As soon as he felt Anna settle on top of his shoulders, Jett came back up for air. It had been a long time since he’d last played chicken—he hadn’t even heard talk of the game since he was a teenager—but after watching the first two teams go at it, he felt like he remembered enough to give himself and Anna a real shot at winning. As much as he could, anyway. She would be doing most of the work while he just held onto her legs and prayed that she wouldn’t accidentally choke him if she fell backwards. As a professional singer, anything that could damage his throat was a threat to his career. He was sure that his manager would have killed him if he’d found out that he was even participating in a tournament like this.

Eyeing the competition, he couldn’t tell which team would beat the other any more than Anna could. Almost everyone who had joined the cast of the show was athletic, so it would probably come down to who wore out the other first. He could feel her shifting her weight against the back of his neck as she prepared for the first round, just like an athlete warming up for a match. Whether or not it would help was to be determined, but he found the motion kind of hot. Personal squabbles aside, he would have been lying if he’s said he didn’t like having an attractive woman pressed so close to him, skin on skin. The sensation made being paired up with her a little more bearable.

When the host finished talking, the game began. Jett did his part by holding onto Anna and maneuvering in the water to help her shove Ashley. At first, the two girls seemed to be equal, with neither one gaining the upper hand, and he guessed they were just going to have to wait and see who tired out first. However, after they had been pushing against each other for about a minute, he blinked in surprise when Anna suddenly switched to a twisting motion to pull Ashley off Nathan’s shoulders. She wasn’t an engineer for nothing. The trick worked in their favor as Ashley fell into the pool with a splash.

“Me? I didn’t do anything,” he glanced up at Anna, marveling at the show of creativity. Though he hadn’t yet forgiven her for her derisive comment at breakfast, it was hard for him to stay mad when he saw the grin on her face. Her excitement was infectious. If they kept up at this rate, they might even be able to win the whole competition. He grinned back at her, “I don’t know what the hell just happened, but do it again. I think it’s working.”