Game On

by Kelly Jamieson

  A team of servers arrived to set a fluted champagne glass in front of each of us, while the sommelier opened the wine and let Alexis taste it. She gave her approval, and the wine was poured.

  “To Alexis.” Dad lifted his glass. “Always remember—cut your losses and let your profits ride.”

  Ha ha. I lifted my glass with a smile. “Congratulations, Lex.” I sipped the champagne and closed my eyes briefly, letting the bubbles tease my tongue. I had to admit, I also loved Cristal.

  We all ordered, Dad requesting a bunch of starters that we could share. I probably didn’t even need to order a main course, especially wearing this dress, but I’d done a killer abs workout at the gym earlier today so…I ordered the filet of sole meunière, which should be fairly light.

  “So, what’s new at your little organization, Liv?” Mom asked when we’d all ordered.

  “Mmm. Not much new.” Unfortunately. I wished I could wow them by telling them about the fabulous government grant we’d just received or the hockey star we’d just signed on as a spokesperson. I sighed inwardly. No way was I going to talk about my funding disappointment and my worries about the future to my overachieving family. “Our school programs are going great. And I’ve been asked to be a director on the Green River Human Care Services board.”

  Dad’s eyebrows flew up. “Really? That’s interesting.”

  Interesting.

  “Yeah.” I nodded, picking up my flute. “I’m looking forward to contributing there.”

  “I’ve heard of that.” Mom nodded.

  “They’re an anti-poverty organization, doing great work.”

  “Ah. Right.”

  “Also, thanks, Dad, for sending Ken Winthrop our way.” I gave my father a truly grateful smile. “He made a nice donation.”

  “Good, good. He’s a big believer in keeping kids active and healthy.”

  “I appreciate that. Every dollar helps.”

  “It’s so admirable that you help underprivileged kids,” Alexis said. “Good for you, Liv.”

  I chose to ignore the patronizing tone.

  “It’s still weird that Jason’s not here,” Alexis added.

  I felt the atmosphere change, everybody drawing in a breath and holding it. A dozen responses ran through my head, none of them appropriate. Jesus. She did this to me all the time.

  Sorry.

  Maybe I should leave and he should be here?

  He’s an asshole who cheated on me—do you really want him here?

  Fuck. I looked down at my meal.

  “How’s your job going, Elisha?” Mom spoke up, saving me.

  Elisha was director of human resources at a tech company. “Good! We’re recruiting for a big new project, so things are busy.”

  She chatted on. We ordered more wine. The food was delicious. And I made it through the dinner.

  Cam

  “When does the two months officially start?”

  We were hanging out in the players’ lounge after practice Saturday. I finished off my chicken and pasta.

  Chaser frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “I’m going out with Olivia tonight. Does the two months in the bet start today? Or the day I met her?”

  “It starts today. Duh.”

  I’d won my bet with Rico that I couldn’t get a date with her. I’d already collected on that with great pleasure. Now I just had to get her to date me for two months. And not fall in love with her. Phht.

  “Okay. So April 12 is when it ends.”

  Chaser grinned. “Or not.” He rubbed his hands together. “You’re going down.”

  “No, I’m not.” I wasn’t worried about falling in love. I was looking forward to lots of sex though. Sex was fun. Also sometimes a release when you were stressed. For me, it was just a physical thing.

  “Are you kidding me? We all met her. Smokin’ hot. You’re done like a toasted ham sandwich.”

  I laughed. “We’ll see.”

  “Where are you going with her?”

  “Play.”

  Chaser’s eyebrows pulled together. “What play?”

  “No, Play. It’s a café where you play board games.”

  “Say what?”

  “It’s a café-slash-bar where they have all these different board games. They have tons of them. Battleship. Monopoly. Odin’s Ravens.”

  The guys all looked at me blankly.

  “I know you all are into your videogames, but sometime we’ll go and I’ll kick your ass at Citadels.”

  “I didn’t know there was such a thing,” Chaser said.

  “That’s because you have a ball and chain around your ankle now.”

  “Take that back.”

  “Yeah, okay.” I grinned evilly. “I’d take a ball and chain like Jordyn Banks any day.”

  “Don’t even think about being with her.”

  “I’m not, don’t worry.” Chaser had been obsessed with pop star Jordyn Banks for months before they’d actually ended up going out, which had been hilarious because the way they’d hooked up was a Twitter bet that he’d won. “I better go. We’re meeting there.”

  “Okay. Good luck.”

  I stood.

  “Hey, hold up.”

  “What?”

  “Sex advice. You need sex advice.”

  I snorted. “I don’t think so.”

  “Here’s my advice about sex on the first date—don’t do it.”

  “What?” I stared at him.

  “I know your usual modus operandi when it comes to women is hit it and quit it. You can’t do that.”

  “Now the bet has conditions? I never agreed to that.” I crossed my arms and lifted my chin.

  “Look, for you to win this bet you have to go out with her for two months. That’s not gonna happen if you push her for sex the first time.”

  Shit. After kissing her that night at River East, I was dying to taste her again. And not just her mouth. I’d been having hot sex dreams all week, thinking about getting her naked and underneath me, finding out all the places she liked to be touched…what positions did it for her…what she tasted like everywhere…

  I sighed. “I get it. But what if she begs me?”

  “Hahahaha.”

  “It could happen.” He had a valid point though. “Fine. I’ll play it by ear.”

  “Two months.”

  “Right, right.”

  Yeah, that was me…hit it and quit it. But I had to make Olivia want to go out with me again. And again.

  That shouldn’t be a problem for me. Most women wanted to see me again. And sometimes I wanted to as well. But I didn’t usually have to try very hard, and it was pretty much always me ending things.

  No fucking pressure at all.

  I had this. No problem.

  I met her at Play, on East Superior a couple blocks off Michigan. I got there first and went in to get a table. The place was busy, but I found a table for two in the corner and hung my leather jacket on a nearby hook on the wall.

  She arrived a couple of minutes after that. I studied her in the few seconds it took her to step inside and look around. Damn. She was so pretty.

  Today her long legs wore black skinny jeans. She unbuttoned a bright red jacket as she walked in, revealing a loose knit white sweater. Aviator sunglasses perched on top of her head, her long blond hair flowing down over her shoulders. She spotted me, and her lips curved into a smile.

  I lifted a hand and stood, watching her walk toward me.

  “Hi. You found the place.”

  “Yeah.” She looked around. “I’ve never been here.”

  “I only have once before.”

  “It’s cool.” She took in the scuffed wood floor, t
he copper paneled ceiling, and the shelves lining one wall, full of multi-colored boxed board games. She started to shrug out of her jacket, and I moved behind her to help her. “Thank you.”

  I hung her jacket on the same hook as mine. She dropped her big leather purse to the floor near the wall and took a seat.

  “I wasn’t sure what you’d think. Do you like playing board games?”

  “Honestly, I haven’t since I was a kid. We used to like playing Clue and Candy Land.” She focused on the wall of shelves. “I never would have imagined there are so many board games.”

  “There’s tons. Some you need a lot of players for though.”

  “What are we going to play?”

  “I have a couple of ideas. Hang on.” I rose and strode over to the wall, where games were arranged alphabetically. I searched and found the game Are You Normal, then carried it back to the table.

  Olivia read the name and lifted her gaze to mine, a curious smile on her lips. “Okay.”

  “I played this once before with some friends, and it was fun. But if we get bored with it, we can find something else.” I remembered her comment about getting to know each other on a first date, and this seemed perfect.

  A waitress in jeans and a black T-shirt with PLAY in silver across the front arrived. “I’ll have a Honkers Ale.” I looked at Olivia.

  “Oh.” She grabbed a menu card and swiftly looked it over. “You know what? I’ll have the same.”

  “I like a girl who drinks beer.”

  “I have a feeling you just like girls.”

  “That is true. In fairness to myself though, I have three sisters, so I had no choice.”

  “Oh my God. Three sisters. Where are you in there, age-wise? Oldest? Youngest?”

  “I’m the youngest.” I gave a long-suffering sigh. “It was like having four bossy mothers.”

  “I can imagine. I’m the youngest too. Older sister and older brother.”

  “Ah. So you know what it’s like. Hand-me-downs. All your teachers comparing you to your siblings. Being the guinea pig. I don’t know how many times my sisters tried new makeup ideas on me.”

  She choked on a laugh. “Oh lord. I’m picturing you with eye shadow and lipstick.”

  “Don’t laugh. There’s actual photographic evidence of it. They threaten me with it all the time.”

  Her wide smile tugged at something inside me. “I guess I do know what it’s like. My sister and brother are overachievers. When I got to school, I always heard, ‘You’re not like Alexis and Lucas, are you?’ ”

  “Right? On the other hand, I always knew they had my back.”

  “Hmm.” She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know if I can say that.”

  “Get out. Really?” I frowned.

  “Probably my brother,” she conceded. “My sister not so much. Maybe it was the age difference.”

  “Huh.” My oldest sister was six years older than me, and I knew she’d always looked out for me and always would. I didn’t like hearing that Olivia’s sister wasn’t like that.

  “Also she’s very competitive. And actually…so am I.”

  “Uh-oh.” I rubbed my hands together. Because competitive was my middle name. “Okay, legs, game on.”

  She laughed. “Legs?”

  “You have amazing legs.”

  Our drinks arrived in nice frosty glasses. “Do you want to order any food?” The waitress smiled at me.

  I looked at Olivia. “You hungry?” It was mid-afternoon. I was hoping if things went well, we would have dinner.

  “I’m okay.”

  “We might get snacks in a bit,” I told the server.

  “Sure thing.”

  “Okay, let’s play this game.”

  I opened the box and pulled out the contents. “What color do you want to be?”

  She surveyed the board and took her time with this apparently important decision. “Blue.”

  “Okay. I’ll be red.”

  We set up the board, the cards, and the tokens, and reviewed the rules.

  “Okay, I think I got it.” Olivia leaned forward. “Who’s more normal? You or me?”

  The rules stated that whoever was “more normal” started. I grinned. “Pretty sure you are.”

  “Well.” She wrinkled her nose. “I guess we’ll find out. Okay, I’ll go first.” She picked up the top card off the pile. “Have you ever called the cops on a noisy neighbor?”

  “We both have to vote yes or no.” I picked up my YES and NO cards and set one facedown on the table.

  “So, I’m voting on whether I’ve ever called the cops, right?”

  “Right.”

  She set a card facedown and pushed it away with her fingertips.

  “Now I guess what you said. I’m going to say…yes.” I set one of my tokens on the YES half of her blue space on the board. “And I guess that…hmm…fifty-one to sixty percent of the population has called the police.” I set another token on the board. “Okay. How’d we do?”

  We both flipped our cards to reveal NO.

  “And only thirty-two percent of people said yes,” Olivia said with a laugh.

  “Damn. Okay, no points this round. My turn.” I lifted another card from the stack. “Have you ever split the check with someone on a first date?”

  We both selected our YES or NO card, and this time Olivia voted on eighty-one to ninety percent of people saying yes.

  “Way wrong.” I showed her the card. “Only twenty-eight percent said yes.” We flipped our cards. Hers said yes; mine said no.

  “How can that be! I’m sure almost everyone splits the check these days.”

  “Not on a first date,” I objected. “And definitely not with me. Don’t even think that you’re paying for half of this.” I paused and looked at our beers. “Not that it’s been expensive so far.” I gave her a rueful smile. “Damn. Now I feel like I should have sprung for steak and lobster somewhere.”

  She laughed. “No, this is fun.”

  We took turns answering more questions.

  “Have you ever lied about your age?” she read.

  “Hahaha.” I picked a card and waited for her. When we revealed our answers, my eyes flew up. “You have?”

  “Oh hell yeah.” She smiled, shaking back her hair. “I tried to get into clubs when I was only eighteen. Hasn’t everyone?”

  “Well, the legal drinking age at home is eighteen. I had no trouble passing for that when I was sixteen, because I was so big.”

  “Where are you from?”

  “Well, I was born in Denver, but we moved around, and I mostly grew up in Calgary, Alberta.”

  “Oh. Canada.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Did you go to a bar when you were sixteen?”

  “Yeah.”

  She gave a fake gasp of shock. “Well, in a way that’s lying then.”

  “Hmm. I suppose. Have you ever told anyone you were younger than you really are?”

  “No. You?”

  “Nope.” My turn.

  “Good.” I read a card. “Okay, we’re just going to skip over this one.”

  “Wait, what? Why?”

  I held up the card. “Have you ever worn a professional team jersey?”

  She laughed. “Okay, skip that one.”

  We went back and forth a few more times, then she read, “Have you ever written to a celebrity?”

  Olivia never had, but I told her the story of how I’d written to Red Ryvers. “He was my hockey idol when I was growing up. I asked him to autograph my hockey card. He never did. I was crushed.”

  “How old were you?” Her eyes were soft, regarding me across the table.

  “Ten. But…it gets better. In the
letter I wrote, I told him if he didn’t autograph my card, I’d hit him into the boards the first time I ever played him when I got into the NHL.”

  “You knew when you were ten that’s what you wanted to do?”

  “Yeah. I love hockey.”

  “That’s awesome. And did you do it?”

  “I did. When I was twenty, I played against him. My first season in the NHL, my first game against the Rangers.”

  “And you hit him?”

  “Oh yeah.” I grinned, and she smiled back. “The media got hold of the story, and it turned into a big thing, but it was cool. Red signed a picture for me and met me in the hall between the dressing rooms to give it to me. That was really cool.”

  “Ah. That’s so nice.” Her smile quivered.

  “And the best part of it? We won the game.” I grinned.

  Her smile widened, so genuine and gorgeous it took my breath away. Like, I really couldn’t breathe. My chest was paralyzed, my heart hammering. My palms got sweaty, for Chrissakes. For a moment we looked at each other, our eyes connected, and awareness buzzed around us.

  I dropped my gaze to the score pad. “You know what? I’ve totally forgotten to keep score the last few questions.”

  “I’m sure I’m winning.”

  “As if!” I looked up and caught the sparkle in her eyes, the corners of her mouth lifted. Then it struck me—for the first time in my life, I didn’t care about winning. I was having so much fun talking to this woman—this beautiful, sexy, appealing woman—I didn’t even care about the score.

  The waitress came back to take our empty glasses. “Another one?”

  “Sure.” I looked at Olivia. “And maybe something to eat?”

  “Okay.”

  “I’ll get your drinks and be back in a minute.” The waitress hustled off, and we picked up the menu cards.

  “Maybe a couple of snacks to share?” I suggested, eyeing the items.

  “Sure. Oh. They have cool things.”