Page 96 of Beyond Rosy Irish Twilight

“Who gets to be the banker?”

“Most tellers are women…” he started.

“If this is some sexist comment—”

He held up his hands, backpedaling quickly. “Men can be tellers too.”

“Then you’re the banker. Who gets to be the car?”

“Well, I usually drive places—” At my glare, he quickly corrected, “which is why I definitely don’t want to be the car. I’ll be the dog.”

“Good, and there’s just one more thing. You’re not allowed to buy Boardwalk.”

I could have laughed at the way his jaw clenched in anger. “I didn’t agree to let you win.”

“Hey, I’m just setting boundaries for us. It’s only fair.”

“It’s cheating,” he grumbled.

“I’m using what I have to my advantage,” I grinned. “That being that you don’t want to piss me off now that you’ve apologized for overreacting to me.”

“Yeah, we’re going to have a talk about that one of these days.”

I giggled as I sat back with my coffee. “So, when are we going to play?”

“When I drive to the store and get the game.”

“You mean all that was for nothing?” I asked incredulously.

He shrugged. “It was good for me. How about you?”

I was about to yell at him for being a jerk when the door opened behind me. Asher stepped out looking just as handsome as ever. It really wasn’t fair that he pulled it off so smoothly. I had to spend hours in the bathroom to feel half as good as he looked.

“There you are,” Asher said as he walked outside. He bent over and gave me a swift kiss on the lips, then sat beside me. “I was wondering where you were.”

“We were just deciding on what board game to play. But then Patrick informed me we don’t actually have Monopoly.”

“Monopoly? I kick your ass at that game every time. Didn’t I tell you not to invest in the light blue ones?”

“They’re cheap,” he argued.

“They also don’t bring in jack shit for money,” Asher shot back as he took a seat beside me.

“You know, I don’t have to take this. How do you know I’m not purposely losing to feed your ego?”

Asher rolled his eyes at Patrick. “Yeah, that really did it for me. I won Monopoly and suddenly feel like a king.”

“I’m just saying, my father never played those games with me. It’s not fair to hold it against me.”

“Oh,” I frowned, watching his sad face. “I’m sorry about that.”

“Don’t be,” Asher said casually, snatching my coffee right out of my hands. “His father banned him from playing Monopoly because he was such a bad loser. In fact, I believe most board games were banned.”

I snapped my gaze in Patrick’s direction. “You’re banned from playing Monopoly?”

“Hey, it’s not my fault that my sisters always cheated. He just didn’t want to see it because they were his little princesses that could do no wrong.”

I watched him, trying my best not to laugh. It wasn’t funny. It was…so wrong. He narrowed his eyes when my lips started to twitch.

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