I stood back with my arms folded. The guy was tenacious about the damn game.
I didn’t help, but my buddy finally spied the outlet behind the pinball game. Flynn wrestled the machine away from the wall to plug it in.
A muscle flexed in my jaw. My breath stalled. The game lit up like opening night at the Minnesota State Fair.
Flynn released a triumphant whoop and assumed the pinball position.
I shook my head. The words you want it? hovered on my tongue. Nah. Flynn could play it whenever he stopped in. I would give it away later.
“Ha! Extra balls. Yasss.” Flynn had developed the wide-legged stance I had often used when I’d wasted his childhood on it. My friend punched the flippers. “So…I went to Arcadia the other day.”
“What? Why?” My pulse kicked up. What had Flynn said? What had he done? What had they done?
“Relax. Just checking her out. She’s cute. The pink hair, plaid shirt, and Star Wars leggings aren’t your usual type.”
“I told you—”
“Yeah, yeah.” He whooped and slapped the machine. “I am the pinball master.”
I couldn’t bring myself to ask, but I didn’t need to. Flynn beat me to it.
“She didn’t take the bait, man. Maybe I’m not rich enough, or her eyesight’s off and she thinks you’re really better looking.”
I gave up my eagle perch over Arcadia and glared at Flynn. I sat behind my desk, but my mind was stuck on the Star Wars leggings I hadn’t seen yet and how much I legitimately looked forward to our date later that night.
Mara
I slid into Wes’s car. “It’s your choice on what to do tonight. I owe you for being such a good sport at Comic-Con last weekend.”
Wes kept the car in park, a faraway glaze to his eyes. “What is there to do on a Friday night? I’m usually catching up with work.”
“Good question. I’m usually playing my Xbox. I mean,” I gave him a sly smile, “testing new games so I can give proper sales advice. Or watching a movie.”
“Gaming sounds fun, but I want to be active.”
His heated stare made me want to strip down in the car.
I grinned, a flush blooming on my cheeks. “Active is nice, but let’s try something with our clothes on for a few hours. If I need to go get changed, I will.”
His gaze landed on my leggings, which were sprinkled with words like boom, kapow, and bang. I’d paired them with a long, fluffy white sweater. My fancy outfit.
“No, you’re dressed perfectly for my idea.”
When he parked outside of a huge warehouse-style building, I read the sign and couldn’t possibly connect it with a date night. Other than it might be the best date night ever.
An indoor trampoline park.
He killed the engine and I knew he wasn’t joking. He turned toward me, light from the parking lot glinting off his impeccable hair and shadowing his blue eyes.
“I have a pair of sweats in my overnight bag.” He reached into the backseat to dig them out, wearing a half-smile, like his excitement was growing as much as mine.
“I’ve always wanted to go here but I never had anyone to go with.”
He paused briefly. “What about that good friend of yours?”
I laughed. “Sam? He would’ve loved it, but I think by the time I met him, he wasn’t in shape anymore. From the way he talked, it would’ve been something he and his son would’ve loved back in the day. Too bad…”
Whoa. I’d almost said too much. Sam Robson had passed, but it wasn’t my place to spread his personal business.
My Sam was waiting for me to finish my thought. “Too bad what?”
I opened my mouth to speak but stalled at the bleakness in his gaze. My heart sank. Sam had lost his father, too.
“Nothing. I just wish he could’ve healed his relationship with his son. I guess he passed on the business know-how, but personally, he’d felt those bridges were burned.”
“Why would he? What would make a father feel that?” Wes’s tone was neutral, but his brow was creased as if he couldn’t understand it. Neither could I.
I shrugged, growing uncomfortable with the topic. “He said after the divorce that his ex sent the boy away for school. Then he was gone for college. After that, well, he had no one to hand the reins of the company to, so that’s all their relationship became.”
His eye twitched. “I don’t think that’d stop a real dad from seeing his kid.”
“Perhaps he didn’t think he was a real dad.” That was the closest I would come to airing my dear friend’s business. Maybe one day, when I trusted the man next to me completely, I could talk about how awful I’d felt for my friend and, at one time, his son.
Sam shook his head, not understanding, but before he said anything, I waved it off.
“I know, I didn’t agree with it, either, but he was from a different time, and honestly, those with money just think differently from us.”
He opened his mouth to say something but closed it and passed me a small smile. “I heard they have an obstacle course here and I think I can totally beat you.”
“Oh, you’re on.”
Chapter 12
Mara
I woke up before my alarm. Another Saturday, another game day. We were winding down.
Sam slumbered next to me. I studied his features, glad to see his lines of stress from the previous week gone.
Geez, he was a gorgeous man. Strong jaw, straight nose, healthy glow that showed he wasn’t imprisoned in an office all day. My gaze drifted down to his muscular shoulders and defined chest.
I could fall hard for him. Because of how considerate he’d been the weekend before with my mother. And how he’d good-naturedly worn a costume, then after we’d eaten out, I’d sworn he would’ve taken Mom out dancing had I said the word.
Then last night. I hadn’t laughed that much with
