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I thanked him and handed them over, but Kai was hovering nearby.
“You can come in with us if you like,” Kai blurted suddenly. “We could always use a third brain.”
“Or second, seeing as you two share one,” Dylan responded while I glared at Kai. “But it—”
I didn’t give him a chance to finish, rudely talking over him. “No, he can’t. It’s a two-person room.”
Kai shuffled on his feet awkwardly. “I’m sure they’ll make an exception…for us.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. We rarely flaunted our fame to get our own way. Of all of us, Kai was usually the one most against it.
I stepped closer to Kai, dropping my voice low so the only one who might hear was Dylan. “Got a problem being locked in a room with me, Kai?”
His eyes fell to my lips as he drew in a quick breath. “No. Of course not.”
“Good.” I didn’t back away. Didn’t break eye contact. “Because, as it happens, I can think of lots of things we could get up to in a locked room. Just the two of us.”
Kai reeled back a step, his jaw falling open. “What?”
I smirked at him, letting my eyes trail over his body. I’d never been a subtle flirt, and if Kai mistook this, then he was a bigger idiot than I was. “All those different…puzzles. We don’t want a third person getting in the way. It’d slow things down.”
He tilted his head like he’d caught onto my double meaning but struggled to understand if I meant it.
“Well, either way, I’m out,” Dylan said, cutting into the tension fizzing between us. “Don’t fancy being locked in a room. I’ll sit out here and play2468until you come back.”
I shot him a look of thanks. “You’re addicted to that game.”
“Gotta have something to keep me distracted while babysitting you two.” He softened his words with a wink.
The game master approached. “Okay! If you’re ready, follow me.”
The awkward tension between Kai and me lasted through the game master’s pregame spiel. But once the door was closed and the timer started, it dissipated as we got caught up in the room.
Kai had been right—it was full of nostalgia that made us feel old. Before long, we were searching out keys and trying to figure out codes. We’d never had a problem working as a team. It was part of what made us so successful on stage. All the shit that had been going on between us faded.
We were having fun.
My senses were heightened around Kai in a way they never had been before. I shivered every time his skin touched mine as he passed me a key. My temperature rose another degree whenever he brushed past me.
All those casual touches that I’d once taken as normal meant something else now.
Something so much more.
We unlocked a door into another room and let out a resounding whoop. I swept into the closet-sized space and eyed the tangled wires with dismay. “Lots of coloured wires and sockets. I’m guessing if we put them in the right places, it’ll complete the game. No idea where I’m supposed to put them though.”
“Bollocks,” Kai said from the doorway. “Give me a second. I’m sure I saw something with colours on out here.”
Not wanting to be idle, I spent the time Kai was gone shoving the wires into various sockets, hoping to stumble across the answer. Luck was not on my side.
“Here,” Kai said, squeezing into the narrow space beside me. He was frowning down at a piece of paper in his hand. “I think this is it.”
Using the grid he’d found, we worked together to quickly plug the wires into the right sockets. I crouched to do the lower ones while Kai leaned over me to do the ones on top.
“Come on, come on,” I muttered as my competitive streak kicked in. I’d be a grumpy fucker if we didn’t escape in time.
“Almost there,” Kai said. Just then, a red cable sailed past my head. “Balls.”
“I got it.” I swiped it up, pushing to a standing position. My chest brushed against Kai’s as I rose, our bodies bumping together.
