Free Guardian Angel by Leanne Banks

bearings.
    Trace gave Robby a quarter. “Wait a minute, Robby. It looks like somebody else is playing right now.”
    Watching Robby’s face fall, Talia quickly said, “There’s room. Four can play at the same time.”
    Robby immediately raced on to the game, Trace following him.
    Talia went to the change machine, her mind racing a mile a minute. Every instinct she possessed screamed out warnings when Trace came around. Perhaps she could bribe Jason to leave, she thought without hope.
    When she returned to the Reptile game, she was all set to haul Jason away.
    â€œFancy meeting you here,” Trace said.
    â€œUh-huh,” she said in a noncommittal voice, then tapped Jason on the shoulder. “Jason, you’ve been playing this game since we got here. Don’t you want to try something else?” He gave her an uninterested glance, and she looked around the arcade. “How about Ghostbusters? Or the simulated jet flight? What about Skee-ball? I love Skee-ball,” she finished a little desperately.
    Jason regarded her solemnly. “Talia, if you don’t like this game, I won’t make you play. You can play Skee-ball and I’ll stay right here.”
    He said it as if he were giving her permission, and she pursed her lips to keep from laughing. But when she heard the male chuckle behind her, she did laugh, over the whole situation. She’d spent the entire week trying not even to think about Trace, and here he was in the flesh, in a video arcade.
    Jason and Robby seemed to be getting along wonderfully, she thought. It really wouldn’t be nice to separate them. So it looked like she was stuck with three gorgeous males for the evening. Perhaps she could pretend that her history with the Barringers didn’t exist. By his easy manner, she concluded that Trace hadn’t learned about Kevin and Philip yet. And considering their two chaperones, it wasn’t as if anything could happen between Trace and herself.
    â€œSkee-ball or Ghostbusters?” he asked, holding out his hand.
    Talia shoved the past behind her like dirt under the carpet. It was still there, but out of sight. She smiled and took his hand. “Skee-ball.”
    Several minutes later, Trace shook his head at all the coupons Talia had accumulated. “At this rate, the only way I’m going to be able to get Robby that stuffed animal he saw in the prize window is if I buy it.”
    â€œBuy it!” Talia exclaimed. “I can’t believe you’d stoop so low. Every kid in here would be laughing up his sleeve if he saw you buy one of the prizes.”
    Trace grinned at her tone of horror. She finished up another game of Skee-ball, and he shook his head again, but this time at the view. The woman had the sweetest backside that encouraged all kinds of thoughts about things he’d rather be doing with her than playing Skee-ball.
    Combing a hand through his hair, he promised himself the time would come. When she turned around and waved her coupons at him, he just barely stopped himself from kissing her.
    â€œOkay, smarty-pants,” he said, “just how do you suggest I get enough coupons?”
    She shook her head sadly. “Trace, Trace. I can only conclude that you’ve led a horribly deprived life. If you knew anything about arcades, you’d know Ghostbusters is the only way to go if you need a lot of coupons.”
    She glanced at the boys, then asked, “How many do you need?”
    â€œThree hundred.”
    She winced. “We’d better get started.”
    He hooked his arm through hers, eager for any closeness he could get. “So you’ll help me?”
    She looked surprised by the question. “Of course,” she said, and squeezed his arm.
    It was a little thing, but it stole another piece of his heart.
    They checked on the boys a few times, but spent the next half hour busting ghosts with a light gun.
    Seeing her like this made Trace even more