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At my grin, Mark said, “He’s not the only one who seems to be enjoying himself. Is this place everything you thought it would be?”
“It’s amazing.” I sighed.
He chuckled then glanced around with a clearly dubious crinkle to his eyes. “If you say so.”
“Okay, so, honestly, this place is a breeding ground for germs. I think I saw that kid sneeze on the controller for the one video game and keep right on playing. My shoes stick to the floor in some places, and it smells weirdly like ice cream, pizza, and diapers combined with baby powder, but look how happy everyone is. All these families just enjoying being with each other. I love it.”
He kept his gaze on me, the warmth filling his eyes making a new wave of happiness flow through me. “I’m glad you’re having a good time, baby bear.”
Sucking down the last of my drink, I released his hand and stood. “I need to use the restroom. When I get back, do you want to play some air hockey?”
“Sure. You any good?”
I pretended to buff my nails on my dress. “Well, I don’t want to brag or anything, but we did have an air hockey table in our game room while I was growing up. And I may have played a couple thousand games with my dad. He’s super competitive.”
He sat back in his chair, lacing his fingers over his trim stomach with a smug look. “What a coincidence. We also happened to have an air hockey table in our basement when I was a kid, and my dad is also super competitive.”
Placing both hands on the table, I leaned forward, so we were almost face to face. “Well, then, it looks like we have an epic tournament ahead of us. As you likely realize, any actual tournament needs a prize.”
Mark gave me a smirk that was so sexy, my panties would have caught fire—if I was wearing any.
“Winner gets to pick out the next outfit.”
I grinned. “You’re on.”
He leaned forward as if to kiss me, but then a child shrieked like a wounded dolphin caught in a giant mousetrap nearby.
We both winced, so I pretended to plug my ears as I mock-yelled, “Be right back.”
“Sorry, can’t hear you. Gone deaf. Try again tomorrow,” Mark said.
We both winced as the child screamed again in either joy or abject terror.
Vali rose to follow me, but I pointed at Mark. “Vali, stay. Mark, I don’t like to bring him into public bathrooms, not if I can help it. They’re so nasty, and I hate to think of those germs crawling around in his fur. And I have a feeling this place’s bathrooms will be someplace I don’t want Vali standing on”
Mark nodded and patted his knee. Vali gave me a longing look, but he laid his head down on Mark’s thigh. Right away, Mark began to massage Vali’s head, and my dog closed his eyes in bliss. From behind me, a group of people started to sing Happy Birthday, and I had to dodge a group of employees carrying a cake lit up with sparklers.
As I wound my way through tables, pausing now and again to stand still as a hyped-up kid darted past me to the game area, I felt a little uneasy. Not enough to have me make a run for the front door, but so loud my ears began to hurt.
I wondered how the employees hadn’t gone deaf after working here for more than a week.
The corridor leading to the bathrooms was a long one, and by the time I reached the end near a pair of emergency doors, my head rang.
As the bathroom door swung open, the scent of cleaning chemicals nearly overwhelmed me. I wrinkled my nose as I went into the big, white room with bright orange and blue stalls.
It was somewhat clean, with only a few pieces of toilet paper on the ground here and there. After taking care of business, I washed my hands at the sink, dousing them with soap. The handle to the bathroom door had been mysteriously sticky, and I didn’t want to think about what I’d touched.
Another one of the stalls opened, and I glanced up, unaware I wasn’t the only one in there.
A second later, a woman in black leggings and a long black t-shirt joined me at the bank of sinks. A pretty brunette, she wore oddly oversized glasses and sported a sparkling diamond bracelet with stones the size of my pinkie. After turning on the water, I caught her staring at me in the mirror. A quick glance at myself showed my makeup intact, and I didn’t have any pizza sauce on my face or anything like that.
“All you had to do was stay away. I thought you’d get the hint after I burned your house down. You disappeared and I was sure you were smart enough to leave Mark alone. But no, you had to push me. Had to touch what’s mine.”
