“Yeah, seriously,” Leon agreed. “We’re good at aiming.”
She made a face. “Well, guys, I have three degrees. That means I spent ten years in college — next to a bar where darts were played every night. You can’t beat me.”
Austin Fox laughed loudly. “Oh, boss, you really shouldn’t have said that. Don’t you realize that hockey players are a rather arrogant, ambitious bunch?”
Penny smiled. “And don’t you realize that I’m damn honest and I’ll have a lot more fun beating arrogant hockey players than innocent college boys?”
“Oh, I’ll have to see that,” Dax muttered, shaking his head and standing as well. The other players obviously agreed, because they all squeezed around the table and turned toward the dartboard while Leon ran to the bar to get the darts.
“Oh man, are you serious?” Penny shook her head in disbelief.
“Well, you made quite a statement,” Jack reminded her. “And just for the record, trash talk is allowed. Just so you know.”
She rolled her eyes. “I won’t let myself be distracted by talk.”
Jack leaned toward her before blowing gently on her neck. Penny shuddered and jumped back in shock. Jack grinned before whispering, “Trash talk doesn’t always mean words.”
Penny opened her mouth, closed it again…and then licked her lips invitingly.
His grin grew wider. “Ah, I see. You know how to play the game. Then may the best man win.”
“I won’t let myself be manipulated!” she said in warning. “I take darts seriously.”
“Sure, me too,” he replied lightly and squeezed her shoulder – innocently, a friendly gesture. But as his thumb gently stroked the wildly beating pulse in her neck, he felt her back stiffen.
Then he let go of her and strode across the bar. He thought he heard Penny murmuring “Oh, man.” He would have liked it much better if she had whispered “Oh, Jack.”
Chapter Eighteen
Over the next ten minutes, Penny quickly realized two things: Playing darts with hockey players wasn’t about how good you were, it was about how good you were at talking trash. And she had cold-bloodedly lied earlier because, goodness, she was fully letting herself be manipulated.
But it was unfair! Jack had his smile and his fingers, which kept grazing her body as if by chance. It was always in a way that looked completely harmless to those around him, although she knew it was anything but. Jack knew where she was sensitive. He knew that she could hardly breathe when he leaned over her and brushed his lips against her earlobe. He knew that all he had to do was touch the sensitive spot on her upper arm to give her goosebumps all over her body. He rolled up his shirt because he knew that she liked his sinewy forearms. And he laughed his hoarse, dark laugh because he knew there was nothing sexier.
Okay, maybe that last one wasn’t quite true. She herself laughed suspiciously often simply because Leon was an even worse loser than Jack and looked grumpier with every point that he and Penny took, taking the lead.
“That’s unfair,” he said when Penny had thrown a solid sixty points and handed him the darts. “The target is hanging too low. You’re shorter, so you can throw straighter.”
Penny snorted. “The target is hanging at the correct height. Maybe you should go to the team doctor and have your eyes checked.”
Leon glared at her. “I’m an eagle-eye!”
“Don’t be like that, Leon!” Fox announced. “She’s just better than you.” He winked at her appreciatively and Penny smiled broadly.
Jack was right. All she had to do was stop being polite and friendly and speak a language that the Hawks players understood. It was ridiculous, yet at the same time, it was great fun. She almost felt like she belonged, and she hadn’t had that feeling in ages.
“You have to be nicer to him. He’ll be crying by the end of the evening,” Jack murmured as she stood next to him at the line again.
“That’s good. At least you won’t be the only one,” she replied rebelliously, grinning at him.
He chuckled softly. “Your fighting spirit scares me.”
“No, no. It’s the fear of losing,” she corrected him flippantly.
“Hm,” he uttered with a smile. “Speaking of losing: do you really date losers on purpose?”
She raised her eyebrows in surprise. “What?”
“That’s what Matt said earlier. That you go after losers who aren’t suitable for a long-term relationship.” He cleared his throat and turned his face away, unconcerned. “Is that true?”