Playing Games
Page 36

I moaned again, the sounds muffled by the thrust of Liam's tongue in time with his cock. The sensations were driving me wild, and I couldn't keep quiet. Soft, whimpering little gasps escaped me with every thrust of his cock as he rocked into me, over and over again. I was wild with pleasure, and that orgasm that had been so close? Spiraled out of control within moments, and then I was crying out, heedless of his quiet shushings, the kisses that tried to drown me out. My entire body was locked around his as pleasure overtook me, and a moment later, overtook him.
When I came down, I realized that Liam had collapsed on top of me, breathing hard, just as spent as I was. The only sound was our mingled, rapid breaths and the constant steady hum of the train as it moved along the tracks.
Liam groaned once more, then leaned up to kiss my mouth in a hard, insistent claim. I kissed him back, dazed. That had been amazing.
"Is it wrong of me to hope that we have a private train car on every leg of the race from here on out?"
"Nah," I said in a shaky voice, curling up against him when he rolled next to me on the narrow cot. I'd kinda been thinking the same thing.
 
 
~~ * * * ~~
 
 
The Goreme Open Air Museum looked like something out of the Flintstones. Buildings of rock with square windows had been carved out of the side of the cliff. It was really interesting, but not half as fascinating as the colorful hot air balloons we'd passed on the way here. There was one waiting on the ground nearby, and I gave it a wistful look. We didn't have time to do something like that.
Liam tugged at my hand when I headed toward the stone building, turning me away. "I think I see the flag over there, in that field."
To my delight, he pointed at the hot air balloon. Sure enough, there was The World Races flag, and someone already in the nearest balloon, waiting. "Oh my gosh, do you think we get to go up in the balloon? How freaking cool is that?"
Liam chuckled at my excitement. "I take it you want to do this one?"
I gave a little bounce of pleasure. "Can I? Do you mind?"
"Not at all," he told me, and leaned in to give me a private smile. "Have fun. I'll be here when you get back."
I gave him a happy, enthusiastic kiss, not even caring that we were being filmed anymore. What did it matter? Liam was a great guy, and gorgeous. Who cared if the world was going to see us kissing?
I sprinted for the brilliant purple and yellow balloon, leaving my heavy pack with Liam and carrying only my necessities - my ID, some money, and of course, the Ace. As part of the race rules, we were never to let those leave our sight.
I bounded to the mat and gave the man at the flag a smile of thanks as he handed me the disk, then read it quickly. Take a ride in the hot air balloon and look for clues as to where you are to head next. Each hot air balloon ride lasts one hour and holds two players. If you do not see the message on your first ride, you must get back in line and wait to ride again.
A bit of anxiety clenched my stomach. What if I didn't find the message on the first round? We might be here all day. I looked back at Liam, but he only waved at me, clearly not seeing my distress. No sense in worrying about it, I told myself, and got into the basket of the balloon.
A player was already there, seated and waiting on a small bench inside the basket.
Brodie.
He grinned at the sight of me. "Hey there, sis."
"I see you got here ahead of us," I told him, taking a seat next to him. I couldn't even be mad about it. Everyone had to take taxis from the train station out to Goreme. It was entirely possible that he'd beaten us out here, though I hadn't seen Tesla. "Where's your partner?"
"Probably ran off to find a restroom," he told me. "She's got a killer hangover from last night."
Spending all their money on drinking? Figured. Maybe that was another reason the producers kept giving us so much money per leg. They wanted Tesla to get wasted. Lovely. My opinion of the show dropped a few notches as I sat down next to Brodie.
A cameraman got onto the balloon as another assistant handed us each binoculars.
"Can we share answers?" Brodie asked the assistant.
The man shrugged. "Not against the rules."
I gave Brodie a sour look. He was assuming I'd share with him? Because I had to suspect that if it was the other way around, it wouldn't happen.
As the balloon lifted off, I hung on to one of the basket's bright red railings - the hot air balloon equivalent of a chicken bar. We lifted into the air, and no one said anything for a long time, the sound of the burner flame echoing in our ears. The ride was surprisingly smooth, and before long, the ground was mere specks below us. My breath caught in my lungs at the wonder of being so high in the air, weightless and free. It was incredible. The countryside of Cappadocia spread out below us, all rusts and brown rock formations and craggy valleys.
At my side, Brodie turned and got to his feet, putting his binoculars to his eyes. I did the same, not wanting to be shown up by my brother. Strange how we'd started this race as partners and ended up as rivals.
"So if you see the message, you gonna share?" Brodie asked me.
I glanced over at him, but he hadn't looked away from his binoculars. He continued to scan the ground, as supremely confident and utterly casual that my answer would be a positive one. Which irritated me. I ignored him.
"Katy?"
"I haven't decided," I said after a long minute.
"Are you serious?"
"This is a race for two hundred and fifty grand, Brodie. Why should I hand it over to you? That kind of money buys me a lot of advertising for a start-up business, you know."
"Yeah, but this was my dream, not yours, Katy. You know it's not about the money. We can split the money if we win. Either one of us." He leaned in. "You know what I want out of this more than anything."
Publicity. Fame. His fifteen minutes. And if he won, he'd get that much closer. And if I stepped all over him on the way to the money, I'd ruin his dream. Ugh. My stomach twisted, and I couldn't really blame it on the balloon ride. "Brodie," I sighed. "I can't just think about me in this. You know if it was just me, we could talk it out. But Liam's my partner in this."
"So I hear," Brodie said in that brotherly tone of voice. "And I want you to be careful around him, Katy."
I rolled my eyes and put down my binoculars. "Are you serious, Brodie? You of all people are going to lecture me? You, that's been hooking up with Tesla Spooner for this entire race? Who couldn't wait to be her partner? Who wanted to be with her so bad that you ditched me at the first opportunity?"
"I didn't know the Ace was going to make us flip partners, Katy." Brodie threw up his hands in disgust. "How many times do I have to say that? You think if I'd have known that, I'd have screwed you over? You're my little sister. I care about you. I honestly just thought we'd save them for another round, and, you know." He gave me a dopey grin. "Tesla'd be appreciative."
"Yuck, Brodie. Just yuck."
"Hey, you asked." He nudged me. "You scan that side, and I'll scan this side."
I did, turning back to the rocky hills of Cappadocia. There was nothing that could be written anywhere on these hills, I determined, but enjoyed looking anyhow. The balloon ride was incredibly peaceful, and I was happy that Brodie and I seemed to be back firmly on brother-sister ground. I liked my brother, even though he was a bit of a selfish brat at times. And if he hadn't been a brat, I wouldn't have gotten the chance to spend all this time with Liam. It had worked out really well, actually.