Partner Games

  “Relax?” With him between my legs licking me? Was he high?

  “So where do you think they’re sending us next?” he asked, voice casual as he slid a finger down the seam of my sex and then gently pulled it open, and nuzzled at my clit.

  I blinked slowly, watching his mouth, his tongue darting out and flicking against my private parts. When his brows went up and he looked at me, I realized he was honestly waiting for an answer. Oh. I returned to staring at the ceiling, trying to think. All the while, he continued to circle and lick around my clit, and my hips jerked with the occasional jolt when he touched a sensitive spot.

  “Where will they send us next…” I repeated the question, trying to comprehend it. What on earth were we talking about? Oh, the race. “I…ooh.” A moan escaped my throat as he rasped against something sensitive.

  “Mmm?” His murmur was a question, though he didn’t stop what he was doing.

  I wiggled against his mouth, and his tongue flicked a little harder. Oooh. Okay. “Uh. I don’t think it’ll be Europe, because…ohhh, uh…it’ll be…ummmh….someplace…different.” Heat was pooling under my skin, and my pulse was pounding awfully close to where his tongue was working.

  “Mm?” He flicked his tongue against my clit. “Asia?”

  “Sure,” I breathed, and then fell back when I felt his finger glide through my folds and dip into my core. Not far, just teasing at the entrance. “Oh God.” My hands went to my breasts and then smoothed down my ribs. “I think I’m feeling it.”

  “Mmhmmm,” he murmured, and it sent little shivers through my body. “You wanna play with your breasts while I play with you?”

  I exhaled loudly, but my hands went obediently to my boobs, and I plucked at my nipples, pinching and squeezing as he rubbed his finger against my core and his tongue continued to work on my clit. My hips jerked when he hit a sensitive spot, and a weird noise escaped my throat.

  “Africa?” He asked, and then sucked gently on my flesh.

  “Wh-what?” I had no idea what we were talking about. I rubbed my nipples and when his finger pressed deeper, my hips went up, bucking against his mouth. “Swift,” I moaned.

  “I got you,” he said, and increased the pressure, sucking and sliding his finger in and out again. My hips followed his mouth until I was pushing hard against him, wanting more friction. My hands were tightly gripping my breasts, and his tongue felt as if it was hammering against my clit so rapidly that I didn’t see how he could possibly breathe. “I….” I began, only to completely lose track again when his finger moved inside me. It was pressing against me somewhere inside, and my legs jerked. “Oh!”

  “Right there,” he said to himself, and then sucked on my clit again, and then rubbed on that same spot.

  I came, right against his mouth. My entire body arched and a rush of sensation moved through me. I might have made a sound like a dying cat, not that I cared. Swift just kept rubbing and rubbing on that spot, and my legs kept squeezing against his shoulders, and I kept coming.

  I was pretty sure he’d ruined me for my own hands after this.

  Eventually, my body jerked with aftershocks and I pushed at his head, my body feeling over-sensitive.

  He pressed a kiss to the inside of my thigh and then slid out from under my boneless legs, his mouth wet and gleaming and pink. He licked his lips and then grinned at me. “Well?”

  “Africa?” I said dazedly. “Were we talking about Africa?”

  Swift chuckled and crawled onto the bed, then pulled me against him, spooning me. “Close enough.”

  I could feel the stab of his erection against my backside. “What about you?”

  He tucked me closer to him, and pressed a kiss to my bare shoulder, even as his hand went to my front and squeezed my breast. “We’re going slow, remember?”

  “At this rate, I’m lucky if I remember my own name.”

  Swift laughed.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “I think this might be the first time I’ve hated to leave a rest stop.” — Swift, Team One Percent, The World Races

  Swift and I cuddled and kissed for hours, though we never went that far again. It was nice to just relax and flirt, and doze in bed with our fingers intertwined, faces close enough to mingle breath. I was a little sad when he got up from bed and started to get dressed. “Time to go?” I asked between yawns, sitting up.

  He tugged a shirt over his head and nodded. “I have to be on the mat shortly.”

  “Good luck.”

  He bounded back to the bed, pulled me against him, and gave me a quick, fierce kiss. “I should be wishing you luck – you’re going to need it since they broke your glasses.”

  “Ugh. Don’t remind me.”

  He kissed the tip of my nose and then returned to packing his things. I flung my stuff back into my bag. We’d arrived about a half hour after the guys had, and so we’d be leaving not long after they did. Time to go find my twin.

  My face was hot as I slipped out of Swift’s room and knocked on the door to the room I should have shared with Georgie. It was late at night – since we only got twelve hours to rest up, and my knock felt embarrassingly loud. Was this what the walk of shame felt like?

  Georgie answered the door immediately, her makeup pristine, hair carefully fixed. She looked me over and then wiggled her eyebrows. “Nice beard burn you got there.”

  I touched my cheek, horrified. “Really?”

  “Yup. Come on in and let me throw some powder on you.”

  I sat on the toilet lid as Georgie dabbed a makeup sponge over my cheeks, smoothing on foundation. She was quiet. Maybe too quiet. “You’re not going to ask me about where I was?”

  “Clemmy, I know where you were. Why, do you need a condom talk?”

  “God, no.” My face burned.

  “Just make sure he wears one.”

  “We didn’t go all the way. We just, you know, fooled around.” He put his face in my lap and I lost many brain cells thanks to his magic tongue. It was fun.

  “I’m not judging. You do you, sis. If you want to give him rim jobs from here to Turkey, that’s your business. I just want to make sure he treats you right.”

  “So far so good.” I was feeling awkward with all of the focus on me and my love life, so I tried to turn the tables. “What did you and Plate do while we were uh, busy?”

  She shrugged. “He brought some food up and we watched movies. It was kind of nice to just chill together.”

  I knew what she meant. The best part of spending time with Swift (well, other than the kisses and the oral) was just holding hands and talking. Having that mental connection. I had the bond with my sister, but this was different.

  Georgie finished with my makeup and rebraided my hair, and when I was deemed acceptable, we headed back downstairs to wait our turn on the mat. My broken glasses were in my pocket in case I had to read something, but otherwise, I’d just have to get used to the blurry forms around me.

  I crossed my arms and glared at the teal blurs of Team Houston, standing on the mat ahead of us. Jerks. The production team signaled them, and they ripped their card, heads bent together, and then raced off, their cameraman trotting behind.

  “Your turn,” someone said, and an arm waved.

  I held on to Georgie’s arm as we moved forward, letting my twin guide me. We were handed our clue disk, and I held Georgie’s backpack so she could read.

  “And…time! Go!”

  Georgie immediately flipped and began to read. “Your next destination is Morocco. Make your way to Marrakesh and seek out the Hammam de la Rose. On this leg of the race, the last two teams to arrive at the mat will be eliminated, so time is of the essence.” She leaned over and squinted. “There’s some small print, too.”

  “You need to move off the mat,” production said, pointing off into the night. “Your taxis are that way.”

  “Right, thanks.” Georgie grabbed my hand. “We’ll finish reading in the car.”

  We got into the taxi a
nd headed to the airport, excited. “Where is Morocco?” I asked. Georgie was the big traveler, not me. “It’s somewhere in Africa, right?”

  “Just south of the Strait of Gibraltar,” she said with a nod. “I’ve been to Casablanca for a shoot. It’s really nice. Hot, but nice.” She peered at the clue and then nodded. “Ah. Yeah, I was wondering about this. They’re instructing us to dress appropriately.”

  “Oh?” I leaned over her shoulder even though I couldn’t read the words. “What does it say?”

  “Please note that all contestants must watch their attire and be respectful at all times,” she read. “Women are to be covered from wrist to ankle, and men from shoulder to knee. Please do not wear exceedingly tight clothing out of respect for the beliefs of the country you are visiting.” She shrugged. “No surprise there.”

  I nodded thoughtfully. It made sense. “We can change at the airport. I’m more worried about the whole ‘two teams in last place eliminated’.”

  “Who arrived in last place yesterday? Green Machine, right?”

  “Yeah, and Team Daddy was eliminated.”

  “That leaves…” She counted off on her fingers. “Us, the boys, Green Machine, Houston, those orange lovebirds from Endurance Island, the Red Hat ladies…and who am I forgetting?”

  “The doctor moms,” I reminded her. Those ladies in yellow were always hot on the heels of Team One Percent. If they got first place on every leg, the doctor moms were always a step behind them.

  “Okay. There’s some low hanging fruit there. I think if we run a good leg, we can get ahead of the Red Hat Ladies and maybe Jendan and Annabelle. I like them, but we’re better than them at challenges.”

  “Is it too much to hope that we can get out Team Houston or the Green Machine?” I asked. I hated both of them.

  “Hope springs eternal,” Georgie said in a singsong voice. “Now, let’s see about getting tickets.” She leaned forward and tapped the driver on his shoulder. “Can we use your phone to call the airport?”

  ~~ * * * ~~

  When we arrived at the airport, two big, blurry men in black shirts were waiting near the front doors for us. “Swift and Plate,” Georgie murmured as we walked in.

  “You guys gotta hurry,” Swift said, grabbing my backpack from my shoulders. “The flight we’re on leaves in 35 minutes and the seats are almost full–”

  “British Airways?” Georgie said. “Already called. It’s full. We have standby on Lufthansa, and they’re an hour and a half behind you guys.”

  He cursed. “The doctor moms are on the flight with us. Houston, too.”

  “We’ll be fine,” I assured them, though I was a little worried. After all, if we got booted out of the game this round, what was going to happen to our relationship? Just when things were getting…exciting?

  Swift leaned in and pulled me into a quick kiss. “We have to head to our gate.”

  “Go,” I said, my spirits lifting at his easy – and public – affection. I noticed that Georgie had her arms wrapped around Plate’s thick neck and she was giving him Eskimo kisses – nose to nose. From what I could tell, he had a dopey expression of happiness on his big, broad face…

  Or he did until she licked her finger and then stuck it in his ear. “Wet willie!”

  “You are so paying for that, Georgie Price,” he roared.

  My twin squealed and flung herself toward me, hiding her slightly-skinnier form behind mine.

  “We gotta go,” Swift said, and hauled Plate away before he could come after Georgie in their mock-fight.

  Plate pointed at Georgie as they walked away. “This isn’t over, Price! You think you’ve won but just you wait!”

  “Bring it, son,” she called fiercely, and then dissolved into giggles again.

  “You guys are weird,” I told her, amused. Georgie and Plate’s flirting seemed to be grade school level. What was next? Note passing? Do you like me, check yes or no.

  “Hey, you do things your way, I’ll do them mine,” Georgie said, but there was a bright smile on her face. I could handle a happy, goofy twin. It was the sad one that worried me.

  I gestured at the busy airport. “Let’s go find our gate and see where we’re at on standby?”

  ~~ * * * ~~

  Our cab driver must have been a slow poke, because when we got to the gate, the other three teams – Green Machine, Endurance Island, and Red Hats were all there. I was relieved to find out they were on standby, too. Even if we were at the back of the pack, we were all still on the same plane.

  Georgie checked her watch. “We’re going to be boarding soon. I’ll go change in the bathroom and then you can, all right?”

  I nodded absently. I had a roll of Scotch Tape that someone in production had given me (probably out of guilt) and I was busy working on fixing the bridge of my glasses. “Leave your bag here. I’ll watch it.”

  She dug her clothes out of her backpack and left it in the chair next to me while I tinkered with my glasses.

  A few minutes later, I almost had the bridge taped when one of the Red Hat ladies dropped a water bottle and it rolled under my seat. I put my glasses down on top of Georgie’s open backpack and scooped the bottle up, then stood to hand it to Muriel. “Here you go.”

  She gave me a sweet smile. “Thank you, sweetheart. Which twin are you? Beauty or the Geek?”

  “I’m the geek.” Yeah, this was why we hadn’t made many friends with the other teams. I got all pissy when people called me a geek. Actually, Georgie got more upset than me, come to think of it.

  “You’re a good girl,” she said in a condescending grandma voice, and patted my hand.

  “Thanks,” I said flatly.

  “Hey, Georgie, can I talk to you?”

  I turned and squinted at the man coming up to me. My heart sank. Drew from the Green Machine. What did he want? “I’m Clementine.”

  “Oh. Right.” He laughed. “You guys look the same when you’re not wearing your glasses.”

  I glanced down at the great big CLEMENTINE written across my chest. Uh huh. “What’s up?”

  “I just…” He shifted on his feet and put a hand on my shoulder, turning me away. “Can we talk for a second?”

  I stiffened at his touch. This was…awkward. I resisted the urge to cringe away. “Um, talk about what?”

  “Me and Foster were talking, and we haven’t been too fair to you guys. We wanted to apologize.”

  They…did? “Um, okay?”

  “It was kind of a dick move of Houston to ruin your glasses like that.” Drew’s voice oozed sympathy. “You got another pair on you?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Yeah, so we realized when they did that, that things were out of hand. We want to win, but we want to win after a good, fair race, you know? So no hard feelings?”

  “I guess not?” I was utterly bewildered by this change of heart. I needed to talk to Georgie. Something about this didn’t ring true.

  “Cool. Good talk.” He clapped me on the back. “See you later.”

  Weirded out by the conversation, I watched Drew head off until he became a blur, then peered around until I found my seat again. My glasses were in my seat instead of on top of Georgie’s bag. Strange. Maybe they’d slid off. I checked them for more damage and then put them back in my pocket again.

  My thoughts strayed back to Swift, and I touched my lips. Was he thinking of me? I knew he wanted to win, and desperately. If it came down to them versus us, what would we do?

  ~~ * * * ~~

  “Oh no,” Georgie exclaimed as we hurried through Marrakech Menara Airport. “Plate and Swift’s flight was delayed.” She paused under the flight time board, scanning it. “They haven’t landed yet.”

  “That means we’re ahead,” I told her. “And that means Green is in the lead. Which means we need to hurry.”

  We’d been at the very back of the plane, and Green had been at the front, seated conveniently near the Red Hat ladies. They’d been awful chatty, according to Georgie
. She also didn’t buy Drew’s apology, and we wondered what they were up to.

  “Let’s get a taxi,” Georgie said, and we shouldered our backpacks, rushing out of the airport and outside. “We need to keep pace with the Green Machine. I don’t want them getting a massive lead.”

  “I’m with you,” I told her, holding onto her arm. “Lead the way.”

  We found the taxi stand and Georgie waved a hand at the first one. “Taxi! Taxi! Can you take us to Hammam de la Rose?”

  The man nodded and spouted a stream of fluid Arabic. He gestured at the trunk, and we dumped our bags in, and then Georgie pulled out her wallet.

  “You think we should get money exchanged first?” she asked me.

  “I don’t know. We’re in a time crunch.” I glanced around the airport as blurs of people moved past. “How much do we have?”

  “Let me check….oh fuck.” She sucked in a breath. “Oh…fuck.”

  “What?” I turned to her, my eyes wide.

  She held her empty wallet out to me. “It’s gone.”

  “Gone? We should have a couple hundred!” I grabbed her wallet and looked. We’d been so careful not to spend money. I’d been with her bag at all times…except…I gave her a horrified stare. “Drew.”

  “Yup,” she said, exhaling heavily.

  They’d stolen our money when he’d taken me aside to ‘apologize’. Those bastards. “I bet those horrible grandmas were in on it, too.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Georgie said. “We’re fucked.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “All in all, I think this was a pretty good leg for us so far. A bit of a plane delay but we’re still ahead of the other teams that were on the flight with us. Haven’t seen the girls, but that doesn’t mean they’re not doing well. I hope.” – Swift, Team One Percent, The World Races

  “Well?” Georgie asked, arms crossed as we stared at our camera guy, waiting.

  He held up his finger, listening to something on his satellite phone. “Uh huh. Uh huh. Okay. Got it. Thanks. I’ll pass it along.” He hung up and then looked over at us. “Production says four hour penalty for the green team.”