Taivon: Book Three of the Cantrell Brothers Series

Chapter Fifteen

“Yes, please.”

After handing out the colorful bills, she rolled the dice. Taivon followed shortly after. He got the higher number, so he went first. Soon, they were going all around the board, with him as the banker and her as the property manager.

When he went to jail, she laughed; and when she had to donate money to charity, he did the same. She drank her coffee. He sipped at his fat-free smoothie. The contrasts between them were something that had her smiling from time to time, even when he got Boardwalk.

“Damn it,” she muttered. If he got Park Place, then she was royally screwed.

“Isn't this fun?”

Sticking her tongue out at him, Alix rolled for her turn and prayed that she'd get the green places. Of course, that didn't happen. The only properties she had to her name were the railroads and the orange ones.

“Do you have a strategy for this, too?”

He grinned. “What do ya mean? It's Monopoly. You go for Boardwalk and Park Place, and that's about all there is to it. Houses and hotels don't hurt, either.”

“I know that.”

“Then what do ya mean?”

“I don't know,” she mumbled and watched as he rolled, large hands cupping and then dropping the cubes. “I think I'm just waiting to play a game where I can actually win.”

“We can do Battleship. Or checkers.”

The way he said it made him once again sound like a young child. She could barely even remember the last time she'd done Battleship. Her brothers, Leona and Collin, had absolutely loved the game and had forced her and Mabel to pick sides. Alix had been okay at it. Not the best, but maybe able to stand a chance against the formidable Taivon.

“After this.”

They played for a good hour, and he did, just as she'd feared, obtain Park Place. He had the hotels on there, and when she landed, Alix didn't even bothering asking if she could go into debt. He had the greens and the yellow properties, as well, which made defeat inevitable.

When the game was all packed away, she wove in and out of the other occupied tables and placed the box back in the large stand. Most of the other games were all meant for more than two player, or they were three-dimensional puzzles. Although she had a sinking suspicion that Taivon had picked Battleship on purpose, she still took the box and set it back down on their table. She went back for a Rubik's cube and then was back in a second.

“Good choice,” he told her.

“The Rubik's cube or battleship?”

“Both.”

She took the Battleship boards from the box and set them out. “Pretty sure I'm gonna regret this.”

“I'll make it worth your while.”

Alix didn't know if he meant the words in that innuendo way that she took a lot of things, but she looked up at him all the same. His eyes didn't meet hers, instead, just looking at his battleship platform that was shielded from her view. He was more interested in the game than the thoughts that could spiral from those words. She wanted to crush him in a giant hug.

“You can go first,” he said.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, ma'am.”

“This'll come back to bite me in the ass, won't it?” she asked.

He raised an eyebrow. “Depends on how you play.”