Catching Whitney by Amy Hale Read Free Book Online Page B

interrupts my thoughts. “Are you afraid they’ll come back to attack you?” I can hear the laughter in his tone.
    I turn, pointing one of the metal tips at his nose. “No, but I am concerned that my next throw might be the one that sends someone to the emergency room.” I hand him the remaining darts. “Here, you do it.”
    He shakes his head but takes my place in front of the balloons. His first throw lands just left of a large red balloon. I smile a bit, feeling justified that it’s not just me. He throws again and this time the dart lands between two blue and green balloons. This time, I don’t even try to hide my grin.
    “Not so easy, huh?” I’m secretly happy that either we both suck at darts, or the game is rigged so we both look like we suck. Either way, I’m not alone in my suckage.
    He gives me a wink, then turns back to the balloons. He takes an extra moment to adjust his aim and then throws. The dart hits a bright pink balloon, and the resulting pop almost makes me jump. I obviously didn’t expect him to hit something.
    He points to a small yellow duck. “I’ll take that one.”
    The game operator hands him his prize, and I mentally concede that he’s pretty damn cute when he wins something. I don’t want to admit that to myself, let alone out loud, but the thought is already there. He turns and hands the duck to me.
    “Oh no. I can’t take that. You won it. Give it to Caleb.”
    He pushes the duck in my direction again. “Nah, Caleb doesn’t like ducks. Besides, I won them with your darts, so it’s your prize. I just helped.”
    “Oh, well, thank you then.” I accept the cute furry squeak toy and look it over. I don’t know what I’ll do with it, but it’s adorable. Maybe it’ll look cute on my desk. Sure, Whitney. Put it on your desk, so you can look at it often and think about Aidan when you need to be concentrating. Brilliant idea. Okay, so maybe not on my desk.
    It’s small enough that it fits in the front pocket of my jeans, so I slip it in and look expectantly at Aidan. “Now what?”
    He looks around. “Did I see a ball throwing game somewhere?”
    I nod and point down the midway. “I believe it’s over there.”
    He grabs my hand and pulls me alongside him while we maneuver through the crowd of people between us and the game he’s searching for. I notice a few familiar faces as we pass and they take a noted interest in our joined hands. I smile weakly as I’m being propelled forward, praying they don’t read anything into the relationship that isn’t there. We stop in front of a black and white striped booth that was made to resemble and old baseball uniform. There are pictures of baseball legends in various places inside the walls and in the middle there are targets similar to those of a dunk tank. In this game, the player is expected to hit the target a minimum of three times to win a small prize. Hitting the target all five times results in a large prize.
    Aidan smiles at me. “This almost isn’t fair. I probably shouldn’t play.”
    “You’re probably right. You’d be too good at it, and they’d accuse you of cheating.” I manage to keep a straight face while I drown my words in sarcasm.
    “Oh, you don’t think I can do it, huh?”
    “I’m sure you can hit it all three times, but all five? I don’t know.”
    His growing smirk is full of mischief. “Let’s bet on it. If I win, you have to go through the fun house with me. If you win, I owe you dinner.” He hands the game operator some money.
    Without thinking, I blurt out, “You’re on.” This is when my brain reminds me that he used to be a semi-pro ball player. This is a bad idea.
    As he’s preparing to throw the first ball, I place my hand on his arm. “Wait. What position did you play in the minors?”
    He shrugs. “Oh, I was just the pitcher.”
    “Great. I should probably have insisted on a blindfold then. I think you are taking advantage of me here.”
    He laughs. “Hey, you agreed. No