There were sour expressions among some of the other contestants. I would've felt bad about consistently letting them down, but in the end, the Dragonfate Games were about my brothers and me finding our mates. I couldn't help it that Taylor drove me wild.
"Now let's reveal what Taylor has won this time," Gauis began with a mischievous grin. "You've got another date tonight with the alpha dragon himself, but this is no ordinary dinner date. There's a twist." He winked at the nearest camera. "What will it be? Stay tuned."
* * *
Annoyingly,the crew did a damn good job of keeping me in the dark. I wasn't allowed to know the "twist" of my date with Taylor. Judging by the challenges thus far, I wouldn't be surprised if they threw us out of a helicopter together or something similarly stupid.
The date was set on the beach in the evening again. This time, there was no platform or pop-up restaurant. As far as I could tell, it was just us, the sand, and the sea. So far, I couldn't complain.
I wore a striking white suit tonight with my signature red tie to match the streak in my hair. There was no doubt, I was the most well-dressed man on this island.
But when Taylor appeared, he took my breath away. Even in his simple black T-shirt and jeans, I wanted to ravish him. Hell, he could wear a potato sack and still make my cock twitch.
"Good evening, Taylor," I said, smiling.
He nodded politely. "Hey, Crimson."
While I made no attempt to hide my affection towards him, Taylor seemed hesitant to do the same. Did the cameras make him shy? Or was he holding back his feelings for me?
From the corner of my eye, I noticed Gaius examining us. For all his boisterous showmanship, he had a keen eye. I wondered if he suspected something going on between us behind the scenes. But if he did, he didn't comment. He strolled up to us with a beaming smile.
"Here we are for the second date! Crimson, Taylor, are you two ready?" he asked.
"As ready as we can be to face the unknown," I said dryly.
That earned a small snort of laughter from Taylor.
Gaius chuckled. "Come on, where's your sense of adventure? After all, we didn't plan allthisfor nothing…"
As he finished speaking, a pair of kobolds wheeled out a gleaming gold post. Attached to it were matching pairs of gold handcuffs.
One pair for me and one for Taylor, I realized.
Whichever one of my brothers thought of this ridiculous concept was going to pay…
Gaius clapped his hands together. "What do we have here? Why, it's a game of Look, But Don't Touch! What does that mean for our pair? The two of them will be handcuffed to this pole for a whole hour. In that time, they can do anything they wish—except touch each other. But if these two are truly fated, is that even possible? It's going to be an epic battle of restraint and willpower!"
Taylor stared deadpan at Gaius. I, too, was ready to throttle him.
Unfortunately, Gaius was immune to our death glares. "Take your places, if you please," he prompted us cheerfully.
Taylor shot me a silent, pleading look. I didn't want to submit to this idiotic charade either, but if it was part of the show, I couldn't refuse. I sighed and offered my wrists for Gaius to cuff me to the gilded post. In response, Taylor swallowed a groan and did the same. At least if we were forced to act out some bullshit, we were in it together.
The chains on the handcuffs weren't very long. There was less than a foot of leeway between our cuffed wrists and the gilded post between us. If I was here with any other person, this would have been a deeply uncomfortable situation. But it was Taylor. I could've stood here and stared at him forever, which I realized was the whole point of this stupid game.
Gaius beamed when the staff finished setting us up together. "Here they are, the alpha and omega who've been on not one, but two dates now," he explained to the camera. "In this game of Look, But Don't Touch, their willpower will be put to the ultimate test. Can these two really spend an entire hour in close proximity without breaking? Let's find out. The timer starts… Now!"
Taylor rolled his eyes. "This is ridiculous," he mumbled.
"I agree."
"I mean, honestly, who comes up with this stuff?"
I tilted my head. "I can easily think of a few people…"
I imagined Aurum and Saffron cackling as they cooked up this idea and pitched it to Duke.
Taylor sighed. "An hour isn't too long. At least our mouths aren't duct-taped closed."
