“Yeah, but why me?” Just the thought made me nervous.
Brodie gestured at the Power Play necklace looped around his neck. “Because I have this, which means I can’t go up. And I don’t think Marla and Jendan would trust us if we nominated one of them, am I right?” He looked at the pair sitting across from us.
Marla crossed her arms over her chest and nodded. “I don’t want it to be me. Not that I don’t trust you guys, but…I’d rather Kandis go up.”
“I’ll go,” Jendan offered, and he glanced at me. “But I admit it wouldn’t be comfortable for me.”
“No,” Marla said firmly to her partner. “Do not volunteer, Jendan. If you go out in a surprise move, I’m the next one out the door.” She looked back at me. “I’m sorry, Kandis, but it has to be you if our alliance is going to stick.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but Brodie put his hand on my knee, distracting me. “Kandis has to be the one to go up,” he said again. “And we all vote for Jayme, right?”
“Right,” Marla said, so quickly that it immediately made me suspicious. My heart thumped in my chest. That was the problem with a game like this—you didn’t trust anyone to have your back. The only one I trusted was Brodie.
And I questioned the wisdom of that anyhow.
“You’re safe, baby,” Brodie told me, with another caress of my knee. “Don’t worry.”
“Baby?” Marla’s eyebrows shot up. “Did you just call her baby?”
Oh shit. “Um.”
“Slip of the tongue,” Brodie said easily. “Nothing to concern anyone.”
“Oh yeah? It concerns me if you’re slipping her the tongue,” Marla said. “That implies a deeper partnership than we thought.”
“Well, of course we’re playing with partners.” He gestured at Jendan. “You don’t seriously think that I believe you’d keep me over Jendan at any time, do you? Kandis is my partner. This shouldn’t be surprising.”
“Are you two sleeping together?” she wanted to know.
“Of course not,” I protested.
“Every night,” Brodie said at the same time.
I looked over at him, scandalized.
“Well, we are. Same bed.” He patted the mattress.
“That’s not what I meant,” Marla snapped.
“I know it’s not what you meant,” Brodie replied, his tone effortless. “But that’s also none of your business.”
“It is if it affects my game!”
“It won’t affect your game.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because I’m putting my partner up on the block this week.”
She shut up at that.
I was starting to get nervous, though. I was going up on the block, and now Marla was mad because she (correctly) thought Brodie and I were an item. Did that mean she was going to switch her vote? I looked at Jendan, but he was impossible to read.
It seemed like I was just going to have to trust people.
Damn it. I didn’t trust anyone. “If you guys dick me over, I’m going to be the most bitter juror ever. Just so you know.”
Brodie laughed. Jendan just shook his head ruefully.
Marla didn’t smile.
~~ * ~~
“It’s time for our nominations, and then we’ll proceed immediately to the vote,” House Mother Becky Bradley said over the intercom. “Are you ready, House Guests?”
We clapped politely to show we were, and Brodie stood in the front of the room, the Power Play necklace gleaming against his dark shirt. He stood, his stance casual and easy and utterly sexy. His gaze moved over the five of us individually, but I was pretty sure it lingered on me. He winked in my direction. “Tonight,” he said, “It’s pure strategy. I’m putting some trust in people, and therefore my nominations are Jayme,” he pointed at her, and then his gaze swung to me.
And even though I knew it was coming, my stomach still dropped.
“—and Kandis.”
I got up from my seat and smoothed my dress. I was barefoot, but that was the only concession to my nerves. I’d taken extra care on my appearance today, just in case I got voted out. If I did? The last view I wanted everyone to have of me should be smoking hot.
I told myself that this was for everyone’s sake, but it was a lie. It was mostly for Brodie, just in case he betrayed me. If he did, I wanted him to realize what he was throwing away.
So I’d worn a body-hugging dress that showed off every one of my lithe muscles and my trim figure. I’d packed one for such an occasion, and I was glad to have it. I couldn’t do anything with my short hair, so I’d blow-dried it and then flipped it over one side so it just looked like an edgy bob a la Miley Cyrus. My eyes were done up in smoky makeup, and I wore a pair of dangly earrings I’d borrowed from Marla.
I looked sexy, mohawk and all. And I could see in Brodie’s eyes that he thought I looked hot, too. He barely even glanced over at Jayme, even though she was equally done up and seated next to me in the nomination chairs.
“The nominations are in,” Becky chirped over the intercom. “We’ll let the nominees speak. Kandis?”
I stood up from my chair, turned to face my friends, and smiled. I was supposed to make a speech, but…we knew this was a sham, right? So all I said was, “Don’t screw me, guys.”
And then I sat down.
They laughed. I wasn’t laughing. I looked over at Brodie, but he only gave me a small nod, as if saying ‘trust me.’
I did. My game life was in his hands.
After my short speech, Jayme got up and gave the typical, you-want-my-vote-keep-me-around speech. I didn’t listen. I couldn’t. I was too keyed up.
If Marla wanted to split me and Brodie, now would be the perfect time. I’d never be more vulnerable.
Jayme dropped back into her seat, and the intercom came on again. “It’s time for the vote, House Guests!”
I watched as they headed off into the voting booth as individuals, scarcely able to breathe through my nervousness. My legs were crossed and my foot in the air swung madly, and I was unable to stop my fidgeting.
“The votes are in,” Becky announced an eternity later.
We waited. I held my breath.
Becky’s gaze flicked from me back to Jayme. “Jayme, you’ve been evicted.”
My breath escaped me in a rush. I was safe. They hadn’t lied.
Brodie’s gamble had worked.
I got up and hugged Jayme woodenly. As soon as I let her go, Brodie was there, and I put my arms around him and hugged him with an intense amount of relief, wanting to retreat into his arms.
He stroked my short hair and murmured, “Don’t you worry, baby. I’ve got your back.”
He did. And I was so giddy with happiness that I could have danced with joy.
I barely noticed when Jayme left the house.
I was still in a daze when we all went out to the challenge area, and the next Power Play started. It was horror-movie themed, a nod to Alfred Hitchcock. One by one, we entered a sealed shower booth and tried to catch as many styrofoam crows as we could in a minute. I wasn’t sure if it was a nod to Psycho, or The Birds, or both.
I went first. I got thirty-two.
Jendan got twenty-nine.
Marla got fourteen.
Brodie had won the last Power Play, and he couldn’t participate. But he gave a whoop of joy when the results were announced and a moment later, he looped the necklace around my throat.
It was down to the four of us, and I had Power this week. I was safe until the final three.
Heck, I was safe beyond that. I planned on nominating Marla, and she’d go home. If it was Jendan, Brodie, and me in the final three, I was sitting in the final two with either of them.
Holy shit. I was going to win this thing.
~~ * ~~
My Power room was awesome. I squealed with delight when I saw that it was done in my favorite colors—pink and black—and gerbera daisies had been placed in vases around the room. I loved daisies.
My fridge was filled to the brim with Ben & Jerry’s in my favorite flavors, and cans of my favorite soda were lined up on top of a nearby shelf. It was perfect.
The house was down to four people, and I had Power. I was going to win House Guests. It made me giddy with excitement. I wanted to roll around on the bed like a puppy, celebrating my victory.
Instead, I changed into my sleep-wear of a long t-shirt and panties and settled for flopping backward onto the mattress and stretching out, a sigh of utter bliss escaping my lungs.
Brodie shut the door to the room and leaned on it, looking over at me. He chuckled. “Happy?”
“You have no idea,” I told him, smiling.
Of course, I couldn’t tell him why I was so happy. Winning the million would mean I was going to beat him. He wouldn’t be thrilled about that. I felt a twinge of unhappiness that I couldn’t share the money with him, though, and that my victory would mean his defeat. We’d known that going in, of course—friendships wouldn’t last the TV season. But the thought of Brodie being angry at me made me ache.
For some reason, the last thing I wanted was Brodie to be upset at me.
Brodie moved to the bedside and laid down next to me, propped up on one elbow. He faced me, a grin curving his mouth. He was so handsome that I wanted to run my hands all over him.
If only it weren’t for the damn cameras on us at the moment.
“You’ve got an interesting gleam in your eye,” Brodie murmured, voice deliberately low so the microphones wouldn’t pick it up. “What are you thinking?”
“Honestly?” I rolled on my side to face him.
“Yes, honestly.”
“I was thinking that it sucks that we have to wait until two for the cameras to go off.” My fingers plucked at the blanket.
“Were you, now?” Brodie’s voice grew husky, his eyelids heavy. His hand moved to cover mine, and I felt his thumb caress the soft flesh between my thumb and forefinger. “And why is that, sexy lady?”
“Obvious reasons,” I whispered back, my fingers flexing against his ticklish ones.
“Because you’re…sleepy?”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh yeah. Totally sleepy.” I was in my pajamas, but I’d never felt more awake.
His fingers lightly trailed over the back of my hand and grazed patterns on my bare arm. “That’s a shame. I was thinking of all kinds of things we could do if we stayed up late.”
“Mmm, is that so?” I couldn’t wait to hear this.
“Some celebratory stuff.” He shrugged as if his words didn’t matter, but his fingers kept sliding over my skin, and my nipples grew hard. “Little bit of this, little bit of that…”
“I’m disappointed,” I told him. “I only get a little bit? I could have sworn you were packing more in there.” And I deliberately flicked my gaze to his crotch.
His grin contained a mixture of delight and arousal. “Oh, I’m definitely packing enough for you, baby.”
There was that ‘baby’ again. “You almost got us in trouble earlier, baby. What’s with the nickname?”
He looked a little wounded at my questioning. “What, you’re not my baby?”
“I don’t know. Am I?”
“I’m actually a little offended that you have to ask.”
“You kidding me?” I rolled onto my back and propped up on both elbows, scowling at him. “You hit on everything female. How am I supposed to know if I’m special to you or if this is just more gameplay—”
Brodie leaned forward, his mouth pressing against mine and interrupting my words. Heck, he interrupted my thoughts, too. His lips were firm on mine, the weight of him pressing over me distracting. When he licked into my mouth, I moaned. That felt so good it was sinful.
“You like my mouth on yours, Kandis?” His breath was warm against my skin, his body heavy over mine. He pressed me against the bed, and I felt my now-hard nipples brush against his chest when he moved. “You like it when I touch your tongue with mine?”
A whimper was my only response.
“That’s good, baby,” he said against my lips. His gaze above mine was sleepy with arousal, eyes heavy-lidded. “Because if I flirt with them, it’s all for the game. You’re the only one I put my mouth on. The only one I touch. And you’re sure as shit the only one that gets me so fucking hard that I have to go take a shower in the middle of the day just so I can fucking jerk off.”
I gasped at his crude words. God, that was sexy to hear. “Did you jerk off today?”
“Hell yes,” he said, and he ran the tip of his tongue lazily along the line of my jaw. “I woke up and you were all curled up against me with that sexy hair sticking up, and your shirt was all hiked up. And I knew I couldn’t touch you with the cameras on, so I took an early morning shower and took care of myself.” He nipped at my skin. “Though I’m pretty sure I said your name so loud when I came that they caught it on the microphones.”
I shivered at the thought of Brodie in the shower, hands on his cock all because I’d been curled up against him.
“So,” he murmured, and I felt his hands slide over my sides, feathering oh-so-close to my aching breasts. “Does that satisfy you, baby? Or do you still think that I’m fucking around with all the chicks in here?”
I shook my head and arched against him. I trusted him. I might get burned for it later, but damn, Brodie was convincing when he wanted to be. And I so desperately wanted him to be telling me the truth. I needed Brodie Short to be as messed up over me as I was over him.
And right now? I was pretty messed up on him. Especially with his big body on top of mine. I sighed heavily.
His fingers stroked the tousled hair off of my brow in an affectionate touch. “What’s that sigh for, beautiful?”
“Just thinking how long it is until two,” I told him, wiggling under him. “And how very hard.”
He groaned. “You so don’t play fair.”
“Nope,” I agreed, feeling a bit mischievous. I rolled my hips under him again. “Guess we’ll just have to stick it out, huh?”
He gave me a speculative look and then leaned in to brush his mouth against mine again. Instead of the deep kiss I’d expected, though, he murmured against my mouth. “There’s one place that they don’t film, you know.”
I stared up at him blankly for a moment, and then it dawned on me. The bathroom for the rest of the rooms in this spooky house were more like gym bathrooms in that they were intended for multiple users, and thus the common area was fair game for filming. But the bathroom in the Power room was a ‘no cameras’ situation as it was a small closet of a room, intended for just one user. It had a footed bath, a sink, and one toilet. “Bathroom?”
“Bathroom,” he agreed, and shot me a wicked grin that melted my resolve.
“I’m warning you, I don’t find the thought of making love on a toilet very sexy.”
“Mmm, are we going to make love, then?” His eyes gleamed. “I was thinking a little mutual gratification was not out of order, but if you’re up for taking it to the next level, I am, too.” And he rotated his hips against mine just to show me how very ‘up’ he was.
I trailed my hands along his shoulders. “I’m game if you’ve got condoms.” And I was. We’d played at more for long enough. I was ready for the real deal. No more of this endless teasing.
He flashed another roguish grin at me and smacked my hip. “If we both go into the bathroom at the same time, I’m pretty sure they’ll guess what we’re up to.”
I was pretty sure I didn’t care at the moment. I was all fired up and turned on. My body was pulsing with need, my toes practically curling at the thought of making love to Brodie. Was I twitchy normally? I felt like a live wire at the moment. If he didn’t touch me soon, I was pretty sure I was going to lose my mind. “Don’t care.”
“No?”
“Nope. You?”
“Do I care if all of America knows I’m sleeping with the sexiest, sneakiest woman I’ve ever met? God, no.” He grinned and slapped his pectoral.
“I’ll wear that shit like a badge of honor.”
I laughed and smacked his shoulder. “Will you, now?”
“Absolutely,” he said, and his expression was serious when he gazed down at me. “I’ve never wanted anyone more than I want you right now, Kandis.”
I shivered at the intensity in his gaze. I expected him to laugh or wink to show me that he was back to being flirty, fun Brodie, but the serious look never left his face.
God, that was hot. I put my hands to his cheeks and dragged his face to mine, kissing the hell out of him.
He groaned, and his mouth melded to mine. Our kisses were long, wet, and so, so delicious. Finally, he pulled his mouth from mine. “Bathroom?”
“Bathroom,” I agreed.
He got up from the bed and held his hand out for me.
I slipped my hand in his, and we raced across the Power room into the one place that they couldn’t film us.
CHAPTER NINE
“What happened in the bathroom last night? Just a little bit of mind-your-own-fucking-business, that’s all. And quit snooping, you damn peeping toms. Can’t you go watch Marla natter on about her kids or something?” – Brodie Short, Day 52
The walk to the bathroom was probably fifteen feet, but it felt like forever. My hand, tight in Brodie’s, clenched when he swung the door open. I was nervous, which was stupid. I’d fooled around with Brodie night after night. We’d slept in the same bed for weeks.
But we’d never taken things to the next level. Heck, he hadn’t really seen me naked and aroused. Naked in the shower (though he’d sworn not to look) and petted me under clothes, but not the full Monty.
This suddenly felt like a big deal.
But then we were in the bathroom, and Brodie swung the door shut behind me. No sooner was it shut than he’d pinned me against the wall, and his mouth was on mine again and he was giving me hot, slick kisses with lots of tongue.
And I remembered why I wanted this so very badly.
Brodie was the perfect package for me. He was funny, sexy—god, so sexy—and smart. He was flirty, which I liked, and competitive. He played as hard as I did. He was protective of me. And he never, ever made me feel inadequate. The opposite, actually. Brodie acted like I was the smartest, prettiest, sexiest girl he’d ever met. And around him, I felt that way.