Page 34 of Courting Gossip (Courting)
So close. It was physical exertion, but not the kind she’d been thinking of. ‘I know. I used your elliptical machine earlier today.’
‘Want to watch a movie?’
‘There’s nothing on.’
‘OK, just tell me.’
She was tired of giving off signals and not having him pick them up. She started to shoo him away, but then an idea came to her. She glanced at the spiral staircase that led to the loft above. ‘Can I enter the man cave?’
He drummed his fingers along his hip. ‘How do you know it’s a man cave?’
He knew how. She’d been all over his house today, except for his bedroom. She was like a bird in a cage. She’d flittered around where she could. ‘Because I looked earlier today. You told me to make myself at home.’
‘And you sure have.’ He gestured for her to go first. ‘I didn’t even know I had gardening gloves.’
Genieve climbed the staircase, going round and round. It had been one of her favourite spots that she’d discovered. It and the back yard were the two places that told the most about him. She’d seen glimpses in his gym downstairs, too, but she liked this not-so-secret spot, tucked away out in the open.
The loft was one big open space that overlooked the living room. Skylights let in the moon and stars. They shone down on a bar with stools. A big-screen TV was at one end, with comfortable lounge chairs and beanbags in front of it. Old-school video games and pinball machines lined the wall, but those weren’t what she was going for.
Brody went behind the bar and got himself another beer. ‘Want anything?’
‘I’m good.’
He took a drink and set the bottle on the bar. ‘All right, lady’s choice.’
She looked around the room as if she hadn’t already made up her mind. Finally, she settled on the machine they’d passed first on the way in. ‘Is that a darts game?’
He nodded. ‘Want to play?’
Oh, did she. ‘Teach me?’
She watched with interest as he turned the game on. It played a jaunty little tune, and he punched in directions to pull up the games. ‘Which game? 301? Around the Clock? Cricket?’
‘Ooo, Cricket. I like the sound of that one.’
‘All right.’ He chose darts and handed her a set. ‘How much do you know?’
‘I throw the arrow at the board and try to hit the middle?’
He wobbled his head. ‘Kind of.’
He walked over to the board and held up his three darts. ‘You get three shots per turn. See how each pie-shaped section has numbers? Those are the points you get for landing your dart inside the zone. For Cricket, we’re concentrating on hitting fifteen through twenty, plus the bullseye.’
‘That’s the centre, right?’
His lips twitched. ‘Yes.’
‘And that’s good?’
‘Very.’
‘So how do I win?’
He scratched his head. ‘To close out a zone, you need to hit it three times. If you hit it again, and I haven’t closed it out yet, you get points. Once all the zones are closed out, the player with the most points wins.’
‘That sounds easy enough.’ She weighed the darts in her hand. They had blue tail feathers with lightning bolts. She liked them. ‘And the machine keeps track?’
‘Right up here.’ He pointed. ‘Do you want to go first?’
