Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 28472 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 142(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28472 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 142(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
“Fair enough. I will leave you to your delectable Quinn and enjoy myself with the rest of the bouquet of delicate flowers.”
“It’s the women who choose in the end,” the man on the other side of Emile says. It’s the good doctor, Hudson. He’s got sandy blond hair, and his face looks honest, which is unsettling in its own way.
“I shall offer any lady who is interested a diamond necklace to join me in tent number one,” Emile announces.
A whistle blows, and we all turn toward Owen. The sun bounces off his face and nearly blinds us.
“He needs a bit of powder,” Emile tells me. “That forehead is large enough to land a plane on.”
“There is no bribing the contestants. The women do not change tents. The winner of the contest decides which tent they want.”
“So much for allowing us to do whatever we like,” Emile grumbles.
“Let’s get this dog and pony show started,” shouts Ryan. Now that Emile’s money is off the table, the athlete feels secure in his win.
Owen blows the whistle again. He wants the damned race to start. Emile takes off at a surprisingly fast clip. When we reach the tires, though, he’s stymied. He can’t lift even one.
“Do you want a hand?” I offer. “There aren’t rules against us helping each other.”
“No. I will sit this out. Any of the ladies will suffice for me tonight.” Emile gives me a wave and walks off the field.
While I was talking to Emile, Ryan made swift work of the tires and is already at the barbed wire. “Shit.” I get to work, but Ryan’s got a good lead on me. He’s through the barbed wire and has the wooden puzzle box in this hand. To my surprise, he’s able to solve the puzzle and has the rope unlocked before I make it through the mud. I’m losing ground.
I speed up the crawl and drag myself to the puzzle box. Instead of trying to solve it, I smash the wood against the metal pole from which the rope hangs. The box cracks, and I fish out the key. Someone blows a whistle. “You’re supposed to solve the puzzle!” shouts a crew member.
“I did.” I insert the key into the lock and grab the rope that swings free. No one said how I had to get the key.
The rope climb burns my arms after the tire flip. I can see Ryan fading toward the top. If he doesn’t make it in this climb and has to drop down, it’ll be harder to finish. I guess he knows that because he pulls out a reserve of strength and rings the bell. Triumph flashes through his eyes. “Eat dust, loser,” he jeers as he slides down the rope.
My arms are telling me to give up and join Emile on the sideline, but the thought of Quinn spending even a second with this fuckhead enrages me. I power up the rope and ring the bell. Swiftly I drop to the ground and race toward the way station. There, a red-faced Ryan is yelling at a crew member.
“It’s impossible! There’s no answer,” he pants.
“There is.” The crew member shakes his head.
“Give me a different one then.”
“You have to answer this one.”
I grab a piece of paper out of the jar and read it out loud. “Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?” I slap the paper down. “Yesterday, today, and tomorrow.”
The crew member nods and presses a button. A gate opens, and I stride through with the curses of Ryan ringing in my ears. Quinn’s mine now.
CHAPTER 8
QUINN
“Damn,” Serena whispers from beside me. “What does he do for a living?” All the girls now have their eyes on Leo.
He killed the puzzle. He literally destroyed the entire box it was in to get the key out. But Ryan is still in the lead. Hudson and Mason both hit the puzzle at the same time while Ryan begins to climb the rope. Hudson is more athletic than any of us realized, while Mason is not.
“He said he’s the rich one.”
“The rich one? Poor Emile. He’s not going to like hearing that,” Serena jokes. “I guess Leo is the wild card. He’s more than rich.”
“Tech, he said he’d been in tech.”
“I’ve never seen someone in tech with those kind of thighs.” I chew on my bottom lip to fight the tinge of jealousy I feel. Could Serena now be into Leo?
I couldn't help but notice his thighs too. They caught my eyes before the race started when I’d gotten a closer view of him in the tent. I also noticed the thin layer of hair that runs across his chest when he’d taken off his shirt. All the rest of the men’s chests had been bare. I’m not sure about Hudson. He hadn’t taken his off. Anna had told him she didn’t want it when he offered it to her. Not that I blame her. The woman has a killer body.