by Abby Niles
“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.
“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.”
“Thank you.”
He opened the door, and after they got in, he leaned down and buckled his daughter in. Emotions clogged his throat. He would do anything for this child, had even made a deal with the devil to save her, but that devil would never come near her. “Baby, I’ll be by to pick you up real soon.” He kissed her forehead, squeezing his eyes closed as she happily told him she loved him. Before Skylar could see he was upset, he closed the door.
As Kelsey pulled away, he whispered, “I love you too, baby.”
…
Where was he?
Ella glanced at the digital clock again. 2:47.
In the morning.
As promised, she’d taken Skylar back to her place, they’d put in a movie, and Ella had popped popcorn. When Lance still hadn’t shown up after the movie, and Skylar had started yawning, she’d tucked the little girl into the spare bedroom’s bed. Then she’d paced the house. Three hours had passed since Skylar had fallen asleep and her father was still nowhere to be found.
Jesus. What kind of mess was he in now?
She’d looked back in her rearview mirror as she pulled away and had seen Lance approach Ralph and his clique. The sudden fury Lance had displayed made sense to her then. She would have been furious, too, if the McNealys’ brawn had had the audacity to approach her when she had a child with her.
A sudden noise outside had her rushing to the door to peek out the peephole. Lance was stumbling up the stairs, and she yanked open the door. As he lifted his battered face, she gasped, slapping her hand over her mouth. Shaking off the shock, she hurried to his side and put her arm around his waist, helping him into the house.
“What in the hell did they do?”
Lance collapsed onto the couch, holding his side. “It wasn’t them.”
“Then who was it?”
“I had to fight tonight.”
She blinked at him. Now he was lying to her? “I work there, too, remember? I wasn’t told of any fight.”
He glanced at her from under swollen lids. “Wasn’t a planned fight.”
“Are you telling me a brawl broke out?”
“No. I’m telling you I fought…in the cage. Three times.”
As he shifted on the couch, he grimaced, and she immediately climbed up on her knees beside him. “Where does it hurt?”
“Everywhere.” He gave a pained laugh.
“How could they have fights and not have me there? Jesus. Multiple fights? Everyone has to look like this.”
“No, I fought three fights.”
As his meaning slowly sank in, she stilled. “Were they all like your last opponent?”
“Yeah.”
“What happened?”
“I won.”
“Why were you the only one who had to fight like that?”
A shrug was the reply she received.
Maybe he was telling her the truth about the three fights, but he was hiding the reason why he was the only one who’d been forced to take on three guys. Had he pissed off the McNealys in some way?
Lance shifted again, with another pained groan. She shoved her thoughts aside to focus on him. There was a cut on his eyebrow and the bridge of his nose, but his skin wasn’t caked with dried blood. She glanced down at his body. He’d changed into a pair of gray jogging pants and an oversize Kansas City Chief’s hoodie.
“Did you shower?” Disbelief saturated her words.
“The best I could. I couldn’t walk up in here looking like I did. I stopped at home first. I couldn’t chance Skylar seeing me.” He rubbed his forehead. “Goddamn it.”
The pain in his voice this time wasn’t from his injuries, it was a deeper pain, an emotional one stemming from worry over his daughter, and it tugged at her heart.
“Sit tight. I’m going to get my kit.”
“I’m fine. Just sore as hell.”
“Either way, I’m going to check you out.”
Ella quickly retrieved a medical bag she kept in the closet then sat on the coffee table in front of him. Using a penlight, she flicked the beam across his eyes and was relieved when the pupils responded the way they were supposed to.
“Do you have a headache, nausea, or dizziness?”
“No, Dr.…”
“Watts,” she said automatically then froze at her flub. Damn it. Her driver’s license said McGuire. She covered herself by switching to the gash on his brow. “It’s not very deep. Just needs some butterfly bandages.”
“Kelsey Watts. I like it.”
Inwardly, she cringed. She didn’t like lying, but she especially didn’t like lying to Lance. There was something about it that felt wrong, which was crazy. The man showed up at her place, battered and bruised, after three thugs had followed him with his daughter, and she felt guilty. “Your nose isn’t broken, but there’s some discoloring of the skin.”
“I told you I was fine.”
Convinced he wouldn’t have any lasting damage from the head wounds, she said, “Take your shirt off.”
“Why, Dr. Watts, we just met.” Amusement tinged his words. She felt anything but lighthearted. The man scared her. Not in the way her ex did, but by the way he made her feel. She was torn between the Lance she knew, and the Lance she didn’t.
“Take it off, Romeo,” she said, keeping to the carefree atmosphere he was trying to set.
As he tugged the shirt over his head, all the bad thoughts flew out the window. She’d seen Lance with his shirt off—from a distance, while he was in the cage—and the sight had been mouthwatering. Up close? Holy Mother of God. The grooved lines of his pecs and abs were captivating. She wanted to trace each muscle—and not from a professional standpoint.
“I need—” She licked her suddenly dry lips. “I need for you to lie flat.”
“Yes, doctor.” A husky timbre deepened his voice, causing exciting sparks to trigger over her body.
You’re a doctor. Act like one.
As Lance stretched out, muscles galore flexed and twitched. Jesus. She swallowed. Never had she felt as unprofessional as she did right this second. Her heart thumped against
her ribs, her breathing escalated—all from the anticipation of touching him.
After he had himself comfortable, she reached both hands forward to press on his abdomen. Just inches from his skin, the heat of his body greeted her palms, and she hesitated. Not once in her career had she ever had difficulty examining a patient. She was always in doctor mode, but for the life of her, all she was aware of was Lance, laid out before her half-naked, and what an enticing image he made.
“You can touch me, Kelsey. I won’t bite.” The whispered words might as well have been shouted, the way they filled the room. Heat flooded her face.
“Just trying to figure out where I should start.” The words fell flat even to her own ears.
“Sure you are.”
Damn him. Mentally yanking on her doctor cap, she blocked out Lance and forced herself to focus as she ran her fingers over his abs, pressing here and there. A low contented groan came from Lance, and Ella yanked her hands back.
“I don’t think anything’s broken. You’re going to be sore as hell, though.”
“No joke.”
With his head leaned back against the throw pillow and his eyes closed, Ella took the moment to openly admire him, wishing she had an excuse to brush her fingers across his skin again. Though, she probably didn’t need one, if his response to her examination was any indication.
“Anything else hurt?” she asked, damning the hope she felt. What kind of person hoped something else hurt, just to have the opportunity to lay her hands on him again?
“Yeah. Here.” He turned his head away from her and tapped the side of his neck with a finger.
Her throat closing, she leaned over him to get a better look. No bruising marred the skin, but one of the punches he took could’ve strained the soft tissue of the neck. She gently cupped his cheeks and turned his head toward her. He didn’t flinch at the movement, just kept his eyes closed, his face relaxed.
“Maybe you should—”
Strong fingers suddenly wrapped around the back of her head as Lance lifted his head and pressed his lips to hers. The amazing warmth of his mouth against hers shocked her and she tensed. But only for a brief second, as the soft teasing of his mouth lured her into surrender. She’d been fighting this moment for so long, had been plagued with erotic dreams about what being with this man would be like—and she was finally tasting her first sample. It was more than she ever imagined.
