Body Games (A Games Novel) Read online

  “No,” I said quickly, drawing my foot out of his grasp. “I’m cool. Really.”

  “Okay.” Jendan turned and walked away a few steps, and as he did, I saw something that surprised me.

  Jendan’s cock was erect.

  My eyes widened.

  He was erect, and he was magnificent. My mouth watered. Holy shit, this whole ‘naked game play’ thing didn’t allow for many secrets. Jendan headed into the pool as I sat there, dumbfounded, staring at his backside.

  Sexy, attractive buddy Jendan had a hard on. For me.

  “Um, you know what? I think I should head back to camp and check on Kip,” I said, leaping to my feet. “It already feels much better.” And I scooped up my canteens, my dirty sneakers, and rushed into the jungle. “Bye!”

  Chapter Twelve

  “Playing footsies with a hot girl? Bad idea, Jendan. Bad freaking idea.” -- Jendan Abercrombie, Endurance Island: Power Players, Day 12

  All that night, I thought about Jendan’s erection, and my stupid, chickenshit reaction to it.

  There were a dozen ways I could have handled it. I could have acted like it was no big deal. I could have pointed it out and we could have had a nice, awkward laugh about it together. I could have admitted my attraction to him, despite the fact that I’d vowed no hooking up in game.

  Or I could have caught him by the hips and taken his cock to my mouth.

  You know, one of those things.

  Instead, I stammered like a teenage virgin and ran away. But I kept thinking about his erection and possible scenarios and my possible reactions to it.

  Oh, you’re turned on? Me too, no big deal, right?

  Erections are normal reactions for guys, right? Don’t worry, I’m not offended.

  Wow, you really are a grow-er. Now, let’s talk game strategy.

  Turned on? Want me to take care of that for you?

  I squelched that last thought. No more Annabelle the Island Ho. I’d made a promise to myself and I intended to keep it. Still, I could have handled the situation a lot better than I did. I hoped that it wouldn’t make things awkward with our friendship.

  Sometimes it felt like Jendan was the only person I could depend on in this game. I needed him badly, and not in that way. I just needed a friend, a friendly ear, a scheming partner…and it didn’t hurt that he was hung like a bull and sexy to boot.

  No! Bad! Stop it! I told my brain. That kind of thinking just led to trouble.

  ~~ *** ~~

  The weather the next day was ominous. Thick gray clouds covered the skies, and the wind was strong and had a bite to it. Despite the ever-present threat of rain, there was a reward challenge, and I was so sleepy from spinning thoughts of Jendan and myself locked in a torrid embrace that I’d been too pooped to give the challenge my all. I gave a little moan of distress when the team in first place — Jendan and Sunnie - won blankets and the team in second - Kissy and Rusty - won pillows.

  I’d wanted those blankets. I craved warmth like Kip craved hamburgers. My little shelter sucked on most nights. It didn’t keep out rain, or sand fleas, or anything. And whatever shelter it offered was usually hogged by Kip, who refused to make his own. I ended up sleeping half on the sand in my own damn lean-to.

  But if someone had to win blankets, I was happy it was Jendan. Oh, and Sunnie. The redheaded woman had freckled a ridiculous amount in the sunshine, whereas the rest of us had baked a few shades darker. She was also extremely skinny, her fake breasts enormous on her too-lean frame. Despite my help, Jendan’s team still wasn’t eating as much as they should have.

  As I went over for my daily afternoon visit, I pulled a few tapioca roots and brought them with me. They needed to eat, and if I had to go over to their camp and show them how to cook the darn things, I would.

  Jendan was waiting in his usual spot, unable to stop the smile from crossing his face as he saw me. “Did you see that? We won!” He grabbed me and pulled my body against his, swinging me around in pure pleasure.

  I gasped at the contact of our skin and pulled out of his arms as soon as he stopped spinning me, uncomfortable with my reaction. Why was it when he touched me, I was instantly aroused?

  My body wasn’t playing fair.

  Jendan took a step backward and gave me an awkward half-smile, as if acknowledging the weirdness of the skin-to-skin contact. “Sorry about that. I got carried away.”

  “It’s all right,” I told him.

  “Did you see us out there?” he said again, turning the conversation back to safer subjects. “We dominated!”

  “I couldn’t help but see you. You were leaving me in your dust.”

  He grinned, looking so boyishly handsome that my heart did a little flip. Jendan reached out and gave my arm a consoling little rub that did nothing to ease the blood pounding in my veins. “It’s only because you’re injured. You’ll get the next one.”

  I shrugged, not really wanting to answer that one. Instead, I held the tapioca roots out to him. “Here. Dinner. You and Sunnie are looking too skinny. You need to keep your strength up.”

  “Thanks,” he said, taking the roots from me. He didn’t look too enthusiastic, though. At my raised eyebrow, he admitted, “Sunnie and I are both having trouble choking these down.”

  Maybe it was my prior time on Endurance Island, but I thought they didn’t taste all that bad. “You get used to it. Plus, it beats an empty stomach. Cheer up. We’ll probably have a food reward soon.”

  He closed his eyes and tilted his head back, as if in bliss at the thought. “You know what I would love?”

  “What?” I watched him, fascinated by his expressive face. God, those cheekbones. Those lips. I wished I could run my fingers over them.

  “Chicken breast and broccoli.” He licked his lips.

  I was fascinated by that flash of tongue…so much that I almost missed what he said. Then, I giggled. “What the fuck?”

  His gray eyes opened. “What?”

  I pinched his arm. “You’re supposed to be dreaming about things like pizza and hamburgers, you dweeb. Not diet food.”

  He pinched my arm back, teasing me. “I like chicken and broccoli, thank you. Nothing wrong with eating healthy. What do you want?”

  “Chicken fingers,” I said promptly. “Smothered in ranch dressing.”

  “That’s disgusting. Ranch is for salads.” He straightened and his eyes widened. “Oh man, a nice, big chef salad with vinaigrette dressing. I’d give my right arm for that.”

  “Don’t do that,” I said quickly, laughing. “You need it to jerk off.”

  Jendan stopped and stared at me, all traces of playfulness gone from his sculpted features.

  Whoops. “Too soon?”

  He glanced around as if looking for a nearby camera (of course there was one nearby. There always was.). Then he looked back at me and stepped in, voice low. “So…I guess you saw that, huh?”

  I figured I’d keep going with the light and playful tactic. “Couldn’t miss it. Nearly poked my eye out.”

  “It’s just…you know. With the time on the island and stuff…”

  I held up a hand. “I’ve heard it all before. Blah blah haven’t had sex in a month, blah blah would happen with any girl.” Same spiel that Kip had given me last time after we’d had sex and then he’d never called me again. I’d gotten to hear all those fabulous things on the reunion show, rather than privately from Kip.

  Not that it didn’t sting to hear them again.

  Jendan narrowed his eyes at me. “What are you talking about?”

  I tilted my head back, looking up at him. “Excuses for your impromptu boner?”

  “I have no excuse. You’re pretty and naked and I like you. I touched you. Wood happened. I’m just embarrassed because I know you’re not into me the same way. That’s all.”

  My mouth opened. Dropped a little. Closed.

  Jendan thought I was pretty? The sexiest man I’d ever come into contact with thought I was attractive? Not into him? I could bar
ely keep my hands off of him.

  God, the timing was awful.

  Self-consciously, I ran my fingers through my hair, knowing that it looked like a hot mess of snarls. “It’s not that I don’t like you, Jendan. It’s not like that at all. It’s just that…after last time, I vowed that I wouldn’t hook up with anyone in game. You know? I don’t want anything on camera to be misconstrued as Annabelle the Island Ho again.”

  “I understand.” The look on his handsome face was so, so understanding.

  “But if I wasn’t, I’d totally be kissing you right now,” I admitted. “I’ve been mentally lusting after you for a while.”

  “And I’d totally let you kiss me right now,” he said softly, leaning in so close that I could feel the heat of his skin against my own.

  “You would, huh?” My pulse thrummed in my body, attuned to his presence. I moved a little closer to him. Our bodies were now just inches apart, and I was keenly aware of my - and his - nakedness.

  “Just on the mouth,” he whispered. “Caress your lips with mine, and then taste you with my tongue to see if you taste as good as you look.”

  I shivered again.

  Abruptly, his expression changed. He examined me, and his hands briskly rubbed my goose bump-covered arms. “You cold? You’re always shivering when I see you.”

  “Well, I don’t know if you noticed, but we are naked.”

  His mouth crooked into a smile. “Should be a cool one tonight. I hope Kip’s keeping you warm in that shelter.”

  I grimaced. “I’m lucky if I get any shelter.”

  Jendan continued to rub my arms. I didn’t know if it was because he thought it was warming me or if he just wanted to touch me. “So…what do you do if you get cold?”

  “Um, huddle under a leaf and wait for dawn?”

  He thought for a moment longer, then said, “Do you want to stay out here with me tonight?”

  I frowned. “Won’t Sunnie be worried?”

  He shook his head. “She never wonders where I’ve gone. Half the time, I don’t think she even notices other people are on the island. She thinks it’s her own private TV show.” Jendan chuckled and rubbed my arm again. “I’ll drop the roots off with her and come back with a blanket, and we can bunk down. I hate the thought of you freezing and Kip being no help.”

  “Are you sure? I don’t want to be a bother.”

  “It’s no bother at all,” Jendan said softly. He leaned in, and for a brief moment, I thought - hoped - that he was going to kiss me. I tilted my face up, half hopeful, half afraid. At the last moment, though, he only tweaked a lock of my stringy, salt-water tangled hair. “Be back in about an hour.”

  “I’ll head to camp and boil water and then be back, too.”

  “See you soon,” he told me, and then turned, heading back to his camp.

  I waved, pushing down the ridiculous giddiness I felt. I was going to cuddle with Jendan tonight. Jendan and a blanket. This was my lucky day. With that happy thought in mind, I headed back to my own camp.

  The fire was nothing but embers, Kip curled up in the shelter. Swallowing my irritation at his uselessness, I stoked the fire again, gathered some wood, and then put the water on. I tapped my feet impatiently as the sun went down and I waited for the water to boil, but it was finally ready. I poured it into our two canteens - okay, so I was having a weak moment - and then headed to the lean-to and put Kip’s newly filled bottle next to his leg. “I’m going to go and see if I can find more taro roots,” I told him.

  He rolled over in the shelter, taking up more room. “It’s dark.”

  “Yeah, but I’m hungry. Don’t wait up.”

  “Whatever,” he said, brushing sand off of one of my woven palm frond mats again. “Did you fill my water?”

  “I did. Back later.” I headed off without giving Kip another thought. Why think about that guy when there was sexy Jendan with a blanket waiting for me in the jungle?

  Mind you, it was a sexily platonic sort of relationship, but I’d still take it.

  When I returned to the waterfall safely after stumbling through the dark, Jendan was sitting at our normal meeting rock, the blanket folded in his arms. He looked over at me as I approached, and the sleepy smile he gave me in the fading light made my heart do a crazy little flip. “You came back.”

  “Of course I did. You have a blanket.”

  “Figures. I find a pretty girl on the island, and she only wants me for my linens.” Jendan got to his feet, shaking out his blanket. “Story of my life.”

  “That’s not entirely true,” I said lightly. “I also want your body heat.”

  “Well in that case, come over here.” Jendan said, heading a short distance away from the falls, to the base of the forked tree.

  My heart skipped a beat as he approached it. Had he figured out that I’d already found Pandora’s Box and dug it up? Was he bringing me here to confront me? Did he want me to share it with him? What if that compromised my game? I realized I was using Jendan’s attraction to me and still not being completely honest with him on my end, but I wasn’t ready to expose myself (ha, the irony) and risk being voted out.

  But he sat at the base of the roots, right where they came together and formed a cradle, and then patted the ground next to him. “Come on.”

  Oh. Well, now I just felt stupid. And overly suspicious of him, when I was the one being the sneak. “You sure your partner won’t be mad?”

  “Nope. She’s already asleep and will be until dawn. I went back and the fire was out.” He grimaced. “Don’t suppose you’d share some water with me while you’re here?”

  I giggled. If I thought my camp was dysfunctional, it was nothing compared to poor Jendan’s. At least Kip would tend the fire. Sometimes. “Of course. As long as we’re sharing blankets.”

  He lifted one edge of the blanket like a cape, indicating I should get under his arm. His naked silhouette was revealed, all lean muscle and tanned skin. God, that looked inviting. It wasn’t just cuddling with Jendan - though that had a lot of appeal all on its own - it was the warmth he offered. I hadn’t spent one warm night since I’d gotten to the island. Being constantly naked was chilly, especially at night. Today had been overcast all day, and the wind was up, and I’d never felt truly warm. The offer of that blanket was more than I could resist.

  So I slid in next to Jendan, sat down, and let him put his arm around my shoulders. The blanket was long enough that I could tuck around my front, and then we were both cocooned in warmth and shared body heat.

  And man, it was nice.

  I closed my eyes for a moment, just enjoying the warmth coming off of Jendan, warmth that the blanket trapped against my skin. “This is heaven.”

  “It is pretty damn nice.” I felt him shift against me, his arm flexing. “You warm enough?”

  “I think so,” I told him, giving the blanket a little tug to pull it closer. “I can’t thank you enough for sharing your blanket with me.”

  “What are friends for?” His hand squeezed my shoulder a little on the word friends.

  I was reminded of our conversation earlier that day. “Are we okay with being just friends?”

  “Absolutely. I’d never push myself on someone that wasn’t interested.”

  I looked up at Jendan’s face in the darkness, unable to make out more than the lines of his jaw and his eyes. “It’s not that I’m not interested,” I admitted. “It’s that the timing is rotten for both of us.”

  “I know.” He rubbed my shoulder, staring off into the trees that rustled and moved around us. “Don’t worry about it. I didn’t invite you out here to try and take advantage of you.” He glanced back down at me, and I saw his face move in a hint of a grin. “I invited you out here because I needed your water.”

  I snorted and offered him my canteen. “You prince, you.”

  He chuckled, but still took the canteen from my hand, unscrewing the lid and taking several large gulps. Once he’d drank his fill, he closed it, handed it back to me
, and then rested his head against the tree we leaned back against. “Man, that was good. Thank you.”

  I leaned against him, relaxing a bit. “Glad I could help.”

  We sat in silence, just enjoying the warmth of each other’s body. At least, I assumed that was what Jendan was doing. I couldn’t help but notice that my breast was rubbing up against his side, and his big, strong thigh was pressed against my own, his arm around my shoulders. And we were both totally naked.

  It made for a lot of distraction, at least on my end.

  “You got quiet,” Jendan murmured, distracting me. “I’d say penny for your thoughts, but I don’t have one. Coconut shell?”

  “Nothing important,” I told him. Liar liar, pants on fire. “Just trying to think ahead in the game a little.”

  “Mmm. I was thinking about how strange it is that we’re both naked, pressed up against each other, attracted to each other, and yet no one’s making a move.”

  I laughed. “Okay, you caught me. I was thinking the same thing.”

  “So it’s not just weird for me? Good.”

  “I don’t know if ‘weird’ is the right way to phrase it. Maybe ‘extremely, extremely platonic’ is,” I teased. “I don’t think I’ve ever had such a platonic relationship.”

  “Lucky me,” he said dryly.

  I laughed at his disgruntled tone, my hand automatically going to his knee. Just that small touch sent a charge straight through my body, and I gasped to feel his warm skin against my fingers. Okay, I was not doing so good with this whole ‘platonic’ thing. Unable to help myself, my hand slid a little higher up his thigh, exploring his muscles. I heard him suck in a breath and looked up into the darkness at his face. He was gazing down at me, his expression intense.

  We shifted a little closer. My breast pressed against his arm, and a little sigh of contentment – and, okay, arousal – slipped out of my throat.

  “You good?” he asked, voice husky.

  “I’m awesome,” I said. “Never felt better.” And it was true. There was sand between my toes, and the remnants of a sunburn fading on my shoulders and I hadn’t washed my hair in over a week. I felt great. Sitting next to Jendan, cuddled under a blanket, I could honestly say that I was utterly content.