Chapter Twelve
“Ithought you were scared of the jungle,” Barra said, her lips on Allie’s neck. “Why do you keep sneaking off into it?”
It was true. Allie was, and still remained, deathly scared of the jungle.
But the jungle was the only place she could have Barra to herself.
She wasn’t going to admit it, but the entire thing had been a ruse.
Allie had known that Barra was awake. Just like she’d known that Barra wouldn’t think twice about following her.
Which was exactly what Allie had wanted.
In all honesty, she hadn’t been able to sleep.
Not only had she wanted to understand why Barra hadn’t included her in the plan, but she’d also lain awake thinking about inappropriate things.
Things like running her hand up Barra’s stomach to her breasts, like dipping her tongue into the divot at the base of Barra’s throat, like sliding herself in between Barra’s naked legs and feeling her nakedness against her stomach.
“Let’s not talk about the jungle,” Allie muttered, tilting Barra’s face so that their mouths connected again.
In fact, she didn’t want to talk at all.
She could think of several other things she’d rather be doing, though all of them required a soft mattress.
Although she would happily settle for standing, as long as Barra’s hands kept roaming across her body.
“Fine,” Barra muttered against her mouth. “We won’t talk then.” She ran her teeth over Allie’s skin, and despite the heat, her body broke out in goosebumps. Millions of them. Some were even painful enough that she had the urge to rip her clothes off. Or at least instruct Barra to do it.
But Barra had other ideas. She pushed Allie up against a tree.
Allie nearly protested, in case there was a snake right above their heads, but then Barra tangled Allie’s fingers with hers and pinned her hand above her head. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you from any snakes,” Barra muttered as she slid her knee between Allie’s thighs.
“What about jaguars?” Allie gasped as Barra applied pressure to her center. And it wasn’t just the pressure that had her puffing; it was the feel of Barra’s hot skin against hers. Allie’s skimpy pajama shorts were more like hot pants. Barra was wearing—
Wait. Was she seriously only wearing panties? How had Allie not noticed before? But she couldn’t comment on it because Barra was moving, working her hips against hers, circling them in a way that made Allie want to scream.
“I need you to take off all your clothes,” Allie muttered. She hadn’t seen Barra naked, but she had imagined it. And in her experience, imagination never came close to the real thing.
“Only if I can take off yours,” Barra replied as she dragged her lips over Allie’s neck.
Allie couldn’t think of anything better.
Her clothes were beginning to feel way too restrictive in the heat.
Barra dropped her leg from between Allie’s thighs and stepped back.
She kept eye contact with Allie while she shrugged off her top.
But Allie couldn’t help it; her gaze flicked down to Barra’s chest, to her peaked nipples, and she suppressed a whimper threatening to slip.
Then Barra stepped out of her panties and, well, there went any last scrap of Allie’s self-control.
She moaned. Not loud enough for those at camp to hear, but loud enough for a bird to fly off its perch in fright.
Then Barra stepped forward and tugged at Allie’s clothes.
First she slipped her shirt over her head, which she dropped to the ground.
And then she hooked her thumbs into the sides of Allie’s panties and pulled them down in slow motion.
She knelt as she went, her fingers dragging at the outsides of Allie’s thighs.
Allie glanced down at the top of Barra’s head, and if there was a morsel of regret for how the night turned out, she didn’t feel it, not even a scratch.
If anything, when Barra looked up and caught her eye, and her fingers smoothed to the back of Allie’s knees, Allie couldn’t think of a single reason to stop.
“I’ve been dreaming about this for days now,” Barra muttered, her breath hot against Allie’s skin.
Then she moved her head even closer and licked a stripe right where her thigh met her hip.
She did it on the right. Then the left. Allie would never have pegged Barra for a tease, but then again, she never would’ve thought she’d be pushed up against a tree in the middle of a jungle in Costa Rica, buck naked.
Barra’s hands then wrapped around her ass, and then there was no more teasing. Her mouth closed around Allie’s sex just as Allie pushed her hips forward and parted her legs, giving Barra more than enough of herself to be ravished.
Barra was thankfully on the same page. She dipped her tongue into Allie’s wet folds, and Allie couldn’t help herself from panting. Then she did it again when Barra’s tongue slid down, then up.
Allie rotated her hips over Barra’s mouth and extended her hands out to the bark of the tree for something to hold on to while Barra’s tongue flicked faster and faster. And the faster it flicked, the faster Allie moved her hips.
The next moment, Barra’s hand was inching across her stomach to her breasts.
Allie didn’t have to look to know where her fingers were headed.
Not that she could. Her head was tilted back, her eyes tightly closed.
As Barra’s fingers spanned across her sternum, Allie’s nipples instantly hardened.
No, that was a lie. They’d been hard ever since Barra kissed her.
She arched her back just as Barra’s fingers found the right nipple and rolled it between her thumb and forefinger.
Then Allie moaned when that roll turned into a gentle pinch. Then a harder pinch.
But that wasn’t even the reason Allie’s heart was hammering. Barra’s mouth was sucking at her clit, working at that delectable bud of nerves with such skill Allie could hardly breathe. In fact, she felt so dizzy she wasn’t sure whether she was coming or going.
Another pinch of her nipple. Then more sucking. More flicking. More of everything.
Allie’s orgasm swooped in like a tornado and radiated all the way down to her toes. She couldn’t help it; she cried out, “Fuck!” Then swore over and over again until Barra’s mouth stopped its offense.
By the time Barra stood up, Allie was so out of breath that she could barely speak.
But she didn’t have to say anything. Barra closed the space between them.
Her naked body pressed against Allie’s was intoxicating.
The way her leg slotted in between Allie’s, the way Barra’s center pressed wetly against Allie’s thigh, the way Barra’s breath ghosted Allie’s neck, was highly addictive.
And anything that addictive had to be bad for a person, especially in a game like this where she had to keep her head.
“This can’t happen again,” Allie said, smoothing her palms across Barra’s silky ass, her fingers moving dangerously close to the crease of her backside. “Never again.”
“Of course not,” Barra muttered against her breath.
Satisfied, Allie moved her hand down to the inside of Barra’s thighs. “Promise,” she said, then moved her finger to the entrance of Barra’s folds like a threat.
“Promise,” Barra said, her breath raspy.
Allie smiled, then slipped her finger inside.
Never again...
IT HAPPENED AGAIN.
And again.
And again.
And, worst of all, they were getting reckless about it.
“Someone’s going to hear us,” Allie muttered, her lips brushing Barra’s collarbone, right where her shoulder met her neck.
The skin there was unfairly soft, like satin.
And Allie knew all about satin. She owned four pillowcases specifically designed to prevent skin creasing and premature aging, and somehow Barra’s skin was softer and more rejuvenated.
“Then maybe you should stop,” Barra muttered, though her fingers didn’t stop. On the contrary, they tightened at Allie’s waist and pulled her closer instead of pushing her away.
“You’re being unhelpful,” Allie breathed, tilting her head, her mouth finding the hollow of Barra’s throat. “Totally unhelpful.” That couldn’t be more true. Barra was lighting a slow, dangerous fire low in her body, and the only way to put it out was to give in completely.
Barra let out a laugh that, if Allie had any sense, she’d stop kissing Barra’s neck and listen for any shift, any answering sound.
But her common sense had gone with the wind, and besides, she’d offered to fill everyone’s canteens at the watering well.
No one would make the trek out here unless they absolutely needed to.
Not only was the well situated surprisingly deep in the jungle, but the air also smelled faintly like something was rotting.
“You’re the one who started this,” Barra said.
“Not true,” Allie replied. “I came here for the water.”
“Liar.”
Allie gasped. But then smiled and pressed her mouth against Barra, silencing her. She most certainly wasn’t a liar, but even so, it had been her intention to lure Barra out to the watering hole for this very reason. Why else would she ask her to help her with the canteens?
“If doing everyone at camp a favor just so happens to involve me making questionable decisions, then so be it,” Allie murmured against Barra’s lips. “And besides, you didn’t have to come. You could’ve said no.”
Barra grinned into the kiss. “I’m here to protect you from snakes. Or are you no longer terrified of snakes and spiders?”
Allie was absolutely not over her fear of snakes.
She just chose not to think too hard about what might be coiled in the branches above or buried beneath the damp leaf litter on the ground.
But then again, it was easier not to think at all, especially when Barra’s hand dipped beneath Allie’s no longer white blouse and slid up her back.
Her fingers pressed between her shoulder blades just as Allie muttered rather hotly, “What can I say, lust overpowers fear.”
Barra laughed again.
This time Allie pulled back just enough to look at her.
She was smiling, her teeth gleaming in the sunlight spilling through the canopy.
Her face was younger-looking. Lighter, was that possible?
Or was it just the way the morning light was hitting her features?
Anyway. It didn’t matter. Barra was gorgeous, and kissing her out here, after they’d managed to thwart the camera crew, felt incredibly good, like she was somehow invincible, like what they were doing was somehow beyond the game itself.
Which Allie had to admit was a terribly dangerous way of thinking.
“This has to be the last time,” Allie said, even as her fingers curled into the fabric at Barra’s side, holding her there.
“It will be,” Barra said, already leaning in again.
“That’s what we said last night,” Allie added, remembering how Barra had pushed her up against a banana tree and how Allie had nearly mentioned banana spiders but then Barra had slipped a finger inside her and Allie could barely remember what a spider looked like. “We can’t keep—”
But she didn’t finish the sentence because a branch suddenly snapped, and before they could put it down to a bird or a monkey or something less threatening, a voice followed.
Allie froze. Barra did too. She could feel Barra’s body stiffen beneath her fingertips.
Then, as if they’d been zapped by some invisible cow prod, they broke apart in a scramble.
Allie grabbed the rope dangling in the well and yanked the bucket up too quickly.
Water sloshed over the sides. Barra, on the other hand, fumbled for the empty canteens.
She picked one up and unscrewed the lid just as a voice that sounded suspiciously like Tilly said, “I really like Allie.” Her voice drifted closer.
“But I honestly can’t stand Sutton, and the longer we keep Sutton in the game—”
“The more unstable the system becomes. Sutton is unpredictable, and as long as she’s in this game, no alliance built around her is going to hold,” Toph cut in calmly. Allie assumed it was Toph by the robotic way she spoke.
Allie looked at Barra. “They’re going to vote Sutton off at the next Sending,” she whispered, though what that really meant was, they were coming for them, Sutton and Allie.
Barra shook her head, her eyes wide but not worried. “I have a plan.”