I have no idea why I licked the peanut butter off of her finger. One moment she's just standing there, taunting me, and the next, I've got her finger in my mouth and I'm licking her with my tongue and I'm getting turned on. And now I can't stop looking at the way her butt looks in those bikinis.—Dean Woodall, Day 4
"Welcome to today's challenge," said Chip as the teams filed in and moved to stand on our numbered mats. When we were in place, he continued. "Today's challenge is going to be a Luxury Challenge. Teams will compete in the race today, and instead of the bottom two being marked for Judgment, the rules are a little different. This time, the bottom five teams will not be eligible to win a reward. The teams that place in the top six of the event will be. Understand?"
We nodded our agreement, and my eyes kept straying out to the course. I could see a table from where I stood behind Dean. The tables were set up on the edge of the lagoon, and in the water I could see colorful, numbered floats bobbing out in the distance. It sure looked like a lot of swimming. My stomach clenched a little at the thought. Dean was great at swimming. I was not. And if I lost this for us, would our tenuous agreement to not kill each other end?
I liked being on Dean's side, oddly enough.
For some reason, I kept picturing his mouth on my hand, and the feel of his tongue against my skin. I blushed at the memory and forced myself to concentrate on what Chip was saying.
Chip pointed out at the water. "Each colored buoy has a bag of puzzle pieces underneath. One partner will swim out to grab the bag. Once you have a bag, swim to shore and turn it over to your partner. You need five bags total. The other partner will use the puzzle pieces to solve their board and raise their team's flag. The first six teams to raise their flag win a prize. Want to see what you're playing for?"
I nodded and clapped my hands as eagerly as the others. After a few nights of being stuck on a barren beach, we were all excited at the prospect of luxury items.
Chip slowly pulled a decorative box off the first plate. "Matches," he called out, and held it aloft.
We clapped—who wouldn't want matches when you had to build your fire by hand?
The next two items were shown—food. One plate had sandwiches and the next had cookies. I heard a collective groan from the girls at the sight of the cookies. I had to admit that chocolate sounded pretty good right now.
The next few items were equally good—a blanket and a set of pillows. The last item to be revealed was the one that truly caught my attention. Chip lifted the final box and displayed a large, dark green bottle. "Something for the skin," he announced. "A native bug repellent made from eucalyptus oil."
Just hearing that made me scratch, and I glanced up at Dean, who was having the same reaction I was. Bug repellent would be very nice.
"Line up, teams, and let's get ready!" Chip lifted his arm in the air, and we sprang into action.
It didn't take much convincing for me to agree that Dean would be our swimmer. He nodded at me and moved out to the edge of the beach with the other men, and I stood behind our table, sizing up who else was working the puzzles. All the female partners had been left to do the puzzles except for ex-military Ginger, who was moving down to swim with the guys. If anyone could do it, it was her, I acknowledged with a wry smile.
I glanced down at my puzzle-board, noting the edges. The colors were striated in a zebra pattern that consisted of several different colors. It was supposed to be confusing, but that would actually make matching up the pieces easier. The best thing to do would be to create the edges and build in from the middle. Confident, I glanced down the line at the others designated with the puzzles. They weren't even looking at their boards, but were staring at their partners. The men were stripping down to their swim trunks, and it was an impressive display of bronzed male flesh. Several eyes, I noted, seemed to be focused on my partner in particular and his rock-hard body with the abs that you could bounce a quarter off.
Not that I had noticed, of course.
"Contestants ready?" Chip raised his arm in the air, lifting up a flag with the green Endurance Island logo on it. "Set… Go!"
Dean was the first one in the water, his muscular legs pumping as he splashed into the water until it was waist high and then doing a half dive into the water. Those of us waiting on the beach cheered our partners on—well, except for me. I didn't want to cheer for Dean in front of the others. They were still giving us smirking looks, clearly expecting the two of us to self-destruct again. For some reason, that made me feel safe. They didn't know of our little deal to try and get along, and they clearly didn't see us as a threat. So I didn't cheer him, just stood at my table with my fists clenched, my body a nervous pillar of tension.
The swimmers began to immediately tackle their first buoys, but Dean swam further out, to the far end of the lagoon, heading toward the furthest piece. I bit my lip at the sight, but realized that he was making a very smart move—when he was tired and the race was down to the wire, he wouldn't have as far to swim.
Others began to notice too, and as the first puzzle pieces were handed off, I could hear scolding from the other partners. "Get the ones out farthest first! Go! Hurry!"
But they had their puzzle pieces in hand and I did not, so I was forced to stand on our mat and wring my hands, waiting for Dean to arrive again. We were far behind the others at this point, but I saw a couple adjusting their strategy and knew it would all make up in the end—I hoped. Some of the others were already tackling their puzzles, and all I could do was stare at Dean as he emerged from the water.
And oh my, was he gorgeous when he did. The water glistened off of his rock-hard abdomen and sluiced down his chest, and my mouth went dry when his loose shorts dipped low on his hips. Water dripped from his skin as he raced up to me, and I held out my hands like a marionette. He shoved the bag into my arms and turned around before I could talk to him, running back for the water again, his feet spraying sand in my face.
The moment was over.
I grabbed the puzzle pieces and ripped the bag open, throwing the pieces down on my board. There were ten pieces in my bag, so fifty altogether. I immediately flipped them and began to separate them by color and edge. Before I could start with the edges, Dean was back and threw another wet bag onto my table, then darted off again, and I started the whole process once more. All around me, people were screaming and running and spraying sand, and it was difficult to concentrate. I bent my head low and continued to sort my puzzle pieces, trying to tune out the others.
Three more times, Dean came and dropped a bag of puzzle pieces on my table, and the third time, he sat down on the mat, breathing hard. Good! Done! We had all of our pieces! I immediately finished sorting them by color and began to grab the ones I'd designated as edges, shoving them into place on the board. I'd been a whiz at puzzles when I was a kid, and a Tetris nerd as a teenager, and this was the same thing, I told myself. I worked rapidly, shoving pieces back and forth, filling in my puzzle by completing each color and working from right to left.
"How did they get all their pieces so fast?" Someone grumbled to the side of me, and I heard low whispering. I didn't dare look up from my puzzle, but the tone of that voice had given me a cold shiver. If we weren't perceived as useless and weak… we wouldn't last long if we got in the bottom again. Not with Dean's impressive athleticism.
I slowed down, shoving a yellow piece in the midst of several pink ones, and began to pretend to think hard, even though my mind was mentally fitting the pieces with ease and I was almost done with the puzzle. I didn't want to be first. It'd be a death-knell for us if we were first.
Water dripped on the edges of my board. "What are you doing?" Dean hissed at me. "Why are you slowing down?" He pointed at one piece, my yellow one. "That doesn't go there."
I looked up and glared at him. "Back off," I demanded in a loud voice, clearly startling my partner. "I know what I'm doing! Leave me alone!" I winked, but I doubted he could see it.
Dean gave me a shocked look, raising his hands in the air. He scowled in my direction, and I quickly shuffled pieces, moving the yellow one back to the proper spot, and glancing down the line. The others were still working hard. Dumb Heidi on the right of me hadn't even gotten the edges of her puzzle built. She wasn't a threat. Damn. I was still too far ahead.
What would be a good place? Fourth? Fifth? I desperately wanted a prize, but I also didn't want to win.
Dean leaned in again. "Abby, what the hell are you doing?"
"Argue with me," I murmured under my breath, sliding another piece in. I had two left in my hand, and I pretended to check the other pieces, as if I wasn't sure that they fit together, glancing down the line. "Just argue with me. Loud," I whispered.
He paused for a moment and it got quiet, and I wondered if he was going to catch on to my request. Then, loudly, "Are you a moron?"
"Go away," I snarled at him, testing another piece and glancing down the line. "You're making me nervous!" Lord, I hoped my acting was convincing.
"I'm trying to win this thing for us and you're slowing me down," Dean shouted, and I winced. "Did you not see that I was ahead? I was winning this thing!"
"Puzzles are hard," I replied in a whiny voice.
"Done!" Someone shouted down the line, and a flag went up. Team Three.
I sucked in a breath, waiting, and slowly pressed in another piece.
"Done," called someone else a moment later. Then another, "Done!" Two more flags rose.
"Abby," Dean said in a warning voice, urgency putting an edge into his tone.
"We're done!" A team close to me shouted, and Team Nine raised their flag.
I slammed the last piece in and flipped the lever on my flag, letting it soar. Screw waiting—I couldn't stand it any longer. Fifth would do. "Done," Dean shouted, a mere moment before one team called out and then another. We were close, lucky. So lucky.
My heart hammered in my chest at the look Dean gave me.
"Teams Three, Seven, Eight, Nine, Eleven, and Two are our lucky winners!" Chip waved the flag.
I heard Heidi snort to my right hand side, and a few people glanced back at us in surprise. Dean looked over at me and his mouth began to cock up in a smile.
I immediately threw one of the wet puzzle bags in his face, mentally wincing at the loud slap the wet fabric made. "Next time, don't yell at me when I'm trying to work," I yelled at the top of my lungs. "Jerkface!"
The teams nearby snickered, and the cameramen immediately moved in like vultures as I stomped my feet and shoved past Dean toward the winner's circle where the other teams were gathering. They were lining up in order, teams hugging and leaning on each other in delight.
Dean moved to my side and I gave him a bit of a shove.
In the order that we finished, the teams got to pick their prizes. No surprise, the matches were the first thing to go. Not that I could blame them—if it had been my choice, I would have been hard-pressed to pass up easy fire. I had my eyes on the bug repellent, though. Already I could feel my skin itching.
The next team picked the cookies, and a collective sigh was heard around the challenge area as they took blissful bites out of them. Then the sandwiches, followed by more sighs. My fingers were crossed tightly as the next team seemed to discuss for a moment. "Blanket," they said, and I exhaled sharply, looking over at Dean.
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."
"We have food," Will added, holding up the coconuts. "And two bananas." He pulled them out from his shirt.
I have to admit, I gasped in delight at that. "There are bananas on this island?"
"And mango, if you know where to look," Lana said, smiling. "We can show you if you promise not to show anyone else. In exchange for fire, of course."
I glanced over at Dean, and he looked at me. "Can you give us a second?" I asked, and before anyone could answer I grabbed my partner by the elbow and dragged him away.
"What do you think?" Dean whispered low in my ear. The feel of his breath against my neck made my entire body shiver with want.
"I'm not sure," I admitted, still a little irritated at the sight of beautiful Lana rubbing her hands over Dean's chest. Why that bothered me, I couldn't quite say. I mean, Will was good-looking too, but I wasn't getting upset at the thought of Lana putting her hands on him.
"If they can show us where the rest of the fruit is—"
"I know, but fire?" I shrugged my shoulders, then crossed my arms over my chest. "What if we're the only ones that have fire? How much of an advantage are we giving away?"
"We're not the only ones," he reminded me. "Remember the matches? And besides, I think we'll need allies in the next few weeks to come. We could do a lot worse than sharing information with our neighbors and bringing them to our side."
Unless they use it against us, I thought uncharitably. I glanced over at the waiting duo, and Lana had her hand to her eyes, shielding them from the sun. She gave me a cheerful smile and I racked my brain, trying to remember what I'd been told about her. "What was her job again?"
Dean thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers. "Camp counselor. And I think I remember someone said that Will was a teacher."
"I guess they sound okay," I said, caving in. "I just worry that someone's going to mess this up for us when we've got things going so well."
Dean gave me a greasy hug, rubbing my arm. "Don't you worry about a thing." His hot, oiled skin slid against mine as he pulled me close. "I'll handle them."
To my vast shame, it felt marvelous to have Dean hold me close to him, feeling his sun-warmed skin against my own. The urge to sink against him was consuming. Lana was giving us an interested look, and too late, I remembered that we were supposed to be at each other's throats. I jerked away and followed Dean back over to Team Nine, trying to remain as nonchalant as possible, despite Lana's gloating grin.
"Fire for food sounds like a good deal to me," Dean said, stepping forward. Lana clapped her hands happily, and Will burst into a smile, and I realized just how much they'd needed fire. They were probably desperate for something to drink that didn't come out of a coconut.
Will handed the fruit over to Dean, who handed me a banana. I immediately began to peel it and eat it—the fruit inside was a little green and hard, but it was still one of the best things I'd eaten in a long time. I noticed Dean was eating his as well, and we made no pretense of trying to have a conversation as we scarfed the food down.
When I'd eaten the last bites of the banana and sighed, I pondered what to do with the peel. Maybe we could boil something in it later. Or… something.
"Fire?" Lana said expectantly.
Dean glanced over at me and nodded. He put his arm around Will's shoulders and gestured at the heavy thick of palms in the distance. "Why don't I have Will show me where the food is, and you show Lana the fire?"
I nodded and we split up, us girls heading back to our camp while the guys tromped into the heavy underbrush. Lana gave me a scrutinizing look as soon as they were out of sight. "So how are things with Dean?"
"Fine," I said slowly, not sure how much to reveal or how much she'd already guessed. "How are things with Will?"
"Very platonic," she said with a faint half smile. "He's gay."
"Oh." I wasn't sure how to take that. Will was the only black man on the show, well-built and utterly gorgeous to look at. "So I guess you two aren't an item?"
Lana snorted, the sound overly loud out of the petite Asian woman. "He's been talking about your partner, Dean, for days now. No, I'm afraid that boy likes dick."
I laughed at that. "Well, Dean's the biggest dick on this island, so he came to the right place."
She grinned but the shrewd look returned. "Really? You two seemed cozy earlier. I noticed you were holding back in the reward challenge, too."
She had noticed all of that? Crap, Lana was far more observant than I liked. "I thought it might be a little obvious if we placed in first."
"It's a genius plan," Lana admitted. "When I saw you hesitating with that puzzle and then yelling at Dean, I thought you were pretty smart."
"I'd really appreciate it if you didn't say anything to anyone else," I said hesitantly. That she'd pegged both Dean and me so fast made me nervous.
"Say anything?" Her face broadened into a smile, and I realized for the millionth time how beautiful every single woman on this island was. "I'm not going to say a word. I think the four of us would work better as allies."
I squatted next to the fire, poking the giant log we'd thrown over it before the challenge to keep it smoldering. Sure enough, the flames had died down but the coals at the bottom were still red. It wouldn't take much to get them hot again. "How are you going to carry this back?"
"Good question," Lana said. "I don't think we thought that far ahead. We were just desperate enough to try anything."
I held out our boiling pot. "Dean and I haven't had a chance to use this yet. We can put some coals into this to carry over to your camp."
"That sounds good," she said, and Lana paced around our small camp, as if taking notes. "Your shelter is amazing," she gushed, leaning over it and examining where I'd woven the palm leaves together. "How did you get everything to hold together? I tried to build something but it fell apart the first night because of the wind."
I gestured at the shelter and tried not to feel too smug. "I used my string bikini to hold it together."
Lana gave me a startled look, then laughed again. "They are a little revealing," she agreed, though I noticed she was currently wearing hers. "And a blanket, too. Nice. Will got fishhooks and I have some spices. What did you get?"
"I…" Oh lord, I really didn't want to tell her about my peanut butter. "I got a jar of some sort of food, but I dropped it in the water before I even hit shore," I said, making up the lie as I went along. "Pretty disappointing."
She made sympathetic noises. "I'll bet."
Once she'd finished boiling the water, we filled the pot up with hot coals and carried it down the beach to their campsite, adding tinder to keep the fire going. Team Nine's beach was situated a mile or so away and across a small inlet. Not too long, really. A quick check of their camp revealed what I'd suspected—it really sucked. No fire pit, no shelter, nothing. With Lana's help, I set out creating a new fire for them, building the wood into a small pyramid and sending Lana to get tinder and other bits.
Dean and Will returned while we were building the fire, their arms full of fruit, and discussed where they'd found the fruit and the best places to find more. They seemed friendly enough, and when Will showed Dean the hooks, the men were determined to try to catch a fish. They spent most of the afternoon in the water while I helped Lana try and build a shelter similar to ours, though slightly bigger.
"It's not as cozy as yours, but I don't want to sleep snuggled up to Will unless it's cold," she said with a teasing note in her voice.
My throat froze at that. I wanted to point out that I'd originally built my shelter for me alone, but then that would reveal that the dislike Dean and I had affected wasn't always pretend. So I changed topics. "Do you want to tear strips from your shirt to lash the frame together or should we use your bikini too?"
Lana wanted to keep her bikini, so we tore a few small strips from the bottom of the hem of her shirt that had been provided, and set about building the rest of the shelter. By the time the sun was going down, we had a decent shelter built, the fire was crackling and merry, and there was freshly boiled water, coconut, and the men had even managed to catch two tiny fish, which were split four ways. There was a ton of merry conversation over the meager dinner, about Lana's overbearing Filipino parents, my job as a book reviewer, and laughing over how bad Dean and I had seemed the first day of challenges.
And when Lana brought up the alliance again, it didn't seem like such a bad idea. We agreed, all four of us placing our hands atop one another.
"To the end," Lana said, her cat-eyes gleaming in the darkness. "Final four."
"Final four," Dean, Will and I agreed.