Page 42 of Hitting the Gap

“No, but we heard you won.” She leaned back, drawing his attention to her exposed, tanned stomach.

He flicked a glance at Bailey. Her lip popped out slightly, like she was biting the inside of her cheek the way she always did when she was hurt but didn’t want anyone to know. Damn. He didn’t know what was going on with her, but he planned to find out.

“Excuse me, ladies, it’s my turn.” He pointed at the dartboard.

“You want to buy me a drink?” the blonde asked.

On any given night, he would have said yes. She was exactly the kind of woman he usually took home from the bar after a game, but tonight he had Bailey with him, so as tempting as the gorgeous blonde was, it was going to be a big no. He eyed the number on her jersey and rolled his eyes. “You’ve got the wrong player,” he said, pointing to the number on her jersey.

“What?” the woman blinked back at him.

“I’m Gonzalez.” He pointed toward his teammate. “That one’s Hernandez.”

The blonde looked over at his teammate, then back at him in confusion. “So?”

“So, you’re wearing the wrong player’s jersey.”

She stepped in closer to him and pressed herself against his body. “I won’t be wearing anything when we get back to your place, so does it really matter?”

Normally, not a bit. But tonight? Yeah, it mattered.

He smiled to soften the blow. “Sorry. I’m up.” He pointed at the dartboard, then walked away.

As he glanced at the scoreboard, he winced. Was that really the score? He threw a look at Ryan. How were they losing that badly already? “What the hell? Bailey missed the board on her first throw?”

“Yeah, but Kendall didn’t,” Ryan grumbled.

He hadn’t been paying attention, but from the looks of the scoreboard, Kendall had hit trips every time. They had some ground to make up. Gonzo stepped up to the line and threw his first dart. Triple twenty. Nice. His second dart hit the metal at the edge of the bullseye, bumping it back onto the twenty.

“See, it’s not that easy,” Ryan said.

“Don’t choke, Gonz,” Kendall taunted.

He glanced over at Bailey, who stood slightly off to the side, not saying a word. He lined up and threw his third dart. Triple twenty again. He turned to Kendall. “Ha, suck it.”

“I don’t think Pete would like that,” she mocked.

“Haha.” He bumped her with his hip. “You’re up, Bay.”

Bailey pushed off the table and took her place at the line. The blonde from earlier stepped up beside him. “You’re really good.”

“Thanks,” he said absently, not taking his eyes off Bailey as she lined up to take her shot. If he hadn’t been watching her so closely, he wouldn’t have noticed the way her shoulders slumped when she flicked a look his way before she lined up her shot. The dart hit the wall above the board and stuck. Bailey’s chest heaved as she took a deep breath and lined up again.

Geez, she was a terrible dart player, but he had to give her credit for still taking the shots.

The blonde trailed her finger down his arm. The touch drew his attention from Bailey, making him miss her last throw. It pissed him off that he’d missed it. Doing his best to still be polite, he gave the blonde a tight smile. “If you’ll excuse me.”

He walked up to Bailey and bumped his shoulder against hers. “I don’t remember you being this bad at throwing.”

“Throwing and darts are two different things.” She picked up her beer and took a sip. “Why aren’t you over there?” She gestured to the blonde who was watching them.

“Why would I be?”

“Umm, because she’s clearly interested in you.”

“I’m not interested.”

Bailey snorted. “You’d have to be dead not to be interested in that.”

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