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“I bet I could if I tried,” Luc said.
“Please don’t.” She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling, and that was all that mattered to him.
“Okay, we have two frames left in this game. I’m totally winning, and pretty close to a perfect game, except for that one split. The question is, do you want to play a third game?”
Kassie thought for a moment. “Considering you won the first game and are going to win the second, I think we’re done. No need to prolong my losing streak.” She looked at her watch. “Plus, I’m sure you have better things to do than this.”
Did she really think he had better things to do with his day off than spend it with her? She was crazy. The next two frames were all strikes, while hers were a seven–ten split and a nine.
“Good game, O’Conner,” Luc said, as he changed out of his bowling shoes.
A heavy sigh preceded her words. “Please don’t call me that. I know it’s a guy thing, but let’s not do that. Okay?”
He knew it had nothing to do with it being a guy thing and had everything to do with him bringing up that she was an O’Conner. “All right, sweets. Join me for some pizza and beer?” He pointed to the bowling alley bar.
She looked back and forth from him to the bar. “Um…”
“Come on, what? Do you have something better than pizza and beer planned?”
She flipped her hair off her shoulders with a bit of an attitude. “Well, I don’t drink beer.”
“Pretty sure they have wine coolers. Or Jack and Coke. So, what do you say?” She was already thinking about it; he could see it in her eyes. He didn’t have to say another word to try to convince her; all he had to do was wait.
“I… uh.” Kassie picked her sweater up and seemed to be debating whether to put it on. She looked at him, pausing while she bit at her bottom lip, then glanced at the scoreboard. A small grin spread across her lips. “Seeing how you won, I think it’d be okay if you bought me dinner.”
Luc nodded, enjoying the humor of her words. She wanted to play. He could play. “Sure. Let me buy you dinner.” He put his hand out for her to take it.
Kassie shook her head and held up her shoes. “I have to go turn in my shoes.”
Luc decided not to argue, but grabbed his shoes and headed towards the shoe counter, not looking back. He knew she was right behind him. He handed over his rentals and tipped the kid behind the counter. Moving aside, he waited for Kassie. She returned her shoes and made a point not to look at him, even though he stood staring at her.
When she turned away from the counter, he held his hand out to her again. “Shall we?”
Kassie looked at his hand and back up at him. She didn’t say anything, but slid her sweater back over her head. She adjusted the sweater, tugging the hem around her waist. Then, with her scarf in one hand, she took his with the other.
Luc worked hard not to flinch with surprise when she took his hand. He was shocked that she didn’t blow him off yet again. Without saying a word, he tried to stay in stride with her as they walked to the bar, her soft skin against his.
“You like pepperoni on your pizza?”
“Is there any other topping for a classic pizza?” Kassie answered. Her lips curled up into a smirk.
“Mushroom?” He could play this game with her all night.
“You know I am serious about my pizza, right? I don’t have time for ridiculous garnishes such as pineapple or bacon bits that masquerade as pizza toppers.”
“Garnishes? I should’ve known you’d be serious about your pizza.” He regretted the words as soon as they came out of his mouth. Bringing up that she was an O’Conner had already proved to be a bad idea. “My dad is like that about his beer. He won’t touch an IPA with a ten-foot pole.”
“There’s a table over there by the jukebox. Is that okay?” She pulled him towards the table.
Jukebox, a girl after my own heart. “Works for me.” He nodded to the jukebox after pushing in her chair. “Mind if I play something?”
Kassie shrugged and shook her head.
He played the first rock ’n’ roll song he found. Returning to the table, he bobbed his head and played a little air guitar to the heavy beat. It got a smile out of her, and that was all he wanted.
“I take my rock ’n’ roll quite seriously.” Luc flashed a smile in the hopes of lightening the mood after the pizza comment. They didn’t need to talk about her last name.
“Pizza and rock ’n’ roll. That works,” Kassie said.
