Page 67 of Mr. Broody

Henry ignores them, stepping up to the line to take his turn.

“He’s the one who gives advice, although I’m starting to think he needs to take some of his own.” Conor raises his eyebrows, and I can’t see Henry’s reaction because he’s behind me.

“He’s just Daddy. Literally and figuratively.” Tweetie shrugs.

“Let’s not forget how broody he is too,” Rowan says from the table.

Henry walks over and puts his hand on my lower back again, sliding past me to get his beer. “Triple twenty,” he whispers.

Goose bumps lift the hairs on the back of my neck.

“Triple nineteen.” He sips his beer, licking his lips after. “Triple sixteen.” He sips his beer again, staring at me over the rim of his glass.

I swipe my darts off the table and wind out of his grasp out of self-preservation.

“Competitive girls are the best, right?” Tweetie looks at Conor. “I fucking love it when they come at you.”

I’m starting to think that maybe Tweetie has a side that isn’t all bravado.

“I don’t know. I like the competition, but I also love being the guy to win it all for her, you know?” Conor chimes in. “What about you, Daddy?”

“I thought we were talking nicknames,” Henry says.

“That was five minutes ago. Stop staring at Jade’s ass and pay attention.” Tweetie laughs, and I glance over to see Henry glaring at him.

I have a hard time concentrating when I think about Henry staring at my ass, but I’m able to get a double eighteen to close them out, a single fifteen, and a single seventeen before grabbing my darts, marking my score, and returning to the table.

“I’m with Tweetie on this one,” Henry says, staring at me with one hand on my hip, circling around me. “I love competitive girls.”

My heart hammers. I probably shouldn’t have come here tonight. It was a really bad idea because I can literally feel myself falling for this version of Henry.

“So, Jade, what kind of guy do you crush on?” Conor asks, leaning his back against the wall.

“I didn’t realize I had applied for The Bachelor,” I say, grabbing the pitcher and refilling my beer. I understand why the guys like to hide in this back room. It allows them to be themselves.

“Who gets the rose, Jade?” Tweetie asks.

“None of you dumbasses,” Kyleigh says from the table, scanning for a specific piece of Lego as Rowan and Bodhi seem deep into the instruction booklet.

“There go my fifteens,” Henry says, pulling my attention back to him.

I see one dart on a single.

“And here go my eighteens.” He throws his dart, but he only gets a single.

I lean in before he throws his final dart. “Your cockiness is killing your game.”

His last dart hits the double seventeen.

Damn. He’s getting way too close to beating me.

All Henry does is smile at me as he walks up to the dartboard. On his way back to the table, he circles his arm around my waist, and he tugs me toward him. “We never negotiated the stakes.”

I glance over at Bodhi, but he’s leaning into Rowan’s body now, eyes closed while Kyleigh has taken over putting the whole thing together.

“I thought this was for fun,” I say, grabbing my darts and walking to the line.

“Since when do we play for fun?”

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