The Player (31 page)

Garrett drove for ten more minutes, then pulled into a parking lot and shut down the engine.

Blair’s head jerked up, and she started to laugh. “Chuck E. Cheese? Really?”

He shot her a grin. “It seemed somehow appropriate. Rumor has it I can get a beer here.”

“You’re going to need more than one to survive all the kids’ birthday parties.” She opened her car door and moved around to the back of the car.

Garrett met her there, still wearing his grin. “I like a challenge.”

“I’m not taking it easy on you in Skee-Ball, Lowry,” she said as she walked to the entrance, her mood lightening. This was the last place she was supposed to be and with the last person on earth she should be with, but it felt so completely right that she decided to just go with it.

“God, I should hope not.”

“I don’t have any money, so you’ll have to spot me.”

He grinned. “I’ve got you covered.”

He opened the door and followed her inside. The noise from the games and screaming children was deafening.

The teenager at the entrance gave them a strange look as he stamped their hands with invisible ink.

“I’m hungry,” Garrett said. “Let’s get a pizza.”

She shook her head and laughed as he ordered a pepperoni and mushroom pizza, two beers, and got a cup full of tokens. She picked up the number for their order and found a table for them, then walked to the edge of the arcade. “Are you going to give me half those tokens?”

“No way. You have to earn them.”

“I already said I wasn’t sleeping with you.”

A mother with a baby on her hip walked past them at just the wrong moment and gave her a disapproving glare.

“Look at you. You’re in Chuck E. Cheese for less than five minutes, and you’re already making friends,” Garrett laughed. “And I never said I wanted to sleep with you.”

He might not have said it, but they both knew it. Correction: they wanted to sleep with each other, and the electricity in the air between them still scared the shit out of her. The panic hit again, and she took big gulps of air.

Garrett put his hands on her shoulders and squatted down so they were face to face. “Blazer. I would never try to convince you to do anything you didn’t want to do. You know that, right?”

She nodded. The night they’d spent together in Phoenix was proof enough of that.

“I promise you that I won’t make any moves on you at all tonight. No pressure. Just fun, okay?”

She nodded again, still trying to catch her breath.

“Everything’s going to be okay. Forget about everything else—except that you claim you can beat my ass in Skee-Ball. But I’ve been practicing, so I’m about to give you a run for your money.” He handed her the cup of tokens, but he didn’t let go of it. “Time to show me what you’re made of, Myers.”

She narrowed her eyes, but a grin tugged at her lips. “It’s Hansen now, and it’s time for you to kiss your ass goodbye.”

They carried their beers with them and headed for the Skee-Ball game. True to his word, he beat her in their first round.

“Lucky break, Lowry,” she said, putting another token into the machine. “I was just warming up.”

He gave her an ornery grin. “Bring it.”

Two boys who looked to be around eight years old picked the two lanes next to Garrett.

Blair leaned forward. “You boys any good at this game?”

They gave her a wary look. “Kind of.”

Garrett picked up his beer cup and took a sip.

“See this guy here?” She motioned her thumb toward Garrett. “He thinks he’s some kind of Skee-Ball king, and he’s offered to give five tokens to any kid who can beat him.”

Garrett choked on his beer, and Blair burst out laughing. “What’s the matter, Lowry?” she asked, slapping him on the back. “Afraid of a little healthy competition?”

“No way,” he grinned. “I can take ’em.”

The two quickly made mincemeat out of Garrett, and word got out that some old guy who wasn’t very good was holding a Skee-Ball contest. A line formed, and he ran out of tokens within ten minutes.

“So much for your mad Skee-Ball skills,” Blair teased, leaning against the basketball shooting game with her arms crossed. “You should demand a refund from your instructor.”

He laughed. “I think he fled to Mexico.”

“I can see why.” She waggled her eyebrows. “How about a basketball challenge?”

“Depends on who’s asking. You or every kid in this building?”

“I’ll go easy on you. Just me.” She winked.

“We need more tokens.”

She tapped her foot. “Get your ass moving. I’m not getting any younger.”

She beat him on the first round, and he beat her on the second before word spread through the building that the old Skee-Ball loser had moved on to basketball. He had to fend off a horde of power-hungry children as they moved away from the game.

Garrett pointed to the table. “The pizza’s ready.”

“Likely story,” Blair said. “Admit it, you need some time to lick your wounds.”

His eyes turned wicked. “Something like that,” he said with a grin.

“Hey, guy.” A little girl tugged on his shirt. “I want to win five tokens too.”

Blair laughed. “Come on, Lowry. Can you really turn her down?”

Garrett groaned and snatched the plastic cup from Blair. He dug out five tokens and handed them to the girl. “Let’s just save us both some time.”

“That old guy just gave me some tokens!” she shouted as she ran away. A low rumble instantly spread through the crowd.

“Look what you started,” Garrett said.

The small hint of fear in his voice was enough to send Blair into a fit of hysterics. “I never told you to just hand them out.”

A group of kids had already surrounded him and pushed Blair to the side in their quest for free tokens.

“Hey, are you like Santa Claus?” a kid shouted.

“Naw, his belly’s big, but not big enough,” a boy told him.

“Hey!” Garrett protested, good-naturedly. “No tokens for you.”

Blair watched him handle the kids, passing out the coins as he took their teasing and dished it back in return. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had so much fun. And then she remembered. It had been with him.

Nostalgia swept through her, hot and sweet, reminding her that chemistry wasn’t the only thing she missed about their relationship. It was his good nature, his healthy competitive streak, his kindness and compassion, and his intelligence. And most of all, it was his ability to ground her. He had always been the one person who could help her calm down after a less-than-perfect test score or some tiff with her friends.

She missed
him
.

He grinned at her above the heads of the kids, and she realized Garrett Lowry was the whole package. Looks, brains, and personality. Besides, she would wager the kid who’d made the belly comment a whole cup of tokens that he was wrong. She’d felt his torso under her fingers the other night, and it was all muscle.

Garrett dumped the cup upside down and shook it. “I’m tapped out, guys. Go thug roll some other old dude.”

Blair laughed as he approached her.

“You were loving every minute of that, weren’t you?”

“Thug roll?” she teased. “Is that even a thing?”

He gave her a goofy grin. “Not everyone can be hip to the lingo. Don’t be a hater, Blair.”

They had almost reached their table when Blair saw the whack-a-mole game. “Oh, I’m not passing this one up.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him to a halt.

“I’m fresh out of coins.”

She pulled one out of her pocket. “Good thing I saved a couple.”

“You’ve been holding out on me.”

“Hey, can you blame me? You keep giving them all away.”

His smile faltered. “I should have saved some for you. I can get more.”

She shook her head and picked up the mallet, getting a good grip on it. “I had more fun watching you with the kids.”

“Whose head are you planning to whack?”

She drained the last of her beer and handed him the empty cup before placing her token in the machine and picking up the club. A mole popped up, and she smashed its head. “That’s Neil.” Another mole’s head rose, and she hit that one too. “Robert Sisco Sr.” And another. “Rob Sisco Jr.” She hit the empty hole even harder. “Jack-wipe.”

She continued to beat the moles, naming them all before she slew them. She named the last one Garrett.

“I guess I deserve that,” he murmured.

She put another coin in the machine and played another round, drawing a crowd of kids as she smashed the heads with more enthusiasm than in the first round. She clipped one on the side, and the mole’s head dented on the lip of the hole.

“Oops.”

Two of the other heads stopped popping up, presumably broken, and the game finally ended when the mallet shattered into three pieces. When she looked up, panting, he was staring at her, and it was enough to make her lose her breath all over again. He leaned against the machine, his beer in his hand and his eyes on her. A wave of heat washed through her, and she knew she wanted him. God help her if he tossed her away again, but she wanted him for as long as she could have him.

He grinned and stalked toward her, pushing through her fan club of admiring eight-year-old boys and lifted her hand into the air. “And there you have it, kids. The mole champion!”

The kids cheered as he led her to the table, hand in hand. Tingles raced along her skin where it was joined with his.

“I think I probably owe Chuck E. Cheese about two grand, but I guess you’ll have to cover that too. I’m probably the most expensive date in history.” She gave him a mischievous grin.

His eyes were hungry when they met hers. “Worth every damn penny.”

They sat across from each other and ate for a few minutes in silence before Blair said, “I never heard from my mom. And I don’t have my phone.”

“Do you want to call her?”

“I need to tell her what happened.”

“What
did
happen, Blair?”

She took a deep breath and looked into his eyes. “I don’t think I’m getting married anymore.”

Relief swept across his face as he handed her his phone.

She punched in her mother’s number and typed in a quick text message telling her that she was fine and would call her later and explain, then she handed the phone back to Garrett. “Thanks.”

He took the phone and slid it back into his pocket. “Finish up. It’s almost time for our next stop.”

She fake groaned. “Dear God, please tell me we’re not going to the park for the softball game.”

He laughed, his eyes lighting up. “I’m not a masochist. I have something else in mind.”

She picked up another slice of pizza. “Should I be scared?”

“Terrified.”

She laughed again and took a bite, wondering how she could feel this content after all the ugliness of the day and her run-ins with Neil and his mother. For once, she decided not to question it.

Garrett couldn’t remember being this nervous on a date since high school. He wasn’t sure Blair really meant it when she’d called it a date, but he was going to pull out all the stops to prove to her that he still loved her and was worth the risk.

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” she asked as he led her out to the car.

“Nope. It’s a surprise.”
He
was surprised when she didn’t push him for an answer. She hated surprises.

After spontaneously asking her out on a date the other night, he’d done some research about where he wanted to take her if he managed to convince her to give him a chance. Now he was glad he’d done his homework.

He drove down to Brookside and parked his car, then walked around the car quick enough to help Blair out of it. He held her hand after shutting the passenger door, and his pulse picked up when her fingers curled gently around his. She looked up at him with parted lips and soft eyes. Some of her hard exterior seemed to have flaked away, which he found surprising after the scene at the church. This was his Blair, the Blair he’d uncovered years ago after months of patience. And here she was, the woman he’d longed for since that stupid night five years ago, and he cursed his impetuous announcement earlier that he wouldn’t touch her tonight. He wanted her to see that she was so much more to him than a roll in bed, although he desperately wanted that too. So he held onto her hand as he led her down the sidewalk to their next destination.

That afternoon he’d constructed a plan to convince Neil to break off the engagement. The legal papers were in the works, waiting for the final details. He figured he’d eliminate the Neil problem and then concentrate on winning Blair back. He knew it was a lot of money, but he didn’t care. He’d gladly give it up for her. Never in a million years had he expected he’d be spending the evening with her. He wasn’t about to screw it up.

He stopped outside the building’s entrance and looked into her eyes, seeking permission as the music streamed through the door.

“So we really are going to a piano bar?” she asked with a teasing glint in her eyes.

“I promised, didn’t I?”

They entered the dark bar that consisted of a baby grand piano in the back corner and about twenty tables spread throughout the room. It was still early on a Friday night, but the place was half full, and he had to lean into her ear so she could hear him. “Let’s go in the back.”