Partner Games
Page 47

Almost.
Except…I sat under one of the shades, torches flickering nearby to provide ambience and lighting, Swift’s head in my lap, sipping from ice-cold bottled water. Jendan and Annabelle sat nearby, and Georgie had planted herself in Plate’s lap and was busy decorating his makeshift cast with a scrawly version of our mehndi designs.
“So how bad is the wrist?” Annabelle asked, her brows drawn together with concern. Unlike the Green Machine or the Red Hat ladies, Annabelle was genuinely concerned for Plate and Swift. Out of all the teams we’d been running with, we liked them the best. They were nice and friendly and not cutthroat, just here to have a good time.
“The medical team says I should keep it immobilized for the rest of the race and then have it checked again when I get home. It’s not broken, but it might as well be.” His normally smiling face was glum. “Fuckin’ camels.”
“Now, now,” Georgie said, her voice cheerful as she drew another doodle on his lime-green cast. “The camel was probably upset that it had to carry your heavy ass. You can’t blame it.”
He gave her a mock-scowl and tickled her, and Georgie dissolved into shrieks of delight, pretending to try and mark on his shirt with the marker as he tickled her with his good hand.
In the distance, Drew from the Green Machine rolled his eyes and stalked away, complaining about how loud we were. I heard someone mutter the word ‘clique’ in the background.
My, how things had changed. Suddenly my friends were in the majority and not the minority. Go figure.
Jendan just grinned, watching Georgie and Plate horse around, and he leaned in and kissed Annabelle’s cheek. “Could be worse, guys. We could be naked.”
She giggled. “That wasn’t so bad. I got a nice tan.”
“Naked World Races?” Swift mused, glancing up at me from his headrest on my thigh. “I’d be game. You?”
“What? No way!” I could feel my cheeks heating. “I would never even make it past the starting line. Never. No way, no how. Uh uh.”
“Come on. You’d look good in your birthday suit,” Swift teased. “And I’d be happy to be your partner.”
I clapped a hand over his mouth so he’d stop embarrassing me, while the others laughed. Swift just grabbed my hand and kissed my palm, making me squirm again.
Annabelle leaned in and kissed Jendan, smiling at him. They were kissy, those two. It seemed every time I turned around, they were touching each other, or kissing, or cuddling. “I’m ready to go home and get back in my own bed, honestly,” she said, giving Jendan another peck on the lips before looking over at us. “Take our winner’s money and pay off our new mortgage.”
“Didn’t you win Endurance Island?” Plate asked. “Maybe you let the rest of us have a turn.”
Annabelle just giggled. “I honestly don’t care if we win or lose. I just like being here with Jendan.” And she kissed her man again. Then, she looked over. “What about you guys?”
“I just like being here with Tiny, too,” Swift said, and reached up and tweaked one of my braids.
“Yeah, we’re gonna take the money and open up a bike garage,” Plate said as he held his cast out for Georgie to continue decorating. “Invest in some business, you know?”
I frowned a little at that. Swift had told me that he needed the money for his sick dad, not a garage. “But I thought—“
Swift tweaked on my braid again, distracting me. “That’s provided these ladies don’t beat us to the finish line.”
“If I win, I’m going to Bora Bora for a year,” Georgie declared. “Buy myself a grass hut and live on the beach with a personal masseuse at my beck and call.” She drew a little penis on Plate’s cast. “And you guys are welcome to come and visit.”
“So generous,” Plate said with a snort. “Didn’t realize they paid that much for second place.”
“Shaddup,” Georgie giggled.
“Red team?” Production called out, and I saw a woman approach with a clipboard. “You have ten minutes before you need to be on the mat. Please get ready.”
Georgie looked over at me and frowned. “Already?”
I sighed. I was tired and hot, and I wanted a shower. More than that, I wanted time alone with Swift. The last thing I wanted was to get up and go race again through the middle of the night. I glanced down at the gorgeous man leaning against my thigh, and he gave me a small smile and a wink.
“One of the perils of being in first place,” he murmured.
“I wish you guys were right behind us,” I told him. Right now, I was more interested in spending time with Swift than racing off to another remote location.
“We’ll catch up,” he said, and gave my palm another kiss. “I promise.”
Georgie groaned and pulled herself off of Plate’s lap. “But I haven’t finished decorating his cast.”
“I’m sure second place would be happy to take your spot,” Annabelle teased as she leaned against Jendan.
Second place was the Red Hat ladies. Elderly, but scrappy and devious. Georgie’s mouth pursed like she was sucking on a lemon. “Fuck that noise.”
I sighed. “Guess I’d better grab my stuff.”
Swift sat up and I got to my feet, brushing sand off of my legs. Even though we were sitting in a grassy spot near the oasis, there seemed to be sand everywhere. It was like the wind was determined to scour a layer off of our faces with it. Between that and the long sleeves in the heat? I was totally marking Morocco off of my list of places to re-visit.
Georgie and I retreated to our unused tent and stuffed our things into our backpacks. When we emerged, Swift and Plate were there with new bottles of water. “For your journey, ladies,” Plate said as he held one out. Georgie took it with a grin and gave him a hug, and I blushed as Swift approached me.
“Kiss for luck?” he murmured.
“You think I need luck?”
“Actually, the luck’s for me,” he said, and put a hand to the side of my neck, pulling me closer. “Plus, I just wanted an excuse to kiss you.” His lips brushed against mine, and I felt the barest stroke of tongue against my mouth before he pulled away.
I sighed and gazed at his mouth. Why was I resenting being in first place? I should be thrilled. I should be stoked that we were at the head of the pack for the first time in the race. I…just wanted to kiss and cuddle with Swift a bit longer.
“Have fun,” he murmured as he pulled back.
“We’ll try and save you guys seats on the flight if we can,” Georgie told them. She hugged Plate again and fist-bumped Swift.
“Red team,” Production bellowed again. “You’re needed on the mat in five minutes!”
“Gotta go,” I called, and grabbed Georgie’s hand. We raced forward to where the cameras were set up and got into our places. Georgie tucked a fresh bottle of water in my bag and I smoothed a protective layer of lip balm over my chapped mouth. That made me think about Swift again, but I had to put that out of my mind for now.
Until the next pit stop, I needed to think about the race.
After this leg was done, I could think about Swift, and hotel rooms, and possibly losing my V-card to a sexy, tattooed biker who had the best smile and amazing kisses.