A rush of heat suffused his entire body. He halted in mid-knead. Fuck. There wasn’t a misinterpretation of her intentions she could play up with outrageous behavior right now. Jerking his gaze away, he refocused on the dough. The memory of those lips mouthing those words seared into his brain. Was this Gayle in full Gayle mode? He didn’t know if he could handle this Gayle.
When he finally had the dough where it needed to be, he placed it in a bowl and put plastic wrap over the top to let it rise. “Done. It should be ready in about an—”
A sharp smack to his ass shocked the words right out of his mouth.
“Great job, handsome. Let’s play a game while we wait.”
He stood ramrod straight as Gayle swept by him, uncertain if he was more stunned by the sudden smack to his butt or the frightening jolt of lust he’d felt from her bold action.
Taking a steadying inhale, he focused on expelling the tension from his body.
Let’s play a game, she’d said.
He didn’t think he wanted to play games with Gayle Matthews. Something told him she was a master gamesman and he was going to end up on the losing side every time.
And he didn’t like to lose.
For a third time, Gayle had to chomp down on her bottom lip to keep a laugh in as Mac’s stunned expression filled her mind again—one of two stunned expressions he’d given her over the course of the last half hour. The one that had twisted his handsome face when she suggested this full-body contact game had almost topped the one when she’d smacked his ass. Almost.
She flicked the spinner. “Left foot on the green circle.”
Mac sent her a furious scowl and she sucked in her cheeks to keep her mirth from spilling out into the open. God, the delicious man was too much fun not to mess with.
She had taken pity on him and let him be the caller the first round. But when she’d fallen on her ass trying to reach a blue circle, he’d had to take her place. Those were the rules—which she’d reminded him of when he’d resisted her attempt to take the spinner from his hand.
Mac somehow maneuvered his left foot around his right hand and got it on a green circle about a mile’s stretch away. Nice. The view was nice, too. In camo shorts and white tank top, he was giving a magnificent muscle flexing show. The man was simply magnificent. Even his curmudgeon attitude couldn’t detract from that.
Besides, he allowed enough amusement to show through his gruff exterior that she wasn’t the least bit daunted by his attempts to push her away. He would have a better chance if those enticing lips would stop twitching at the corners, letting her know he wanted oh-so-badly to smile. The fact that he fought the impulse made him all the more intriguing to her.
“Okay, Skylar, your turn.” Gayle spun the arrow. “Right foot, red.”
The little girl groaned. “Really?”
With her little hands splayed on the red dots on one side of the plastic mat and her feet on the green dots on the opposite side, the move wasn’t going to be easy. Skylar hated to lose.
Gayle grinned. “Sorry.”
She brought her right foot forward, getting it as far as the line of blue before she simply tilted over onto her side. The fall was so fast and so dramatic, Gayle burst into laughter, and Skylar followed with her childish cackle, which made Gayle laugh even harder. She loved the pure, unapologetic joy of a child.
She glanced over at Mac to share the moment, and all her enjoyment faded. What would have brought an immediate grin to anyone else’s face, failed to do so on Mac’s. The stricken expression was filled with such sadness and longing as he stared down at the child, Gayle’s heart clenched tight.
He jerked his gaze away and directed it across the room, shoving his hand through his hair, a swallow working his throat.
This man must have one hell of story.
Time to lighten the mood again. “Okay, Skylar. You know what that means?”
The little girl jumped up. “It’s my turn to call and it’s yours and Uncle Mac’s turn to twist.”
If his head had whipped around any faster it would have flown clean off his shoulders. At least he was distracted from whatever past demon had surfaced.
“That would be correct, Skylar.” She cocked the challenging eyebrow she was quickly learning goaded the hell out of him. “How about it, handsome? A friendly competition between adults. Which one of us has the best balance?”
As expected, the angular jut of his jawline tightened. He really shouldn’t make it so easy for her to read him. The man simply could not back down from a challenge—even from her. Which gave her all the power.
He walked toward her. “I’m the only one in the room who hasn’t fallen yet.”
“Because you’ve only played once.”
“And I stayed on my feet. The one time you played, someone landed flat on her a—” He cleared his throat, his gaze shooting over to Skylar. “Er, backside. Seems to me I’m already the victor between the adults.”