Wicked Games
Page 13

He didn’t even pause. “Bug repellent,” he said and scratched a bite on his arm.
Chip nodded, came over, and awarded the bottle to us. Dean took it from him and tucked it under his arm, deliberately not letting me get close to it, and I had to admit that it hurt my feelings. I glared at his back as the last team was handed their pillows and the small boats began to line up again to take us back to our camp sites.
We didn’t speak on the way back to camp—one of the rules of Endurance Island—and it bothered me that Dean wouldn’t even look in my direction. Hadn’t he understood what I was trying to do? I wanted to ask him, but I waited. And when they had dropped us off at our beach and it was no one but myself and Dean and the cameraman standing on the beach under the midday sun, Dean glanced down at the bottle, then turned and looked at me.
“That was a huge risk, you know.”
“I know,” I admitted.
He shook his head, a grin slowly sliding across his face. “I don’t know whether to scream at you or kiss you.”
For some reason, that admission made me shy, and my mind immediately went back to the peanut butter. I felt my face grow hot—damn—and I gave him a goofy smile. “I was hoping you’d catch on to what I was doing. If the others think we can’t work together, we’re safe if we happen to come into the final two again. Think about it—they’re going to keep us around because we’re a liability. We’d be fools not to play that up.”
He moved closer and grabbed the back of my head, twisting his hand into my thick, curly hair. For a moment there, I thought he was going to lean in and kiss me, but he only grinned and looked directly into my face, inches away. “You are a genius, you know that?”
This was getting dangerously close to flirting. I shoved at his chest, albeit in a more playful fashion. “I’m just tired of getting eaten by bugs.”
“Me too,” he agreed, pulling the cork out of the bottle. “But I wouldn’t have minded a sandwich. Dean held out the bottle, sniffed it, and then made a face. “Smells strong.”
I scratched at the welts on my arms. “Probably to keep the bugs away.”
“Waterproof, too, according to the label. That’s nice of them, considering they’ve parked us on a beach.” Dean grinned. He tilted the bottle in my direction, offering it to me. “Ladies’ first?”
I took the bottle from him and gave it a small sniff, then winced. He was right, it did smell really strong. I poured a small bit onto my hand and felt the texture—thick like lotion. The sand was going to stick to us like mad, but I didn’t care. I’d take gritty sand all over me and no bugs. With quick, enthusiastic motions, I began to rub it onto my bare, exposed arms.
Seeing my enthusiasm, Dean poured a small bit into his hand and began to cover his body as well. We stood there in the blistering sunlight, rubbing bug repellent lotion on our bodies, giddy with delight. After all, in swimwear there was so much skin uncovered, I suspected we’d end up using the entire bottle long before the game was over. I didn’t care—I wanted relief from bugs now.
I saw Dean’s hand slide over his lower back, and noticed a big bare patch where he couldn’t quite reach his skin. I imagined the bugs landing there. With my grease-slicked hands, I immediately began to rub the lotion across the span of his back, hitting between his shoulder blades and down his spine to cover his body in its entirety. Dean grunted at that, and I guessed he was pleased. “Thanks,” he said, as I slicked my hands over the rock-hard muscles one last time. “Here,” he said, pulling away. “Let me do you.”
I turned and presented my back to him, rubbing my hands on my bare stomach and thinking how different my body felt from his. His entire build was one of lean muscle and corded sinew—I was all softness and curves. Embarrassed, I almost stepped away again until I felt his hands slide over my shoulders, slick with lotion. And then I gave a sigh of pure pleasure. Not only would it keep the bugs away, but it was cool and refreshing against my hot, sun-dry skin. I arched and flexed a little under his skimming hands. Nothing should feel quite that heavenly.
After a moment or two, it became clear to me that the lotion-rubbing had proceeded past the ‘perfunctory’ stage. His hands still slid across my slick back, but the feel had taken on a more exploratory sensation, and I felt his fingertips trail across the dip in the small of my back, sending shivers across my skin. His hands flattened against my lower back, as if spanning my waist, and I sucked in a breath at the sensations that shot through me. They definitely had nothing to do with the game, and everything to do with Dean’s nearness. His fingertips moved along my sides, gently skimming in an almost ticklish fashion, trailing upward until I felt them touch against the straps of my bikini top. I sensed him moving forward a step, his shadow falling over me, and my entire body felt soft and languid, heat coursing through me.
“Abby,” Dean began in a low, husky voice, and I turned, gazing over my shoulder at him with heavy-lidded eyes. The look on his face was heated, sexual.
Something crashed in the underbrush nearby. Startled, I pulled away from Dean and averted my face, trying to hide the flush creeping over my face. He cleared his throat, and whatever moment we were having—or were about to have—vanished.
Two figures emerged out of the palm trees on the far side of camp and waved at us. I squinted in the bright sunlight, trying to make out their names. “Lana and… Will.” Both were dressed in vivid yellow that played well against their dark skin.
“Are they supposed to be here?” I glanced over at my partner.
Dean shrugged, his muscles still gleaming from the lotion. “I guess the cameraman will tell us if not, right?”
The cameraman usually assigned to our beach hovered not too far away—I barely noticed him anymore—and he didn’t seem to be having any sort of show-produced anxiety attack, nor was he calling his boss on his satellite phone, so I guessed that the occasional camp visits were allowed.
After a moment’s hesitation, I moved forward, following Dean.
Lana was waving cheerfully, a sly smile on her face as we approached, and I guessed that she’d seen Dean and I doing the mutual-lotion-rub-down. Her partner was juggling two coconuts in his arms and held them out as we approached. “Housewarming gift,” he declared in a cheerful voice.
The two of them were far too happy to see us. It made me uneasy, considering we were playing a competitive game in which one team could easily eliminate the other. Still, as Dean strode forward with an easy grin, his hand out to shake hands with them, I tagged behind, feeling like the reluctant asshole that I’d been cast as.
Lana hugged Dean and pulled away, wrinkling her nose. “What is that you’ve got all over you?”
Dean grinned and put a hand back down to his greasy chest as I pulled up alongside him, trying to contain my frown. “Sorry, we were trying out our bug repellent.”
As I watched, Lana’s brown eyes lit up and she reached for Dean again. “In that case, I should rub up against you some more.”
My partner sidestepped with a small laugh and Will grinned, but I couldn’t muster the same. I settled for a tight smile that didn’t feel as if it belonged on my face.
Another awkward moment passed, and then Lana waved her hands as if trying to chase away the awkwardness. “We wanted to see if you guys had fire and if we could borrow some, since we’re practically neighbors.”