me, but
the truth is, he’s the one with Power. I’m just riding his
coattails.”

“Any ideas of who you’ll put up this
week?”

“We have a few ideas of who we want gone,” I
said, and crossed my legs in the chair. “First and foremost is
Sunnie, of course. Now that her partner’s gone, she’s been sulking
all day. And she’s made a few pointed comments that indicate that
she’s coming after me, so I’d like to put her up on the block, of
course. And since someone else has to be nominated, Fido’s my other
choice, I guess. He’s strong, and he’s a guy, and Brodie swears to
me that, thanks to his maneuvering, he’s got the girl vote locked
up. So as long as they’re all with us, they’re not against us.”

A pause.

I twiddled my thumbs for a moment, waiting
for either the okay to leave or for another question.

It came after a long moment. “Our cameras
show that you and Brodie put good use to the Power room last night.
How is your relationship with him?”

My eyes widened in horror. That was…direct.
And the last thing I wanted to talk about at the moment. “Um. We’re
good. We’re good friends.”

“Do you go under the blankets with all your
good friends?”

I could feel a blush creeping onto my face
and grew irritated at the line of questioning. “If I feel like it.
Just consider it affirming an alliance. Between friends. Can I go
now?”

“Yes. Please send in Brodie.”

I bolted out of the chair so fast that I
nearly ran into the wall. Good lord, I had not been prepared for
that line of questioning.

As soon as I re-entered the living room, I
crossed into the kitchen. Brodie was there, getting a cup of
coffee. It was still early and the others weren’t up. He was the
only one in the room.

“Morning,” Brodie said, and his eyes roamed
over my tight workout clothing appreciatively. He moved forward to
greet me, head bending as if he wanted to kiss me. “You okay? You
didn’t wake me up.”

I tilted, avoiding the kiss, and slid under
his arm, heading for the toaster. “They want you in the
confessional booth.”

“Gotcha.”

I shoved two pieces of toast into the toaster
and stared at it, waiting. When I was sure the room was empty, I
glanced behind me. No Brodie. I exhaled and then tapped my foot as
I waited on the toast, thinking.

Last night had probably been a huge mistake.
Brodie had just tried to kiss me again, out in the open. It was a
good thing there was no one else in the room, because starting a
romance was quite possibly the worst strategic move you could make.
It was a one-way ticket out the door, especially when we had been
busy splitting up other couples to keep the Power to ourselves.

Jendan entered the kitchen as my toast
popped, and I snatched it up. “Morning, Kandis.” He rubbed his
face.

“Morning.”

“Uh…you okay?”

I took an angry bite of dry toast and began
to chew. “Honestly, why does everyone keep asking me that?”

He stared at me for a moment. “You look like
you want to hit something. That’s why.”

“Oh.” So much for hiding my emotions. “It’s
nothing. Just a little unsettled this morning.”

“Something wrong?”

I slid backwards, lifting up onto the counter
and perching there while I ate my toast. “It’s Sunnie,” I lied
between bites. “You know she’s gunning for me.”

“Well, yeah.” Jendan headed to the fridge and
pulled out the orange juice. “She’s not a dumb girl. She can put
two and two together. She knows it was you that caused Casper to go
out of the game.”

I chewed thoughtfully. “Doesn’t she know that
he was planning on booting her, too?”

“Doesn’t matter. You’re an easier target to
blame.” He eyed me for a long moment. “And she’s jealous.”

The dry toast stuck to the roof of my mouth,
and I had to pry it free with my tongue. When I could speak, I
looked over at Jendan, surprised. “Why on Earth is she jealous?
She’s a gorgeous socialite who shows up in every tabloid from here
to eternity.”

“She’s jealous because you didn’t drop out of
the Power Play before she did,” he told me, pouring himself a glass
of orange juice. “Says you made her look vain because she wouldn’t
get the haircut.”

I ran my hand over the shaved sides of my
head and then touched the long, floppy portion that kept sliding
into my face. “I wish I’d dropped out. Now I have bad hair, and I
had to drink that awful milkshake. You were smart when you didn’t
even try.”

He grinned. “I figured if that was the
opener, every round would just get worse. I’m glad I bailed. I
would have been puking everywhere if I’d even tried it. I was
getting sick just hearing that ingredient list.”

“I think that was the point,” I told him
wryly. I put down my dry toast. “And can we not talk about it over
breakfast? I swear, just thinking about it makes my stomach
ache.”

Jendan hopped up on the counter opposite of
me and leaned forward. “There’s also Brodie, you know. She’s
jealous over him. You got Brodie for a partner, and he seems
totally into you. She got Casper for a partner, and he treated her
like she was an ignorant two-year-old. And she likes Brodie. That
much is obvious.”

“Everyone likes Brodie.” Oh damn, I could
feel my face heating up all over again.

“No, I mean she
really
likes Brodie. Which
brings me to a good question—who do you see in your final two? I
know on day one we promised each other that we’d go to the end. I
just want to make sure that hasn’t changed.”

I
had
made a deal with Jendan on day
one. But that was before I’d started to have feelings for Brodie.
And if Jendan knew about that, he’d make sure my butt went to the
curb next.

Romance on a reality TV show was the worst
kind of idea. So I lied. “Nothing’s changed. I’m just flirting with
Brodie for strategic purposes. I’m here to win the money, just like
you. Don’t worry about that. You and I are solid to the end. Final
two.”

“Okay.” He smiled, clearly relieved by my
answer. “Good.”

Truth was, when we got to that point, I’d
make a decision. A hard one. And it wouldn’t necessarily involve
taking Jendan.

Man, I sure was doing a lot of lying in this
game. I hoped it didn’t come back to bite me in the end.

~~ * ~~

I avoided Brodie for most of the day.

Well, as much as you can avoid someone that
you are living in a house with and sharing a room with. He seemed
to understand my reluctance to broach what had happened last night,
though, and didn’t attempt to get cozy with me again. I spent the
afternoon with the girls in the kitchen as Jayme tried out recipes
and Marla, Sunnie, and I drank coffee, did our nails, and gossiped.
Sunnie wasn’t glaring at me any longer, so I considered that a
small win, though I knew it was temporary.

She was going to hold a grudge. That was what
you did in this game.

That evening, I chatted with Marla and
Jendan. They wanted to make plans for the nomination ceremony,
since it could happen at any time. The producers liked to switch
dates up on us, so I understood the paranoia about being caught off
guard. I invited Marla and Jendan back to our room after lights out
and then let Brodie know when we were getting ready for bed.

If he looked disappointed, he didn’t say
anything. He simply nodded and put on a pair of pajama bottoms over
his boxers.

I wore flannel pajamas, too. Being all
covered up around Brodie made things safer.

At close to midnight, there
was a soft knock on our door. Brodie and I were sitting on the bed,
discussing challenges and going over who had come in what place in
case there was a memory recall challenge in the future. Brodie had
mentioned he’d gotten burned on something like that on
The World Races
, so we’d
been practicing nightly and making up catchy jingles to remind us
of the order. He was determined not to lose again, and I didn’t
blame him. To come that close to winning last time and walk away
with nothing but a pat on the back? It had to be
devastating.

Brodie hopped up from the bed and opened the
door, and Marla and Jendan slipped in, both in their pajamas. They
waved and Marla bounded onto the bed next to where I sat, cross
legged, over the covers. Brodie quickly shut the door behind them
again and flicked off the lights. “Sorry,” he whispered into the
dark. “Just making sure nobody catches us.”

“No problem,” Marla whispered back. “I hope
this isn’t a bad time?”

“Not at all,” I said, perhaps a bit more
loudly than I should have. “We were just chatting about past
challenges.”

“So,” Jendan said, and I felt his weight sink
down on the bed. Now all four of us were seated in a circle on the
big mattress. “Brodie has the Power, but if we have a final four, I
think we should all have a say in who goes up on the block.”

“That’s fine with me,” Brodie said. “Any
suggestions?”