Page 86 of Ex Marks the Spot
“Yes,” she says against my neck. “Yes, yes, yes.”
My relief is instant but short-lived because there’s a chance she might’ve misunderstood me. I pull back and frame her face in my hands. “Just to be clear, I want a relationship with you after the race.”
“Still yes,” she says with an emphatic nod.
Her confirmation is all it takes for my entire body to relax against her.
The idea for the stars came when we were sleeping on the airport floor in Cairo. It was getting harder to keep sex as only a physical thing, and then seeing Nefertari’s ceiling and Gianna telling me to think about trying again...it felt like one of Hartley’s nudges from the universe.
The original plan was to mail her some stars after the race, but then we won the Shortcut. Hartley had to use the bathroom when we got to the hotel, so I said I’d check us in. I used those few precious minutes to beg the front desk manager to switch us to a king bed and go shopping for me. As soon as I told her my plan, she called the concierge over and that was that. She wouldn’t even accept my handwritten IOU for when I get home. She’s totally getting a five-star review when I can get online again.
“I actually planned on talking to you later today,” Hartley says.
“You did?”
“In addition to my epiphany at the Parthenon, I realized in the Jacuzzi that I was envious of a fake soap opera character named after a dipping sauce.”
I bark out a laugh. “That’s an oddly specific realization.”
“It’s true!” Hartley takes my hands and laces our fingers on top of the bag of stars. “When you said, ‘My heart has always been yours’...” She shrugs. “I wished you were saying that to me and it brought a lot of things in focus.”
I lift the bag between us and wait until she gives me her eyes to say, “Why do you think none of my relationships since college have worked out? You’ve had my heart since the first time we did this.”
She releases a soft gasp as I drop the bag and claim her mouth, letting my tongue fill in the blanks to the rest of the words I haven’t said yet. And there are so many words—hours of them, bottled up after six years, and I carefully place them on her neck, her jaw, the skin behind her ear. I slip her robe off one shoulder, then the other, and press more words on her nipples and her breasts, massaging them into her skin as I go.
The package of stars falls to the side when I untie her robe and toss it to the floor. I rise long enough to add my robe to the pile, then settle on top of her. Stunning green eyes blink up at me when I guide myself inside. I feel her nails press into my back as I fill her and then we’re kissing again while I set a slow rhythm with my hips.
The more we move, the more my words scatter until there are only three left.
I.
Love.
You.
I leave them all over her body with my hands, my tongue, and finally with my voice. She repeats them as we tumble over the edge together.
Standings after leg 8, Greece
1. Us* Shortcut
2. Old Bay (Haylee and Kadeeja)
3. Kick Asspen (Treva and Boyd)
4. Bombshells (Gianna and Alexis)
5. Wise Guys (DeAngelo and Big Mike)
6. A Team (Mitchell and Kennedy)* Repeat
After starting strong leaving Greece, we came in fourth in Montenegro. It wasn’t entirely our fault though. Our first taxi broke down, and later in the day, we got directions from a local who didn’t know the difference between north and south...except we didn’t realize that until we’d gone ten miles in the wrong direction.
What saved us is that despite Treva’s speed on land, she’s a weak swimmer, and we were able to overtake Kick Asspen in the team challenge. Thankfully, she promised there were no hard feelings and even let me borrow her essential oil roller in case my ankle starts hurting again.
We only saw the Bombshells for about thirty seconds in between our second clue and the solo challenge, which was long enough to make dinner plans for tonight so we can catch up. We’re waiting in the hotel lobby with Justin, our cameraman and tonight’s obligatory chaperone, when they come out of the elevator.
It takes them exactly four steps before they notice Hartley’s hand in mine. Their smiles are immediate, with Gianna looking to the heavens, arms wide, saying, “Finally!” and Alexis shaking her head good-naturedly and adding, “Took you long enough.”