Partner Games
Page 17

 Jessica Clare

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I bit back my whimper. “What are you doing in the ladies room?”
He chuckled. “Actually, this is the men’s room.”
My eyes widened and I watched as a man pushed past us. “Eww!” I tried to slide away, only to have Swift grab me by the waist and pull me against him again.
“Shhh, Tiny, we’re trying to surprise the other teams. They think we’re done for. I want to see the looks on their faces when they realize it’s anybody’s game again.”
I slid my arms around his neck again and peeked around. “Is that why you’re hiding?”
“Yup. Plate’s at the snack bar, hiding in the back. We’ll make our grand entrance on the flight.” He leaned in and gave me another hard, quick, kiss. “And all of this is thanks to you. I don’t know what you and Georgie did to get that Sergio guy on your side, but he told me he arranged everything.”
“Blowjobs,” I said, smoothing a hand down his shirt.
“What?” His eyes went wide.
I smacked his chest. “I’m joking. He was in love with Georgie already. We just took pictures with him.”
“Oh. Jesus.” He laughed. “I had a mental image of you blowing the guy and nearly lost it.”
My brows drew together. “Because it’s a terrible idea?”
He leaned in and pressed his forehead to mine. “Because I’m jealous of the thought of another guy getting to fuck your mouth.”
Well….that escalated quickly. “No blowjobs,” I breathed. “I was just joking.”
“I’m glad,” he said in a husky voice, and suddenly our conversation had lost all of its teasing quality.
Now I was thinking about Swift and me getting on my knees in front of him and…giving him the world’s worst blowjob because I’d never done it before. That got my head back on track. I patted his chest again, right over his name. “You’re welcome.”
“I’m gonna make it up to you, baby, I promise.”
“The name’s Clementine. Not baby. Not Tiny.”
His hand slid to my ass and cupped it again. “You don’t want to be my baby?” His voice was low and husky and oh-so enticing.
I bit my lip, because oh man, it was such bad strategy to want to jump his bones right about now. “I shouldn’t.”
“Maybe I’ll just call you baby in private, then,” he said, and rubbed his nose against mine. “I’m gonna make it all up to you. You saved us, and I don’t forget stuff like that.”
“Just race alongside us and help me and Georgie if we need it. That’s all I ask.” I forced myself to give a light shrug, as if I didn’t care. “Besides, Plate helped Georgie back at the first challenge, so I owed you.”
He pulled back, studying my face. “Is that why you saved us? Because you owed us?”
“Well, no,” I admitted shyly, playing with his hair at the nape of his neck. “I kinda like you, too.”
Swift’s grin made me melt a little.
 
~~ * * * ~~
 
The other teams were still steaming when we got off the plane at Oslo Airport Gardermoen. Swift had been right – the looks on their faces as he and Plate boarded the final flight? They’d varied from amused (Jendan and Annabelle) to downright pissy (Team Houston and the Green Machine).
Since we had the best tickets (courtesy of our buddy Sergio), Georgie and I were at the front of the plane, which meant we got off first when we landed. As soon as we exited the terminal, there was a man with a big World Races flag standing near curb, next to the taxis. He held a disk out as Georgie and I sprinted toward him.
We took the disk quickly and paced away a few feet to read it as the other teams rushed up behind us.
Go to Rimi Makrellbekken and head to the frozen foods for a taste of Grandiosa. Norwegians consume more frozen pizza per person than any other country on earth, and you will each need to eat an entire one of your flavor of choice before receiving your next clue.
“Frozen pizza?” Georgie said, making a face. “That sounds revolting. It’s probably got squid or fish on it.”
“Don’t care, as long as we eat it fast,” I told her, then looked around. Plate and Swift grabbed their clue, and then raced toward us without even reading it. We waved them over and flagged down a pair of cabs. To the first one, we pointed at the clue. The second cab was instructed to follow…
And then we were off. The next leg of the race had begun, and we were all together in a pack.
Breathless, I squeezed Georgie tightly. “Think we can keep up with the boys this time?”
She tweaked my nose. “Piece of cake.”
 
 
Chapter Eleven
 

“When I told Swift I wanted a team to choke, I didn’t mean literally.” — Plate, Team One Percent, The World Races  
 
Things were going great for about oh, fifteen minutes. Then they fell apart, as things always seem to do. We stood in the frozen food section of Rimi Makrellbekken, a Norwegian grocery store. At a table stood a woman with an apron and a chef’s hat, and a microwave. Next to her were a choice of frozen pizzas.
And in front of it stood my twin, not-so-quietly freaking out.
“Just pick one,” I murmured to Georgie for what felt like the tenth time. “Please. Before the other teams get here.” I had my pizza slice in hand and was nibbling on it. It was ‘Nacho’ flavored, which meant it had meat, cheese and corn…which was strange. Not bad, though. Georgie had to pick a different flavor¸ and she was hesitating between Kjøttdeig & Løk and something called Skinke og Salami.
“I…I don’t know,” Georgie said. She shot an unhappy look at me. “I don’t want to eat any of them.”
The woman at the microwave gestured at the pizzas laid out in front of her. “You must eat a slice of pizza before you receive your next clue.”
A camera zoomed in on Georgie, and the boom mic went over her head. That just agitated my twin even more. “I don’t know,” she cried out. Her foot stamped, and for a moment, she looked like a child about to have a tantrum. “Why are you all pressuring me?”
Behind Georgie in line, Swift shot me a worried look. They couldn’t pick out their pizzas until Georgie’s was prepped, because our instructions were to wait, one at a time, for our pizzas. There was one microwave.
“Just pick one!” I repeated.
“Quit pressuring me!” Georgie cried, and to my horror, she began to weep. “I don’t want to make the wrong decision!”
Georgie was crying…over pizza? What the hell? She’d been in such a chipper mood not five minutes ago. I shot Swift an equally mystified look and moved forward to comfort my twin.
I tried to put a hand on Georgie’s arm but she shrugged me off. “Don’t, Clemmy. Just leave me alone.”
Hurt, I shoved another bite of my pizza into my mouth and retreated. She didn’t even want my comforting? Weren’t we closer than close? Wonder twins? Why was she shoving me away? Great, now I was going to cry. I stuffed another wad of pizza into my mouth and sniffed.
“Hey,” I heard Plate say. He moved next to Georgie, who was wiping her eyes with her fingertips. “Get the salami one and I will too. We can have a contest to see who eats it faster.”