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Finding two open machines, Jupiter breathed a sigh of relief at his subject change and swiped her card. “Prove it.”
Rubble mirrored the act, sending the balls rolling toward him. “Oh, I intend to.”
Before Jupiter could read into any of his words, the timer started and they both tossed balls up the alley to the targets. When she sunk a ball in the highest point circle, she whooped and glanced at Rubble. Despite being a big, bad biker at all other times, he suddenly looked like an average guy as he tossed the heavy balls, hitting their mark every time. Jupiter’s mouth dropped open.
“Better get going, Quinn, or I’m gonna kick your ass,” Rubble teased lightly.
Snapping back into action, she rushed against the clock. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been to an arcade. The competitive kid in her was quickly coming to the surface. It felt good to be so carefree.
When the buzzer went off, they stepped back and watched the machine calculate the scores. Rubble nudged her arm with his elbow.
“Don’t worry, I won’t hold you to the bet.”
“What bet?”
He wiggled his brows at her, and she rolled her eyes, recalling his earlier statement about sex. “Keep dreaming.”
“Oh, I do.”
The final score flashed on the screen and Jupiter scrunched her nose. Rubble had beat her by three hundred points.
“All right, smartass, I guess you are good at this game.” She slid the game card in her back pocket, surveying the rest of the arcade. “But what about that one?”
Rubble followed her pointed finger. “The racing ones?”
She started walking backwards toward them. “Yup.”
“The motorcycle racing games?”
Suddenly seeing her mistake, she laughed. “All right, probably not a good choice.”
“What about some basketball?” Rubble looked her over. “You’ve probably got some hoops in ya.”
“Oh, yeah. Point guard in junior high.” They reached the hoops. She adored how easily they got along. His tough charade disappeared around her. “I was the best if I do say so myself.”
Rubble rolled his shoulders back and forth, feigning preparation for a big match. “All right, but this one’s for a bet.”
“Fine, what’s the bet?”
He swiped his card and four basketballs rolled toward him. “Loser owes the winner a kiss.”
She waited for the hoop to reset. “Seems kind of steep. More like an overall winner kind of bet.”
“Not like we haven’t kissed before.” Rubble twirled a basketball on his middle finger, spinning Jupiter’s axis right alongside it. “But I can work with that.”
“Show off.”
He leaned over and lowered his voice. “You have no idea.”
Jupiter’s nipples hardened at the insinuation. She met his playful gaze and he winked at her. If she didn’t already find him attractive, this bantering side of him would reel her in.
“You’re going down.”
“Not yet, but soon enough if you play your cards right.”
Her mouth gaped and he laughed as the timer started. “Are you always this crass?”
Rubble sunk the first shot. “Usually, yeah.”
