“Okay then,” the employee said. “Let’s get started.”
The big black door opened to reveal a room lit only by black light. Lance smiled. Kelsey didn’t stand a chance in hell with her white sweater. She would be a glowing target.
“Three. Two. One.”
All three ran inside, splitting off in different directions, with their lasers drawn. Techno music blasted out of the speakers. Lance pressed against a wall with a hole cut out of the center. He craned and laughed at the glowing blue blob that shined behind another wall.
Kelsey.
He sneaked around the wall and crept behind another one, slowly inching closer to her. His vest and laser vibrated and he turned his head. Skylar stood behind him with a shit-eating grin. “Got you, Daddy,” she yelled.
He pressed his finger to his lips, then pointed in Kelsey’s direction. Her grin widened as she nodded, slipping beside him. “You go around this way and I’ll go around that way, and we’ll ambush her, okay?”
She giggled.
As they split off, Lance crept ran around the corner of the wall and he pulled the trigger—at a sweater.
What the hell? Confused, he lowered his gun, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.
Kelsey’s sweater hung from the opening in the wall, but there was no Kelsey. Had she taken the damn thing off? Images of her running around in her bra flew through his mind, and he instantly shut down that line of thinking. There was no way she’d done that. The woman was competitive, but not that competitive.
His vest vibrated a second time and he spun around to find her and Skylar standing behind him with their lasers pointed at him. Kelsey was now sporting a dark tank top.
Holy shit. They’d planned this.
Kelsey lifted her laser to her mouth and blew across the top.
“You little turds,” he yelled.
“Better run, Lance. We’re coming for you.”
The blinking lights and vibration of his vest stopped. Kelsey aimed her laser again. A thrill went through him as he darted off. Over the next fifteen minutes, they kept him on the defensive, stalking him from opposite directions. Every way he turned, one of them popped up and shot him. He loved every fucking second of it. Having Kelsey and his daughter team up to take him on felt right—natural.
As they left the arena, Lance’s points were a pathetic two hundred, while the girls had a respectable eight hundred and six hundred.
The girls—damn he liked the sound of that.
“We beat your behind, Daddy.”
“Yes, you did.”
“Kelsey came up with the plan while she helped me with my vest. I totally fooled you, didn’t I?”
“I thought you were on my team.” He swept in to tickle his daughter.
Her childish cackle was music to his ears. One of his favorite sounds was his daughter’s laugh. He glanced over at Kelsey, and a small, affectionate smile graced her lips as she watched them.
How well Kelsey fit in with Skylar and him was just a tad on the freaky side. The woman had been different since he’d met her. She kept standing out above the rest, and damned if he didn’t just want to see what the hell happened between them next.
As they exited the arcade, a wave of disappointment washed over him. He hated to see this night come to an end.
“We’ll walk you to your car,” he said, wishing he could find some reason to keep her around for a while longer. But it was going on nine. Skylar needed to go to bed.
“Thank you.” She glanced down at his daughter and the fondness shining in her eyes was real. “I had a great time tonight. I’m glad I made a new friend.”
Skylar grinned and held up her new stuffed pig. Kelsey tapped her matching one to it, and Lance’s heart warmed. This, he could get used to.
They started down the sidewalk, and Skylar slipped her hand into his like she always did. Kelsey was walking on the other side of him, and he had the insane urge to take her hand and complete the chain. All three of them holding hands, unified, held a pleasant appeal he wasn’t ready to think about.
When they reached her car, Kelsey unlocked her door and pivoted to face them. Their gazes locked, and again Lance wanted to kiss her—in so many different ways. Hard, slow, thorough, sweet—
What. The. Fuck?
A movement across the street had caught his attention. Three shadows slowly stepped under the streetlamp. He stiffened. The mob squad. Ralph motioned for Lance to come to him. The fact that they’d followed him while he was out with his daughter pissed him the fuck off, but they also had him by the balls, since he’d never chance having them approach him while he had her in tow.
“Kelsey. I need you to take Skylar with you, please.” Even to his own ears his voice was tight with anger.
His daughter immediately brightened. “Really? That’d be so cool.”
“Lance, I just met—” His gaze returned to hers, silently pleading. From the way her words trailed off, she got the message. “Okay. I’ll take her back to my house.”