Stuck on You (2 page)

What change of plans? No one spoke to me about any changes and I’ve been here all day.

“I was supposed to run the race with Paige.” Cassidy caught Paige’s gaze again, her expression clearly apologetic for what she was about to say. “But I’m sorry. I can’t run the race with you.”

Can’t run the race? I can’t run it alone.

“And why is that?” Spencer asked even though he absolutely had to already know the answer. But America didn’t and neither did Paige.

How? Why? What could possibly make it okay for Cassidy to think she could abandon Paige at the last minute like this? Her chest tightened at the thought of having to run it alone. Or drop out before they even started.

Damn. Getting voted out in the third round on
The One
was bad enough, but now she was about to be kicked off in the first episode of a show where everyone was supposed to compete until the end. This wasn’t fair.

Cassidy looked away from Paige and back to Evan, a smile coming to her lips. “Because I’m pregnant.”

Tears instantly pricked Paige’s eyes. Pregnant? Okay, that was a pretty damn good reason not to run a possibly dangerous race. Without thinking, Paige took the few steps separating her from her friend and wrapped Cassidy in a hug.

“A baby? And you didn’t tell me,” she teased.

Cassidy nodded. “We just found out. I’m so sorry, Paige. I was really looking forward to running the race with you.”

Paige stepped back from Cassidy. “Don’t be silly. We can’t have you putting a tiny Cassidy/Evan baby in danger for some stupid show.”

“Hey now.” Spencer laughed. “The show is anything but stupid.”

“You know what I mean,” Paige said, brushing off Spencer’s comment and focusing only on her friend — her pregnant and engaged friend. Tears blurred her vision. “I’m just so happy for you both.”

“I wanted to tell you right away, but once I told Chip I couldn’t do the show anymore, he forced me to wait to announce it here.”

“And now that you have made this wonderful announcement, the show must go on,” Spencer said, nudging Paige back to her spot. He gave a huge smile to Cassidy. “On behalf of the production company, congratulations and we wish you well with everything.” And with that, he motioned for Cassidy to step out of frame.

“The show must go on and go on it will. But not with Paige as a solo team.”

Paige felt her pulse race again. So this was it. The moment she was asked to join Cassidy on the sidelines where she could watch the show with the rest of America. Kicked off on day one. And she thought getting rejected by Brad was bad. This was a new low point for her life.

Yippy.

“Paige, we can’t let you race alone. It wouldn’t be fair to you or the other teams and honestly, it would be dangerous considering some of the caches we have hidden for you.” Spencer paused, his hands clasped, fingers intertwined as if he were going to pray for help.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and prepared to take her exit with as much grace as she could. She didn’t want to run the race alone anyway. It would be too hard. Too lonely. Too embarrassing. She’d much rather sit this whole game out and be able to keep Cassidy company while Evan was filming the show. They could talk about baby names and buy little tiny clothes and have an excuse to eat outrageous amounts of ice cream.

“So, we’ve made a decision,” Spencer spoke, capturing her attention again. “And we’ve picked a new partner for you.”

Say what now?

Just then, someone stepped out from behind the production trailer. The moment Paige glimpsed platform stilettos and long golden hair, she knew she’d died and somehow gone to hell because there was no way this was really happening.

No. Fricken’. Way.

“I’m sure you all remember Zoe Oliver from
The One
and from her appearance on the game show she almost won before that,” Spencer continued without waiting for a response. “Zoe, please join your new partner. Zoe has graciously accepted our invitation to be a part of the show on such last minute notice and we’re thrilled to have her here.”

Jack Miles eyed the petite brunette now standing next to Zoe and wondered if he would have to catch her before she hit the floor since she suddenly looked as if she might faint. He wouldn’t mind catching her. She was tiny, tight, and hot — just the way he liked his women. Add to that her porcelain skin in contrast to her long brown hair and her dark eyes, and it was enough to make him take a second look.

Of course, he also liked his women to be confident, which by the sheepish look on her face, she was anything but. She didn’t seem too happy to be in the spotlight for this interesting turn of events. Maybe her lack of confidences was just nervousness from starting the game with a twist like a new teammate.

He couldn’t imagine losing his teammate Ben either. Ben had been his hiking buddy since college and they’d seen some of the most amazing places in the world together. He couldn’t imagine having him bail last minute and being stuck with a new partner with no notice or prep time before the show started.

And to end up with Zoe Oliver as your partner, well, that might just be too much for the most even-keeled person to handle. Zoe wasn’t exactly known to be a nice girl. Or a team player. Interesting choice on Chip’s part to put her on the show.

But from the amount of nodding from the other teams, everyone else knew Zoe as well. It was hard not to. It had been Zoe who’d stood beside Cassidy in the finale of
The One
. It was Zoe who had ended up on the cover of tabloid magazines for months after the finale aired.

And it had been Zoe who’d played the part of villain and had made it her mission on the show to make the other girls’ lives miserable. No one — who’d seen the show or tabloid news — would want to be forced into a partnership with Zoe after how she’d acted on that show.

“Now that everything is settled with the teams,” Spencer said, “it’s time to kick off our show. At the sound of my whistles, these ten teams will race down the hill behind me to the marked vehicles with your names on the windshield. Inside each vehicle you’ll find your backpacks, a cooler of cold water and energy snacks, and a state of the art hand-held GPS unit, which has been specially equipped with a camera and internal server for our game. You’ll use your new GPS to find the five hundred treasure boxes — or caches, as we like to call them — we have hidden around the area.”

Miles smiled, feeling sure of himself and his partner. With all the supplies they gave them, this challenge would be a breeze. And with a vehicle to get around in, it would be easier for Ben — because of his limitations with his leg, physical fatigue and long-term mobility were probably going to be their team’s biggest personal challenges.

“Each day you will get to race from eight in the morning until eight at night, during which time you are free to find as many caches as you can. But be warned. You will be turned away from some caches if you arrive too late to complete them before the end of the day. By eight
P.M.
sharp, every team will be expected to have checked in at the base camp where you’ll all be staying. If a team fails to check in at base camp before time is up, they will receive a two-hour time penalty for the next day’s hours.”

The rules didn’t sound too tricky, but it may be a lot to think about once the game got rolling and adrenaline started pumping. Although, Miles didn’t expect adrenaline to be a problem for himself or Ben. They lived for the rush. Always had.

“The game is simple,” Spencer continued. “Find as many hidden caches as you can in the next twenty-eight days. Be the first to find the cache and you may find more than just game points. Many caches have prizes to collect but only for the first team to find them. At the end of the race, we’ll tally the points you’ve collected with each cache you’ve found, and the team with the most cumulative points will win the grand prize of … half a million dollars!”

The teams cheered. Even Miles couldn’t help but cheer for that kind of money. He’d do whatever it took to win. Then he’d give his portion to Ben to help right his wrongs.

“Oh, and I’d expect a few surprises along the way too.” Spencer winked. As if sensing a growing concern among the teammates, he raised his arms over his head to get them to quiet down so he could finish his speech. “Okay, everyone. I’ll see you at base camp for our first check in. Teams, start searching!” With that, he dropped his arms as if he were starting a drag race.

Teams on every side of Miles bolted past Spencer and down the hill. Two of the bigger guys — Team Firefighters from New York City, if he remembered correctly — were the first to find their vehicle. Not surprising since guys like them were trained to be fast. And efficient. He made a mental note to keep them in his sights.

A cluster of three or four teams reached the vehicles next. The team of sisters was fast, but Kent and Kyla, the dating underwear models, were even faster. They had sprinted the entire way. They were definitely faster than he’d expected. For being incredibly thin, they were also in amazing shape. Team Models might actually be more of a threat than he thought at first glance.

Miles and Ben ran too, but at a slower pace. Still, they made it down the hill and to the vehicles only moments later than the rest of the teams. Well, not including Paige and Zoe’s team. It appeared those girls were in no real hurry with Zoe in her four-inch heels and Paige still looking shell-shocked from the early twist in the game.

But Miles couldn’t sit around wondering how the girls would do in the race. It was their business, not his. His priority number one was getting Ben to the end of the game with the most points and prizes in hand. And proving to him they could still take on any challenge together. And succeed.

Miles and Ben found their SUV easily since there were only two left. A quick glance at the name on the windshield and they pulled open the doors. Miles hopped into the driver’s seat while Ben jumped into the backseat behind him. Their cameraman rode shotgun where he could film facial expressions of both men.

He handed the GPS unit to Ben and ripped open the folder of information they’d been given to start the race. Inside he found a logbook with a series of numbered GPS coordinates listed. Pages and pages of longitudes and latitudes stared back at him. Even for an experienced hiker, it was overwhelming.

“Wow. Look at this.” Miles showed the logbook to Ben. “The other teams aren’t going to know where to start.”

“Good. Because I think we’ve fallen behind already,” Ben said, looking out the side window instead of at the logbook.

“No worries. This is a long race and where we lack on speed, we’ll make up for by being able to use the GPS better than the others. Let’s just pick one in the middle and get started.”

Ben shook his head. “I hope you’re right. But I’m pretty sure we’re due for last place.”

“Well, I think you’re wrong and it’s about time you started believing in yourself again. You’re just as able as any of the other teams here.” He glanced down at Ben’s leg, already stretched out along the backbench seat, unable to stop himself from reliving the injury again as if it were his own.

“Well, I’m definitely as able as that team. Can you believe they only just now reached their vehicle?” Ben said, sounding marginally disgusted.

Miles couldn’t really blame him. It was pretty sad that two able-bodied girls couldn’t even beat them in a footrace to the trucks. “Probably don’t want to break a nail.”

“That’s most likely true for Zoe, but I’m not so sure about that Paige girl. That’s a team of polar opposites if I ever saw one. Glamorous and high-maintenance paired with functional plain Jane.”

Miles eyed the girls. Ben was right about Zoe, but what about Paige? Functional? Sure. That tight top and those sensible hiking boots were definitely functional in this game. But plain Jane? No way. She might be understated but she certainly wasn’t plain.

“Well, we can beat one team for sure,” Miles said, looking away from Paige’s tiny hourglass figure and delicately curved lips. He didn’t have time to take in the scenery right now. But later, at base camp, well, there’d be plenty of time for sightseeing then. “And I know we can beat the others too.”

“Whatever. Let’s go already,” Ben said.

Miles had heard the dismissal in Ben’s tone more times than he cared to remember. Somehow, some way, he had to prove to Ben that he was still capable of everything they’d ever wanted to achieve. And maybe this show would finally be the thing that got through to him.

But there was no sense pushing things with Ben now. Not right at the beginning of what would be a long and challenging race.

Together they skimmed through the logbook, trying to decide where to start their search. Finally they picked cache 252 — just a couple off from the middle to be one step ahead of all the teams who started exactly in the middle. Perfect.

Ben effortlessly punched in the latitude and longitude listed beside the cache number into the GPS unit. A moment later, the screen flashed to life and an arrow pointed the direction they needed to go.

As Miles drove through the parking lot toward the highway, he could already make out a couple of other SUVs up ahead on the side of the road. They didn’t look to be in any distress, unless you counted not knowing how to even turn on a GPS unit.

He smiled at his friend, feeling triumphant already. “See, I told you we’d be okay. Game on.” They bumped fists as they did at the peak of every mountain they’d ever climbed. And it felt great. Two years had been way too long to be without his best friend by his side. Now that he had Ben back, he had to make sure to keep him. And the best way to do that was prove to Ben they could win.

• • •

Paige pulled their name card off the windshield of the truck and climbed into the backseat on the driver’s side behind Zoe who was busy scowling at her fingernails.

“Damn it. I broke a nail on the stupid door handle. That’s a great way to start our race. Now we’ll have to stop at the nail salon to get it fixed.”

Paige’s mouth dropped open. “You can’t be serious.”