Josie took the bottle of beer from the cute bartender, ensuring she made eye contact. “Thanks.”

He smiled and gave her a nod. She read the gleam of interest in his eyes. “No problem. Any time.”

She could have continued the flirtation, but her heart just wasn’t in it. She gave him another smile anyway and shoved her lime down to the bottom of the bottle. She took a swig, relishing the tang of the cool liquid on the back of her throat. It was her third beer tonight, when her normal limit was two. She was feeling bored, and a little reckless.

The bar was getting crowded. The thump of dance music reverberated in her belly and at the base of her throat. She scanned the row of low benches against the railing that separated the bar area from the dance floor. Her heart jumped, as it always did lately, when she saw the tall, broad-shouldered man clad in the tight, gray t-shirt and jeans. She finished her beer in four gulps, and to her own surprise, called for another.

The man sitting almost directly across from her had a wide mouth with full lips that looked like they could drive a woman to her knees with one kiss. Dark, laughing eyes. Smooth, perfectly shaped ears boasting a gold hoop in each lobe. He’d shaved his dark hair close to his scalp, and though it wasn’t a look she normally liked in her men, on him it worked.

He saw her looking, and his lips curved into a slow, sexy smile that made her shift against the bar and take another drink. He ran his tongue over his lips in an exaggerated swipe and blew her a kiss. Josie couldn’t help it. She laughed. Shaking her head, she left the bar and crossed to the bench.

“Jack, you’re insane.”

Jack took Josie’s hand and pulled her down to his lap as she tried to edge by him. His breath whispered on her ear as he said, “Which one did you pick out for yourself tonight?”

Josie ducked her head away from his tickling mouth and elbowed him until he let her slide from his lap to the seat beside him. “None. But I’m sure you have half a dozen picked out already.”

His low, deep chuckle was loud enough to turn the head of the pretty blonde standing across from them at the bar. Her eyes took in Jack from head to toe, and the woman practically licked her lips. Jack slid his arm across Josie’s shoulder and lifted his chin toward the blonde, who returned the gesture with a smirk of her own. Her gaze flickered over Josie, apparently dismissing her as no threat, and then she earned ten points for Jack with her next move.

“There it is,” Jack murmured. He bent close to Josie’s ear again. His voice was so deep it sounded like thunder, even when he whispered. “The hair toss. I get ten points.”

Josie had to lift the bottle to her mouth to hide the grin. “I’ll bet you those ten her next move is the buckle adjustment.”

“I’ll take that bet.” Jack’s fingers ran slowly along Josie’s arm, along the back of her neck and rested there. “I think she’s going for the olive suck.”

Josie and Jack had been coming to The Hardware Bar for years to play The Game. The rules were simple.
They each got points for predicting which tactics members of the opposite sex would use to flirt with them. Additional points were gained by being given phone numbers, being asked to dance, being bought a drink, being asked to go home—all without using any of the common flirting moves. They’d started The Game because Josie had become so adept at being able to tell how far women would go to gain Jack’s attention. Jack, who since childhood had never allowed Josie to best him in anything, had taken up the challenge.

They usually arrived together, but they didn’t always leave together. There’d been many times Jack had won The Game simply by default—he’d chosen to take some hottie’s offer of breakfast in the morning, while Josie had preferred to head home by herself, wash the smoke out of her hair and slip into her quiet bed, alone.

The Game had seen them through high school, college, heartaches, and lost jobs. Tonight was the first time they’d played in about a year—since before Josie began dating Barry. The relationship had soured, as they always seemed to do, and had put a bad taste in her mouth toward men. Jack had insisted playing The Game would cheer her up. She wasn’t convinced.

Now Jack’s thigh pressed intimately against Josie’s. His hand still cupped her neck. They watched together as the blonde at the bar set down her drink, then, with a discreet glance to make certain she still had Jack’s attention, she bent to toy with the buckle of her stiletto heeled shoe. The move caused her mini-skirt to ride even further up her tanned thigh, exposing just the hint of lacy underwear. She straightened, apparently satisfied with her shoe, and turned her back on Jack and Josie.

Jack threw back his head and groaned. Josie poked his chest. “That’s your cue to go up to her. And that’s my ten points.”

As Josie spoke, the blonde turned, drink in hand, and lifted the toothpick-speared olive from her martini to her perfectly glossed lips. She closed her mouth around the olive and pulled it slowly off the pick in a gesture so seductive it was almost a parody of itself.

“There!” Jack said.

“Too late,” Josie countered. “She did the shoe thing first. Go get her.”

Jack leaned back and put his arm over Josie’s shoulder again. His fingers stroked the wispy hairs at the back of her neck. He shrugged. “Nah.”

After a few minutes, the blonde gave Jack another sultry look, which he didn’t catch because he was too busy checking out the dance floor. Josie watched the blonde frown, then glance over her again. The woman’s gaze took in Jack’s casually draped hand, and the way it toyed now and then with one of Josie’s dangling earrings. She arched her eyebrows and said something to her companion, an equally predatory looking brunette. Both women turned to stare at Josie, who by now had shivers running up and down her spine from Jack’s hand playing with her earring.

“Stop it.” She slapped at his hand. “You’re driving me nuts.”

He stopped touching the dangling silver chain at her ear and moved his arm. The blonde and her friend had moved off toward the dance floor. “Hey, we lost her.”

“You lost her.” Josie inched over on the crowded bench, ignoring the way the guy next to her seemed to take it as an excuse to fix a beer-bleary smile on her. “You took too long. She lost interest.”

Jack looked behind her to the dance floor again. One of his large hands splayed unconsciously against the chest of his tight gray t-shirt. His fingers tapped in time to the beat.

“Yeah, I guess,” he said absent-mindedly. “Hey, Josie, let’s go dance.”

“Yeah?” she asked, surprised. “You’re tired of The Game already?”

Jack’s grin was hot enough to melt butter. He leaned forward so close she smelled the mint of his gum mixed with the spicy, musky scent of his cologne. “Why? You got somebody picked out?”

His smell had suddenly become more intoxicating than the beer she’d been sipping. Josie swallowed against a dry throat. She pulled away, again bumping the man beside her.

“Not really,” she said.

Jack gave her a puzzled look. “You all right?”

She wasn’t all right, but Josie didn’t tell him that. “Fine. Let’s dance.”