into the bracing Alaska cold, stand upright, and take a few breaths, I’m sure of it.
I’m ready to kick ass.
“What are you smiling about, pussy boy?” a voice calls from the igloo across from us. Fucking Ace. “You’re dead last. This is gonna be your last challenge.”
Next to me, Penny scowls, punching her open hand like a regular firecracker. “We’ll just see about that, you . . . pierced-nosed . . . gross . . .” She trails off, lost.
I tug on her jacket, smiling at her. She ain’t much of an expert when it comes to trash talk, but we need that spirit if we’re ever going to come out on top of the rest of the teams.
“Hey, girl?”
She looks up at me.
“When you don’t got anything good to say . . .” I point a middle finger at Ace. “This speaks volumes.”
She tries it, but by then Ace isn’t paying attention. Ace and Marta are still solidly on top, but Brad and Natalie have been giving them a run for their money, and Ivy and Cody and Tony and Charity have been working really well together too. It’s anyone’s game right now.
The staff members give us cereal bars and juice, and then we’re called to assemble in front of a large log building. Will Wang is there. He says, “Hope you guys had restful sleep last night!”
He means it as a joke, because everyone’s walking around looking like the living dead. But you know what? I did. I slept damn well.
“Before the next challenge, we hope that you’re ready for Marriage Test Number Three.”
Everyone groans. Us included, because hell. We haven’t done so well on these tests. We’ve yet to get a question right about each other. Penny’s eyes are wide because these are probably the first tests in her life she’s ever failed. I lean over and whisper to her, “We’ve got this,” as encouragement, even though I ain’t sure.
She goes up with the rest of the women, and a crew member hands her an electronic board. Will smiles his big, fake grin. “First question, ladies! What or who is your husband’s biggest inspiration?”
Holy shit. We really have got this. Behind her, I see the muscles of her back tense. She starts to scribble feverishly.
Amazingly, Penny and I are the only ones who get the question right.
“His granddad.” She grins at me as she shows her scribbles and I show mine.
I grin back at her, because she’s A fuckin’ right.
“Annndd that is correct!”
“YES!” Penny jumps up and high-fives me.
Then she gets the question right about where I’m from. Easy question. Most everyone gets that one right.
But still. We’re making up ground. We are turning this fucking thing around.
“This last question was taken from your last confessionals. What would your husband say is your best feature?”
She doesn’t hesitate. She writes it down immediately, then looks back at me and winks.
Does she really know what I said?
Will Wang goes down the line. Natalie goes next, suggesting her courage, which is wrong. Brad had said her sassy attitude. Marta gets the answer right—she wrote her tits. I’m sure he said his cock. The two of them once again proving they have absolutely zero regard for the “keep things clean” rule.
Still looking a little flustered, Will comes up to Penny. “Okay, Dr. Carpenter! What is your answer?”
She flips her board around. “My intelligence.”
The buzzer sounds almost before she gets the last word out. “I’m sorry, that is incorrect. What did Mr. Cross say about his lovely wife? Her . . . freckles! Ladies and gentlemen, her cute little freckles.”
She looks back at me, blushing and feeling her face. She seems astonished that I didn’t choose her brain. But hell no. Those freckles are what got me from the minute I set eyes on her.
Doesn’t matter.
I can’t wait to find out what she said was my best feature. I figure it must be my dick, but knowing her, she’d be too embarrassed to write that or any other part of my anatomy. So I play it safe and write my eyes. And what did she say? “Your smarts, Mr. Cross!”
Me. Smart.
When she’s the one with all the degrees. I turn around and stare at her, shocked as hell, thinking she must have heard the question wrong.
We end up getting four out of six right, tying with Ace and Marta. Now the little trash talk from Ace bounces right off me. I said I’d clean the floor with someone’s ass . . .