“I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Unease suddenly curls in my belly.
“You’re gonna be tired tomorrow.”
“What?”
He doesn’t respond with words. He kisses me again and then does other things to me, which means neither of us falls asleep until the sun is already brightening the sky.
“I don’t think I understand this game at all,” I mumble as I watch Owen playing Fortnite. Isaac giggles from my side, where he’s digging into a bag of Cheetos and smiling, his adorable mouth covered in orange dust. It’s been three hours of them playing this game, and although I consider myself up to date on most things, I don’t get the appeal of this at all. “I think we need a change of venue,” I announce while I get off the couch. “You.” I point at Isaac. “Wash your face. And you.” I look at Owen. “Turn off the game.”
“But—” Owen starts, glancing between the TV and me.
I cut him off before he can start complaining. “We’re going to Dave & Buster’s. I have the urge to kick both your butts and finally redeem myself as the all-time champion of Jurassic Park and Zombie Apocalypse.”
“Right on!” Isaac jumps up off the couch, sending the bag of Cheetos on his lap to the floor, and he starts to clean up the mess.
“Heck yeah!” Owen gets up and shuts off the game without saving what he’s accomplished in the last few hours. “We’re so gonna kick your butt,” he announces with a smug smile.
“We’ll see, kid, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up. Clean up so we can go.”
I leave the living room and grab my phone from the kitchen. Tyler said he’d be here for dinner, so I want to let him know dinner will now be at Dave & Buster’s. Video games, burgers, fries, and fun is my idea of the perfect night.
Me: Change of plans. Heading to Dave & Busters with the boys.
Not even a minute after I send the text, he replies.
Tyler: See you there, baby.
I smile at my phone. I get dressed, since I’m in my lounge clothes, then get on my shoes and coat before grabbing my purse and ushering the two boys into my car.
“Kill them all!” I shout at the screen as Isaac and I attempt for the fifth time in a row to beat the level we’re on in Zombie Apocalypse.
“Shoot him, shoot him!” he yells back as a zombie stumbles toward me. I don’t get in a kill shot, and my side of the screen goes red as the zombie takes me out.
“My turn.” Owen slides his card through the reader, and I get out of the small enclosed booth and hand him my gun. He and his brother start shouting at each other, and I shout along with them and cheer them on. When a hand wraps around my stomach, I jump and look behind me.
“Hey, baby.” Tyler. Tyler—looking as handsome as ever, wearing a backward baseball cap and a smile. “It took me forever to find you in this chaos.” His lips brush over mine. “Tried to call, but you didn’t pick up.”
“We’re killing zombies.”
“I see that,” he says, smiling at the boys, who are still yelling at the game. “Have you guys eaten yet?” He looks down at me.
“We’ve been waiting on you.” I turn around to face him. “How was work?”
“Work.” He presses his lips to my forehead, and I smile.
“After this game, we’ll find a table.”
“Before I get a chance to kick your ass? I think not, baby.” He pulls out a card from his pocket, holding it between two fingers, and I swear I feel myself fall in love with him in that instant. I haven’t met a guy before who’s cool with hanging out at an arcade and acting like a kid.
“As if you could.” I smile up at him, and his eyes roam my face before they drop to my smiling lips.
“So gonna take you out.” He kisses me. It’s not soft; it’s wet and deep and filled with a million different things that make me hope I’m not wrong about him.
When he pulls his mouth from mine, I’m breathing heavily, but I still have it in me to be sassy. “You are not kicking my butt. I’m the champion.”
“We’ll see.” He grins at me before he wraps his arm around my shoulders and leans into the enclosed booth where Isaac and Owen are. “When you two are done, I’m going to show your aunt how to be a gracious loser.”
Both boys glance at him with smiles; then they both start to shout about me getting my butt kicked by Tyler as they’re killed off in the game.
“Slide your card!” I shout at Isaac a while later as I pull back on the trigger of the plastic gun.
“It doesn’t have any more money!” he shouts back frantically as he taps the machine, trying to get it to work.