Better Than You (The Walker Family Series Book 3) Read Online Free PDF

gone with nude to complement her smoky eye shadow, the effects of which would be lost in the dark interior of the alley – and took a deep breath. Here went nothing.
    The place was one of those loud bowling/arcade combos, a staff member stationed at the door to snap a plastic over-twenty-one bracelet around her wrist. The lighting was poor and the thumping music competed with the electronic chimes and kids’ shouts over in the arcade, but despite the chaos, Mike was easy to find. His height and the width of his shoulders made the other guys sitting at the bar with him look like children.
    As she stared at his back, thinking about leaving, he turned to survey the room and spotted her. He waved. And she had to admit his big Captain America smile was cute, if nothing else.
    You’ve lost your mind , she told herself, and walked over to meet him.
    “Hey.” He did not, thankfully, get up to give her one of those little date hugs strangers gave each other. He slid a frosted mug in front of her when she climbed onto the empty s tool beside him. “I got you a beer.”
    She glanced sideways at him; he was in jeans and a navy long-sleeved t-shirt. Much more casual than she was.
    “It’s a light beer.” He gave her the up-down look. “Wow, you really dressed up.”
    She tugged at the hem of her black sleeveless dress with an unhappy half-smile. She was in tights and knee-high boots, her long wool military coat. She’d spent a half hour sorting through outfits. “If I’d known we were bowling…” She let it hang, his sheepish smile signaling he knew she was unhappy.
    “Honestly, I didn’t think you’d come if I told you what we were doing.”
    Her reply died in her throat; he was right. “Yeah.”
    “It won’t matter.” H e slid off his stool, beer in hand. “Come on. Nobody ever said you couldn’t wear a little black dress with red clown shoes.”
    Even pissed off about her wardrobe, Delta almost smiled. She didn’t, but she kind of wanted to.
     

 
     
     
     
     
    4.
     
    T he girl was seriously kicking his ass. The effect of her second-skin black dress was compromised by the bowling shoes, but only a little. It softened her just the smallest touch, made her seem less intimidating, but clearly she didn’t believe in playing the helpless female on a first date.
    Mike watched her toe up to the line and turn her ball loose with a long, smooth, practiced motion. She’d bowled before: enough to be proficient. The ball went right down the middle of the lane and clipped the two pins left standing from her first throw, giving her a spare to put up alongside her three strikes.
    “If I’d known this,” he said as she returned to her seat. “I would’ve taken you on a more traditional date.”
    “Oh, so it’s a ‘date’ now?” She gave him the eyebrow lift as she settled back in her plastic chair and snitched one of his onion rings off the fold-out table between them. “I thought it was just dinner.” She’d loosened up, and he didn’t know if that was the beer, or if she was actually having a good time.
    “You can’t have dinner in a bowling alley.”
    She reached for another onion ring, dabbing at the grease on her bottom lip with a manicured finger. He thought she might have been holding back a smile. “So you lied to me then.”
    “Misled you. Very different.”
    “Uh-huh. You’re up.”
    “Don’t eat all my onion rings while I go make a fool of myself.”
    “No promises.”
     
    **
     
    Delta never drank beer. She never ate onion rings and hot dogs. She never hooked her knees over the arm of her chair in a public place while wearing a dress. She also never had fun on dates. It scared her to think it, but when she stopped sighing and rolling her eyes, when she got a little beer in her, Michael – Mike – was maybe…sort of…perhaps a little bit fun. If she admitted it. Which she hated to. But hey, she was drinking Bud Light and eating deep fried grease and bowling . It was such a shock