Chapter Seven

Lincoln let his gaze travel over the crowded barcade. This place was awesome. When Marie and Kenneth had suggested getting out tonight to show him some of the city’s highlights, he expected they’d go to some hipster bar, knowing his friends’ taste. But he hadn’t expected to find an establishment that combined two of his favorite things: beer and arcade games. Even if it was a little hipstery.

Where he lived in Nebraska, they had bars, sure, but they were your standard-type watering holes: booze, table and chairs, dartboard on the wall, maybe a jukebox in the corner. Not a one of them had this—a wall of pinball machines that made Lincoln’s fingers itch with the need to slide a shiny silver quarter in the slot and take out all his stress by whacking a tiny metal ball over and over.

The bells and whistles of the various games ringing out winning and losing chimes made his lips curve in a grin.

“Told you he’d like it, babe,” Kenneth said from behind him.

Marie squeezed his arm. “Why don’t we grab a drink? Then you can go hog wild, Mr. Pinball Wizard.”

He chuckled at the nickname he’d been given in college. He was known around campus to relieve the stress of finals week by challenging anyone in the student lounge to a pinball competition. And winning. Lincoln wasn’t one to brag, but, okay, yeah, he’d brag about his pinball skills, because they were awesome.

They made their way up to the bar, pushing through the crowd to finally find a spot. Kenneth nodded to the bartender, who seemed to recognize him. In less than ten minutes, he and Kenneth had a couple of beers while Marie had a Shirley Temple.

Lincoln took a long pull from his stout, following Kenneth and Marie away from the crowded bar and to a small table near the back. From here, he could see the entire room. The lighting was dim, as with most bars, but the bright, flashing lights of the various arcade games lit up the place with bright yellows, blues, and reds. As he glanced around the room, his eyes fell on a familiar face.

He leaned over to speak loudly in his friends’ ears over the din: “Is that Mo and Lilly?”

He pointed to the side wall, which housed all the pinball machines, where two women stood, one short with blond hair streaked with blue and one tall with silky dark brown hair falling down her back, eyes focused on the game in front of her as she racked up the points on the scoreboard in a fairly impressive number.

Lilly Walsh was a pinball player? Damned if the woman didn’t get more and more enticing with each thing he learned about her.

“What?” Kenneth squinted to see where Lincoln was pointing. “Oh, yeah, that’s them. Mo loves this place. In fact, we found out about their wedding planning business because they’re friends with Kip, the bartender.”

“Ooooh, giant Jenga just freed up!” Marie exclaimed. “Lincoln, go see if Mo and Lilly want to join us for a game.”

A grin tilted his lips. “You got it, Marie.”

He stood, making his way through the throng of people. As he approached the women, their backs to him, both focusing on the ball, he watched as Lilly finessed the game with a skill that rivaled his own.

The woman was good. The thought made him smile. His ex hated his obsession with arcade games. Jessa always said they were immature; she’d never be caught dead playing anything beyond rummy or solitaire. Sophisticated adult games.

Whatever the hell that meant. What made a deck of cards more sophisticated than a complex arcade machine?

Lilly growled in frustration, slamming her hand against the glass top of the pinball machine. “Dammit! I was only a thousand points away from a high score.”

Clearing his throat, he stepped closer so as to be heard above the pinging of the machines.

“Impressive score, Ms. Walsh.”

Lilly and Mo turned as one to face him, a very different expression on each woman’s face. They both appeared surprised to see him there, but Mo’s face morphed into happy excitement while Lilly’s eyes widened right before she scowled at him.

“Seriously?” She threw her hands up in the air, frustration clearly etched on every beautiful inch of her face.

“Sorry.” He grinned. “Were you expecting someone else?”

“I was expecting to play my game in peace, without being interrupted by the reason…”

“The reason for what?” He tilted his head, curious why his presence here seemed to bother her so much.

“Yeah,” Mo said, a cheeky grin on her face. “By the reason for what exactly, Lil?”

He watched in fascination as the two women seemed to have an entire conversation with nothing more than their eyes. There might have been some lowly muttered words, but the place was really loud and Lincoln couldn’t pick anything up. Though he thought he caught Mo say the word “relax.”

Lilly sighed, pasting on a ridiculously fake smile and turning to him. “What brings you to 1up tonight?”

He smiled, in no way fooled by her false sense of cheer.

“Kenneth and Marie wanted to show me some of their favorite spots in the city.” He turned slightly, pointing back and to the left. “They’re over there playing giant Jenga. Marie wanted to know if you two would like to join us for a game.”

Mo hopped up and down. “Ooooh, I love giant Jenga. Count me in!”

“Uh, Mo, don’t you think—?”

But Mo ran off before Lilly could finish, tossing Lincoln a wink over her shoulder as she left.

He liked Mo, but not as much as he liked the woman standing in front of him with a frustrated little frown pulling at her lips.

“You in?”

She bit her lip. A lip he vividly remembered nibbling on himself. His body tightened with need, every muscle tensing with anticipation. Calm down, man. The woman made it pretty clear she didn’t want to get in bed with him again. Actually, she made it clear they shouldn’t go to bed together again. Judging by the heated look in her eyes, what she wanted and what she’d allow herself were two very different things.

But he would never push her into anything she might regret later, so he motioned to the machine behind her.

“Or we could play this?”

At that, her eyes widened in surprise. “You play pinball?”

He snorted. “No. Other people play pinball. I dominate pinball.”

A disbelieving laugh escaped her lips. “Really? Wanna bet?”

“Depends on what we’re betting for.” He bobbed his eyebrows in an overly comical manner.

Lilly laughed, shaking her head. “How about bragging rights?”

Not what his first choice would be, but he got her to laugh again, so he’d call it a win and agreed, motioning to the pinball machine with a wave of his hand. “Ladies first.”

Lilly grabbed another quarter from her pocket and put it in the machine, starting a new game.

Lincoln watched, enthralled with the skill she used to coax the ball exactly where she wanted it to go. Her fingers deftly worked the flipper buttons to send the ball flying up the ramps to fall back down and hit every single sensor on the game, sending her score sailing into the high hundreds of thousands.

He whistled. “Not bad. You’re good.”

“Thanks,” she said, focus never leaving the game. “And don’t try to distract me with any of your corny pirate jokes.”

He grinned, unable to resist the gauntlet she’d just thrown down. “Don’t worry about that. I’ve traded in my pirate jokes for more meaningful pursuits. As a matter of fact, right now I’m reading a fascinating book about gravity.” He paused for dramatic effect before leaning in close and saying, “It’s impossible to put down.”

Lilly bent over the machine, laughter bursting out of her, the last silver ball rolling down the ramp past her flippers, ending her turn. Turning to face him, she took a moment to control herself, but her lips were curved in a wide, beautiful smile as she pointed a finger at him accusingly.

“You cheated.”

“Hey.” He held up his hands in surrender. “Technically it wasn’t a pirate joke.”

Rolling her eyes, she gave him a tiny shove. “Your turn, funny man.”

Lincoln stepped up to the game, fishing a quarter out of his pocket and sliding it into the coin slot. He worked the machine, following the ball with a keen eye, fingers light and ready on the flapper buttons. It took him his first two balls and a couple thousand in score to get the feel of the game, but once he did, Lincoln was in the zone.

“Impressive, Mr. Reid.”

Lilly’s softly whispered words in his ear sent a shiver up his spine, hardening a part of his anatomy thankfully hidden by the large metal gaming equipment in front of him.

“Now who’s cheating?” he tossed over his shoulder. Honestly, he didn’t mind her method of distraction. If he thought for one minute her little breathy come-on was real, he’d tank this game so fast—but as much as he wished, he knew Lilly still had an issue with picking up where they left off. So he kept his attention on the game, 100 percent.

The warm feel of her arm pressed against him as she leaned over his shoulder to watch him play…

Okay, 75 percent.

After ten excruciating minutes trying to concentrate on the game while the woman he wanted more than his next breath did her best to distract him simply by existing, he glanced up at his score. Not his highest by any means, but a solid ten thousand over Lilly’s. He figured that was good enough and let his final ball sink.

“Dang,” Lilly muttered as he turned to face her. “You are good.”

“Yeah, I didn’t have a lot of friends in middle school, but we did have a pinball machine in the basement of our house. Spent a lot of time with that thing.” It was his safe place, that pinball machine.

A sad light entered her eyes as she stared at him. “You didn’t have friends?”

He shrugged, uncomfortable with the sympathy in her gaze. He didn’t need it. Yeah, maybe he’d been a lonely kid growing up, but he had Kenneth and Marie now. “I was an übernerd. Really into computers and gaming. All the other kids were into sports and stuff. Not really my scene. How about you?”

She scrunched her nose, pushing her glasses up with a finger when they slipped down. “I was my high school’s varsity volleyball captain two years in a row. I can’t say I’m into gaming other than pinball.”

He chuckled, in no way surprised that the slightly uptight Lilly wasn’t a gamer. “Are you telling me you don’t play D&D? Pathfinder? The Settlers of Catan? Small World? Smash Up? You never had LAN parties with computer geeks as a kid?”

Her head tilted as she gave him a droll stare. “I have no idea what any of those things are, but no, none of them really sound up my alley.”

“At least we have pinball.” He gave her a wink. “Wanna play again?” He motioned to the game.

She shook her head. “No way can I beat that score.”

He smiled. “I told you it was my game.”

“True, but aren’t you supposed to let your date win?”

His eyes widened, hopeful warmth radiating through his chest. “Is this a date?”

“What? No!” Panic erased all the joy from her face as she glanced over at Mo, who stood laughing with Kenneth and Marie as the giant wooden blocks wobbled in the wonky tower on the table between them. Damn, he hadn’t meant to make her feel uncomfortable.

“I was kidding, Lilly.” Kind of. Sort of. Not really, but if it made her feel better, he could pretend.

A sad, wistful glint entered her eyes. “I didn’t mean… We can’t… I don’t date clients. I told you that.”

She had, but he did feel the need to remind her, “You did, and I told you I’m not your client.”

“But I also said I don’t date members of the wedding party. It’s just…it’s not good for business.”

Hmm, the way she said that… He wondered if there was a story behind her decision. No. He didn’t wonder that. He shouldn’t, because the more he learned about Lilly Walsh, the more he liked her. And lusting after her was fine, but liking her? That could fall into dangerous relationship territory, and Lincoln did not want to risk that heartache. Not again.

Having fun was one thing. Caring was quite another.

Lilly turned her head back to their friends. “Maybe we should go check in with the others?”

Yeah, that might be for the best. He liked hanging out with Lilly, and that could turn into a problem. If they weren’t on the same page about what they wanted? Well, that was a recipe for disaster, and no way would he do anything to negatively impact Kenneth and Marie’s special day.

He smiled, stepping back to give her and himself plenty of room. Touching her again was a bad idea right now. So instead he grabbed his drink from the side table where he set it before his game and motioned for her to lead the way. “Sure. Let’s go.”

As they turned, someone jostled her from behind. She stumbled, and Lincoln reached out, catching her arm before she fell but not before she spilled half her drink all over her shirt.

“Dammit!” She pulled the wet, sticky material away from her chest.

“You okay?” Anger burned in his gut as he glanced over the crowd for whoever bumped her. He knew the place was crowded and a lot of people were a few drinks in, but damn, people needed to be more careful.

“I’m fine. It was an accident.”

“Do you want another drink?”

She shook her head, a sigh falling from her lips. “No. But I wish I had a dry shirt.”

Without saying a word, he set down his beer and peeled his long-sleeved sweater up and over his head, handing her the dark blue garment.

“Do you have to be chivalrous and sexy?” she groused, snatching up the offered sweater.

He let out a soft, confused laugh. “Sorry?”

“I don’t believe that for a second. Go.” She motioned to where the others stood playing giant Jenga. “I’m going to change, and then I’ll meet you.”

He nodded, making his way over to the table but keeping an eye on her as she entered the bathroom. Lilly Walsh was a conundrum he couldn’t figure out. Probably best for him if he didn’t, but damned if he wanted to anyway.