"What did Katy and I do last night? None of your business. Turn off that camera." — Liam Brogan, Turkey Leg of The World Races
We had to leave for the finish line in the middle of the night. It sucked, but my internal clock was so incredibly messed up from bouncing around Europe that I probably would have been tired no matter what time we left. Holding Liam's hand and sneaking kisses when we thought the cameras weren't looking, though? Kinda helped my mood and I didn't mind that it was two in the morning, local time.
We'd stopped to snag cups of coffee and headed back out to the dock at Alexandria, where the starting mat was. It overlooked the harbor, and I stared down at it, feeling the air ruffle my hair as we waited for the clock to tick down to our start time. "Who do you suppose got booted?" I asked Liam.
He thought for a moment. "Joel and Derron, I think. They were big guys and I'm betting one of them had trouble with the pyramids, too. Those were some cramped spaces."
I shuddered at the memory.
"Two seventeen am," an assistant announced, and tapped a watch. On cue, our cameraman hovered, light shining in our faces. A local came forward, camel reins in one hand (nice touch there, World Games) and our disk in his other.
"Thank you," I murmured to him and took the disk with a small smile. As was our usual, I turned it over and Liam read over my shoulder. "Make your way to Canakkale, Turkey. There, look for the marked car lot at…." I wrinkled my nose at the unpronounceable street name, and then skipped it. "You will find five marked vehicles and your next destination. You have one hundred and ninety-eight dollars for this leg of your journey." I looked up at Liam. "Is it just me, or are they giving us a lot of money?"
"How so?" He took the disk from me and pulled off his backpack to slip it in.
I thought back to the prior seasons I'd watched, frowning. "I don't know. I just seem to recall that on a lot of the shows, no one ever got much money for each leg of the journey."
"Maybe we're going to expensive places," Liam suggested.
Or maybe they want us to keep getting hotel rooms, I thought, but didn't say it aloud. That was just Cranky Katy being cynical all over again, no doubt. I'd keep my suspicions to myself.
Plus, I liked getting a hotel room with Liam. It was kind of a win-win as far as I was concerned. I just hoped my parents didn't watch our season of The World Races. Ugh. I tried not to think about that. The last thing I wanted was my parents to see me hook up with a rock star while in a game.
~~ * * * ~~
Once we arrived at the marked car lot, I counted the marked cars that were left. All five. "We're still in the lead," I told Liam. "But we shouldn't be." All five teams that were left had been on the same flight, though separated into different parts of the plane. Liam and I had snagged two seats in the very front, while Brodie and Tesla had been in the back of the plane. Too bad for them. The Olympians - Summer and Polly - and Joel and Derron sat together on one row. They put their heads together and I knew they were plotting on how to overtake the lead. It worried me a little…until Dean and Abby got the seats behind us. Seeing them made me feel better, and we'd planned on following each other out to the next destination so we could tackle our tasks together.
But at the airport? We'd gotten separated when our cab driver had stopped for gas and we'd had no way to flag down Dean and Abby and let them know. They'd zoomed on past while we'd waited at the gas station, and I'd felt first place slip away. Liam hadn't been concerned, though. He'd only squeezed my hand and then pulled me in for a long kiss while our driver went in to pay.
And I found I couldn't be all that concerned about last place, either.
Still, it was weird to get to the car lot and realize we were the first ones there. Had everyone else gotten lost? We paid our taxi and picked out our car, settling in even as the cameraman sat in the passenger seat to film us. Liam sat in the front seat and I slid into the back, picking up the packet of paperwork back there.
It was the next clue. I tore open the paper seal attached to the map and began to read. "Make your way to the village of Hisarlik, just outside of Tevfikiye. This is the site of the ruins of the ancient Homeric city of Troy. There, you will meet a Greek soldier at The World Races flag who will give you your next clue."
"Off we go, then," Liam said, and our little car sped out of the parking lot.
~~ * * * ~~
The ruins were not all that difficult to find, or that impressive. I guess I'd been expecting some sort of massive city, but it was really just a bunch of half dug-out hills, tumbled stones, and areas that had been roped off that we weren't allowed to see. Nothing at all like Pompeii, and since we'd just come from there, they paled in comparison.
There was an enormous fake Trojan horse at the entrance of the ruins, though, and sure enough, the flag and The World Races station was there. Liam parked the car and we bounded out, racing for the flag.
Our next disk was handed to us. A team task, and one that didn't surprise me, given the five stations and blocks of colored wood set aside. Our team task was to build a duplicate of the Trojan Horse. Once we had our wheeled contraption built to the specifications of the Greek soldier supervising the task, we had to push it across the ruins on the marked path. Once we'd arrived at the end of the path, we'd receive our next disk and clue.
We set to work, heading for the pile of wood that had been colored black to match our team shade. As we did, I glanced around at the four other piles that still had no one working on them. "Liam," I said quietly. "While we're the only ones here, should we talk about the Ace?"
He picked up one of the four wheels on our mat of pieces and examined it, glancing over at me. "What about the Ace?"
"There are only three more eliminations," I told him. "Should we make a team decision on who we want to use it on?"
He gave me a serious look. "Katy," he murmured, moving closer so no one could overhear us. Not that it mattered. We were wired and mic'd for sound. Had been the entire trip. "The only team I think worth saving that would help us out is Abby and Dean. But…"
"But," I agreed. There was that whole 'Tesla and Brodie' thing. "So basically we can either play the Ace to be nice and save Brodie and Tesla if we need to, save Abby and Dean to try and propel ourselves ahead, or be dicks to everyone and not use it at all."
"Heh. That about sums it up."
I considered, then sighed. "Abby promised me that if she got an Ace, she'd use it to save us."
"Did you promise the same thing back?"
"No. It didn't come up in conversation. But I'd feel bad if we had an opportunity to save them and we didn't."
"Well," Liam told me, handing me the wheel and then picking up another, considering it. "The way I look at it, someone's feelings are going to get hurt. We can use it to push ourselves ahead in the game, or we can use it to salvage relationships outside of the game."
"And what if the Ace means another split?" I hated the thought of it.
"It won't."
I shielded my eyes from the sun and squinted up at my partner. "How do you know that?"
"Because splitting us up made good TV." He leaned in and gave me a firm kiss on the mouth, ignoring the fact that the cameraman hovered merely feet away. "Splitting us up again robs them of a lot of romantic scenes. Tesla and Brodie, too. They won't part us."
I blushed and handed him the wheel back. "So what do we do?"
"Whatever you want to do," Liam told me, his expression serious. "I'm leaving it up to you."
"Up to me?" I hated the squeaky note in my voice. "Why me?"
He squatted by the pieces, sorting through the jumble, the wheel still in his hand. I knew we should have been working on the task, but I wanted to get this squared away.
"It's up to you," Liam told me, picking up a painted dowel rod and comparing it to the hole in the center of the wheel he was holding, then discarding it. "Because it won't bother me either way. Dean's a good friend, but he won't hold a grudge if we don't save them. But I know you and Abby are close. As for Tesla?" He glanced up at me and grinned. "I don't care if she's mad at me after the race, but Brodie's your brother. You gotta do whatever you gotta do. The Ace is your choice."
"Well, you're definitely a different partner than Brodie," I grumped, squatting next to the pieces with him. "He wouldn't have asked for my opinion."
"I should hope I'm a very different partner than Brodie," Liam said, and wiggled his eyebrows at me.
I blushed beet red. I was pretty sure the camera caught it, too. "I think I'm going to save Abby and Dean. They've worked with us. It'd be unfair for us to leave them out to dry."
Liam nodded. "Sounds good to me."
~~ * * * ~~
We had the bottom half of our wooden-horse-on-wheels constructed when a flood of cars suddenly showed up in the parking lot. I snapped a board into place, then grimaced as I watched the other four teams charge forward. "Looks like everyone caught up," I told Liam.
He grunted, continuing to work on our horse.
Abby and Dean trotted up to the challenge mat next to ours and began to work on their horse. I glanced over at her. "What happened?"
"Our cab driver was an idiot," she told me. "He took us over an hour in the wrong direction and then tried to charge us for it." She made a disgusted face and pushed her sweaty curls off of her forehead. "Luckily, I pitched a fit and got us out of it."
"The good news," Dean leaned in to tell me with a grin, "was that apparently everyone else was following our cab. Which is why we're all late except you two."
I glanced at the other teams. They all looked pretty annoyed. Brodie's forehead was set in frustrated lines, and I felt a twinge of pity for my brother. He wanted to win this race so badly and they were not doing well at all. I squashed the pity, though. Brodie wouldn't help me if the tables were turned.
"Hand me that piece?" Liam told me, interrupting my guilty thoughts. I automatically handed it over to him and began to work on our horse once more.
The arrival of the other teams spurred us on, and a few short minutes later, we had used all of our wood and had a rather rickety-looking horse completed. There was a handlebar on each side for us to push on, and Liam and I pushed ours forward, heading for the marked path.
It was like pushing a shopping cart that was full of sand and held together by string. The thing creaked and groaned as if it were dying with every bump, and the tail wobbled like it was going to fall off. We pushed through the maze of walls and ruins, grimly determined. To my relief, our Trojan Horse held together and we crossed the finish line of the marked path.
The Greek soldier was there in his corny costume, and gave us our disk with a flourish. We took it from him with a nod, and quickly read the back. Take a train to Nevsehir. From there, take a bus or taxi to Cappadocia, Turkey. Make your way to the Goreme Open Air Museum to receive your next challenge.
"A train?" I asked, surprised. This was the first train we'd been instructed to take.
"Maybe they want us all to bunch up together again," Liam guessed. "Come on. Maybe if we hurry, we can catch an earlier departure."
He put his hand out for me to take and I clasped it, racing alongside him as we ran through the ruins and back toward the parking lot, heading for the car. As we did, we passed the others, still working on their horses. No one looked close to done, though everyone stopped and looked at us as we ran past, cameraman racing next to us.
"Hey, Katy!"
I turned, dropping Liam's hand at the sound of my brother's voice.
Brodie was on the far side of the horse, and he was frowning. He waved me over as if he wanted to talk to me. I hesitated, looking back at Liam.
He'd stopped too, and was watching me.
"Brodie wants to say something to me," I told my partner in a low voice.
Liam glanced at the cars, then back at me, clearly impatient but trying to hide it. "He might be trying to slow you down, or get information from you about the horse so he can get ahead of the others."
That did sound like my brother. I looked over at him again. "What is it?" I called back.
Brodie gave me an exasperated look and waved me over again, not wanting to say whatever it was aloud. He was definitely up to something.
I shook my head and gave him an apologetic look, then grabbed Liam's hand again. We raced back toward the cars and jumped back into ours. I pulled out the maps, studying for the nearest train station. "We should probably head back into Canakkale. The city's big enough that any train station would be there."
"Gotcha," Liam said, easing the car back onto the highway.
I glanced back out the rearview window. Brodie was watching us leave, even as Tesla knelt on the ground, piecing together the horse. My brother didn't look upset, just thoughtful.
And I wondered what it was he'd been trying to tell me.
~~ * * * ~~
The train to Nevsehir was a sleeper. I eyed it skeptically, considering that we were the only ones in our small compartment. Either we'd had some serious luck, or this was another 'tweak' by the race runners to give the couples on the race some more alone time.
"Don't you find it suspicious that we keep getting stuck alone together?" I asked him as we set our backpacks down.
"Suspicious, yes. Unpleasant? Not in the slightest." He leaned in and pressed a kiss to my mouth. "Besides, you heard the lady at the train station. We could have taken a fourteen hour bus ride. Let's just count our blessings."
He had a point. The lady at the train station had tried to convince us (repeatedly) that we should have gone by bus. It would be much faster, she told us. It would leave much earlier than the train, which left at the end of the evening. But the race had said train, so we took the train.
I eyed the tiny bunk beds in the sleeper car. Perhaps I was too suspicious after all. Those didn't look exactly big enough to get frisky on. "I suppose." I glanced down the hallway of the train car as other passengers moved past. It was late at night and I didn't see too many people around. If there was anyone else on the race in this car, they weren't out and about. "Do you think the others got on this same train?"
"Without a doubt," he told me. "I can't imagine anyone spent hours building that horse."
I nodded. He had a point.
"Come on," Liam told me, shutting the door and hanging a 'do not disturb' placard outside. He wiggled his eyebrows at me suggestively. "You have to be tired."
"Are you tired?" I asked in a light voice.
"Exhausted," he told me, his voice husky as he sat down on the lower bunk and tugged me between his legs. "I was just thinking we should lie down and relax."
I arched an eyebrow at him. "So I guess this means I get the top bunk?"
"Bottom."
"And where are you sleeping?"
"Oh, were we talking about sleeping?" His hand slid down to cup my ass. "I think, perhaps, we're talking about two different things, my lovely pig-tailed Katy."
"Mmm." I ran my thumb along his lower lip, then grazed it over his piercings. "Maybe you should be more specific as to what you were thinking of."
"I was thinking," he said, flexing those delicious fingers over my buttocks. "That maybe I'd climb into this bed and you'd squeeze in next to me and we'd see what color condoms we had in store for today."
I laughed softly at that, my fingers moving to brush his shaggy hair out of his eyes. "That doesn't sound like a bad idea to me."
"I think it's a fucking awesome idea, personally," he said, and leaned in, pressing his face between the valley of my breasts. "Because I haven't been able to get you out of my mind all day."
Just like that, all the teasing in me vanished, and every nerve ending flared to life. I sucked on a breath, my fingers tightening on his scalp as he nuzzled between my breasts, then kissed the curve of one through the fabric.
"Want to take this off?" Liam asked me, tugging at the hem of my shirt.
Did I ever. I ripped it over my head, exposing my belly and the ugly sports bra they'd given all the contestants. I quickly dragged the bra over my head as well, my torso bare.
Liam leaned in again, brushing his lips over my breastbone and then kissing the now-naked curve of my breast. I shivered, leaning against him, my eyes closed as I enjoyed the sensations. His mouth nipped at my skin, a languid trail to the tip of my breast.
I sucked in a breath when his mouth latched on to my nipple and he rolled it against the piercing on his tongue. A little moan escaped me as his hand slid to my other breast, his fingers plucking and playing with my nipple as his mouth worked the other in tandem. He felt so good against me, and I could feel my pulse racing at his touch, desire centering between my legs in response to his touch. "God, Liam, your mouth."
"And here I've always thought my fingers were the talented ones," he murmured against my breast, then bit lightly at one nipple even as he tweaked the other.
I whimpered, my knees going weak, and I sagged against him, clinging to his broad shoulders.
"Such pretty breasts, Katy," he murmured. "So small and perky, just like you."
"I don't know if you should be telling a girl that her breasts are tiny," I told him, then sucked in another breath when he nipped at the underside of my breast with his teeth.
"I like their size," he told me. "A perfect mouthful." And he slowly licked my breast, that piercing flashing against my skin.
I moaned, pressing up against him. "I want to lick you, too."
"But I'm enjoying licking you so much," he protested, flicking his tongue over my aching, hard nipple. "You wouldn't want to take that away from me, would you?"
"Never," I breathed, and my hand slid between his legs, stroking his cock through his clothing. He was already rock hard against my hand. "But I never got my turn to lick this."
He groaned then, and his hand left my breast, both of them moving to the waistband of my pants and tugging them down my legs. "Want you naked, Katy. Naked and sprawled under me right now."
Just the mental image of that drove me wild. I shoved at my clothing too, pushing them to my ankles and kicking them aside. I was naked then, and my hands tugged at his black race t-shirt, wanting to feel his naked flesh against mine.
"Help me get changed." He jerked at his shirt even as my hands went to the studded belt he wore.
I slid to my knees and tugged the buckle apart, then undid his fly. His cock pushed out against my hands, straining through his boxers, and I couldn't resist. I leaned down and rubbed my mouth against him through the thin cotton fabric of his underwear.
He jerked to a stop, groaning. "Ah, fuck, Katy. You're distracting the hell out of me."
"Am I? Gosh, that's a shame." I leaned in and grasped the waistband of both his jeans and his underwear, dragging them down until his cock was freed. "You're really going to hate it when I do this, then."
And I put my mouth on the head of his cock.
Liam groaned like a man in pain, so loud that it made me giggle, and I shushed him, wrapping my hands around his thick, hot length. "If you don't keep quiet, I'm going to stop."
He bit his lip, eyes closing, and leaned back against the tiny bunk. His hand moved to my hair, but didn't push me forward. Didn't do anything, just rested there.
But I was feeling heady with power and arousal. I was making Liam lose control, and eating it up. I moved in a little closer, until my bare breasts were pressing against his thighs, my nipples scraping against his legs. This was a major turn-on for me. I wrapped my fingers around his cock and ran my mouth over the thick head of him, exploring him with my tongue. Beads of pre-cum formed, and I licked them away as they appeared, then took the head into my mouth and lightly sucked, feeling those piercings with my tongue.
The breath hissed out of his throat, and his hand clenched in my hair.
"Sensitive?" I asked in a sultry voice.
"You could say that." He sounded like he was gritting his teeth.
I rolled my tongue over one of the piercings, then the other, and then took him into my mouth again. I didn't take him deep into my throat - I didn't know enough about how that would work with his piercings - so I just licked him like a lollipop, over and over again, with my clenched fist stroking his hard length occasionally.
He groaned again, and he tugged at my hair, trying to drag me away from his cock. "Katy," he panted, "You have three seconds to get on that bed."
"Or what?" I purred, but I was so slick with need that my flesh was rubbing back and forth when I pressed my legs together, and I wanted him deep inside me. So I crawled onto the bed and flipped over to my back, watching him.
He got up and opened his bag, and I watched in fascination as he pulled out a condom - blue this time - and rolled it carefully over his cock, adjusting it around his piercing. And then he glanced over at me and gave me a wicked, wicked look that made my entire body shiver with anticipation.
Liam pounced on me in the next second, sliding between my thighs. I flexed them against him in encouragement, but instead of sliding inside me, he got to his knees and grasped one of my thighs, pushing it back until my foot was in the air. Then, he pressed a kiss to the side of my foot and placed it on his shoulder. The movement stretched me wide, and I moaned with arousal, anticipation getting the better of me.
He ignored my needy sounds, placing his cock at my entrance with slow, deliberate care. I tensed, waiting for that delicious slide home, but it didn't come quite yet. Instead, he held there. His hand moved to my sex and his thumb grazed against my clitoris.
My choked gasp of pleasure echoed in the small room. My entire body tensed, ready to slide right into orgasm. This would take no time at all - I was already so turned on I was practically writhing against his hand.
Then, he pushed inside me.
The strangest little mewing sound came from my throat, involuntary. And then Liam was pressing forward, his mouth moving to capture mine even as he stroked deep. My leg was stretched onto his shoulder, my knee mashed up against my breast as he leaned in to kiss away my moans. And he began to thrust. Not hard, but quick and fast, and I felt each one deep inside me, stretched and exposed as I was.
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.
And I smiled to myself as I scanned the countryside. It had worked out wonderfully, if I was honest with myself. And Brodie just wanted to get ahead in the race. There was no harm in that. At least he hadn't asked me for money.
"See anything?"
"Not yet," I told him. "Nothing that even looks like a message."
"Me either. Keep looking."
I did, obediently scanning the countryside with the binoculars.
"Hey, Katy?" Brodie said after a few more minutes.
"Hmm?"
"So…what are you and Liam planning to do with that Ace?"
I sighed. "Leave it alone, Brodie."
"Oh, come on," my brother said in a pleading voice. "You and Liam have been hovering around first place for several legs now. Tesla and I have a good leg, and then we drop all the way to the back of the pack again depending on whether or not she's having a good day or a bad day. And guess what kind of day she's having today?" There was an unpleasant tone in his normally cheery voice.
"A bad day?" I said, trying to hide my gloating and failing.
"She's hot, but man, she's really high maintenance. You can ask Liam about that." Brodie sounded a bit disgusted with his partner. "She drinks like a fish, insists on using all of our money, and she's horrible with a freaking map."
I chuckled. "Is she good at anything?"
A pause, and then Brodie gave me a sly grin. "Well, yeah. She's pretty good at something."
My face flamed. "Yuck again, Brodie! I did not want to know that."
"You asked!" He reached over and tried to give my head a brotherly noogie. "So, come on. Are you going to help your brother out?"
I turned back to my side of the balloon, scanning for the message. "Shouldn't we be looking for the clue?"
"I found it about five minutes ago, actually."
"What?" I yelped, rushing over to his side of the basket. My stomach heaved when the thing lurched in response, and the others in the basket glared at me. I clung to the chicken bar and raised my binoculars again. "You saw it and didn't tell me?"
"Well," Brodie said. "That's why I wanted to talk about the Ace."
I scanned the hills behind us with my binoculars, but could see no hidden messages, no nothing. Crap. Double crap. I'd lost the message and Brodie was going to hold it over my head. "I can't believe you!"
"Like you said, it's a race for two hundred and fifty grand, Katy."
"You really, really suck."
"And you have the Ace."
I resisted the urge to fling my binoculars at my brother's head. "So you're blackmailing me? Is that it? If I don't give you the Ace, I'll end up in last place because I'll have to go up again. But if I do give you the Ace, I'm helping you win. What exactly am I supposed to do here, Brodie? Either way, I lose."
"You should give me the Ace because I'm your brother," he said, his face earnest. He gave me a puppy dog look. "And Tesla hasn't done her challenge yet. You know whatever it is, she's going to suck at it. She's hung over like hell. And then we're going to be last, and I'm going to be eliminated." His face, so similar to mine, drew into sad lines. "It doesn't matter if you go up twice in this stupid balloon. I'll still be the one going home at the end of the day."
"Brodie," I began.
"You don't need it," he pleaded with me. "Liam's a great partner. And even if he wasn't, you never wanted to win. Not really. But I have to win, Katy. I have to stay on the show for as long as possible. And I can, if you give me the Ace. Think of what good TV it'll make - a secret brother/sister alliance."
I wavered. "It's not exactly secret if we work together. People kind of expect that, don't you think?" But that 'good TV' comment had me thinking, and thinking hard. I could save my brother and make him happy, get the clue from Brodie and ensure Liam and I stayed at the front of the pack, and the sneaky exchange would make good TV.
Except Liam would be mad that I'd given away our advantage. He wanted to win. And he hated Brodie.
And I'd promised Abby that I'd save her if it came time. Abby, my best friend on this race, and the one who'd really helped us out from day one. Not Brodie.
But Brodie was my brother. And he had the clue I needed.
I pulled the Ace out of my pocket and held it out to him. When he reached for it, I snatched it out of his grasp. "Just a second. I need you to make me a promise, first."
His eyes lit up. "What's that?"
"I promised Abby and Dean that we'd save them. If they get into danger and you don't, I want you to use it on them."
"Done," Brodie said quickly. He reached for it again.
This time, I smacked it into his hand, feeling uncomfortable as I watched his fingers curl over that important packet. He stuffed it into his pocket and then enveloped me in a boisterous hug. "You're the best, Katy. You know that?"
"Yeah, yeah," I murmured, but I hugged my brother back. Liam had said it was mine to use as I judged, after all. Maybe he wouldn't be too mad about this.
Maybe. Or maybe he'd be pissed that I'd given Brodie and Tesla the chance they needed to push ahead. He wanted to beat Tesla, and he wanted the money. He also hated Brodie.
Ugh. I got anxious just thinking about all this. "So are you going to tell me the clue?"
Brodie dragged my smaller form against him and noogied the hell out of my head. "You know I would have told you either way, right?"
"Jerk," I said, squirming out of his grasp. And no, I hadn't, but it was good to know now. "Just tell me the dang clue."
He pointed at a section of the distant hills. "There's a circle with several race flags set up over there. I imagine we'll pass by it again when we come in to land the balloon. And there are words spelled on the ground. 'Time for your partner to get oiled up.'"
"Oiled up?" I stared at the area Brodie had mentioned, but couldn't see anything. "I bet you're looking forward to that."
"You have no idea," he said with a dreamy grin.
Yuck, again. I elbowed Brodie…but then I imagined Liam all oiled up, and my grin was probably as dopey as Brodie's.
~~ * * * ~~
Sure enough, I saw the area Brodie had mentioned when we circled back. My brother hadn't been lying, which I was thankful for. I raced out of the balloon and back to Liam, who had both of our bags on his shoulders. Tesla was stretched out on the ground, a shirt tossed over her eyes as she either napped or tried to kill her hangover. I stepped past her and flew into Liam's arms. He grinned at the sight of me, spinning me around.
"How was it?"
"Spectacular," I told him, though I couldn't quite muster an enthusiastic smile. Giving the ace to Brodie was bothering me, though it did appear that he hadn't been lying about his partner having a bad day. I nodded back to Tesla's prone form. "What's with her?"
"Hung over," Liam said, leaning in to whisper it, and then nipped at my ear. "You find our clue?"
"I did," I told him. "Come on."
As we left, I glanced back at my brother and Tesla. She still hadn't moved from her spot on the ground, though Brodie was slinging backpacks onto his back. And I felt a twinge of pity for my brother.
They were still at the head of the pack at the moment. Maybe he wouldn't need the Ace at all. Maybe all my worrying was for nothing.
~~ * * * ~~
We arrived first at the makeshift stadium. It had been set up like a Greek amphitheater amongst the rocks, but at the center was a large circular grassy area, and a row of five, burly men in stiff leather pants. Off to the side was a small changing tent. This was going to be the oiled up challenge? Weird.
Liam left our packs with me, and I sat down on them and drank a bottle of water as he bounded to the flag. He glanced over at me as he received the disk, and then began to read. And then groaned aloud, looking back at me. "Turkish Oil Wrestling," he called at me.
I gave him a thumbs up. "Go get oily!"
He raced to the changing booth, grabbed something from the ground, and disappeared inside the booth. I glanced around, looking for Brodie and Tesla. The stadium was only a short walk from where the balloons had landed. They should have been here by now.
A moment later, Liam stepped out of the booth, wearing the strange pants. They were thick, the material bulky, and reminded me of old fashioned football player pants. It looked as if they were made of leather. He wore no shirt, and I could see the tattoos dancing along his skin, his arms dark with black lines.
He grinned at me, rubbing a hand on his flat belly, and then moved toward the row of waiting men. He pointed at the first one and the man stepped forward. They both moved into the grassy circle.
I tilted my head as the cameraman stepped past, zooming in, and the judge moved forward, a carafe in hand. He began to pour the oil over the thickly muscled chest of the short, stocky man directly across from Liam - his opponent - and then on Liam's chest. His opponent reached forward and began to spread the oil on Liam's chest. Liam hesitated, then awkwardly returned the gesture.
My jaw dropped a little, and I leaned forward, fascinated by the two men as they oiled each other up. Then, they stepped forward. As they did, two other men came out and demonstrated the proper way to wrestle.
I tilted my head even more when one man stuck his hand down the other's pants and hovered over him, squatting.
That was…weird.
The man continued to hold the other man by his pants. It was also apparently legal, since the judge nodded approval at the pair, and they got up and clapped hands in a sporting gesture.
Oookay.
Then it was Liam's turn.
The judge blew the whistle and stepped back. Liam immediately moved into a fighting stance, all oily muscles and slick tattoos, and I admit, I got a little turned on just watching him move.
It didn't last long, though. His opponent gave him a minute, then quickly flipped him with a well-placed leg. Oily arms grappled and slid against each other, and then Liam landed hard on the ground, the other man over him.
And the man shoved his hand into Liam's pants to pin him.
I couldn't help it. I giggled.
Liam shot me a glare, his face flushed with irritation. Clearly not high on his list of fun challenges. I smothered my laugh and tried to look sympathetic.
The judge shook his head and blew the whistle. "No. I'm sorry," he told Liam. "Try again."
The man let Liam up, and my partner got to his feet, adjusting his pants and brushing the long black hair out of his face. He shook himself off, then gave a nod of readiness.
The judge blew the whistle again.
It was clear that the wrestler Liam faced was trying to go easy on him. He held his hands out, ready to counteract a move, but he also wasn't exactly being aggressive. He waited for Liam to move, and then when Liam lurched forward, grabbed him by the pants and slammed him to the ground again.
This time? I winced. That didn't look like fun. Liam wasn't quite sure how to handle his oily opponent. He rubbed his gleaming shoulder and rotated it, as if the muscles ached, and dragged himself back to his feet again.
Someone ran up beside me. A backpack dropped and Brodie flopped down beside me. "Hey."
I watched as Tesla dropped her pack next to Brodie and stepped forward to receive her clue. This was her challenge. Oh, this was not going to go well for them.
Brodie squinted and watched as Liam went down for the third time. "Did that dude just shove his hand in Liam's pants?"
"Turkish oil wrestling," I explained. At least, I hoped that was part of the schtick and not just an overly handsy wrestler.
"Ah," Brodie said, as if that explained everything.
"So what took you guys so long? You left the same time we did."
"Tesla needed a few minutes to recharge her chakras," Brodie said in a deadpan voice. "She insisted on doing some yoga to align her spirits or some shit."
"Seriously?"
He twirled a finger near his ear, indicating his partner's insanity. "She's lucky she's hot."
"Yeah," I said in a snide voice. "It's so much better to have a hot partner than a capable one." Speaking of hot partners…I looked over at my greased-up rock star and felt a familiar quiver in my loins when he grappled the man he was wrestling, his muscles flexing. Oooh, he was getting better at this.
A moment later, he flew over the man's shoulder and thumped onto the ground. The man turned him over and shoved a hand down his pants again.
Liam cussed under his breath.
Brodie howled with delight, clearly enjoying Liam's discomfort.
I shoved my brother. "Shut up, already."
"Maybe you should have done this one, Katy," Brodie said, but it was loud enough for Liam to hear. He glanced over his shoulder at us, and the look on his face was narrow-eyed.
"Quit being a jerk," I told my brother, and clapped my hands to encourage Liam. "You've almost got it," I called to him. "Just ignore everything but your opponent."
"Holy mother," Brodie breathed, and I turned to where his gaze was centered. Tesla had moved out into the ring with her opponent, dressed in her yellow team sports bra and a pair of the odd leather pants. The judge seemed to enjoy pouring the oil on her, and her opponent ran slick hands over her, looking rather pleased that he'd gotten the job. The other wrestlers were watching her get oiled up, too.
And then the whistle sounded, and she faced off with her opponent. Tesla danced around him, bobbing and weaving in light motions that surprised me. Maybe when she had her chakras aligned, Tesla was light on her feet. Or something. Either way, she managed to slid behind her wrestling partner and almost pinned him to the ground before he grabbed her and flipped her over.
The moment Tesla hit the grass, Liam hit again.
On the next round, though, she got it. My jaw dropped as I watched Tesla slide over her opponent and shove her hand down the man's pants. And that guy looked like he was enjoying it. Yeah, he probably hadn't been trying too hard to fight her off. Who'd want to fend off a beautiful oily woman that wanted to get her hands on you?
"Winner," the judge announced, and handed Tesla her disk.
"Yeah!" Brodie leapt to his feet, pumping a fist in the air. "Hot damn, way to go, girl. You rocked that."
"It's because her opponent wanted to be touched by her," I grumped. "He wasn't exactly running away."
I winced as Liam slammed into the ground again. Tesla hadn't been that much better than Liam, or faster. It seemed like her wrestler had gotten the 'go easy' memo, though, and Liam's hadn't.
"Or maybe she's just got a bigger set of balls than Liam, there," Brodie said with an obnoxious laugh, and grabbed his crotch at Liam just as my oily rock star was picking himself up off the ground.
With an angry snarl, Liam launched himself at Brodie, flying across the arena.
Tesla backed away even as I shot to my feet.
Brodie tried to push Liam away as he charged, but Liam was covered in wrestling oil and shirtless. There was nothing to grab but slick, ropy muscle. As I watched, Liam gave Brodie a hard shove, and when Brodie sprawled backward, Liam flipped him onto his stomach and shoved his hand into the back of Brodie's pants, grabbing his underpants in the world's largest wedgie.
It was basically the same move that the Turkish wrestler had done to him, over and over again.
"Who's got the bigger balls now, huh?" Liam said in a low voice.
"You fucking son of a bitch!" Brodie flailed, fists flying.
The judges rushed forward to break up the fight. I ran to Liam's side, putting my hands on his oily chest. "Hey," I murmured, wide-eyed. His chest heaved with angry, rapid breaths. "Calm down," I told him. "He's just trying to get under your skin."
"Your brother," Liam heaved between breaths, "Is a fucking dick."
I couldn't argue with that.
Liam's dark gaze turned on me and he leaned in. "We're not helping them in this race. I'd be happy if they went home tomorrow."
I said nothing. Liam would flip out if he found out I'd given Brodie the Ace. So I didn't admit it. What he didn't know wouldn't hurt him, and this was a bad time to confess. I ran a hand over his oily chest, trying to soothe him. "You're doing great," I murmured, ignoring Brodie's shouting on the far side of the judges that separated the men.
Liam seemed to calm a bit under my touch, though he still looked furious at Brodie.
A production assistant came up to one of the judges a moment later and whispered something. The judge nodded, and approached Liam and I as Brodie and Tesla headed off with their backpacks, presumably to the finish line. The man handed us a disk. It was bright red, with a big "6" on it.
"You have incurred a six hour penalty for fighting," he told us gravely. "You must wait here for six hours after your task is completed before you can receive your next set of directions."
"Six hours?" I protested. "Why did Brodie only get two hours for fighting previously? That's not fair."
"Two hours for every punch thrown."
Liam's jaw tightened.
I hid my disappointment. Six hours? We were going to get eliminated for sure. But it was what it was. I gave Liam's chest a pat. "Don't worry about it," I told him. "Just finish the task. You're doing great."
He looked down at me, then leaned in and gave me a hard kiss, his piercing scraping against my cheek. Then, he stalked inside the ring and faced his opponent again.
It only took two more tries before Liam managed to flip his opponent. Once the man was down, he seemed to concede the fight, and let Liam shove a hand into his pants and pin him.
I whooped and cheered as Liam finished, and the production assistant set a stopwatch. Liam gave me a rueful grin and moved to my side, dragging me against him. I didn't care that he was oily, and sweaty. He was delicious. When he kissed me again, I kissed him back.
"I'm sorry," he told me.
"For what?"
"For losing my temper," he said, his voice gruff. "I've pretty much cost us the race."
I gave a shrug, feigning lightness. It wouldn't do any good to berate him. "The way I look at it, we've got a nice vacation in Acapulco to look forward to instead of sleeping in airports."
"Mmm," he said. "Do we get to share a bed?"
"Absolutely," I told him, rubbing a hand on his chest. "I'll even be the one to oil you up next time."
He sighed and pulled me close, just as the next team pulled up. We watched the two Olympian women race forward, our hearts sinking. They hadn't been that far behind Brodie and Tesla, and the balloons carried two, which meant another couple should have been hot on their heels.
That left one more couple an hour after them. No one was going to be six hours late.
We were totally eliminated.
~~ * * * ~~
I lay on the grass, Liam's head resting on my stomach, as we waited for time to pass. Idly, I toyed with his hair and we stared up at the brilliantly blue skies of Cappadocia, watching the occasional balloon float past.
"This place is really pretty," I said softly.
"Mmm." Liam's eyes were closed, and I couldn't tell what he was thinking. We'd been more or less silent for the past few hours, simply waiting. Abby and Dean had come and gone, Summer and Polly had come and gone. There was one more team - Joel and Derron - and we hadn't seen them anywhere, which made my stomach jumble into knots as the hours passed.
Liam had put his clothing back on over his oily chest, and his black shirt stuck to his skin, but there was no place to go to wash the oil off. We had to sit at the location and wait for our penalty to be over. It didn't matter anyhow, I told myself. We'd be heading to the loser lodge shortly and would have all the time in the world to shower.
We'd been here for hours on end. I didn't know how much time had passed - the race didn't allow us phones and neither Liam nor I had a watch set to the correct time since we jumped time zones so often. Someone would just tell us when our penalty was over, so we waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Which was why I was so surprised when I heard the sound of running feet. I turned idly and glanced down the path that had led to the challenge.
Joel and Derron had arrived.
I sat up, knocking Liam's head from my stomach, and he rolled away, surprised. We both stared at them as Joel moved forward to do the challenge and Derron came to sit next to us.
"I'm surprised to see you guys," he said, beaming at us. He looked thrilled. Of course he was. We were still at a challenge, hours after it should have been done. "What happened?"
"Six hour penalty for brawling," Liam said, glancing up at him.
"Brawling?" Derron's eyes widened and then he grinned. "Don't tell me. Brodie?"
"How'd you guess?" Liam asked, even as I stiffened in my seat on the grass.
"He and Tesla have been planning on trying to break your game for a while," Derron said. "Told me all about it last flight because we sat near them. Said you're too zen, so he was trying to get under your skin. Figured if he rattled you he might get the advantage."
My jaw dropped. My brother was a low down, sneaky jerk. He'd been sweet and apologetic to me while plotting behind my back the entire time. That little jerk.
Liam snorted. "Yeah, well, it worked."
Derron grunted. "He's kind of a shit." He glanced over at me. "Sorry. I know he's your brother."
"No, it's okay," I told him, feeling more than a little irritated at Brodie. "He is a shit." And he was totally going to hear a mouthful when I caught up to his ass.
He'd deliberately goaded my partner to try and get us eliminated from the race. And then as soon as he got me alone, what did he do? Played on me to get the Ace.
And I'd fallen for it. I felt like an idiot. I gave Liam a guilty look. Maybe it'd take a while for the Ace thing to hit the air. By that time, hopefully he'd have cooled down and he wouldn't freak out.
Though if he did freak out, I couldn't blame him. I'd fucked this up pretty good.
"So what happened with you guys?" Liam asked Derron. "You're hours behind everyone else."
"I couldn't find the stupid signal," Derron said, his face edging into unhappy lines. "I had to ride that damn balloon four times. Finally found it right under my nose." He shook his head. "I thought I'd cost us the race…."
His words trailed off but I knew what he'd meant. He thought he'd cost them the race until he saw us still sitting here. I glanced over at Joel as he emerged from the changing tent, all hard, compact body and stocky legs. He was a soldier, and incredibly fit. I had no doubt he could do this challenge easily. Judging from the smug expression on Derron's face, he thought the same thing.
The judge cleared his throat. "Liam and Katy?"
We leapt to our feet, all tension returning. "Yes?" I squeaked, my voice sounding ridiculous as I straightened.
"Your penalty is over." He held out the disk. "You may continue on to your next task."
I gave Liam a look of excitement, and he grabbed our bags as I raced for the disk. I glanced over at Derron, who'd gone stiff with frustration, his gaze on his partner in the ring. He wouldn't look over at me. That was for the best, since I couldn't hide my excitement.
As Liam came to my side, I read the disk. "Make your way to the finish line for this leg of the race. Return to the Goreme Open Air Museum and look inside for Chip Brubaker."
"Come on. We need to run it. We gotta make up time," Liam said, grabbing my hand just as the judge blew a whistle. Joel had just finished the task. Already.
We exchanged a look, then ran for the museum as if our lives depended on it. Liam's hand clasped mine so tight that I thought my knuckles would break, but I couldn't say that I wasn't doing the same to him. We rushed back to the Air Museum and circled the grounds, looking for the finish line.
"There!" I spotted it just as Joel and Derron turned a corner behind us. Liam cursed and we surged forward.
We got to the finish line seconds before Joel and Derron did.