Heat rushed through Lucy’s body at the sounds Skye was making. Once she was sure Skye was as wet as she could get, Lucy buried her face between Skye’s legs and slid her tongue over her folds.
“Oh. My. God,” Skye groaned again, this time tangling her fingers into Lucy’s hair.
Lucy felt her own arousal building up again, but she was far too busy pleasing Skye to do anything about it. She wrapped her arms around Skye’s thighs and tilted her chin slightly before she closed her mouth over Skye’s clit. She sucked and sucked until Skye was shivering beneath her, tensing up, and screaming profanities in the air.And then she sucked some more.
Lucy loved every second of it. The smell of Skye, the way her hips moved subconsciously toward Lucy’s mouth. The way Skye’s hands kept pulling at Lucy’s hair turned her on.
She buried her face deeper and moved her tongue faster, greedy for every little sound she pulled from Skye’s lips. And then some.
“Damn, Lucy,” Skye’s voice cracked. Her grip on Lucy’s hair tightened as she couldn’t decide whether to push her closer or to pull her back. “This is—” But she cut herself off again before she could say anything more.
Not that Lucy needed words to understand that Skye was having a good time. A very good time. Lucy smiled against her, refusing to let up. At least not until Skye’s screams hit the ceiling.“Stop!” Skye called. “You’re killing me.”
Lucy glanced up. “I’d rather be killing you than leave you wanting more,” she said, grinning. “I can’t imagine if I left here, and you thought,wow,sex with Lucy is boring.”
Skye laughed so loud, Lucy worried someone, somewhere, had overheard. She then pulled Lucy up to her and squeezed her ass. “You could never be boring.”
Chapter Twenty-One
With only five contestants left, it was time for the inevitable cooking challenge. Nothing guaranteed drama quite like handing people knives and hot pans while cameras zoomed in on every awkward laugh, mess, and dropped utensil. Skye had always enjoyed the cooking part of it, but only because there were always leftovers. This afternoon, however, she wasn’t exactly looking forward to it. All she wanted was to get Lucy alone to talk about what had happened last night and what it meant. And then she wanted to come up with a plan to get Alexis off their backs.
Unfortunately, Alexis was a leech.
“You look lovely this morning,” Alexis whispered in Skye’s ear when they stepped into the bright and airy cooking pavilion by the beach.
Skye ignored her.
“Aren’t you going to compliment me back?”
“I like your top,” Skye responded forcefully and instead concentrated on the space. There were three long wooden counters stretched across it, each lined with shiny cutting boards, rows of knives, and colorful bowls of neatly pre-measured ingredients. The benches were arranged so that the contestants faced each other. It was an easy way for the cameras to capture every micro-expression without having to do a lot of back and forth.
“Oh, come on, are you really ignoring me?” Alexis whispered under her breath.
Skye was just about to say something, but then the host, Chef Marco Valenti—a Food Network host with a British accentand a reputation for yelling at contestants—walked to the center of the room. He had been hand-selected by Marla months ago.
“You’ll each be cooking a Hawaiian-inspired seafood dish in pairs,” he announced, flicking his dark ponytail. “At the end, I’ll decide who made the most delicious plate. The winners will go on a date with our gorgeous bachelorette.” He flourished his hand in her direction, and Skye managed a practiced smile while her stomach pulled into knots.
There was a smattering of nervous laughter, and a few claps.
“Now,” Chef Marco continued, dragging the moment out. “You’ll be choosing your partners with the classic names in a hat game.” He offered it first to Skye, who dipped her hand in, silently praying to every queer deity that she could think of that she’d end up next to Lucy. But when she unfolded the slip of paper and saw Alexis’s name printed on it, she barely managed not to groan out loud. Of course she would draw Alexis. Clearly, the universe was out to punish her.
“Skye and Alexis,” Marco called. “You two are at station one.”
Alexis shot her a smug smile that made Skye’s skin crawl. “This must be my lucky day,” she said and winked at the camera before she walked off to their station.
Skye followed, but not before she risked a glance across the room to where Lucy was drawing a name out of the hat. Last night’s tryst in the ocean, and sex in her bed, was still humming under her skin, electric and hot in a way she hadn’t managed to shake off yet. Lucy caught her eye and, for a heartbeat, her lips curved like she was thinking about it too.
“Come on,” Alexis hissed. She glanced back over her shoulder and caught the tail end of the look between Skye and Lucy. Her brows lifted, and her smirk widened like a cat who’d just cornered something delicious to eat. A mouse probably.Skye was the mouse.She then flicked her gaze forward and added, “We should probably discuss what we’ll be making. It’s a competition, and as you know, Idolove to win.”
Skye rolled her eyes but followed obediently. Now wasn’t the time to provoke Alexis. She had an uneasy feeling that Alexis was a ticking time bomb. One wrong look or one careless word, and Alexis might explode, spilling Skye’s secrets onto the floor.
When she reached her bench, Skye focused all of her attention on the woven basket of ingredients: mahi mahi fillets, fresh pineapple, bell peppers, scallions, ginger, and a tiny container of sesame oil. Beside her, Alexis blabbed on and on about the different ways they could prepare the mahi mahi and whether the pineapple should be caramelized or diced raw. But Skye wasn’t really listening. She didn’t really care all that much. All she wanted was a minute or two alone with Lucy.
“So, what do you think?” Alexis said.
“About what?”
Chef Marco suddenly appeared behind them, rubbing his hands together. “So, ladies, what’s the plan? What are we cooking today?”
