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CHAPTERFIFTEEN
Day Eighteen—Seven teams remaining
Lauren
The next morning, production assistant Sal pulled up to Maksim’s camp in a golf cart and cringed at the sight of my temporary partner’s nudity. I was so relieved to see someone—anyone—other than Maks that tears pricked at my eyes.
It had been a very long night. There had been a few hours of rain and the shelter didn’t keep any of it at bay. Maks snored loudly and talked in his sleep—in Russian. And my stomach ached with hunger.
“Ready to get back to your camp?” Sal asked me.
“Dear god, yes.”
“I’m here to take you.”
I grabbed my canteen, which was the only thing I’d brought with me, and raced toward the golf cart.
“Peace out, Maks!” I called as Sal drove the cart further way from Maks’s camp.
“How was it?” she asked me when we were out of earshot.
“Terrible. I haven’t had anything to eat in more than twenty-four hours.”
She gave me a sympathetic look. “I’m not allowed to give you anything, but I’m going to be focusing entirely on driving while you open that bag down at your feet.”
I picked up a white plastic bag. “This?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m just driving.”
I looked inside the bag and saw a Payday candy bar. “Oh god. Can I eat it?”
“Wow, what a view this morning, huh?” Sal said, grinning. “I just can’t seem to tear my eyes away from it.”
“Thank you so much,” I said, tearing into the candy bar. “I mean it. I’ve been feeling so weak lately.”
I took a huge bite, moaning in delight as the salty peanuts and sweet caramel hit my tongue. The flavor was much more pronounced than I was used to. The sugar was a sorely needed balm, and I savored every last bit of it.
I put the candy bar wrapper back in the bag and Sal took it, opening the golf cart’s glove box and shoving the bag inside before closing it.
“Seven teams left,” she said. “You guys could win this.”
“It’s crazy to think that. Archer literally had to carry me through one of the early challenges.”
“You’ve been a strong partner, Lauren. Don’t doubt yourself.”
Hearing words of encouragement from another female reminded me of my sister. I missed her so much. But she would be telling me to dig in and stick this out. I wanted that money, and now I also had another motivation—beating Maks.
“There’s home sweet home,” Sal said as my camp came into view further down the beach.
“More like home bug-infested home,” I cracked. “But it looks like a palace compared to Maksim’s camp.”
When Sal pulled up to camp, Archer was standing at the edge, waiting. My happiness was like an internal ray of sunshine bursting to break free. I quickly thanked Sal and ran to Archer.
He hugged me tight as I threw my arms around his neck, closing my eyes and sighing deeply with relief.
“You okay?” he asked, pulling back to look me over.
“I’m good.”
“Bye, guys!” Sal called.
Irina was already in the passenger seat of the golf cart, flipping Archer the bird as Sal drove away. I looked at Archer, my jaw open in surprise.
“I take it that didn’t go well?”
His expression turned serious. “She stole four of our canteens.”
“What?”
“I left camp and when I came back, they were gone. She admitted it. Said she’d give them back if I gave her something from the treasure chest I found.”
I grinned. “You found one? What was in it?”
He shrugged. “Just some weird clown costumes.”
My shoulders sank with disappointment. Archer gave me a smug smile.
“I’m bullshitting. Come see what we got.”
We. Archer had done all the work finding the chest, but to him, that didn’t matter. We were a team. He showed me all the goodies, and then gestured to a stump stool.
“Sit. I knew Maks wouldn’t feed you, so I’ve got breakfast ready for you.”
He slid a plate off the top of the bowl he’d prepared for me. It was filled with steaming rice, grilled fish, two beef sticks, and a gummy worm.
“Did we get more gummy worms?” I asked, because I hadn’t seen any in the new stash he’d showed me.
“No, I stashed a couple from the other chest. Figured I’d give them to you when you were having a crummy day and could use a pick-me-up.”
Damn, if that didn’t just make me melt into a giant puddle of goo.
“There’s some Gatorade powder mixed into this,” he said, passing me his canteen.
We had so little here, but Archer had still managed to make me a meal that made me feel…special. Cared for. The opposite of how Maksim had made me feel yesterday.
Our eyes locked for a brief second, and then I made a split-second decision. I lifted my chin, leaned up slightly, and kissed him.
I’d meant for it to be a soft, quick, closed-mouth kiss. But our lips knew each other well, and they wanted more than a brief reunion. Archer slid a hand around my neck and an arm around my waist and pulled me to him, his tongue brushing over mine.
Even after all these years, my body remembered his. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back, saying things that with my body that I couldn’t put into words.
It would have been too much to tell him how I was feeling, but my kiss couldn’t deny it. Didn’t even want to try. My kiss was open and wanting. Grateful. Apologetic. Wistful.
When we finally broke apart, Archer’s arm stayed locked around my waist. His eyes blazed dark sapphire, and his warm breath danced across my lips.
“Lo,” he whispered.
I put my fingertips on his lips, finally remembering that Nutter was nearby filming us.
“Later,” I whispered back.
He nodded. “I should let you eat.”
His arm fell from my waist then, our contact broken. My pulse still pounded with excitement, but I had to hide it. Our lapse in judgment would have the Exiled producers giddy in their control room. The drama. The intrigue. The lovers-turned-enemies-turned-lovers-again storyline they’d been waiting for. It would make for good television, but this wasn’t a game to me. It was my life. My heart.
Archer and I weren’t lovers yet. Why had I thought that? We’d kissed and that was all. His thoughtfulness had touched me and I’d kissed him. So what?
Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.
“Tell me about finding the chest,” I said, eager for us to get back to normal.
“That’s not all I found,” he said.
He told me about the waterfall as I ate, and when he said he wanted to take me to see it, I was grateful I had a mouth full of fish so I couldn’t even consider kissing him again.
“Thank you,” I said as I finished the food.
He reached over and took my hand. “I missed you.”
I squeezed his hand. “I missed you, too.”
“How was Maks?”
I shook my head. “Awful. They don’t have any firewood; they just drag a log in from the forest floor when they want a fire. So I dragged one in, because I wanted to help around camp, and I almost passed out.
“Lo.” Archer lowered his brows in a critical look. “That’s hard labor. You can’t be doing that when you’re weak from not eating.”
“All of us are weak.”
“Maks is an asshole for even letting you do it.”
I smiled, glad that that whole team swap experience was over with. “Well, he let me use the soap and shampoo at least.”
“I thought your hair looked different.”
“Give it a few days and it’ll be gross again.”
“You’ve never looked gross,” he countered.
I laughed. “What about when I fell in the mud?”
He shook his head, his eyes sparkling. “You make mud look good.”
“When I ate a hairy spider?”
“Adorable.”
“You’re sweet,” I said.
The lightness between us ticked away in seconds, the air feeling thicker and charged with electricity. Archer’s gaze was like a smooth caress, sending a tingle from the tip of my spine to the base.
“We can’t,” I said, reading his mind.
