“Now you’re just not playing fair,” he whispered.
I wasn’t. I knew that. But I couldn’t stop touching him. My fingers dipped lower, brushing against his belly button. I watched his face to see his reaction.
His eyes closed and he gave a low groan. “Your hands feel so good.”
“You feel good against my hands,” I admitted.
Jendan’s hand went to my waist and he dragged me closer to him. “Then come and put your body against mine.”
I gasped as my skin pressed against his. Instead of a small, controlled experiment, it seemed all of his body was touching mine. My br**sts pressed against his chest, my thighs tangled with his, and my hand was trapped between our bodies.
It wasn’t the only thing trapped between us. I could feel the hard length of his c**k flat against my belly, like an iron rod.
And Jendan’s face was so close to mine that all I had to do was lean forward to press my mouth to his and kiss him. Dazed, I looked at his mouth and then into his eyes. They were heavy-lidded with arousal.
His hand clenched at my hip again, dragging me against him. “You feel incredible, Annabelle. Your skin is like silk.”
I bit my lip at his words, said with such intense pleasure that he made my body shiver with need. I shifted and my ni**les rubbed against his chest, making me gasp. My hand went to the back of his neck and I clung to him, my breath fanning against his cheek.
He closed his eyes and leaned in, his nose brushing against my own even as his hand cupped my buttock. I felt enveloped in his embrace, his warmth seeping into my own. He felt so good. His nose brushed against my mouth, and I parted my lips, expecting a kiss.
But he didn’t kiss me. Instead, he leaned back and gazed at me. “If we kiss, you realize there’s no going back? That instead of just friends, we’d be friends with benefits?”
I stared up at him, my lust-fogged senses having a hard time following the conversation…then it registered. He was giving me a chance to back out.
And he was right. If we kissed, kissing would lead to more snuggling. To furtive make-outs and raiding the First Aid kit for condoms. To people filming when we thought we were stealing kisses, and patching it together to make it seem like I was Annabelle the Island Ho all over again.
My vow to play a tough game so different from my last one would be nothing but meaningless words.
I sighed. “Jendan—“
“It’s okay,” he said softly, and kissed the tip of my nose. “We’ll just huddle together for warmth, how’s that?”
“If we weren’t in the game—“
“I know.” He patted my shoulder. “I understand. I really do. Don’t worry about it.” He inched away and then pushed a fold of the blanket between us, forming a barrier between our bodies. “There. All better.”
My fingers played with the hair at his nape. “Can I take a rain check? Once we’re both out of the game, maybe we try again?”
“Of course,” he said. “Get some sleep.”
Easier said than done.
Chapter Fifteen
“Sometimes, I really hate being in this damn game.” — Jendan Abercrombie, Day 16, Endurance Island: Power Players
We totally dominated the next Judgment challenge.
It was clear to me that Jendan and I were the strongest team left. Not bragging, just calling it as I saw it. We’d managed to win fishing tackle a few days ago in a reward challenge and had caught a few tiny fish to give our bodies protein. With that and the fact that we were both young and strong, we blew past the others. The Judgment challenge had been another obstacle course followed by a slide puzzle at the end, and we ended up in first place by a mile.
Sunnie and her partner Rusty came in second to last, and the very last to finish were Kip and Kissy, who weren’t working together well at all. Kissy tried hard, but she wasn’t athletic, and Kip apparently ragged on her for slowing him down. I knew how that was, and I felt bad for her when she cried all through Judgment.
Of course, it didn’t matter how bad I felt for her — I was still voting for Kip.
Jendan was on the same page as me. Not only did he hate Kip, but his old partner, Sunnie, was up against them. It was no surprise to anyone that our vote was to keep Sunnie and Rusty.
It was, however, surprising to me when I saw we were the only ones that voted to keep them. Maybe it was Kissy’s tears. Maybe as a team, Kissy and Kip seemed like more of a train wreck and less of a threat. Whatever it was, Sunnie and Rusty lost Judgment.
Their challenge was another fire-making challenge. I heard Jendan make an unhappy noise in his throat and I knew what that meant - Sunnie wouldn’t know how to make a fire. Sure enough, Rusty was able to make a fire before Sunnie even figured out how to use the flint and steel.
She was done.
Her eyes pooled up with tears and she gave Jendan a desperate look before she had to leave the Judgment area. As if he could save her. No one could save her at this point in the game.
Unless she had Pandora’s Box, and I knew she didn’t. I had it. With a sad little sniffle, Sunnie tossed her beautiful red hair and headed down the path, out of the game. Jendan’s former partner was gone.
When we got back to camp, the sun was setting. Jendan was quiet, so I respected his mood and went off to the well (which we’d found a few days ago) to get water to boil. I gathered a coconut or two and split them open, then offered him one to eat.
He ignored it and pulled me into his lap, instead, burying his head against my br**sts, obviously needing comfort.
I hesitated for a moment, then wrapped my arms around him, stroking his shaggy hair. “You okay?” There was nothing sexual in the way he held me. It was clear that he just needed me. I ignored the cameraman circling and focused on Jendan. “You want to talk about it?”
“I’m okay,” he told me softly. “I just…ever since we got here, I’ve been protecting her and taking care of her, you know? She’s like a little sister to me. And I couldn’t help her today. I feel like I let her down.”
“It’s just a game,” I soothed, stroking his hair and trying not to pay attention to how his face was pressed against my br**sts. I fought the urge to shove his face between them and see how he reacted. Bad Annabelle. Bad! “She’ll be fine once she sits down and has something to eat and a nice hot shower.”
“She knew she was out of her depth here. I tried to make up the slack for her, but she felt bad.”
“It’s not your fault,” I told him again. “You can’t play for her. You can only play for yourself.”