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“I gather we’re playing volleyball?”
A huge smile on her face, her head bobbed up and down. “Next game starts in a couple of minutes.”
“Who’s playing?” People he assumed were more family had begun to position themselves on the sand-covered squares.
A sweet chuckle tickled his eardrums. “We are. It’s the over thirties verses the under thirties. We’re counting on you to be in better shape than the rest of us overs.”
“So, I’m supposed to be the ringer?”
Her chuckle bloomed into a full fledged laugh. “Smart man.”
The overs and unders were already lined up on the court, ready for battle. Daniel picked up the volleyball and tossed it lightly in the air a few times getting a feel for it. He hadn’t played in over a decade—hopefully, like riding a bicycle, it wouldn’t matter. On a deep breath, he served the ball. Their point.
“You’re good at this.” Paige smiled over at him.
He smiled. “I might know a thing or two.” He served again and this time the other team hit the ball back.
“Paige set.”
Using her fingertips, Paige hit the ball straight into the air. Daniel jumped, spiking the ball just past Siobhan. The feisty redhead pointed with two fingers to her eyes and then turned them to point back at him.
This was proving to be more fun than he’d expected when he’d been invited to a family barbecue. Daniel served again and Paige let out a loud whoop. This time Siobhan spiked it past Paige. They lost the serve.
Holding the ball in her hand and glancing over the net and back, Siobhan served the ball right to Daniel, gleefully shouting, “In your face!”
Daniel laughed so hard he almost missed digging back over the net.
“Take that!” Paige shouted to her kid sister.
A friendly war of words went back and forth as often as the ball. Despite the competitive streak that ran strong in the Baron gene pool, this was a family who clearly loved each other. Having more money than Croesus hadn’t made the Barons much different than the Duprees. He’d only grown up with one sibling, and even though the four of them were pretty tight when it came to hockey, he couldn’t help but think, if he’d grown up with a passel of siblings, his family most likely would have been very much like this. Who’d have guessed, such very different families and lifestyles, and yet, not that different at all.
The day had been one heated game after another. If Daniel hadn’t once upon a time been a professional hockey player, she doubted he would have been able to not only keep up, but manage to show off a time or two. So far he’d risen to every challenge presented to him. Next was cornhole.
Paige smiled up at him. “Have you playedthisbefore?”
“I’m familiar with it.” Daniel smiled. “But my youth was spent mostly with a stick in my hand. I wouldn’t go placing any wagers on my pitching skills.”
“Would you have said the same about volleyball?” Her eyes flashed with humor.
All he said was, “Touché.”
“All right then.” She spun around and pointed to the boards set up several feet away. “One point for a bag on the board. Three points if the bag goes in the hole.”
Daniel hefted the bean bag in his hand. “Got it.”
“I’ll be on your team.”
Siobhan shook her head. “No way. Paige is a champ. I call girls against boys.”
“How fair would that be?” As much as she would love to trounce the men, a part of her wanted to spend as much time with Daniel as possible. She didn’t analyze it. She didn’t over think it. She simply wanted to go for it. “This way everything will balance out in the end.”
Siobhan frowned. “I don’t know. I smell a ringer.”
Set up at her side, Daniel studied the distance to the boards and the weight of the bags as if he were calculating sending a rocket to the moon. His brows knit together and his eyes narrowed. It was the most serious Paige had ever seen him.
“Any year now!” Siobhan called from the other board.
His gaze swung to her, and he flashed a sizzling smile. “I can’t let my teammate down.”
