“Anyway, who said you’re going to win?” I move my knight to f3.
“No one.” Quinn moves his bishop one space to b7. “But on the off chance I do, that would be my prize.”
“And what would my prize be if I win?” I move my first pawn forward.
Quinn shrugs. “That’s up to you to decide.” He moves his knight again, slotting into the space vacated by one of his pawns.
“A kiss.”
Quinn smiles. “Huh. Maybe I should throw the game.”
“If you did, it wouldn’t be a challenge.” I move my bishop one space.
“If you want to win, you should try harder.” He jumps his knight out of its hiding place to block one of my pawns.
I glare at the board. I want to win a kiss, but my mind is in turmoil after my conversation with Beau and Fraser. Quinn’s right. I have to focus and try harder. With both my knight and bishop out of the way, I’m free to make a castling move, where I move my castle and my king one space toward each other and then switch them around. It puts my king in a more defensible position.
Quinn meets my stare. “Interesting.”
I don’t ask why as he moves a pawn to c5, which puts it in a position to take one of mine. Similarly, I could take his. I realise he’s sacrificing his pawn to open up his bishop to come after my knight. I doubt he will, though, as I would be able to use my bishop to take his in my next move. I decide to leave my knight where it is and move my other one to c3. Quinn raises his eyebrows a fraction as he stares at the board. Sometimes, when playing chess, it would be handy to read my opponent’s thoughts, although I suppose that would be considered cheating. After a couple of minutes, he takes my pawn. I’m not sure why it took him so long to make that decision. Then again, he’s probably planning out several moves in advance, at least in theory. I take his pawn, moving my knight out of danger from his bishop. I’m feeling good about my chances again. Maybe I’ll win that kiss after all.
“Preston, Beau, and Fraser are at work. Where’s everyone else?” Quinn asks.
“I think you’re mistaking me for Theo. He’s the one who keeps tabs on everyone. Why do you want to know?”
He glances up. “If you win, there’s every chance one of our housemates would walk in while you’re claiming your prize. Thank you.”
I’m about to ask him why he’s thanking me when he takes the knight I’d moved with his own. I walked straight into that trap. “Would it be a bad thing if someone walked in?”
“I don’t know. You tell me.”
His knight is ripe for the taking by my queen. Annoyed at losing two pieces to a trap, I remove his knight from the board. “Our housemates like to meddle and gossip.”
“Yes, but they’ll do that anyway.” He moves his bishop so it’s adjacent to my queen.
I stare at the board. I could take his bishop on my next move, but I’d lose my queen. If I don’t take the bait, I’d lose my queen anyway and be in checkmate as I have no other pieces that could stop his bishop. While I could continue playing, it’s clear that Quinn has had the upper hand from the start in this game.
“I resign.”
“Are you sure?”
“Completely.” I knock my king over. “That was awful.”
“You were distracted. Want to talk about it?”
“Would it make me a sore loser if I said no?”
“No.” He stands, walks around the table, and kisses me softly.
“I didn’t win”
“No, but you’ll win a game at some point.” Still leaning down, he looks into my eyes. “I don’t care if everyone knows you took me out on a date or that you’re going to take me out again or that I like kissing you.”
I push my chair out and tug him onto my lap. “You like kissing me?”
“Yes. Lots.”
I crash my lips against his and give him the fierce, skin-tingling kiss I’d longed to give him the night before, one with clashing teeth and caressing tongues.
