Unscripted Love: The Complete Reality TV Romance Collection

by Heather Thurmeier

  “Would it have made a difference with how you feel about me?”

  “Maybe.” Paige sighed and rolled her eyes. “Probably not.”

  And there was his answer. He would never know for sure if things would have escalated to the point of being intimately involved Paige if he’d told her about Zoe earlier. But now they were together and he could talk to her about it. They could work it out because now Paige knew the real Miles and not simply the guy who happened to be related to Zoe Oliver by blood.

  “And I guess I’m out numbered with this decision about the cache,” he said, changing the subject. He needed to figure out a way to stop them from going for that stupid dangerous cache.

  “You are.” Ben smiled. “But don’t let it bruise your ego too much.”

  Miles was quiet for a moment. “So when are we going for that cache?”

  “Today,” Zoe said. “First thing. Let’s get in and get out before any of the other teams have a chance.”

  He nodded along with them. They all looked so pleased with themselves. With their plan. Under different circumstances he might have felt that way too. But not this time.

  “Well, we should be able to take our time today,” he started. He worked hard to keep his voice as casual and nonchalant as possibly. It was crucial they didn’t think he was bullying them into this decision, even if he wanted to. If it kept them from getting hurt, it was worth it.

  “What do you mean?” Paige asked. “Everyone will be headed there right away.”

  “That’s not what I heard around here this morning.”

  “No? What did you hear?” Ben asked.

  “Sounded to me like every team had taken it off their list.”

  “Why would they do that? It doesn’t make sense when they know there’s a good possibility there’s a prize available.”

  He shrugged. “Seems half of them think it’s disrespectful to the firefighters to go after the cache they got hurt on and the other half think it’s bad luck. Like the cache is cursed or something.” He forced himself to chuckle even though he didn’t feel like laughing. He had to agree with the sentiment of the other teams. If only his teams would get on board too.

  Miles took a sip of water while he let that settle. “I was thinking, since no one else is going for that cache, it will be safe sitting there a while. Maybe we would be better off trying to do some of the other caches that are hopefully closer, faster, and easier. And since we know where that other one is, we can run over to it anytime we find ourselves close by. Saves going out of our way for one cache and possibly losing a whole day completing it.”

  By the expression on their faces and the change in their body language, he felt pretty confident they would agree with his plan. It was a good plan, no doubt. But since he wanted them to figure it out for themselves, he needed to give them a few more minutes to decide.

  “I’m going to grab another pastry. Anyone want anything?” he asked, rising from the table.

  “I’ll take one,” Paige said. “Thank you.”

  He smiled at her and she blushed slightly. He wandered off to the buffet table, taking much longer than necessary to gather two little pastries on plates. Glancing over to the table while he reached for a couple of extra napkins, he saw the three of them huddled with their heads together. After lingering near the food as long as he could without feeling awkward, he wandered back to his teammates and set Paige’s pastry in front of her then took his seat again.

  “We’ve decided to leave that cache until later and risk that the prize will still be there when we get around to it,” Paige said.

  Good.

  “And we will get to it before the end.” Zoe’s voice was determined.

  Well, at least it wouldn’t be today. The longer he could delay them, the more chance there was that they’d forget about it, another team would go for it and get it, or they’d decide it wasn’t worth the risk. Any way he looked at it, delaying even another day was a success.

  Finishing the last bite of his pastry, he leaned back and laced his fingers behind his head. His tension and stress vanished. “Sounds like you guys have it all figured out.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Paige shifted in bed and snuggled closer against Miles’s side. Funny how she felt like she’d always belonged there even though they’d only been together a few weeks. Felt like a lifetime already.

  She yawned, trying to shake off the tiredness before another grueling day of caches and driving and searching hit her. Didn’t matter how much sleep she got each night, she still felt tired each morning. Of course, lying in bed with a naked Miles probably wasn’t equivalent to sleeping soundly. She’d barely been able to choke down dinner each night before exhaustion settled in. Last night, she’d even been too tired to fool around, which was saying something considering Miles had brought her to his bed again, wrapped his arms around her, and wore only his boxer briefs. Just thinking about it now made her girly bits tingle. If only she could wake up enough to do something about it.

  But the last week had been too much. Together, they’d managed to find an outstanding seventy-five caches, putting both teams only one place back from Team Frat Boys who still had a five-cache lead. Team Retired Grandparents and Team Husband and Wife were close on their heels. Every day they started out knowing they had to find as many caches as possible to keep their tie together for second and third place.

  Of course, in the end, it would all come down to point value per cache not the number of caches alone. But logic told them that the more caches they had, the more points they would collect.

  And after each of the long days this last week, they’d come back to the common room to strategize. The noise of the room during the first two weeks had tapered off considerably as everyone made the final push to the end leading into this last week. Some teams didn’t even bother hanging out in the common room every night anymore, preferring instead to hole up in their rooms where they could plan their next day in private.

  Paige, Zoe, and the boys didn’t feel the need to hide out. They liked to be out in the open, enjoying their time in the evenings for more than just strategizing. Sure they’d done a lot of that too, but they’d also played a few rounds of chess, goofed off, and eaten way too much for dinner. Seemed their stomachs had become bottomless pits from all the exercise during the day.

  After they’d finally given up planning for the next day, their teams split up for the remainder of the evening. Paige and Miles would grab hot chocolate and cuddle on the couch in front of the huge stone fireplace, chatting about their lives outside of the game, and Zoe and Ben would usually go stretch out in the girls’ room where he could rest his leg and they could talk. About what, Paige had no idea, since talking to Zoe usually meant lots of sarcasm. But Ben didn’t seem to mind at all.

  In fact, Ben seemed happier now than he had at the beginning of the show. If Paige had to wager a guess, she’d say Zoe was too. Odd how the two of them suddenly got along so well. After their hospital excursion, they seemed to have bonded in a way Paige and Zoe hadn’t. Come to think of it, Zoe was calmer, more polite, and hadn’t said one sarcastic thing to Ben in all the times Paige had seen them together.

  Ben and Zoe’s newfound — whatever it was — also left lots of time for Miles and Paige to be alone together. Most nights it was all night since Ben ended up falling asleep while talking to Zoe in the girls’ room.

  And yet Miles insisted Ben was faithful to his wife Tammy without question. Paige couldn’t help but wonder why someone like Ben would want to spend so much time alone with Zoe. He must see something in her that the rest of the world was blind to.

  Paige didn’t mind giving up her bed at all. Miles’s bed was way more comfortable for sleeping anyways … well, after he finally let her sleep each night. The other teams didn’t even bat an eyelash in her direction during her walk of shame each mo
rning anymore either. Their blooming romance — “showmance” if you asked the Frat Boys — was old news with the end of the show nearing and everyone so focused on winning.

  Miles’s fingers trailed down her ribs and back up again, her bare skin tingling with the sensation. She hadn’t bothered to bring pajamas with her to Miles’s room each night since she wouldn’t have stayed in them for long anyway. The appreciative smile on his face each night when she climbed into bed in only her panties was worth the lack of clothing. And she was never cold wrapped in his arms.

  His hand slid down her side and slipped under the material of her panties, coming to rest on her rear. He squeezed and she tried to wiggle away from his wandering hand. She needed to get up and get to her own room, not fool around with Miles. Fooling around would lead to a late start and none of them could afford that.

  “Miles, stop. We have to get up.” She turned her head and yawned away from him. “We don’t have time for any of that this morning.”

  “Still too tired? I let you sleep all night to recoup.” He kissed her head while his free hand found her breast, caressing it until her nipple peaked into a tight bud. “You seem awake enough.”

  She rolled onto him, kissing his neck then his collarbone and chest. Oh, yes. She’d love to stay and play this morning, and judging by the tenting in his boxer briefs, he’d love it too.

  Paige stopped kissing his body and stared into his eyes, hovering over him. Every morning she woke up in his bed, she felt herself fall a little harder, a little deeper. It wouldn’t take much longer before she was a total goner. Seeing his beautiful eyes stare back at her with lust and something that looked an awful lot like love in them, she didn’t mind falling further. As long as he fell with her.

  Was he falling for her too? Or was she the only one losing her head in this arrangement?

  “You are so beautiful,” he whispered, his voice raspy as if there was more than the early morning making his voice sound that way. “I think this might be the best alliance ever.”

  “So it’s all about the game, huh?” she teased, but her insides twisted with fear that she might be right. “I’m just an ally, nothing more.”

  He flipped her over and was suddenly hovering over her, his eyes serious and full of heat. “You’ve never been part of the game to me.”

  Miles kissed her hard on the mouth, the intensity full of passion and something more she couldn’t pinpoint. With his lips on hers, his tongue in her mouth, his hand pressed between her thighs — her worries about the game vanished from her mind. He wanted her and damn it, she wanted him too. There was nowhere else she wanted to be right now than in his arms where she felt desirable, confident, and in control.

  The show could go on without them if need be.

  • • •

  Miles hadn’t been able to wipe the grin off his face all day. Going to bed with Paige each night and waking up with her each morning for the last ten days had been amazing. And every time they’d been together, his connection got deeper.

  Deeper than he’d ever felt with anyone.

  He wasn’t a settle down and get married kind of guy. He liked variety and the freedom to come and go as he pleased. But there was something about Paige that made him believe he’d never get bored with her. Maybe it was the way she only had to glance his way and he got hard. Or maybe it was the fact that they could talk about anything together. He didn’t feel like he had to hold back what he felt or thought with her. Like how he’d finally been able to confide in someone about the accident and how much it still bothered him. He hadn’t been anywhere near ready to tell someone that before.

  Because Paige wasn’t just anyone.

  She was completely amazing in every way. And feeling that way for her scared the shit out of him.

  He hadn’t expected to get involved with anyone while on the show. He’d been here for Ben only. Then he’d met Paige and all that changed. Every kiss seemed to throw him further over the edge and pretty soon there’d be no coming back.

  Not that he really wanted to come back anyway.

  He watched her hips sway as she walked in front of him down the path, feeling almost hypnotized by the movement. The grin on his face grew. If he could take her into the brush to steal a few more kisses right now, he totally would. He glanced to the side and surveyed the nearby foliage. Maybe he could take her behind that bush for a few minutes without being missed.

  “We’re here,” Zoe said from beside Paige.

  He pulled his mind back from where it had wandered off to do dirty things to Paige in the bushes and focused on the path ahead of him. Except there was no path anymore.

  A wall of rock went straight up. Miles tracked a path from the bottom to the top, mentally noting all the notches to grip with his fingertips and the tiny cracks and crevasses to tuck his toes into the wall. Years of climbing made it easy to spot the best route up the cliff.

  An easy climb. A couple of minutes up, a couple of minutes down. No sweat.

  Small rocks fell from above, showering down the side of the cliff.

  “Watch out below,” Dean called from the top ledge, swinging his leg over and beginning his climb down. A few minutes later, he and Chuck stood in front of them.

  “You guys going up?” Chuck asked.

  “Yeah,” Zoe said, squaring her shoulders. “We’re all going up.”

  Chuck and Dean elbowed each other laughing. “Sure you are,” Dean said. He turned to face Miles. “Too bad you’ve got so much dead weight on your team. This would be an easy climb for you. For the others, not so much.”

  “Watch it,” Miles said, balling his hands into fists at his sides. He wasn’t a fighter, but hearing some jackass call his friends dead weight could make even the most even-tempered person irate.

  They ignored his comment and laughed again, jogging down the trail.

  Miles clenched his jaw. It wasn’t true. Neither his teammate nor the girls were dead weight. He took in the others who stood there watching him, not saying anything as if they waited for him to admit he felt that way about them.

  “Those guys are jackasses. Don’t listen to them.” But even as he said it, he couldn’t stop himself from evaluating them. Paige in her heels with the open toes. Zoe with her ankle still bandaged and weak in her sneakers. Ben with his prosthesis, still unsure of whether he could climb or not.

  And his fear that something would go wrong if they tried to climb the cliff.

  “So let’s get going then,” Paige said, moving to stand right in front of the cliff. She grabbed hold of the rocks with both hands then tentatively put the ball of her foot on a small ledge. As she pulled herself up to find a place for her other foot, Miles watched as her arms quivered a little at having to hold the majority of her body weight.

  Damn it. He couldn’t let her do this.

  “Come on back down, Paige,” he said, taking a step toward her.

  She glanced over her shoulder, “No, I’m good. I can do it.”

  She reached up a little further then looked for the next place to put her feet. He could see where she should step, but instead of her choosing that spot, she placed her foot on a precarious looking outcropping.

  “Not that one,” he said, coming up behind her, raising his arms to catch her if she fell. “Put your right foot over one spot further.”

  “This one is fine, Miles.”

  Paige put her foot where she wanted instead of where he suggested. As soon as she shifted her weight to move her hands again, her foot slipped. Paige shrieked and stumbled to regain her footing while clinging to the wall. Her arms and legs shook as she looked back down to him, fear in her eyes already and she was only a few feet off the ground.

  He reached up and grabbed her by the waist, guiding her as she climbed back down to solid ground. When her feet hit the trail, she turned and buried her
head in his chest. Her entire body trembled in his arms.

  “It’s okay. You’re on the ground now.”

  She pulled away and glanced back to the wall, freeing herself from his protective arms. What he wouldn’t do to keep them safely wrapped around her for the rest of the show. “I’m okay. I just got freaked out. You tell me where to put my feet and I’ll listen this time.”

  He smiled and kissed her. “Good. Leave them right where they are.”

  “What?” She took a step back. Not the reaction he wanted, but unfortunately the one he expected.

  “Stay right here, both feet on the ground.”

  “No. The cache is up there and I’m going to get it.”

  He shook his head. “No you’re not. None of us are.”

  “What?” This time it was Ben’s voice with a touch of disbelief mixed with annoyance.

  Miles prepared himself for the fight he was about to have on his hands. Ben wasn’t going to like him very much in another minute or two. “I think we should skip this one. Go back to the trucks and find another cache to hit. We still have lots of time left today.”

  Ben threw his hands up. “I can’t believe you. Why did you bring me on this show? Just so you could keep telling me what I can and can’t do? Just to keep proving to yourself how much better you are than me?”

  Ben’s words stung like acid. “No. That’s not it at all. I can’t believe you think that.”

  “What else am I supposed to think? All you’ve done this whole time is tell me what I’m not strong enough to do. So thanks for bringing me on national television just to point out my shortcomings.”

  Miles shook his head. That wasn’t what he’d meant to do at all. It was the exact opposite of that. “I didn’t. I wanted you to remember how much fun we had climbing together so maybe you’d start doing it again. I wanted you to realize that you can still do all the things you used to so that when I ask you to join me for a climb, you’ll actually say yes for a change.”