“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.”