She looked at him with as much confusion as she could. “You’re serious?”
“Yeah, why not? You busy after this? We could go do something fun. Or are you scared? Maybe you secretly have a crush on me and can’t stand the thought of spending the day with me. It makes you all nervous or something.” He shrugged. “Yeah, I guess I can understand that.”
“No! I mean, no. You’re delusional. Or just cocky. Not every woman in the world has a crush on you.”
“So that’s a yes to hanging out this afternoon?”
He had her stuck between a rock and a hard place. No way was she admitting he made her nervous. What was she supposed to say?
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Luc
Luc knew he had her in a quandary. If she said no, it’d look like she had the hots for him. But if she said yes, she’d have to spend the afternoon with him. Either way, the outcome would be in his favor; he couldn’t lose. And in the end, she agreed. But only if they went bowling. Honestly, he didn’t care what they did; he just wanted to get to know her a little better.
Luc stepped up to the lane and grabbed his bowling ball. Getting into position, he focused on the pins. Blocking out the other noise, he marched up to the line and tossed the ball with great concentration. He could hear Kassie trash-talking in the background, but he stood watching the ball as it moved towards the pins. Then he watched them fall, one by one.
“Strike!” Luc did his goal celebration, pumping his fist in the air.
“All right tough guy, I can do that, too.” Kassie stepped up to the lane, passing by Luc.
He squeezed by her as she reached for the pink bowling ball. Their bodies almost brushed against one another. Luc felt the tension between them, the pure heat pouring off her. They were as close as two people could be without touching. Luc paused, taking the chance to glance right into her eyes. They were cocoa brown with a swirl of amber through them, and were half lidded as she took a quick peek at his lips, before her eyes met his again.
Yeah, she was into him. There was not a doubt in his mind. And because she never ran away from him, or shied away from his flirtation or advances, he felt it necessary to continue. Maybe he’d get her to slip up and show her true colors, even more than grinding up on him the other night at Mario’s. At any rate, he enjoyed the challenge.
“Hey, hockey boy! It’s your turn. If you’re done with your daydreaming,” Kassie called. She grabbed her pop and plopped down in a seat.
Little did she know that she was his daydream.
She sighed and fanned herself. “I never realized how much work bowling was. I should’ve suggested we just go for a walk.” Her scarf was now on the seat beside her. She mumbled something before pulling the light-colored sweater over her head, exposing a tank top of the same color.
He didn’t know what to expect under that sweater, but this worked. It was very rare that a guy hated watching a girl take off her shirt, even if there was a tank top under there. Kassie was always so put together and matched.
“Are you going to bowl?” Kassie broke through his focus on her.
Luc shrugged, trying to look calm and in control. He stepped forward and picked up his bowling ball. Cradling the ball, he lined up his shot, then strolled up to the line. He effortlessly swung the ball, directing it down the center of the lane.
Turning around to face Kassie, he walked back to the seats without watching what was happening down at the pins. All he had to do was hear the pins go down to know he’d gotten yet another strike, and he fist pumped in celebration.
“I should’ve known you’d be good at bowling, too.” She pouted. “Well, at least you won’t get us kicked out of here.” Kassie smirked.
“I bet I could if I tried,” Luc said.
“Please don’t.” She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling, and that was all that mattered to him.
“Okay, we have two frames left in this game. I’m totally winning, and pretty close to a perfect game, except for that one split. The question is, do you want to play a third game?”
Kassie thought for a moment. “Considering you won the first game and are going to win the second, I think we’re done. No need to prolong my losing streak.” She looked at her watch. “Plus, I’m sure you have better things to do than this.”
Did she really think he had better things to do with his day off than spend it with her? She was crazy. The next two frames were all strikes, while hers were a seven–ten split and a nine.
“Good game, O’Conner,” Luc said, as he changed out of his bowling shoes.
A heavy sigh preceded her words. “Please don’t call me that. I know it’s a guy thing, but let’s not do that. Okay?”
He knew it had nothing to do with it being a guy thing and had everything to do with him bringing up that she was an O’Conner. “All right, sweets. Join me for some pizza and beer?” He pointed to the bowling alley bar.
She looked back and forth from him to the bar. “Um…”
“Come on, what? Do you have something better than pizza and beer planned?”
She flipped her hair off her shoulders with a bit of an attitude. “Well, I don’t drink beer.”
“Pretty sure they have wine coolers. Or Jack and Coke. So, what do you say?” She was already thinking about it; he could see it in her eyes. He didn’t have to say another word to try to convince her; all he had to do was wait.
“I… uh.” Kassie picked her sweater up and seemed to be debating whether to put it on. She looked at him, pausing while she bit at her bottom lip, then glanced at the scoreboard. A small grin spread across her lips. “Seeing how you won, I think it’d be okay if you bought me dinner.”
Luc nodded, enjoying the humor of her words. She wanted to play. He could play. “Sure. Let me buy you dinner.” He put his hand out for her to take it.
Kassie shook her head and held up her shoes. “I have to go turn in my shoes.”
Luc decided not to argue, but grabbed his shoes and headed towards the shoe counter, not looking back. He knew she was right behind him. He handed over his rentals and tipped the kid behind the counter. Moving aside, he waited for Kassie. She returned her shoes and made a point not to look at him, even though he stood staring at her.
When she turned away from the counter, he held his hand out to her again. “Shall we?”
Kassie looked at his hand and back up at him. She didn’t say anything, but slid her sweater back over her head. She adjusted the sweater, tugging the hem around her waist. Then, with her scarf in one hand, she took his with the other.
Luc worked hard not to flinch with surprise when she took his hand. He was shocked that she didn’t blow him off yet again. Without saying a word, he tried to stay in stride with her as they walked to the bar, her soft skin against his.
“You like pepperoni on your pizza?”
“Is there any other topping for a classic pizza?” Kassie answered. Her lips curled up into a smirk.