“Nice teaching moment there, dad.”
Smiling, he shrugged. “You have to give them whenever you get the chance. Besides, I know how this works. Had she had the fifty-ticket case there would’ve been drama galore up to here. We don’t need that show.”
She didn’t believe that was all there was to it. There had been a lot of seriousness in his voice as he spoke to his daughter. Almost like his advice was coming from a life lesson.
He’d said he’d known the McNealys a long time. From the little she had learned, Mitch and Gabe had been running a gambling ring for years. Could Lance have a gambling problem?
As they sidled up to Skylar, who was now bopping the hell out of moles, Lance asked, “How many more tokens do you have?”
“One.”
“After you use that one, how about we go play a round of laser tag? Kelsey and I have just been watching you anyway.”
“Um. Speak for yourself.” Ella held up the large mound of five hundred tickets she’d scored by hitting a jackpot. She actually loved playing games. But she’d reminded herself that this was about Skylar, so after she’d won the jackpot, she’d given Skylar her remaining tokens.
“That sounds fun.” She dropped her last coin in to bop more moles. “Kelsey, have you ever played laser tag?”
“Yes, and I’m terrible at it.”
“I’m pretty good,” she said, slamming the foam hammer hard on a mole’s head. When she finished, she tore off her tickets then held out her hand expectantly. Sighing, Lance handed over the tickets he held in each hand then dug around in his pocket, withdrew another large wad, and gave them to her, too. Skylar flicked her fingers, motioning for more. He reached into his other pocket and produced another handful of tickets.
“Thank you.” Skylar flounced off to feed the tickets into a counting machine. After she was done and had a small white piece of paper in her hand as proof of her nine hundred and eighty-seven tickets, she said, “Now feed yours.”
Ella did the same then followed the child to the prize area. Everything from candy to board games was available in exchange for their tickets. Her gaze immediately landed on a basket full of the cutest pink stuffed pigs with blue paisley handkerchief scarves. No doubt Skylar would jump all over that.
“Shoot,” the little girl muttered, disappointment coloring the mumbled word.
“What is it?”
“I wanted to get that pig, but I don’t have enough tickets.”
“Yes, you do, honey. It’s only seven hundred. You have over nine hundred.”
“I know, but I don’t have enough for two. I wanted to get one for both of us.”
At the pure sweetness of the thought, Ella pressed her fingers to her mouth as emotions threatened to overwhelm her. Such a small thing, but it meant so much. “I tell you what. How about we combine our tickets? That way we’ll have enough for two.”
“Really?” The child’s face brightened. “I wanted us to have matching pigs.”
“Definitely.” She handed her piece of paper to Skylar. “You do the honors.”
As she exchanged the papers for the stuffed animals, Ella looked over at Lance, who’d been quiet throughout the exchange. A tight expression, filled with undeniable heat and longing, etched deep lines into his face. Flutters erupted low in her belly, and she had to look away from the sheer intensity of his gaze.
Taking a shallow breath, she forced a grin as Skylar presented her with a pig. “Thank you very much.”
“Now we’ll always remember this night.”
She didn’t need a keepsake to remember this night. She would never forget it.
…
He’d never wanted to kiss a woman more than he had just a few moments ago.
As the three of them geared up for laser tag, Lance’s gaze kept straying to Kelsey, who was across the room helping Skylar put on her vest. A tight sensation squeezed across his upper torso. He’d been feeling that a lot tonight. The whole point of having Kelsey along had been to try and figure her out, not to become more attracted to the woman.
But that was exactly what was happening.
Watching Kelsey interact with his daughter, the pure enjoyment she displayed while doing so, hit him hard in the damn chest—in a specific spot he refused to acknowledge.
If he spent much more time with the woman, the restraint he barely kept hold of would completely crumble.
An employee, dressed in a blue polo shirt and khaki pants, approached Lance, bringing him out of his thoughts. “We haven’t had anyone else sign up for this session. Do you want to play or wait for the next session to start?”
“Nah. We’ll go ahead and play.”
Wasn’t the first time it had been just Skylar and him ducking behind walls inside the arena to shoot it out. He preferred it that way anyway. Some of the older kids got a little too into the game and didn’t watch out for the younger ones.