“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. Ho
pefully Paige and Zoe and the boys would be way ahead if this other team kept following in their footsteps today.
Fifteen minutes later, they pulled up as close as they could get to a new cache. Paige all but jumped out of the car the second she twisted the key from the ignition. The entire drive Zoe had made little comments and hints about Paige and Miles together. It was unnerving. And awkward. And Paige really didn’t feel like getting teased anymore. Surely Zoe would pipe down now that they were with the boys again.
“Hey, Ben, want to share my GPS unit with me?” Zoe asked, looping her arm through his. “I think lover boy probably wants an excuse to get cozy and grope Paige again.”
“Hey,” Paige scoffed. She pulled out her lip balm to give her lips a coat before heading out on whatever trail the cache location forced them down. Cherry or mint flavor? “I’m right here. I can hear you.”
“So can I,” Miles said, coming up and looping his arm across her shoulders. “I don’t mind getting cozy if you don’t.”
Definitely cherry. Cherry is way better for cozy situations.
“And here I thought I’d signed up for an adventure show, not a dating show,” Ben said with annoyance.
“No one said they had to be dating to fool around, as was evident last night. I’m so glad to know my hospital visit didn’t affect either of your libidos. I’d hate to think my poor, possibly broken ankle had put a damper on your evening activities.”
“I offered to go with you,” Paige said. It wasn’t fair. She had offered and Zoe had shot her down. And she’d worried about her while she’d been there too. She’d just happened to distract herself from her worries by spending the night with Miles. “You told me I’d stink up your ambulance.”
“Don’t let her make you feel bad. Zoe’s just annoyed that someone is getting more attention than she is for a change.” Miles glared at Zoe as she walked away ahead of them, focusing only on her GPS instead of Miles’s words.
“Miles, be nice,” Paige said quietly. “Maybe Zoe really did want me there and I was too busy with … ” Her gaze flickered between him and the floor.
“With me.” Miles held her gaze. “But do you regret it now?”
She shook her head. No way did she regret anything about last night. Well, maybe she regretted not having her own condoms with her. That was pretty stupid. A grown adult, single, woman should always be prepared for anything. Or anyone.
“Good. Then let’s not let her ruin what was an unbelievably awesome night.”
He thought last night was unbelievably awesome? Awesome!
“Okay.”
“Come on, lover boy,” Ben called from further up the trail. “We really are wasting time again.”
Miles staring at her almost like he had last night in her bed made everything else around her disappear. Ben and Zoe ceased existing.
Miles brushed his fingers across her lips then cupped her jaw in his hand. “I can’t wait to get you alone again.”
When he kissed her, she was thankful for his height and strength because she didn’t know if she could hold herself up without having his strong arms to cling to. Strong arms that attached to an even stronger torso. One she couldn’t stop imagining hovering over her, sweat glistening across his tanned skin.
“Tonight,” she heard herself whisper, although she hadn’t planned on saying anything at all, much less inviting him into her bed again.
“If you insist.” He stepped away from her, his eyes appearing as lust-filled as she felt. He took her hand in his and led her down the path toward where Zoe and Ben had already disappeared. She wobbled once or twice on her feet before her knees finally felt strong enough to hold her.
How much longer until check in?
The sound of gravel under tires cut into her thoughts. She turned just in time to see another SUV from the show pulling in to the parking lot. Paige couldn’t tell if it was the same team that had turned up at the other cache earlier or not, but either way, they would have to hurry if they wanted any shot of getting the cache first.
Paige and Miles sprinted to catch up with Ben and Zoe who were already disappearing around a bend in the trail. Annoyance bubbled up inside of her. Maybe if she and Miles hadn’t gotten distracted in the parking lot, they’d be further along and almost at the cache already. Now they were going to have to rush if they wanted to find the cache first.
“We have to hurry,” she called as they joined Ben and Zoe. Together the four of them set out jogging toward the cache, following the little arrow on the GPS. Paige thought they might actually beat the other team, but moments later, Team Frat Boys shot past them, leaving behind a wake of laughter and jeering.
Paige slowed her pace along with the others and groaned in frustration. They just weren’t fast enough to beat the other teams in a foot race. And now Team Frat Boys would never let them live it down.
Chapter Seventeen
Miles paced the length of the common room while they waited for Chip to address the group. Spencer was already here getting his makeup touched up, which meant whatever was going on, was also going to be filmed. This was out of the show’s normal context so it couldn’t be good.
And that worried him.
“What’s all this about?” Sam asked, his daughter by his side. “I heard someone say something about an accident today, but no one seems to know what’s going on.”
Miles glanced around the room, the uneasiness settling into him making his stomach feel heavy. Why hadn’t anyone told them anything yet?
“We saw the local news this morning after everyone else left,” Ben said. “There was a breaking story. Something about a reality show and an accident. We think one of the teams got hurt.”
“Oh no,” Kristin said from beside her father, holding her hand to her mouth. “That’s awful. Who’s missing tonight? I didn’t realize a team hadn’t checked in.”
Miles scanned the various teams huddled together. Paige and Zoe sat at the table where they’d had breakfast together earlier. Eve and Rayne — Team Sisters — stood by the fireplace. He shifted, shoving his hands in his pockets to keep from fidgeting. Damn it. Who was missing?
A shot of pain in his shoulder forced his attention away from figuring out who wasn’t accounted for in the room. And annoyance shot through the rest of him at the sight of the grin on Team Frat Boy’s faces. If either one of them punched him in the shoulder again, he was going to have a really hard time not returning the gesture.
“Sorry about stealing that cache out from under you guys today,” Dean said without a hint of actual remorse.
“It was just one of those situations where we needed to get in and get out as fast as we could. I’m sure you understand how it is,” Chuck said.
Miles ground his teeth together. If there was anything he hated more than a pretentious frat boy, it was two pretentious frat boys. “It’s fine. No worries.”
“Oh good. I didn’t want you to think we were being inconsiderate to your partner’s special needs. We just had our own needs to meet.” Dean smiled and patted Chuck on the shoulder. “Like that trip today, right?”
“Hells yah!” Chuck cheered. “Cancun here we come.”
Great. Just what spring break needed — a couple extra jerks drinking on the beach.
“Can I have your attention, please?” Chip asked, walking into the room and saving Miles from any more unwanted conversation with Tweetledee and Tweetledum. “Gather around.”
Spencer joined Chip at the front of the room as the cameramen all took their places where they could see both the contestants and the host.
“Thank you all for joining us tonight. It’s unlike our usual format to film on your off-hours, but this is a very abnormal circumstance.” Spencer’s brow creased. “Chip Cormack, the show’s producer, has asked us all here this evening. Chip, why don’t you tell us what’s going o
n?”
Chip turned to face the teams. “I’m sure some of you have already noticed that one of our teams is missing tonight.” There was a rumble around the room as teams either confirmed that they did know or realized now that they hadn’t. Chip raised his hands to quiet everyone down again.
“This morning, shortly after the start of the day, Team Firefighters attempted our hardest cache and they were involved in an accident. They are in stable condition at the local hospital and will both make a full recovery, but the doctors have decided they are unable to continue in the race.”
A couple of gasps and a sob caused Chip to stop talking. Eve from Team Sisters held Rayne as tears flowed freely down her cheeks. Rayne must have been closer to the firefighters than Miles had realized. Sure, he’d seen them together a few times around the common room, but he hadn’t suspected they were so tight. Obviously they were if she was crying.
As he watched, Eve glanced over at him, catching his eye. She appeared even more concerned while watching him than she did to be holding her upset sister. He got the distinct impression she was worried about him too. But why would she worry about him? Maybe she didn’t want to see any of the teams hurt.
A shiver ran down his spine. How would he feel if it were Paige and Zoe lying in the hospital? His chest constricted at the thought. Well, he’d never let that happen, would he?
“What’s happened to them?” Rayne asked, her voice shaking as she tried to hold back her tears.
“They were rappelling and we think they didn’t hook in properly. They fell to the water below and were rescued by the emergency boats. But they both suffered from water inhalation along with a few cuts and bruises they endured during the fall against the rocks. The good news is, they have the best doctors at the hospital and are being very well taken care of. The doctors have assured us they will not suffer any long term physical effects from this ordeal, but they are not allowed to return to the game.”
“Can we see them?” Rayne asked. “I’d like to see them tonight.”
Stuck on You (Crimson Romance) Page 15