“Do you want to go again?” I asked eagerly, knowing we could reserve the stall again. “You didn’t throw much.”
Kardok shrugged and scooped up my empty beer glass. “I had more fun teaching you. Talking to you.” His gaze dropped to my lips. “Kissing you.”
I grinned. “Then let’s go someplace where we can…talkmore.”
From the way he pulled me up against his side, he knew exactly what I’d meant when I’d saidtalk.
“You up for more beer? Or do you want to go someplace fancier?”
I could feel my brows draw in as I glanced around. “I thought this place was great. Do you want to just go hang out at the bar?” I nodded to the bar across from the sign-in counter.
But Kardok was leading me toward the door. “This is my neck of the woods, remember?” Oh, that’s right—he said this place was right next to his apartment, hadn’t he? “There’s a dive next door that’s one of our favorites.”
A dive bar? I’d never actually been to one, but tonight—after the axe-throwing, after the kisses—I was feeling like I could tackle anything. So I slid my hand into the back pocket of his jeans. “Lead the way.”
As soon as we stepped out into the Colorado evening, I could feel the difference in the air.
“Storms rolling in,” Kardok grunted. “Luckily, we don’t have far to go.”
He was right; the bar was much closer than the parking spot he’d managed to snag earlier, and it was easy to duck inside.
The air was thick with the scent of alcohol and sweat, and I had to admit that I was genuinely impressed by how sticky the floor was. It was like no place I’d been before, and frankly, I wasthrilledto be here tonight.
With Kardok.
If there was someone I wanted to introduce me to things likejaeger bombsand darts, I wanted it to be him.
Fifteen minutes later, I was squeezed next to him in a booth along one of the walls, a glass of something sticky-sweet held in both my hands. His arm was around my shoulders, his posture slouched as he used his beer to point out the regulars. He was telling me a story about something stupid his brothers had done when I twisted in my seat so I could peer up at him.
From this angle, I could see his old scars on his jaw, and I wanted to stretch up and kiss them. To take away the old pain.
But if I did that, I would take away part of what made himKardok, and I couldn’t do that.
He glanced down at me. “What are you thinking about?”
I’d already had too much to drink; I knew it. That waswhy I blurted, “You,” so confidently, and when one of his brows twitched, I explained, “How hot you are.”
His lids lowered seductively, along with his chin. “You think I’m hot?” he murmured.
Could he not tell from the way I’d kissed him? My tongue ran over my lip as I began to blush and retreated. “Of course. That’s your thing, right? Being the hottest one on the team?”
A moment, as if he wasn’t sure how to take that response, then he chuckled slightly and lifted his beer.
“Are you looking forward to it?” I asked. “Getting back to practices with the whole team? The season starting?”
I wasn’t. Because when that happened, it would mean that the exhibition would be done.
Kardok took his time answering, staring down into the amber foam in his cup. “I do miss working with the guys. I don’t know…” He winced. “I guess I have to earn their forgiveness.”
I frowned. “Forgiveness? For that last game?”
“Yeah.” He glanced at me. “And don’t give me some bullshit about not needing forgiveness. Just the fact that you knew what I was talking about proves it.”
I sipped my drink—was it supposed to be purple?—while I considered how to ask him what needed to be asked. “You…in that last game, you made a penalty. It was one you’ve made a hundred times before.” He’d hit a little too hard protecting one of his teammates.
“But I made it with two minutes left in a playoff game, which meant that with me in the box, my team had toplay a male down for the rest of the game. And they couldn’t hold out the entire time.”
The Crimson Crushers had a power play our team just couldn’t kill. The memory of Kardok’s howl of rage and pain from the penalty box—as he realized what he’d caused—still made me shiver.
