Bedroom Games (23 page)

Heck, I was safe beyond that. I planned on
nominating Marla, and she’d go home. If it was Jendan, Brodie, and
me in the final three, I was sitting in the final two with either
of them.

Holy shit. I was going to win this thing.

~~ * ~~

My Power room was awesome. I squealed with
delight when I saw that it was done in my favorite colors—pink and
black—and gerbera daisies had been placed in vases around the room.
I loved daisies. My fridge was filled to the brim with Ben &
Jerry’s in my favorite flavors, and cans of my favorite soda were
lined up on top of a nearby shelf. It was perfect.

The house was down to four
people, and I had Power. I was going to win
House Guests
. It made me giddy with
excitement. I wanted to roll around on the bed like a puppy,
celebrating my victory.

Instead, I changed into my sleep-wear of a
long t-shirt and panties and settled for flopping backward onto the
mattress and stretching out, a sigh of utter bliss escaping my
lungs.

Brodie shut the door to the room and leaned
on it, looking over at me. He chuckled. “Happy?”

“You have no idea,” I told him, smiling.

Of course, I couldn’t tell him why I was so
happy. Winning the million would mean I was going to beat him. He
wouldn’t be thrilled about that. I felt a twinge of unhappiness
that I couldn’t share the money with him, though, and that my
victory would mean his defeat. We’d known that going in, of
course—friendships wouldn’t last the TV season. But the thought of
Brodie being angry at me made me ache.

For some reason, the last thing I wanted was
Brodie to be upset at me.

Brodie moved to the bedside and laid down
next to me, propped up on one elbow. He faced me, a grin curving
his mouth. He was so handsome that I wanted to run my hands all
over him.

If only it weren’t for the damn cameras on us
at the moment.

“You’ve got an interesting gleam in your
eye,” Brodie murmured, voice deliberately low so the microphones
wouldn’t pick it up. “What are you thinking?”

“Honestly?” I rolled on my side to face
him.

“Yes, honestly.”

“I was thinking that it sucks that we have to
wait until two for the cameras to go off.” My fingers plucked at
the blanket.

“Were you, now?” Brodie’s voice grew husky,
his eyelids heavy. His hand moved to cover mine, and I felt his
thumb caress the soft flesh between my thumb and forefinger. “And
why is that, sexy lady?”

“Obvious reasons,” I whispered back, my
fingers flexing against his ticklish ones.

“Because you’re…sleepy?”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh yeah. Totally sleepy.”
I was in my pajamas, but I’d never felt more awake.

His fingers lightly trailed over the back of
my hand and grazed patterns on my bare arm. “That’s a shame. I was
thinking of all kinds of things we could do if we stayed up
late.”

“Mmm, is that so?” I couldn’t wait to hear
this.

“Some celebratory stuff.” He shrugged as if
his words didn’t matter, but his fingers kept sliding over my skin,
and my nipples grew hard. “Little bit of this, little bit of
that…”

“I’m disappointed,” I told him. “I only get a
little bit? I could have sworn you were packing more in there.” And
I deliberately flicked my gaze to his crotch.

His grin contained a mixture of delight and
arousal. “Oh, I’m definitely packing enough for you, baby.”

There was that ‘baby’ again.
“You almost got us in trouble earlier,
baby
. What’s with the
nickname?”

He looked a little wounded at my questioning.
“What, you’re not my baby?”

“I don’t know. Am I?”

“I’m actually a little offended that you have
to ask.”

“You kidding me?” I rolled onto my back and
propped up on both elbows, scowling at him. “You hit on everything
female. How am I supposed to know if I’m special to you or if this
is just more gameplay—”

Brodie leaned forward, his mouth pressing
against mine and interrupting my words. Heck, he interrupted my
thoughts, too. His lips were firm on mine, the weight of him
pressing over me distracting. When he licked into my mouth, I
moaned. That felt so good it was sinful.

“You like my mouth on yours, Kandis?” His
breath was warm against my skin, his body heavy over mine. He
pressed me against the bed, and I felt my now-hard nipples brush
against his chest when he moved. “You like it when I touch your
tongue with mine?”

A whimper was my only response.

“That’s good, baby,” he said against my lips.
His gaze above mine was sleepy with arousal, eyes heavy-lidded.
“Because if I flirt with them, it’s all for the game. You’re the
only one I put my mouth on. The only one I touch. And you’re sure
as shit the only one that gets me so fucking hard that I have to go
take a shower in the middle of the day just so I can fucking jerk
off.”

I gasped at his crude words. God, that was
sexy to hear. “Did you jerk off today?”

“Hell yes,” he said, and he ran the tip of
his tongue lazily along the line of my jaw. “I woke up and you were
all curled up against me with that sexy hair sticking up, and your
shirt was all hiked up. And I knew I couldn’t touch you with the
cameras on, so I took an early morning shower and took care of
myself.” He nipped at my skin. “Though I’m pretty sure I said your
name so loud when I came that they caught it on the
microphones.”

I shivered at the thought of Brodie in the
shower, hands on his cock all because I’d been curled up against
him.

“So,” he murmured, and I felt his hands slide
over my sides, feathering oh-so-close to my aching breasts. “Does
that satisfy you, baby? Or do you still think that I’m fucking
around with all the chicks in here?”

I shook my head and arched against him. I
trusted him. I might get burned for it later, but damn, Brodie was
convincing when he wanted to be. And I so desperately wanted him to
be telling me the truth. I needed Brodie Short to be as messed up
over me as I was over him.

And right now? I was pretty messed up on him.
Especially with his big body on top of mine. I sighed heavily.

His fingers stroked the tousled hair off of
my brow in an affectionate touch. “What’s that sigh for,
beautiful?”

“Just thinking how long it is until two,” I
told him, wiggling under him. “And how very hard.”

He groaned. “You so don’t play fair.”

“Nope,” I agreed, feeling a bit mischievous.
I rolled my hips under him again. “Guess we’ll just have to stick
it out, huh?”

He gave me a speculative look and then leaned
in to brush his mouth against mine again. Instead of the deep kiss
I’d expected, though, he murmured against my mouth. “There’s one
place that they don’t film, you know.”

I stared up at him blankly for a moment, and
then it dawned on me. The bathroom for the rest of the rooms in
this spooky house were more like gym bathrooms in that they were
intended for multiple users, and thus the common area was fair game
for filming. But the bathroom in the Power room was a ‘no cameras’
situation as it was a small closet of a room, intended for just one
user. It had a footed bath, a sink, and one toilet. “Bathroom?”

“Bathroom,” he agreed, and shot me a wicked
grin that melted my resolve.

“I’m warning you, I don’t find the thought of
making love on a toilet very sexy.”

“Mmm, are we going to make love, then?” His
eyes gleamed. “I was thinking a little mutual gratification was not
out of order, but if you’re up for taking it to the next level, I
am, too.” And he rotated his hips against mine just to show me how
very ‘up’ he was.

I trailed my hands along his shoulders. “I’m
game if you’ve got condoms.” And I was. We’d played at more for
long enough. I was ready for the real deal. No more of this endless
teasing.

He flashed another roguish grin at me and
smacked my hip. “If we both go into the bathroom at the same time,
I’m pretty sure they’ll guess what we’re up to.”

I was pretty sure I didn’t care at the
moment. I was all fired up and turned on. My body was pulsing with
need, my toes practically curling at the thought of making love to
Brodie. Was I twitchy normally? I felt like a live wire at the
moment. If he didn’t touch me soon, I was pretty sure I was going
to lose my mind. “Don’t care.”

“No?”

“Nope. You?”

“Do I care if all of America knows I’m
sleeping with the sexiest, sneakiest woman I’ve ever met? God, no.”
He grinned and slapped his pectoral. “I’ll wear that shit like a
badge of honor.”

I laughed and smacked his shoulder. “Will
you, now?”

“Absolutely,” he said, and his expression was
serious when he gazed down at me. “I’ve never wanted anyone more
than I want you right now, Kandis.”

I shivered at the intensity in his gaze. I
expected him to laugh or wink to show me that he was back to being
flirty, fun Brodie, but the serious look never left his face.

God, that was hot. I put my hands to his
cheeks and dragged his face to mine, kissing the hell out of
him.

He groaned, and his mouth melded to mine. Our
kisses were long, wet, and so, so delicious. Finally, he pulled his
mouth from mine. “Bathroom?”

“Bathroom,” I agreed.

He got up from the bed and held his hand out
for me.

I slipped my hand in his, and we raced across
the Power room into the one place that they couldn’t film us.

CHAPTER NINE

“What happened in the
bathroom last night? Just a little bit of
mind-your-own-fucking-business, that’s all. And quit snooping, you
damn peeping toms. Can’t you go watch Marla natter on about her
kids or something?”
– Brodie Short, Day
52

The walk to the bathroom was probably fifteen
feet, but it felt like forever. My hand, tight in Brodie’s,
clenched when he swung the door open. I was nervous, which was
stupid. I’d fooled around with Brodie night after night. We’d slept
in the same bed for weeks.

But we’d never taken things to the next
level. Heck, he hadn’t really seen me naked and aroused. Naked in
the shower (though he’d sworn not to look) and petted me under
clothes, but not the full Monty.

This suddenly felt like a big deal.

But then we were in the bathroom, and Brodie
swung the door shut behind me. No sooner was it shut than he’d
pinned me against the wall, and his mouth was on mine again and he
was giving me hot, slick kisses with lots of tongue.

And I remembered why I wanted this so very
badly.

Brodie was the perfect package for me. He was
funny, sexy—god, so sexy—and smart. He was flirty, which I liked,
and competitive. He played as hard as I did. He was protective of
me. And he never, ever made me feel inadequate. The opposite,
actually. Brodie acted like I was the smartest, prettiest, sexiest
girl he’d ever met. And around him, I felt that way.

He was the perfect man for me.

It was just a shame that I
couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that he’d fooled around with
Tesla Spooner on
The World
Races
, and by doing so, had dicked over his
partner.

I still didn’t trust him. I realized this
even as his mouth slicked over mine. At the moment, though, I
didn’t care one bit. It was all about now, all about the moment,
and I was determined to enjoy it.

His hands moved to my hips, grasping my body
and pulling me flush against him, and I forgot everything but the
pleasure of his touch. I felt the press of his cock against my
flesh, a hard bar of need. It excited me, and I slid my hand
between us and rubbed at him.

“Kandis,” he breathed against my mouth. “You
sure you want this, baby? No going back if we do this.”

I melted a little at his words. There was
that “baby” again. And he was asking me again, making sure that I
wanted this just as much as he did. I knew he did; the proof of his
desire was hot against my palm. So I squeezed him and then stroked
downward. “Afraid I’ll be disappointed?”

His mouth curled into a cocksure Brodie
smile. “Nope.”

I grinned. I loved that confidence in him. “I
think you should prove it.”

“I think I’m about to.”

“I’m hearing a lot of talk, but I’m not
seeing a lot of action,” I teased him.

“So you need to see to believe? I can help
you with that.” His fingers dragged at the spaghetti straps of my
tank top. “But first we’ll need to get rid of all this.”

I shivered at the graze of his fingers on my
skin. There was something so right—and inherently delicious—about
Brodie’s touch. I held my breath when he slid the strap down my
arm, baring my shoulder, and then he leaned in to kiss my skin.
Scrumptious, scrumptious man. I arched against him, letting the
tips of my nipples brush against his shirt. They were so hard that
they poked through the thin fabric of my tank top.

“Look at these beauties,” Brodie said, and he
cupped one of my breasts. His thumb rolled my nipple through the
fabric. “They look like they’re just begging for attention.”

Shocked pleasure coursed through me, and I
whimpered, pressing against his hand. He felt so good. “You going
to keep ignoring them?”

His thumb kept rubbing, over and over, each
caress of the pad of his thumb sending an aching pulse straight to
my pussy. “I don’t know. Is this driving you crazy?” He rubbed my
nipple again, and his face leaned in close to mine, his eyes hazy
and glazed with need. “Cause I kind of like driving you insane,
Kandis. Feels like giving you just a little of what I’ve been going
through for the past few weeks knowing I couldn’t touch you.”

My breath was coming in sharp little pants.
“Been driving you wild?”