Stuck on You (5 page)

Ben pointed to a team in the far corner of the room watching TV. They looked like a father daughter team. “They got four too.” Then he pointed to the other teams in the room. “Team Firefighters got six, the show offs. Team Married found five and five hundred dollars. I still can’t believe someone found money on day one.”

Paige followed his pointing around the room as he listed off all of the teams and how many caches they found. How he kept everything straight, she wasn’t sure. She could barely remember who everyone was. She always had trouble remembering names.

The other team with two girls was pretty easy to remember since they were both gorgeous enough to compete against Zoe in a beauty pageant. She’d been introduced to them a little earlier, Eve and Rayne, Team Sisters. Currently they sat in the big armchairs by the window that looked out into the Catskills. The view was beautiful, but Paige preferred the warmth of the fireplace.

As she watched, Eve glanced up from her spot and caught Paige’s gaze. Even from across the room, Paige could see the girl’s eyes narrow, her jaw set. Why Eve looked at her as if she hated her, she had no idea. She’d have to watch out for her. Good thing she’d had lots of practice with girls like Eve since she’d had to deal with Zoe for so long. Eve would be easy in comparison.

She glanced over to Zoe. “I think we’re going to have to step up our game tomorrow. We’re so far behind already.”

“We’ll be fine,” Zoe said with way more confidence than Paige felt. Then she turned back to Ben, asking him questions about the caches they’d found and how far they’d had to drive.

While they chatted, Paige had trouble keeping her mind on the conversation. Hopefully if he said anything important, Zoe would remember it and tell her later.

How could Paige possibly concentrate on boring cache details when Miles sat across from her looking all beefy and delicious? And when he smiled, she melted. She peeked up at him as he joined in to the conversation. The light from the fireplace danced across his skin highlighting the stubble that had grown along his jaw during the day. He looked like he really needed a shower.

A hot shower with lots of slippery soap. And a loofa. A loofa she could navigate over his chest, scrubbing every contour, and down what was most likely a six-pack of abs. All the way to …

A cough startled her, making her jump like she’d been caught sneaking around somewhere she shouldn’t be. She glanced up from Miles’s lap only to find a silly grin on his face and a cocked eyebrow. Oh, yes. She’d been caught. But he didn’t seem at all bothered by it.

Let the melting commence.

“So,” Paige started, trying to force her thoughts into some semblance of small talk. “How did you find the first day of racing?”

Miles shrugged. “It was good — fun, exhausting. I think it’s going to be an interesting few weeks. What about you? How did you find it today?”

“Exhausting, annoying, frustrating. You know, a typical day with Zoe.” Paige laughed, hoping to lighten the moment despite her rather large, inappropriate complaint about her teammate.

Miles’s gaze found Zoe again, his jaw twitching as he appeared to clench it before he looked back to Paige. “Life is never dull with Zoe around, is it?”

Why did it feel as if Miles and Zoe had a history together when they’d only just met on the show? Was it all the media Zoe had done? It wasn’t exactly uncommon for regular people to feel like they “knew” celebrities in a personal way because the media did a great job of sharing their intimate moments with the world. Was that what it was with Miles and Zoe too?

“What do you do when you’re not on a reality TV show?” Paige asked, eager to learn more about Miles. It wasn’t just his looks that intrigued her. There was also something about his calm demeanor, his laidback attitude, and the confidence pouring out of him that drew her to him.

“This is my first show. I’m usually off climbing mountains, or I’m teaching climbing to kids at The Rocks.”

“You teach kids? That’s awesome. How old are they?” A hot guy who also liked working with kids? Yes, please.

“All ages. Whoever wants to learn can, I don’t discriminate by age. I adjust the program accordingly to fit their skill level.”

“So what made you decide to come on the show, if you don’t mind my asking? Was it for the adventure of it, since that seems to be your thing?”

“That was part of it.” Miles stopped talking. His gaze flickered to where Ben sat, then back to catch Paige’s eyes again. She got the distinct impression there was more to Miles than he let on. He’d come on the show for more than the adventure and the reason had to do with Ben, but what it was, she couldn’t figure out without more information. It probably wasn’t any of her business anyway.

“I think the only ones here who’ve been on a show before are you and Zoe. Are you girls all head over heels for cameramen like that Cassidy girl was? Is that why you both agreed to be on another show?” Miles asked with a smirk, his expression softening and his voice taking on a distinctly teasing quality. The combination made her breathing falter.

“I came on the show for the experience. Not the hot guys.”

He cocked an eyebrow at her as if he was insulted.

“Not that the guys here aren’t hot. You’re all very hot.” Paige felt her cheeks grow warm. This conversation had taken a sudden turn into embarrassing territory. How had she managed to put her foot in her mouth during a perfectly normal conversation?

A little chuckle escaped Miles as her face grew warmer, no doubt also growing redder by the second.

“I’m calling it a night,” Paige said, getting up from the chair, completely forgetting the hot chocolate in her hand. It sloshed over the rim of the mug and down the front of her shirt. Great. Just what she needed on night one at base camp — to look like the clumsy girl she normally wasn’t. Now they’d all think the reason she and Cassidy were such fast friends was because of their affinity for accidents — clumsy girls united.

Not to mention, now Miles would realize she could be flustered with a simple smile from him. Awesome. One of the many reasons guys as sexy and confident as Miles didn’t go for girls like her … why Brad hadn’t gone for her either. Because no guy who could make you forget yourself with a smile or a nod — or hell, by sitting in a chair in a fitted tee — could ever find an ordinary girl like her worth his time or interest.

At least now she wouldn’t have to worry about how she acted around him since there was no possible way he’d ever look at her as anything other than the girl who spilled hot chocolate on herself.

Paige let herself back into the room she shared with Zoe. It would be a long, long month sharing a room with her, but there was nothing she could do about it. Better to suck it up and make the best of things as always.

She grabbed the tank top and shorts she wore for pajamas and quickly changed, thankful that on this show she didn’t have to change in the bathroom every day like she’d had to on
The One
. This time, Chip hadn’t been allowed to put cameras and microphones in every corner of every room in the hotel. Only the common areas had cameras. She’d heard something about privacy laws since parts of the hotel were still open to regular guests.

Paige didn’t mind at all. She’d hated feeling like a caged mouse in some giant lab experiment on the other show. At least here she could escape to her room for privacy as needed.

Zoe strolled into the room just as Paige pulled her tank top down to cover herself. So much for privacy.

“Could you knock next time?” Paige asked. “I don’t really want to flash my chest to everyone walking by the room when you barge in unannounced.”

“Go change in the bathroom if you’re a prude. It’s not like anyone would see anything anyways.”

“Gee, thanks.” Paige climbed into bed and propped herself against the wall so she could relax with her book for a while before falling asleep. Reading always helped her unwind and de-stress after a busy day. “I’m not a prude. I just don’t believe in showing off my assets to anyone and everyone.”

“First you’d have to figure out what your assets are to show them off. When you’re ready for your big girl boobies, you just let me know. Until then, I wouldn’t worry about anyone noticing you — naked or not.” Zoe laughed and disappeared into the bathroom.

Paige gritted her teeth and forced herself to focus on the words in front of her. What she needed tonight was to get lost in her book and forget that Zoe even existed for a while. Just as she felt her shoulders relaxing, sounds of Zoe singing filtered out of the bathroom.

Sighing, Paige put her book aside, clicked off her light, and rolled away from the bathroom and the noise Zoe called singing. No chance of forgetting she existed when her squawking made it impossible to read.

Nope. Better to just go to sleep and let today end. Finally.

Miles pulled off the winding dirt road and into a small deserted parking lot at the beginning of the trail. This was their third cache of the day and they still had yet to find a prize in one. He’d hoped this one was remote enough that they’d be the first to find it and maybe there’d even be some money inside.

They grabbed their logbook, GPS, and a couple of water bottles and started down the trail. The GPS said they had half a mile to go. A long hike made longer by Ben having to trek on the uneven terrain of the dirt trail. So who knew how long it could take them. If the trail got rougher or steeper, it could take them the better part of the day. Best to be prepared with the waters even if it sucked having to carry them.

“It looks like it’s straight ahead,” Miles said.

“I hope it’s right beside the trail in a big easy box to find. It’s too hot to be traipsing through the underbrush looking for another pill bottle sized cache.”

“Whatever it is, we’ll find it.”

“What do you think about the other teams? I think Team Firefighters are our biggest competition for sure. Possibly Team Frat Boys will give us a good race too, if they can keep the beer pong tournaments to a minimum.” Ben stumbled, but caught himself, shooting a glance at Miles. “I’m fine.”

Miles nodded. No sense in arguing with Ben. And he was fine. Just the trail was rough. Anyone could trip. “I think you’re right but I don’t know what we can do about it. It’s not like we can sabotage the other teams or anything.”

“True, but there has to be a way to get a little advantage over them. I just have to think of how.” Ben was quiet for a moment. “Maybe an alliance with another strong team?”

“It’s worth considering. We’d have to be very careful about who we chose to ally with.”

They trudged on in silence for a few more minutes. Miles racked his brain trying to find a way they could beat Team Firefighters. How could you beat the team that was stronger than yours, faster than yours, and who was from the area? It was a massive task to conquer.

But that hadn’t stopped them from climbing Everest a few years ago.

If they could climb Everest together, surely they could find a way to find more caches than any of the other teams. They just needed to figure out a winning strategy.

For now, the best they could do was to get each cache as quickly as they could. And this one was proving to be a total pain in the ass and complete time suck. The sooner they got there the better.

They wandered on. Miles watched the GPS screen and tried his best not to accidentally pick up his pace faster than what was comfortable for Ben. After coming up with no good strategies, he decided to worry about it later and let his mind drift. And drift it did.

Right over to Paige and the wet shirt clinging to her chest. He wasn’t really a hot chocolate kind of guy, but he would have helped her clean up if she’d asked. She was cute when she got all flustered around him. What he wouldn’t give for just a little taste of chocolate flavored Paige.

“What was that?” Ben asked suddenly.

“What? I didn’t hear anything.” Maybe his thoughts were too loud.

“I thought I heard voices behind us. Girls.”

They stopped and listened for a moment. Sure enough, the sound of Zoe’s sharp voice cut through the air. Bitching about hiking in the heat, of course. Like she should only have to find caches hidden in an air conditioned mall or poolside, and not have to tough out the heat for these other ones like everyone else had to.

That girl was something else. Poor Paige. She should get a bonus prize just for enduring Zoe’s company for the duration of the show.

“Let’s go. It looks like we’re only seven hundred feet away now. If we hurry, we can get there before the girls and I know we can find it before them.” Miles started down the path again, faster now that he knew they were only moments away from the other team catching up. This was the first time they’d met another team while looking for a cache and he didn’t want to lose out on a possible prize because of it.

Ben caught up and did his best not to fall behind as the girls’ voices grew louder. At four hundred feet, they broke into a jog, but only for a minute or two before they heard the girls spot them on the trail.

“Run, Zoe!” Paige yelled. “There’s another team ahead of us. We can’t let them get there first.”

Miles heard the fall of footsteps growing closer and closer. He knew it would only be another moment or two before the girls caught up and passed them. But Ben obviously struggled at their current pace. He couldn’t ask him to push it any faster.

The girls and their cameraman rushed passed them on the trail, leaving behind a cloud of dust that caught in Miles’s throat, making him cough. “Shit.” He meant to curse under his breath but he knew Ben had heard when he stopped running.

“I’m sorry,” Ben said, his breath uneven. “I tried, but I’m not that good in this stupid prosthetic yet.”

Miles turned to him, all thoughts of the girls gone. Ben should never have to apologize to him or anyone else about his challenges with his lower leg amputation. Hell, it couldn’t be easy to adjust to wearing a prosthetic leg.

If anyone should apologize, it should be Miles — again.

“Never be sorry. You’re doing great. This competition is challenging for all of us.”