Page 61 of House of Deceit

After falling into the pool, Lucas, Raven, Ezra, and Ava sit on the bench watching us struggle to stay on. Parker and I are only two teams away from being safe and we are doing everything we can to stay in this mentally.

“What did the green grape say to the purple grape?” I ask him.

“I dunno, what?”

“Breathe, stupid.”

He snorts as I chuckle at the stupid joke that has always been my favorite. Soon, we are descending into delirious giggles, our bodies tired from standing on these platforms for over an hour but in the moment, I feel no pain.

“Mateo, please. I have to move,” Mary Ella whines in her southern accent.

“Okay,” Mateo concedes, “but slowly.”

As she spins, her elbow smacks into Mateo, throwing him off balance and into the water with a large splash. Waves move across the pool shaking all the platforms, causing Keith and Colyn to fall too.

Relief floods through me.

We are safe.

Noticing the same thing, Rebel and Penelope separate, give matching whoops and cannonball into the pool. The resulting waves shake the platforms, but Molly and Jayden fall in first, coming in second. With a giant splash, she and Jayden fall into the pool, crowning me and Parker the winners.

Already off balance from all the waves, we let the momentum take us into the pool.

The water runs off my oiled body as I break the surface. Parker’s smile is bright and beautiful, and I know it matches my own. Grabbing ahold of me, Parker yanks me through the water toward him.

Bending toward me, he brushes his lips against mine. I’m surprised, but the relief we made it when so many will go home overwhelms me. As he begins to back away, I pull his body against mine. Standing on my tiptoes, I let our tongues tangle.

His lips are soft.

So soft.

And he tastes so good as I explore his mouth.

He pulls me tighter against him, his hand fisting in my hair.

The kiss is the best I’ve had.

And as we pull apart, both gasping for air, I notice the lack of heat running through my body.

Once production was able to get us all out of the pool, they told us to meet our wranglers in the living room. Sounds of people making their way through the house reach us as we all sit patiently, if not a little confused.

The first wrangler into the living room heads straight to Molly, and for a moment I enjoy watching her and Danielle interact. Molly is giggly and starry-eyed in a way I have never seen before, her heart on her sleeve.

But what I wasn’t anticipating is seeing the same look on Danielle’s face. How Molly could think Danielle isn’t into her is crazy. Smiling to myself, I give Danielle’s relationship mere weeks before it ends once Molly leaves the mansion while a quiet part of me wishes it could be the same way with me and Alec.

Looking through the crowd, my heart skips a beat. Alec’s face is placid, his professional wrangler face, but my ability to read him has improved and now I can see the simmering rage.

“Was it the best kiss you ever had?” Alec asks quietly, smirking at me.

“Be careful, you’re going to seem jealous,” I taunt him, matching his volume, knowing they won’t be airing this footage.

I think I can hear his teeth grind as his jaw clenches, the muscle twitching causing me to smile. His face darkens further as he crosses his arms over his chest, lighting a fire down in my belly.

“Why are y’all out here? I thought wranglers weren’t allowed in the house,” I ask, trying to get him to relax.

“Avoiding my question,” he asserts.

“Fine, yes, okay? My previous boyfriends weren’t exactly great kissers and Parker definitely knows what he’s doing. But it being a good kiss and feeling something from it are two different things.”

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