She nearly missed her turn.
Clover played aggressively, dropping a tile that lockedtwo tracks and forced Honey to change direction. Ethan kept his moves subtle—quietly advancing, never revealing just how close he was to the hub.
Honey laid each tile down slowly. Her heart thudded in her ears.
Then Ethan started winning.
A flawless Wild bridge. A matching loop that should have collapsed but didn’t. Honey’s own moves became little more than ways to keep from blocking him.
Then, he placed a one doublet in a dead-end slot. A mistake.
He let out a soft sound of disappointment.
“Well, damn,” an onlooker said under his breath.
She placed her hand on top of his, intending to tell him she was sorry.
But when he caught her eye…
Ethan Hale winked.
And that’s when she realized what he was doing. The taps on her leg weren’t nerves. They’d been counts. Track counts. He’d been mapping the entire shifting layout in his head.
She pressed her lips together to keep from smiling. It was wrong, technically. And gods help her, she found it maddeningly attractive.
Ethan’s last move slid into place, a perfect run into the hub.
Clover blinked once, slowly. “Well. Look at you.”
“Guess I had a good run,” he said mildly.
Clover narrowed her eyes. “You sure you want to know?” she asked, directing the question to Ethan but looking at Honey.
“I do,” he said immediately.
After scrutinizing him for a beat, Clover stood from herseat and leaned across the table to whisper something into Ethan’s ear.
He didn’t flinch.
Just gave a single nod, like he’d been expecting it.
Before Honey could ask what it was—or anything else at all—Ethan pushed his chair back and rose smoothly. He downed the rest of his tea in a single swallow, then stepped behind her.
He took her hand in his.
“Let’s get out of here,” he murmured.
Chapter 24
Honey
It might’ve been the short-circuit from the stack of code violations she’d just chosen to ignore, or maybe it was the punch-drunk feeling from the enchanted tea still humming through her bloodstream. Whatever the reason, Honey’s heart pounded against her ribs, and she couldn’t seem to stop grinning.
They came to a stop beside Ethan’s truck, and she turned to look at him. She knew he was a kind soul, rough around the edges, but kind through and through. But now, layered on top of all, that was something new.
A tile counting logistician. A calculating, scheming man with a brilliantly organized mind. She should be upset that he used it to cheat, but for some reason, she couldn’t find any negative feelings toward him right then. All she felt was awe.
“You cheated,” she said, a little breathless.
