Stepping away from her, I said, “The next game requires a bit more skill, so I think we need to up the stakes.”
“Yeah?” came out in a dreamy tone that I liked—a lot.
“Wait here.”
I dragged myself away from changing the bet and giving her a kiss for every point she’d outscored me. Instead, I headed for the end zone where I’d set up the ultimate glow-in-the-dark game. Running from post to post, I turned on the lights for glow-in-the-dark Zber my parents had given me for my birthday last year. As I set it up, that thought about extra kisses took up residence in my head. By the time every post and ball was lit up in a rainbow of neon color, I’d decided to up the ante considerably.
Eyeing the end zone, which was now lit up like some kind of shimmering neon obstacle course, Chessly asked, “What are we playing now?”
“Zber.” I handed her a brightly lit lime-green disc. Noting the consternation on her face, I said, “It’s a kind of frisbee-golf game. You score points for hitting the posts or for knocking off the balls sitting on top of them.”
With a sage nod, she said, “Good thing you’re a lineman and not a quarterback.”
“Why is that?”
“Because I have a chance against you in this game.”
I cleared my throat. “Did you or did you not just kick my ass at cornhole?”
She laughed. “My dad’s in a league. He likes to practice with me in the back yard in the summer.”
“Huh. Funny you didn’t mention that before we started.”
Her alto laughter rippled through me. “Looks like you’re going to get even with this game.”
With my lips next to her ear, I whispered, “I plan to get ahead.”
She returned a narrow-eyed challenge, and my body tightened in anticipation of the game—and the stakes.
“We’ll make this one more interesting, yeah? For every post you hit, I give you a kiss. For every ball I knock off, you give me two kisses.”
“What if I knock the ball off the post?”
“I’ll give you three kisses.”
A tiny smile played over her mouth. “Challenge accepted. You go first.”
Not knowing if Chess had even thrown a disc before, I’d set up the course in a wide zig-zag so we wouldn’t have to make fancy throws around posts. I’d also made it fairly short because even though I could fling a frisbee for almost the width of the end zone, I doubted my date could. After the shellacking she’d given me in cornhole, however, I had to consider the flaws in my strategy.
Loosely gripping my glowing blue disc, I took aim at the first “hole,” a post about ten yards from the sideline starting point, and let my disc fly. It rapped against the post with enough force to send the neon-purple golf ball resting atop it for a ride.
“That will be two kisses, please,” I said.
“Nuh-uh-uh. You hit the post, not the ball.” She planted her hands on her hips. “And you accused me of cheating at cornhole.” Then she pushed up on her toes and left a soft kiss in the hollow of my throat. When she stepped back, her eyes glittered up at me.
Swallowing hard, I said, “Your turn.” I led her to the next touchline and stepped aside as she lined up her shot.
Her disc skimmed the top of the ball without hitting either the ball or the post, leaving an open shot for me. Taking careful aim, I let my disc go, knocking the ball from its post with the frisbee itself rather than its momentum.
“This time there are no technicalities. You owe me two kisses.”
My mouth tingled with the desire to have her lips on mine, but with the way the games had gone so far, that wasn’t in the cards—yet. My body hummed in anticipation of where she would decide to kiss me though.
Reaching up, she palmed my cheeks and tugged me down to her level. Then she planted one soft kiss on my eyebrow and another in the middle of my chin.
A chuckle bubbled out of me at her antics as she stepped away to retrieve her disc. Again, I let her go first, and this time she dialed in on the post, her disc giving it a tap for a point, but not enough to knock off the golf ball resting on it. Following her lead, I buried my nose in the sweet scent of her behind her ear and trailed the tip of it down the side of her neck and across her collarbone, stopping at the hollow of her throat where I planted an open-mouthed kiss. A tiny moan escaped her, and when I stepped back, my heart sped up at the desire darkening her stunning sapphire eyes.
After that my throw was a bit wobbly, but it still managed to hit the mark, sending the glowing white golf ball flying with the disc.
