Stuck on You (18 page)

“Speaking of hooking up,” Zoe said, breaking the silence. “Anyone care to tell me how condoms went missing from my makeup bag?”

Paige inhaled a piece of melon.

She coughed, tears springing to her eyes. When the piece of food dislodged, she took a shaking breath then coughed a few more times. She wiped the tears out of her eyes only to find Zoe looking at her with fake innocence on her face.

Zoe already knew the truth. She’d probably figured it out the second she’d walked in the room last night. Paige suddenly remembered Zoe’s comment about the room smelling of sex. Did sex have a smell? Maybe lust mingling with pheromones.

“About that,” Miles started.

Paige shot him a look. Was he really going to tell her what they’d done? How had she been so stupid to let him take condoms from Zoe? Of course Zoe would notice. She noticed everything.

Damn it. Paige should have insisted Miles go back to his room and get his own condoms, erection flapping in the wind, as he’d so eloquently put it, and all. Anything another team would have said or assumed would be better than having to look at the expression of amusement currently gracing Zoe’s beautiful face. Paige could already hear the jokes and teasing she’d have to put up with for the rest of the day.

“I may have — ” Miles started, but was interrupted by a breaking news bulletin on the television.

They all turned to see what had happened. The view of the scene was from a circling helicopter. Below them, in the center of the screen, an emergency rescue boat was pulling something — or someone — into the boat on a bright orange backboard.

The words on the ticket tape running along the bottom of the screen sent a chill down Paige’s spine: Has reality TV finally gone too far?

“Oh my God. That’s one of our teams.”

Miles stood from the table, drawn to the television. One of the teams from the show apparently had been rappelling down the side of a cliff and had fallen into some body of water. Where they were and what had happened was still unclear.

One thing was very clear — whatever cache it was they’d been trying to reach, was now off limits. He couldn’t risk Ben or either of the girls getting hurt the way the team on television seemed to be. No cache points or prizes would ever be worth it if one of them got hurt.

Not after the accident that had happened on the mountain with Ben. Miles would never let something like that happen on his watch again.

“Which team is it? I can’t tell,” Ben said to no one specifically.

Miles just shook his head. He had no words. It didn’t matter what team it was, only that one of them had gotten hurt. Hopefully not hurt too badly. Not like Ben had.

“I can’t tell either. I wish the helicopter would get closer.” Zoe stood right in front of the TV. “They’re way too far away to even see if it’s a team of girls or guys.”

“I’m sure we’ll hear news later tonight when we get back to base camp. And if no one says anything, then we’ll find Chip and make him tell us.” Paige looked determined.

“Why don’t we find one of the production assistants right now and ask them?” Ben questioned.

“We don’t have time,” Miles said, finally pulling his gaze from the news long enough to check his watch. “We’re supposed to check out in a few minutes. There’s probably another penalty for checking out late too. I’m sure Spencer is already waiting for us on the line with his speech about how we all suck for coming in late yesterday.”

The others nodded and followed him out to the front lawn. Sure enough, Spencer was there with a huge primetime-worthy smile on his face. Chip, however, was missing. Normally he was on the sidelines watching every start and finish of the day, but not today.

Miles’s stomach sank. Shit. It really was one of their teams that had been injured. No way would Chip miss something like their late start if he didn’t have somewhere more important to be. And what was more important than the drama of a penalty other than the drama of a tragic accident during filming?

That accident on the news was more serious than he thought. They would have to be extra cautious on their hunt today. He couldn’t let the same kind of accident affect either of their teams.

An uneasiness washed over Miles as the four of them stood shoulder to shoulder on the start line. Maybe they shouldn’t tempt the weird vibe of the day and skip one day of the show. Go have coffee somewhere and wait out the time they were supposed to be finding caches.

“Welcome to the start of day fourteen. You’re officially halfway, so congratulations. All of you have done very well up to this point.”

A unanimous grumble rippled through them, confirming he wasn’t alone in his belief that his team sort of sucked. A stark contrast from the success they’d always had climbing. His chosen alliance team didn’t seem much better.

“Now, we need to take care of some business,” Spencer started with his serious tone. “Last night you had some trouble reaching the check in on time when Zoe took a nasty spill. How are you feeling now, Zoe? Are you able to continue in the competition?”

Zoe smiled but Miles could see her discomfort as she shifted her weight off of her bandaged ankle. She was remarkably shorter in sneakers.

“I’m fine,” she said. “I’d be one hundred percent again if that annoying medic had allowed me to wear my heels.”

“How long are you off your heels?” Spencer asked.

“Hopefully only a few days, but it could be as much as a couple of weeks.”

Spencer smiled and nodded as if he really cared. Miles doubted he was even listening to what Zoe said. “Great. Okay. I won’t keep you any longer. Your day starts now.”

Spencer looked surprised when none of them took off in a sprint to the vehicles. But with Zoe’s ankle and the breaking news about one of the other teams, it seemed as if no one was really in a hurry to get the day started.

“So how are we working today?” Ben asked, breaking the silence. “Are we going together again?”

“That was the plan, wasn’t it?” Paige asked, looking to Miles for confirmation.

He nodded. “Yep. But with Zoe’s hurt foot, I think Paige and I should be the drivers.” It sucked not getting Paige all to himself in his truck, especially after the mind-blowing night they’d had, but it couldn’t be helped. His memories of the night would have to be enough to get him through the day. Then hopefully he could spend tonight making a whole new set of memories with Paige. He just had to figure out where those memories would be created since Ben and Zoe would both be at the lodge tonight.

Good thing he had all day to figure it out.

“So what cache number are we headed for today?” Zoe asked, flipping through the logbook. “We may as well get going since we’ll be lucky to find more than one or two today.”

Miles flipped open his logbook too and scanned the pages. “Looks like we’re on number 218.”

Zoe and Ben walked off to the vehicles to get settled while Paige and Miles made sure they entered in the same coordinates. Looked like it was a bit of a drive away, but definitely doable and the may even be able to hit another one before the day was over.

Miles slipped his hand around Paige’s lower back and pulled her close. “Be careful today, okay?”

“I always am.”

“I don’t believe you in those silly heels.” Miles couldn’t help but worry after Zoe’s fall last night and the news this morning. Teams were getting tired. They were getting sloppy. And now they were getting hurt. He couldn’t let that happen to his teams. “Zoe wore sneakers, can’t you wear some too?”

“No. Why would I do that when these heels are so damn sexy?”

She peered up at him with a twinkle in her eyes that made him want to throw her over his shoulder and cart her back up to her room. But not for new shoes. She was right. Those heels were damn sexy. They made her legs look long even though she was petite. And the way her calves curved practically made him drool.

But sneakers would be safer.

“Just put on your sneakers, would you? Otherwise I’ll have to stay right beside you all day to catch you when you fall.”

“And that’s supposed to persuade me to take them off?” She ran her hand up his chest and he wondered if she could feel how hard her touch made his heart pound. Wrapping her hand around the back of his neck, she pulled herself up until her mouth was almost on his, which wasn’t as far as usual with those heels of hers. “I think you just persuaded me to never take them off again. Not when wearing them makes you look at me like this. Not when the only reason I put them on to begin with, was to see this very look in your eyes when you look at me.”

“Trying to manipulate my emotions, huh? Nice.”

She smirked. “Not manipulate. Gently persuade. A nudge, if you will.”

“You know, it’s more than just the shoes that do it for me.” It was everything. Her shoes, her hair, her tiny frame that seemed to fit so perfectly with his. Her personality that was shy and unsure one minute and confident and witty the next.

He closed the gap between them, pressing his lips to hers, accepting her invitation when her mouth opened letting him in to explore. And it was certainly her kisses that did it to him the most. He could kiss her all day. And then all night.

“We have to go. Tomorrow I’m going to hide those shoes so you have no choice but to wear your hiking boots again.” He leaned forward to whisper in her ear. “I’ve had dreams about you in those hiking boots too, you know.”

He smiled when he heard her suck in a shaky breath, her body trembling. Then he kissed the spot below her ear and enjoyed hearing a tiny moan escape her in response.

“You guys need more of my condoms?” Zoe yelled, sticking her head out the back window of the SUV. “We might need to make a pit stop at the gas station on the corner if you guys are going to bang like bunnies for the last two weeks of the show.”

Miles laughed. He ran his hands down her back and gave her bottom a quick squeeze before putting some distance between them. “Leave it to Zoe to ruin a perfectly good moment.”

Shaking his head, he pulled Paige back toward the waiting vehicles and the impatient teammates inside. He smacked her on the ass before disappearing around the side of the truck. “See you at the next cache.”

“Don’t leave me alone with her to explain,” Paige whisper yelled after him.

“Explain what?” Zoe called, the teasing obvious in her voice even if he couldn’t see her face. “I already know you guys banged while Ben and I sat bored at the hospital last night.”

Miles heard Paige start to protest as she climbed in and closed the door. He’d wish her good luck, but knowing Zoe, luck played no role in how long he and Paige would get teased today. Probably all day. And possibly all day tomorrow too.

“You finally done sucking face with Paige?” Ben asked as Miles handed him the GPS unit and started out of the parking lot.

“We weren’t sucking face.” Miles grinned like a teenage boy sneaking back from behind the bleachers with the cheerleading captain. Hell, he had been that teenager, but that didn’t even come close to comparing with kissing Paige. She was in her own league.

“Well, whatever you call it, I call it wasting time we don’t have today. So knock it off.”

“What the hell’s your problem?”

“The girls are my problem. I’m not so sure this alliance is beneficial to us anymore. Now instead of one lame player, we have two. It doesn’t look like Zoe’s going to be better anytime soon and we already know I’m not going to either.”

“You’re not a lame player. And neither is Zoe. So what if we’re not the fastest? We still have two weeks to find the rest of the caches. I’m sure we won’t get all of them before the end of the show, but no one will. We have as much chance of winning as anyone else does. Better now that we’re working with another team.”

“I’m sure she’ll still get into bed with you even if we’re not in an alliance with them anymore.”

Miles gripped the steering wheel harder than necessary. It wasn’t about that at all. And who the hell was Ben to say shit like that? “Listen, what happened with me and Paige last night has nothing to do with our alliance and you know it. If you’re in a bad mood today, then that’s your problem, but leave the rest of us out of it. Now which way am I supposed to turn?”

• • •

Paige slowed and pulled up beside the boy’s truck along the side of the road. Up ahead, a sea of lights and emergency vehicles crisscrossed the roadway, making it impossible to go any further. She rolled down the passenger side window. “Doesn’t look like we can get any closer.”

Miles nodded. “I think we found out where the accident happened earlier.”

“Think they’ll open it back up soon?” Zoe asked from the backseat.

“No. And even if they did, we’re not doing it.” Miles clenched his jaw.

“You’re right,” Paige said. “They’ll probably need some time to get everything cleaned up and ready again. We’ll come back in a couple of days.”

“No, we’re not doing this one. Not today, not another day. It’s obviously too dangerous.” Miles called out the window.

Paige didn’t really care for Miles’s tone or male posturing. She could do what she pleased when she pleased, but getting into it with him right now didn’t seem like the best use of their already screwed time. She’d talk to Zoe about it later and together they would decide what was best for their team.

“Maybe we should start heading back toward base camp,” Paige offered instead. Better to get at least a few caches done today versus no caches. “I think there’s a couple others with similar coordinates that might be along the way.”

“Sounds good.”

Zoe and Ben each entered in the new coordinates into their respective GPS units while Miles and Paige turned the vehicles around in the road. As they drove back the way they’d just come, Paige glanced into the review mirror, shocked at how many emergency vehicles had been called in.

The other team was going to be okay, weren’t they? It wasn’t like these caches were supposed to be life threatening or anything. Chip was a sucker for creating great television but he wouldn’t put his contestants in real danger.

Even Chip wasn’t that scummy.

Before they made the first turn toward the next cache, another team drove past them heading into the chaos they’d just left. Apparently they weren’t the only team on cache 218. Hopefully Paige and Zoe and the boys would be way ahead if this other team kept following in their footsteps today.