Read Online Stand By Your Hitman by Leslie Langtry - Free Book Online Page A

leaned over to pass it to his teammate, Brick Phoenix. Brick refused, citing it would hurt his future acting career to be seen Frenching a man. I was a bit surprised to see Moe shrug and spit the pearl into the hand he was holding with the actor wannabe. Brick leaned down to put the pearl into his mouth and I decided we were doing okay.
    I carefully slipped my hand into the water, this time finding three pearls. Was it wrong of me to putonly two in my mouth to pass to Lex? I mean, you gotta take what you can get when you can get it, right? While Lex was giving the pearls to Sami, I put the third one in my mouth.
    Did I imagine it? Or did Lex’s tongue lightly stroke mine? Woo hoo! Could we ditch the cameras later for a total make-out session? Suddenly, my idea of throwing the game to spend the rest of the time at the Blanco Tigre seemed like the best idea in the world!
    Unfortunately, the other team was down to two pearls left. We had three. I knew this because Alan gleefully announced it. Julie looked pissed that no one had lost a finger yet. She seemed especially upset that I wasn’t bitten. Oh well.
    I reached into the water again, scraping the bottom to try to find all three remaining pearls. Something sharp slashed at my fingers and it took all I had to keep my hand in there. I found two pearls and pulled out.
    “She’s bleeding!” Cricket squealed, pointing at me with her free hand. I’m sure she was thinking, If only I had my camp first-aid kit—I’d save the day!
    Huh? Oh yeah. I was bleeding. And the dirty water wouldn’t help. My fingers were all intact, but there was an ugly slash across the knuckles.
    “Don’t do it, Missi,” Lex said seriously.
    The others nodded. I was touched by their concern. However, I desperately wanted to kiss Lex again and I wanted us to win this challenge. So I slid my hand into the water once again. For a second, I allowed myself to check out Moe’s progress. He hesitated briefly. Hemust have realized there really were piranhas in there. His team seemed a tad less supportive. I gathered this mainly because they were yelling at him to hurry up.
    My fingers closed around the last pearl and I brought my hand out a little too quickly, which accounted for the piranha attached to the fleshy part of my palm. Stupid fish. I put the pearl in my mouth and closed my eyes for the kiss—piranha firmly attached to my hand.
    Lex froze a little at the sight of the fish, but then took the pearl from my mouth and ran his tongue lightly over my lips. I sighed and watched as it was delivered to Cricket and she happily dropped the last pearl into the bucket.
    “Ottawa has all of their pearls and just needs to get everyone back on the main platform!” Alan threw his arms in the air. Julie smirked. Obviously, she’d gotten her wish.
    I had to go first and I still had that fish riding sidecar. Oh well, it would have to go with me. I climbed in front of Lex, my eyes on his as I slid across the front of him. I let go and held onto Sami, eventually making it back across. As my teammates crept back, one by one, I tried to dislodge the fish.
    Unfortunately, he wasn’t budging. The bastard. He just gasped his last breath, refusing to let go. The little shit died right there, embedded in my hand. I tried to separate his jaws, but if I pulled too much, my skin would tear and I’d likely need medical attention and might get booted from the show.
    Tempting as that thought was, I decided to let him stay. It didn’t really hurt, since their teeth are razor sharp, and he didn’t pull or tear the flesh. I concentrated instead on helping the rest of my Ottawa tribe get back.
    “Ottawa wins!” Alan announced.
    The Inuit tribe looked pissed, but somewhat in awe of the fact that I continued on with that damned fish attached to me.
    “Go ahead and follow Julie—she’ll take you to your reward. Inuit—go back to your campsite. Tomorrow we’ll have our first immunity challenge.”
    “Let me see that.”