“He told me to lose the shoes and I told him not to tell me what to do. Somehow I don’t think that was the flirty response I should have made.”
Zoe sighed. “Amateur.”
“So teach me, oh wise one. Teach me how to be like you,” Paige teased.
“You can’t teach this,” Zoe said, waving a hand down her body. “I guess you can dress a girl up, but you can’t make her sexy.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“It’s what I’m here for.” Zoe slipped into her heels then eyed Paige.
Paige couldn’t help but feel pathetic in comparison to the blonde bombshell of a teammate she’d been stuck with. “Why should I even bother attempting to flirt with anyone when you’re around?”
“Gee, thanks,” Zoe said, mimicking Paige’s earlier sentiment.
Paige almost felt bad for saying that. Almost.
“Oh, come on. I know that didn’t hurt your feelings. Seriously, how is Miles ever going to fall for plain old me when perfect you is around to remind him how much better he could have it with another girl?”
Zoe shrugged. “True. But I happen to know for a fact Miles isn’t interested in me. He’s interested in you. You need to be more confident.”
“Whatever.” Paige pulled her hair into a knot at the nape of her neck, approximately where Miles’s hand had been the day before … when he’d kissed her. Maybe Zoe was right. Maybe Miles was at least interested enough to kiss her. But then if he was really interested, why hadn’t he tried to kiss her again yesterday? After that first cache, he’d been focused on “making up for lost time” with the others. That didn’t sound like a guy who was interested in scoring with the girl who tried to flirt with him.
“Are you really going to make me say this?” Zoe huffed.
“Say what?” Paige was too annoyed with herself to try and figure out what the hell Zoe was talking about.
She sighed and rubbed her temples as if whatever she had to say was torturous. “You have no reason to feel pathetic. Miles or any other guy would be lucky to have you. You’re smart, and pretty, and sort of sexy in your own hiking boots and tank top kind of way.”
Paige’s mouth dropped open. Had hell actually frozen over? She peeked out the window and into the sky. Nope. No flying pigs. Wow. Zoe Oliver had just paid someone a compliment. And only the hiking boots part had been the tiniest bit backhanded.
Whoa.
“Um, thanks?” Paige shook her head then pinched her arm. It hurt. “Are you dying or something?”
Zoe wasn’t nice to anyone. Certainly she’d never been nice to Paige. Therefore, she had to be suffering from some terminal illness.
“No. I’m not dying. I’m sick of hearing you be pathetic. It’s throwing off my mojo.” Zoe walked to the door and paused with her hand on the doorknob. “I’ll be waiting out front whenever you’ve gotten ready for the day.”
“I am ready,” Paige said, looking down at her outfit; shorts, a fitted shirt with a hint of sparkle and — sigh — her high-heeled torture devices as soon as she strapped them on her feet.
Zoe eyed her. “Oh. In that case, make sure to smile and bat your eyes a lot. And touch his arms if you can. Even better, make sure to tell him how big his arms are. No guy can resist a girl who comments on the size of his … biceps.” With a giggle, she disappeared out the door.
Paige slipped into her heels then stood in front of the full-length mirror in the corner eyeing her outfit. “Maybe Zoe’s right.”
Oh God. Had she really said that out loud?
Her denim cut-offs were cute and — she turned to evaluate her rearview in the mirror — short. So those could stay. But maybe her top wasn’t quite eye-catching enough. She grabbed a different one from the closet and slipped into it. It wasn’t her usual yoga top style, but it was still fitted in all the right places, especially with the help of the push-up bra and a low scoop neck that offered a glimpse at the twins. She didn’t want to put the girls totally out there, but showing them off a little to Miles couldn’t hurt her chances.
Or her self-confidence, which, according to new, nicer Zoe, she didn’t need to be so worried about.
Maybe today she could get attention from Miles without falling down a hill.
Chapter Thirteen
Paige stood at the edge of the lake but couldn’t make out anything other than the small waves breaking the surface. The other side of the lake looked completely uninhabited and according to their GPS units, it was also too far away to be the next cache location. That only left one possibility. The cache was somewhere on the lake.
“It’s out there,” Ben said from beside her.
“Only one way to get it then,” Miles added. “But the boats are only big enough for two so we’ll have to split up.”
“Ben, can you help me with this boat?” Zoe called, attempting to push the canoe away from the shore enough that they could get into it without getting stuck on the sand.
“I guess that means you’re riding with me.” Miles pushed the other canoe into the water then held it still while Paige climbed into it.
If she wasn’t mistaken, she heard a low whistle from his direction when she held the sides and crept into the front position. Perhaps her shorts were a touch shorter than she thought. Good. At least she knew Miles was paying attention.
He handed her an oar and took another for himself. Together they paddled out toward the middle of the lake, pausing every so often to check the coordinates were still ahead of them. Neither spoke much other than to comment on the beautiful, picturesque surroundings. Zoe and Ben in the other canoe floated a few feet away, their chatty conversation drifting over the water. Both of them laughing and sounding as if they were having a great time. The cameramen filmed from their own canoe, capturing the footage from where they could see all of the contestants at the same time.
“Have you noticed how well they’ve been getting along since their day alone together?” Paige asked quietly, turning slightly in her seat so she could see Miles better.
He nodded. “Everyone likes Ben. I think they bonded or something.”
“Bonded horizontally in the backseat of the SUV maybe. I can’t imagine Zoe bonding on any other level.”
“No way,” Miles said shaking his head. “Ben is married and one hundred percent committed to Tammy. Him and Zoe just seem to get along. That’s all. I wouldn’t read too much into it. She’s simply decided to be nice to Ben for whatever reason.”
“I wish she acted that nicely to me. I’m her partner and all I get is sarcasm and arrogance.”
“Those are Zoe’s specialties.”
“True. I guess I shouldn’t expect anything else from her. It’s not like we’re suddenly going to become best friends or anything.”
“I think Zoe’s one of those people who has more going on inside than she lets people see. She and Ben are actually a lot alike in that way. It’s probably why they hit it off so well.”
Paige scowled. “Maybe they should be teammates then. At least they seem to work well together which is more than I can say for Zoe and me as a team.”
Miles smiled. “I like that idea. Then you and I could be a team. I promise I’d keep the arrogance and sarcasm to a minimum.” He leaned forward, his breath tickling the back of her neck, raising little goose bumps along her skin. “And I promise I’d try my best not to kiss you again, but even my best might not be enough to resist you.”
She sucked in a breath. So their kiss hadn’t been a big mistake. He hadn’t been caught up in the moment. He might even want to kiss her again.
Say something flirty now.
She turned and met his gaze. “And I promise I wouldn’t stop you.” She bit her bottom lip, holding her breath.
“This partnership is sounding better and better every second,” he said, leaning in, his mouth inch
ing closer to hers. She tilted her chin a tiny bit, bringing her mouth a fraction of a breath closer to his. Her eyelids grew heavier as his lips brushed against hers.
“We found it,” Ben yelled.
Paige jumped backward, startled by the sudden sound. The boat wobbled back and forth with her sudden weight shift and she shrieked, gripping the sides with her hands. Her oar splashed into the water.
Her heart pounded in her chest, but not just from being startled. She put her hand to her mouth, rubbing where Miles’s lips had touched hers. The heat from the brief kiss still radiated through her body.
Miles cursed under his breath. He leaned over the edge of the canoe and retrieved her oar before it could float away then paddled over to where Ben and Zoe were coming up on a small floating buoy. Right in the middle of the buoy was a plastic case, waiting to be opened.
“Whose turn is it to open this one first?” Paige asked.
“Yours,” Miles replied. “Go for it.”
“How?” she asked. The buoy was only a foot or so away, but it drifted with the water’s current, as did their canoe.
“Just reach for it. I’ll try to hold the canoe steady.”
Paige scooted closer to the edge, cautious not to shift her body weight too quickly and risk throwing the canoe off balance again. Outstretching her arm, she leaned out of the canoe and into the buoy. She’d just reached the clasp on the container when she felt her hand slip off the edge of the canoe. Before she could pull her upper body back into the canoe, she tipped over the side.
Cold water surrounded her as Paige popped up through the surface, sputtering and coughing from the bit of lake water she’d swallowed on the way in. As she caught her breath, the sounds of laughter greeted her.
“Thanks for your concern,” she muttered to no one and all of them.
“Now’s not the best time for a swim, Paige.” Zoe laughed.
Paige splashed water at her, but missed. “Want to join me in here? I’ll tip your canoe if you’re not nice.”
The smile fell from Zoe’s face. “Don’t you dare.”
“Oh, relax.” Paige swam over to the buoy, trying her best to ignore the chuckling brats around her. She flipped open the clasp. “Nothing.”
Great. Even a fall in the water couldn’t earn her a kick-ass prize like some of the other teams had found. Team Father Daughter found keys to new cars, Team Sisters had found one thousand dollars each, and Team Firefighters had found tickets to the next Super Bowl. She and Zoe had found nothing but cache numbers and a measly five hundred dollar shopping spree at Macy’s. Pathetic.
She grabbed the cache card and swam back, the cold water already making her teeth chatter too much to stay in even a moment longer. When she reached the side of the canoe again, Miles lifted her out of the water without any trouble. The canoe barely moved. His biceps, however, were another story entirely. They flexed and bulged and looked beyond delicious. She wanted to wrap her hands around them while they scooped her out of the water and settled her back into the canoe. But she didn’t.
“Zoe,” she called, starting to shiver, “snap the picture so we can get out of here.”
She held up the cache number card and turned so Zoe could take her picture, not bothering to smile.
“Paige,” Miles said.
She turned to look at him, holding the card out so she could then take his picture. He snapped a picture of her on his GPS unit.
“That’s not going to count for you guys getting the cache,” she said.
“I know.” Miles smiled and handed her the GPS unit, taking the card from her and holding it up for his turn in front of the lens. “That one was for me to enjoy later.”
Her cheeks were the only warm part of her body while she shivered. “Perv,” she teased, not meaning it. She folded her arms across her chest, only then realizing how cold she really was. She could cut glass with the hardened peaks in her soaking wet, bordering on see-through shirt. Her cheeks burned hotter as she glanced up to find Miles still smirking.
Zoe and Ben had already started back to shore. “We should head back too,” Paige said. “Are you going to put the cache card back for me or do I have to go for another swim?”
“I think you’re cold enough without another swim.” Miles paddled the boat right up beside the buoy then leaned over and slipped the card back into the box and fastened the clasp.
He made it look so easy.
“Thanks.” Paige reached for the oar, her arm shaking from the cold.
Miles put his hand on her arm, the warmth of it instantly dancing along her skin. She wanted to wrap herself in his big arms and snuggle against his body heat.
“It’s okay. I’ll paddle us back.”
She nodded and settled back onto her seat and attempted to look as if she wasn’t completely freezing, but her uncontrollable shivers gave her away.
Miles stopped paddling and pulled in his oar. They were still a long way from shore and from the heater she already longed for in the SUV. “Why are … you stopping … here?” she asked between shivers.
“Because you’re already freezing and you’ll be an ice cube by the time I get you back to shore if this wind doesn’t let up.”
The wind had picked up since they’d left the shore and a large bank of clouds had hidden the sun. But she could manage until they got back to the truck and then she’d crank the heat. “I’m okay.”
“No, you’re not.” Miles pulled off his T-shirt in one quick motion and held it up in front of him. “I won’t peek and the others are too far away to see. Slip your wet shirt off, and put mine on instead.”
Paige eyed the shirt in front of her and weighed her options. She could freeze in her wet clothes until they got back to the base camp, or she could take his shirt and at least one part of her would be warm and dry. She glanced over to where Evan filmed from another canoe. He nodded and turned his camera away, getting some long shots of the scenery.
Not liking her other options, she peeled her wet shirt over her head and pulled on Miles’s instead. Then she unfastened her bra and slipped it off. No sense wearing a dry shirt with a wet bra.
She hugged the soft, dry cotton shirt against herself, Miles’s scent drifting up around her. Closing her eyes, she breathed in deeply, forgetting where she was. All she could focus on was the distinctly manly scent infiltrating her mind, making her feel slightly lightheaded. Funny, she hadn’t even needed his lips this time, just his smell.
The sound of a throat clearing popped her eyes back open.
“Okay, then,” Miles said, looking uncharacteristically uncomfortable as he picked up his oar again.
Odd considering in all the time she’d known him so far, she hadn’t seen him look anything but completely collected and put together at every moment. Even when Spencer surprised them with the twist in the game, he’d taken the news in stride. The only time she’d seen his demeanor change was when she’d fallen and he’d thought she’d been hurt.
Interesting.
Also interesting were Miles’s muscles as they rippled and pulled beneath his taut skin. Oh, hell in a handbag, he was beyond hot. Scorching. She should probably turn around in her seat and face forward, since it wasn’t like they were in a rowboat. But she couldn’t pull her eyes off the miles and miles of perfectly tanned skin in front of her.
Maybe that explains the nickname.
Every time he dipped the oar into the water and pulled it back, every inch of his upper body tightened. And every time he withdrew the oar from the water and reached forward for another stroke, she’d let out the breath she hadn’t meant to hold.
Between the awkward breathing, the sway of the canoe shifting her back and forth in her seat while the inseam of her increasingly uncomfortable denim cut-offs rode up higher and higher between her thighs, and her budded nipples rubbing against t
he soft cotton of the Miles-scented shirt, she thought she might actually faint. Add in a half-naked Miles for eye-candy and it was all too much. All too good.
By the time Miles had rowed them back to shore, into the wind the whole time, they’d both worked up a sweat. It was all she could do not to jump across the two feet separating them in the canoe and tackle him right then and there.
Best. Canoe ride. Ever.
When she’d finally gathered up her discarded shirt and bra and climbed out of the canoe onto solid ground, Zoe and Ben had come back to the shore to greet them.
“Well, what do we have here?” Zoe smirked. “I never thought about doing it on a canoe before, but I guess you’ve proven it’s possible.
“We didn’t … ” Paige trailed off, too embarrassed to speak a full sentence.
“I loaned her a dry shirt, that’s all.” Miles stood confidently as if he had no reason in the world to be embarrassed about his shirtless state. Of course, he didn’t. No one that hot would be embarrassed. “So where are we off to next?”
Back to business as usual. Good. That was good. Wasn’t it?
The thought of the canoe ride still caused her head to swirl, but that wouldn’t do her any good now. Best to move on and forget that moment. Like Miles did so easily. Apparently a half-naked canoe ride was no big deal to him. Maybe she wasn’t a big deal to him either.
“Can I have the keys?” she asked Miles, holding out her hand. “While you guys figure out where we’re going next, I’m going to go defrost myself.”
She jogged to the truck and cranked the heat on high, then laid out her shirt and bra across the dashboard over top of the vents near the windshield. Maybe if she blasted them with heat for a few minutes they would dry off enough to slip back into. She couldn’t let Miles walk around shirtless for the rest of the day. And stopping back at base camp for more clothes would take up way too much time.
As her skin started returning to a normal temperature, the back hatch opened and Miles popped his head inside, rustling around in a backpack for something. A moment later, he pulled open the driver’s side door and leaned in toward her.
Unscripted Love: The Complete Reality TV Romance Collection Page 35