Out of Bounds by Lauren Blakely Page B

she eyes the game board. The moles pop up and I miss nearly every one. I’d rather stare at her.
    “I was, until Taylor gave me a good old-fashioned thrashing.”
    “I saw that,” she says softly. “I was chatting with some of my colleagues by the Skee-Ball. And I love that you spent time with Taylor, and the other kids.”
    “He’s a good kid. We had fun.”
    “They adore you. All the kids here do. It’s great that you come out for this.”
    A blush creeps across my cheeks, and I’m not a blushing guy. But I like hearing these sweet compliments from her. “Now, what kind of man would I be if I didn’t? It’s the right thing to do, and it’s also fun as hell.”
    She smiles at me and all my appropriate thoughts fade away. My body says
kiss her
. My fucking heart says to do that too. This woman just does something to me, and like an invisible thread connects us, I feel a pull. Desire gets the better of me. It blots out everything else—the game, the rules, the team’s image. It erases all the reasons, personal and professional, that I need to be cautious. Right now, I want to be the opposite.
    I inch toward her, and her eyes widen to saucer size. I freeze as she raises her chin, and mouths “smile for the camera.”
    Damn. She distracts me with her beauty. Knocks me off my cool, calm center because I want her so goddamn much. I’ve got to be more careful.
    I turn and flash a grin at the photographer who’s been making the rounds. Dani smiles too, and the guy gives us a thumbs-up before he heads off to another group.
    “Close call,” I say under my breath.
    “Were you going to try to kiss me?”
    I nod. “I would think that was obvious.”
    “It was obvious.”
    I lean a hip against the game. “I know I shouldn’t have, but seeing as I was a good boy and restrained myself, let me ask the question—what would you have done if I had kissed you?”
    A sweet smile tugs at her lips. “Probably kissed you back. Against my better judgment.”
    I wave a hand in the air dismissively. “Screw judgment,” I say playfully and she laughs.
    But a few seconds later, good judgment returns in the form of Stuart. He swoops in and shakes my hand. “Great night. Great event. Couldn’t be more pleased. You?”
    I nod. “Everything is fantastic.”
    “Wonderful.” He takes a beat, glances from Dani to me and back. For a split second, something inquisitive passes in his eyes, and a flurry of nerves race down my spine. Almost like how I feel when I can’t find a receiver and I’m about to get sacked. But that’s foolish, I tell myself. I need to chill out. Especially since Stuart’s next question is nice and easy. “We’ve got a request from eight-year-old Hannah, who just had corrective surgery on her ankle, for a round of Skee-Ball with the quarterback.”
    “Say no more. I’m there.”
    “He’s great at Skee-Ball,” Dani chimes in, and Stuart cocks his head to the side, as if he’s curious how she knows this little tidbit. That feeling starts up again, but Dani’s a pro at handling Stuart.
    She narrows her eyebrows, and holds out her hands. “Duh. He’s the quarterback. If he can’t win at Skee-Ball, we should kick him off the team.”
    “Yes, we absolutely should.” The older man adopts a stern look, shakes his index finger at me, and says, “Son, you’re gone if you don’t beat Dani in Skee-Ball after your round with Hannah.”
    I exhale, relieved as hell that he didn’t pick up on a vibe. Or worse, start sniffing out what we’ve been up to. But then, maybe it was curiosity I saw in his eyes?
    I chase away the thoughts.
    We head over to the games, and a little redhead with freckles across her nose hands me a ball. “You go first,” Hannah says with a serious tone.
    “Got myself quite a competitor here,” I say, and then we play.
    This time, I do win. By a landslide. And after I take on a few more kids, I play a round with Dani. She’s good, but I’m not the quarterback for nothing. I