“Sticks and stones, Gabrielle. Sticks and stones.”
She shook her head like he was a stuffed teddy bear and not the grizzly he showed all of us.
What in the hell happened while I was gone? It was possible I’d entered an alternate dimension.
“Room for more?” I asked, already sliding into the booth next to Gabby. She fell into me, resting her head against my shoulder, still laughing at Dominick.
“Yeah, and this cheater should be kicked off your team. Can you have him transferred or something? To like, I don’t know… Alaska.”
“Alaska doesn’t have a team,” Dom said. “And just because I’m better than you, doesn’t mean I cheat.”
“Nonsense.” She slapped her hand on the table, making the half-emptied glasses rattle. “I’m the best at this. Always have been. Always will be. You sir, are a cheating McCheaterson.”
He shook his head with a laugh and I took a drink of the beer I’d poured for myself on the way back to the table.
Bonnie had a handle on our supplier, who was threatening a three percent increase in cost to us over the contractually agreed on price. I made a note in my phone to call them first thing tomorrow before cell phone access got sketchy on the road.
This had happened before, once businesses we worked with found out who had taken over Malley’s. Shady dealers and suppliers who assumed because I could afford the increases weren’t shy about asking for it but fuck that. I might have been an athlete but I wasn’t some dumb jock.
They didn’t ask twice. If they did, they found themselves with a disputed contract and the lack of our business along with others considering since I became a business owner, such as it was, my network expanded across the city.
“You good?” Gabby asked, peering up at me. The desire in her eyes was gone, replaced with a glassy, tipsy expression.
She’d never looked more beautiful. Not touching her was painful, but I managed. Barely. She smelled like peppermint and beer and somehow, it was my new favorite scent.
“I’m good. All things good here?” My gaze hardened on Dom on instinct as I asked. I saw him this morning in the lounge area, off in a corner with headphones, scowling at a spot on the carpet like he’d just lost a family member instead of won a championship with his team and left him to it. He must have ended up on another bus because I didn’t see him for the rest of the parade.
“We’re good,” Max said, and grabbed the quarter from Gabby, sliding it toward me. “And it’s your turn. You’re behind.”
I spun the quarter on the table. “Quarters like we’re college freshmen? Whose bright idea was this?”
Both Max and Dom pointed at Gabby. She rolled her lips together and shrugged. “It’s Dom’s fault.”
“How was it my fault? I was sitting here, minding my own business.”
Typical.
“Exactly! And your team just won the Stanley Cup! You’re here, out with the guys. You should be partying and laughing and giving each other shit and instead, you were here… brooding.”
“I was not brooding.” His black brows tugged in and he crossed his arms over his chest. I swore he slunk down in his seat too.
Max snorted and shook his head while Gabby pointed at him and yelled, “You’re doing it now! Maybe you’re not Cheater McCheaterson. You’re Pouty McPouterson!”
“I’m not pouting.” His brows arched.
I’d seen men wither under that look and instead, Gabby laughed it off like he was a puppy. “McPouterson,” she said back, with all the sass I’d ever heard in the world.
Dom’s shoulders shook and he ripped the quarter out of my hand. “Game on, Gabrielle. But you better fill that drink up first.”
He didn’t wait. He flipped the quarter—chose the drinker—Gabby—and that was how the rest of the game went. She made the call, Dom drank. He made the call, Max or she drank, but mostly it was her. I could have been jealous, the attention they were giving each other, but the more drunk Gabby got the more she leaned into me. She rested her hand on my thigh until her touch burned through my denim and hardened my dick. Max and I were essentially left to take our time on our drinks, laughing at them, and mostly, I was in awe.
In moments, it seemed, she’d thawed Dominick’s rough and get the fuck away from me vibe he portrayed—a vibe our entire team hadn’t been able to get through in the three years he’d been on the team.
I didn’t care the two were basically playing the game against each other. I’d somehow unwrapped another mystery about my wife—how she could get anyone to open up to her in minutes.
She was magic, and I realized as I sat back, laughing with Max, that I was falling under her spell.
“Do you need help?”
Gabby stumbled around the front of my Audi R8, hand sliding along the engine, leaning on it for balance. “I’m good.” She frowned. “I think?”
I laughed, and leaned forward, taking her hand in mine. “Maybe think a little harder next time you decide to go drink for drink with a guy at least one hundred pounds heavier than you.”
She snickered, rested her head against my shoulder as I led her through my garage and through the butler’s pantry. “Dom is funny.”
She had to be more drunk than I thought if she believed that. “He’s a loner.”
“Not tonight, he wasn't. Tonight he was funny.”
She was right. Max and I sat in that booth and watched Gabby challenge Dom to game after game of quarters. She got her ass kicked, happily so, but it never once stopped her from backing down.
At some point, Dom had gotten a phone call, his typical scowl slammed back into place and he practically shoved Max to the floor to get out of the booth. “Gotta go. See ya around.”
And then he was gone. I’d been baffled, Max pissed considering it was his ass that hit the dirty floor.
Gabby had just shrugged, taken another drink, handed me the quarter and proclaimed it my turn.
Considering I’d stopped drinking to ensure I was okay to drive us back home, I declined. She’d climbed out of the back of the booth and went to find Alix and Arlo and before long, was beating all the guys left at darts.
“You’re right. Tonight, Dom was funny.” For a brief time anyway, and even then, he wasn’t necessarily funny, but nice.
Strange enough.
“Let’s get you to bed. Early morning tomorrow.”
“I’m not driving first,” she declared, feet slowly trudging as she gave me more of her weight.
“Deal.” I wouldn’t let her, even if she wasn’t looking at a raging hangover.
We trudged up the stairs, her feet growing slower with every step and we were almost at her door when she started giggling.
“What?”
“It’s nothing.” Little liar.
“Then why are you laughing so hard you’re crying?”
“It’s just,” she hiccuped and covered her mouth, which only made her laugh harder. “It’s just, I always knew you Taylor boys were so sexy and nice, but I didn’t think you were all so perfect, either.”
She tried to tug away from me, but I stopped her. Ignoring the fact she included all my brothers in that sexy statement, I brushed hair off her cheeks that had gotten stuck to her tears. “You think I’m sexy?”