Office Date Page 9

  “Oh, good God.” I try not to curse as a temple guard glares at me.

  “Focus!” Ivy yells amidst the falling rocks around the temple. “Plus, it’s not like they’re real rocks.”

  “You’ll be given helmets as the rocks are, in fact, real,” Olmec just has to add as Temple Guards put hard hats on us.

  “Corporate America, and its live burial.” I look at the tall pyramid-like rock temple. “Sounds about right.”

  “You should have brought your stapler,” Ivy jokes next to me.

  I burst out laughing despite my total fear. “You’re right; gonna need that more than beer in hell.”

  “Imagine how much you can annoy the underworld?”

  “Spitting out straight up facts.” I laugh. “All right, let’s grab our medallions and try not to let the temple guards find us.”

  We move to the very front. I’m bracing for impact when we reach the top of the stairs and nearly stumble over when I see the temple guards lined up and all three medallions for the Silver Snakes lined up for us.

  “Is it a trick?” I ask.

  “It’s trust,” Olmec says. “In any work situation, you need to work with others in order to be able to succeed. Sadly, Stacey will now be working with an intern who volunteers and not her partner who abandoned her for riches and glory.”

  I snicker a bit because I kind of want to punch Anderson in the dick anyway.

  “So,” Olmec says again as fire lights a small tunnel toward our medallions and those of the Blue Barracudas. “You now have your final question.”

  I pause.

  Ivy freezes.

  “How much?” Olmec asks.

  “How much? That’s the question?” I repeat. “How much what? What is this?”

  “A million!” Stacey answers. Of course, Jude’s the one who offered to partner up last minute since Anderson skipped town and temple.

  “How much?” Olmec says again.

  I look over to Ivy; her eyes search mine, and then she smiles up at me, then creepy Olmec, and she says, “No price.”

  Jude and Stacey’s mouths drop as they look over at us.

  “Shall we?” I hold my hand out.

  “We shall.” Ivy grins, and we take our first step into the temple, trusting each other the entire way, and all I can keep thinking is.

  Priceless.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Ivy

  He’s not ready to enter the actual temple; I know this, he knows this, the world knows this, and yet we keep walking up the stairs to the final challenge, going through the actual temple where I’m pretty sure Jack will end up in a corner rocking back and forth.

  I’m still reeling from his answer.

  I grip his hand.

  It’s sweaty.

  I don’t mind, though. I don’t because I know that it’s going to be worth it in the end if we can just get the internship.

  My heart beats, but what about after?

  What?

  I have no answer for that, and I feel dumb because I want to ask him. He’s literally shaking next to me.

  “Hold it together,” I say under my breath. “They’re just actors, temple guard actors.”

  “Easy for you to say.” He whimpers. “Does this make me less sexy? Wait, I still get sex, right?”

  “Win and you get all the sex,” I remind him. “Lose and I’m locking you in a closet with Olmec.”

  “Whoa, whoa!” Jack stumbles. “Max-Olmec or Olmec Olmec?”

  I laugh. “Which is worse?”

  “Max Olmec. He breathes fucking fire, Ivy!”

  “Fair.” I laugh as we ascend the final steps of Olmec’s temple to gather our medallions.

  Jude and Stacey are still halfway up. We won the extra points, so we get the advantage, which is perfect since I know we’ll need it like crazy.

  Olmec’s voice booms. “Let the countdown begin, in ten, nine, eight—”

  “Shit, shit, shit.” Jack does a little jump next to me, still holding my hand. “Shit.”

  “You said that already.” I smack him and release his hand.

  Olmec Max breathes fire out of his mouth. “All you have to do is find three of the medallions that make one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, put them together, and bring them to the top of the pyramid and hit the buzzer. Winners get massages, yay!”

  Jack and I share a look like, really? Near-death, and you get massages?

  He shrugs. “I mean, it’s better than a slap in the ass.”

  “True.” I nod. “Okay, let’s find one piece, just focus on one piece, then we can search for others that match it; otherwise, we’ll be spread too thin.”

  Jack takes a deep breath.

  “Three, two, one.”

  Jack and I run up the remaining stairs and into the first room and start searching around the fake grass and rocks for something—anything.

  Jack stumbles behind a large fake boulder and makes a cross on his chest as a temple guard in full OG garb comes up behind him and lingers. The guard looks like he could be a Polynesian fire dancer except a bit more terrifying with what looks like a real spear.

  They wouldn’t give them real spears, right? I’m afraid to focus on it. It’s over, Jack’s going to be exposed to the guard, and we’re going to lose. I just know it.

  Jack takes a deep breath, reaches over, and grabs a rock next to him, then throws it in the opposite direction, grabs something from the ground, and mouths, “Run!”

  He doesn’t need to tell me twice. I chase after him while the temple guard is distracted and stumble onto my knees. The temple guard turns just as Jack grabs me and pulls me into his arms, slamming me back against the concrete wall as it turns into a secret room. Like an actual secret room that we just Indiana Jonesed.

  “Whoa!” he shouts. “Look, there’s another medallion over on that stone!”

  I’m still trying to process the fact that I’m in his arms and that he actually risked his sanity to grab me. “You saved me.”

  “What?” He looks down, and I realize we’re in the exact position as we were in college, with him pressing me against a wall and me wanting so much more than I will ever be able to admit. “You’re my partner; no man left behind.”

  “But you’re petrified.”

  He smiles down at me, a gorgeous smile that I’ll remember until death; his hair glistens even as lit torches give the room a romantic ambiance lining the walls. “I was more afraid for you.”

  “That’s…” I don’t have words. “That’s—”

  He kisses me.

  He kisses me in the exact spot where I know he’s afraid, as if he’s more afraid not to have me. I cling to him so hard I forget we’re even playing a game until I hear a buzzer sound.

  We pull away from each other.

  “Kissing and sex later,” he instructs with a wink. “Now we need that next medallion; we only have one more to find; we just have to hope it’s for Zeus’s temple.”

  “Right. Focus.” I nod. “Right.”

  He kisses me again.

  I cling to him.

  I almost slap myself.

  He just laughs and grabs my hand.

  We run toward the medallion.

  “Shit!” He doesn’t pick it up. “It’s the Babylonian Gardens.”

  “Well,” I put my hands on my hips. “Let’s pick it up just in case; maybe since this is a secret room, they have more in here? Kind of like a bonus thing?”

  He frowns. “Wouldn’t that be too easy?”

  “Nope.” I shake my head. “I refuse to even entertain the attempt to get into Max’s brain. What if the secret room holds the rest?”

  He nods. “Fine, so we grab a torch and just walk down that creepy hallway all confident like we’re finding hidden treasures, and if we die…”

  “We won’t die,” I remind him. “I mean, you might have a slight accident, but we won’t die; I think the spears are real, by the way, so you’ve been warned.”

  He stops and pulls the
torch between us. “In what world was that helpful?”

  I gulp. “Sorry, I was just preparing you!”

  “Consider me fucking prepared!”

  “Don’t yell at me!”

  “Don’t scare me!’

  “Ughhhhh!” I stomp my foot. “Grab the torch, and let’s win this bitch!”

  His eyes linger on my mouth before he pulls the torch away. What was that? Was he actually thinking about kissing me? Jack starts walking away from me, his torch lighting up the small hallway with its hieroglyphics on the walls. I notice that along that same wall is a trough. I stop in my tracks. “Jack, do you think that lights up?”

  “Maybe?” He looks over at it. “I mean, it could oil?”

  “Only one way to find out,” I say.

  “Right, and get rid of our only torch blanketing us in darkness?”

  I elbow him, “Why would they have running water through here?”

  “Good point.” He grumbles. “But when will this hallway end, and how good is the other team even doing? Do they get a hallway? Does this lead to intern hell? Will there be a moat? These are the things I can’t get out of my head.”

  I sigh and drop the torch into what I think is oil, not brave enough to taste it, and just like I suspected, it lights up the entire hallway.

  “Whoaaa…” Jack does a small turn. “Short hallway turns into tall hallway, look.” He points up.

  The hallway goes up at least fifteen feet, maybe more. And at the very end is a treasure and what looks like a swimming pool.

  “Ready?” I hold out my hand. Jack grabs it.

  It feels good.

  It feels final.

  He squeezes my hand back. “Another adventure? Hey, we’re already in Hell; let’s finish up before the sex.”

  “Always about the sex.”

  “Literally always.” He pulls me into his arms and kisses me hard against the mouth, only to pull away. “How could I possibly do this without you and not want you every second, even with being as scared as I am?”

  “Because you’re focused on your dick?” I ask.

  He shakes his head. “Because I’m focused on the girl.”

  My heart melts a little. “Don’t say things like that; I might get the wrong idea.”

  He kisses my forehead. “Good.”

  And I really do melt as we walk hand in hand down to the end of the hallway. The pool is crystal blue and beautiful, something that belongs at a resort in Belize. And on the bottom of the pool are the rest of the medallions.

  “I can’t swim,” he suddenly blurts.

  I smack him. “Are you serious?”

  His laugh makes me want to shove him into the pool. “No, but you should have seen your face.”

  “Hilarious.” I cross my arms. “Okay, so how about you jump in, grab as many as you can, then I’ll go?”

  He takes a deep breath. “I mean, as long as we don’t have predators—oh shit.”

  “What?”

  He points. “Sharks, there are actual sharks in the water.”

  I’m petrified of sharks.

  I think they all have killing on their minds.

  I try to swallow. Why is my throat closing?

  “Um,” I tuck my hair behind my ears. “Yeah, um, let’s rethink this.”

  “No time.” Jack starts stripping out of his Silver Snake shirt. “I have to go in.”

  “YOU COULD DIE!” I yell.

  He pauses mid-strip and looks over at me, and so do his glorious abs. “I’m not going to die; sharks don’t just attack people.”

  “Do you not have Nat-Geo?”

  He finishes removing his shirt and pats me on the head. “You’ll be fine. I’ll be fine. Just stay here. You helped with Olmec. I’ll help here.”

  “Are you sure?” My voice is shaky. I feel weak, and then I turn around and see the opposing team rushing toward us. “Shit, shit, jump!”

  Jack has no time to waste as he propels into the water and starts swimming around the sharks grabbing random medallions.

  “You go,” Jude yells. “I’ll go next!”

  Stacey jumps back. “Those are sharks!’

  “This is student loan forgiveness!” he yells even louder. “Get the fuck in!”

  He shoves her into the water, and she crashes near the medallions as Jack swims around and keeps grabbing.

  I try not to panic when she thrashes next to him, but it’s like the dude was on swim team as he gathers as many as he can and pulls them over his neck, then jumps back onto the side out of breath.

  “Good job!” I yell.

  I grab the necklace medallions and find the matches for both of the ones we have plus a third, then stare him down. “We have to sprint.”

  “Stacey, hurry the fuck up!” Jude yells.

  “I was in track once,” Jack teases.

  I want to kiss him as we run back down the lit hallway and out of the secret room, and back into the main temple.

  Now the hard part.

  Putting them together in front of Olmec.

  “You’re up.” Jack stumbles.

  I quickly grab them from his neck and start forming them on the different pillars while Olmec starts shooting fire.

  Jack freezes.

  Jude and Stacey are suddenly out of the hallway.

  “Hurry!” Jack yells.

  “Trying!” I have one last medallion but can’t figure out how they work together, and it’s legit right in front of Olmec’s face.

  “Give it to me!” Jack grabs it out of my hands, places it in the correct area, and twists it.

  Light bursts from around the temple.

  “WINNERS! Jack and Ivy!”

  We both hug while Jude and Stacey start yelling at each other, and I realize that while this may have been a bit insane—it was fun, it was worth it, and it was earned.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Jack

  “Jude was pissssssed.” I laugh again after we grab the trophy and make our way back into my apartment. Apparently, they’re ours now after winning, on top of the bonus and in a weird change of fate.

  We also both get a promotion.

  Which also resulted in Jude yelling at Stacey and Max, telling them he’d send them to Olmec if they didn’t cooperate with security.

  All in all, a great yet weird day.

  A great night.

  A night that’s about to maybe get better? Did she mean all those things? I feel dumb asking her, but she is next to me, and now I’m being awkward again after knowing Max gave us a full week off.

  In his words, because of the trauma, we deserved it.

  We found out later that several board members were betting on us like we were horses, but hey, at least we didn’t die.

  I pour Ivy a glass of wine; we’re still in our Silver Snake shirts. She takes a sip and then shakes her head. “This is the most intense thing I’ve ever experienced, and I was proposed to my senior year of college then found him and my roommate in the same room after a late study night just, casually doing sixty-nine.”

  I almost spit out my wine. “I’m sorry, did I hear that right?”

  “Unfortunately, yes.”

  “Does it make you feel better that my girlfriend for two years in college was sleeping with both her roommate, who happened to be a girl and me?”

  “What?” she shrieks.

  “She was too afraid to break it off, didn’t ever find them together but was always weirdly suspicious of their long study dates.” I shrug. “It was meant to be; I’m sure they’ll be super happy. I’m still stuck on the whole you were proposed to in college; I mean, that’s kind of young.”

  We move to the couch and sit with our wine putting our feet on the table. She shrugs. “I was ready for something bigger, and I think so often we get preached at like, go to school, get a job, get married, have kids.”

  “And look where that got us,” I tease. “Legends of the hidden temple fighting for internships cheers to all the adults in our lives.”

&
nbsp; She laughs and lifts her rose. “Cheers.”

  We both sit in silence on the couch, the environment heavy with tension like we both know what we want to do, but for serious, what do we do? Do I just shake her hand and tell her goodnight, or do I go in for a kiss?

  She takes a few sips, then puts the wine down on the table and stands. I’m curious about what she’s doing, and then I’m tongue tied as she peels her shirt over her head, exposing her black sports bra, and starts taking off her leggings.

  “Um, what are you doing?” I ask.

  “Let’s skip to the good part.” She winks. “No more talk about exes, no more anything that makes us think about regrets or college and how horrible Olmec was.”

  “Is,” I correct. “Is because you know Max is gonna keep that thing just to terrify me if I don’t turn in reports on time.”

  She bursts out laughing, hands on curvy hips, facing me like a tasty snack I want to devour on repeat. “I’d like to see that.”

  “I would too if you promise sex afterward.” I lean back.

  Ivy gets up on my lap, straddling me. “That can be arranged.”

  “We’re keeping Olmec. He’ll be like our pet we pull out every time I want to thrust in, deal?”

  “That’s weird and yet cute.”

  “I’m a complicated partner, good old Silver Snakes.” I hold up my hand for a high five; she grabs it and rolls her eyes.

  We touch foreheads, and I kiss the shit out of her. I can’t help it. I love her. I love everything about her. She’s my perfect partner in crime, and I don’t want to let her go.

  Our kisses heat up until I have her on her back against the couch; it’s big enough that we won’t fall off unless I get too aggressive, and right now, I’m ready to start throwing pillows around, ripping my teeth into them in victory. I pin her hands up above her head, my hips already rocking against her as she starts to peel down the spandex I was forced to wear. When they get to my ankles, I kick them off, then work on getting my stupid shirt off my body.

  Once I have it on the floor and am wearing nothing but my black boxer briefs, she slaps her hands across my abs and makes this growling sound. “How is this fair?”

  “Slapping?”

  “Abs, the V, the everything.”

  “Guess the other half of team Silver Snake’s just lucky?”