Page 19

Story: Ms. Temptation

“Not romantically. One of the jurors had a heart attack, and we had to do CPR. Luckily, hands-only CPR is effective, so I didn’t have to Sleeping Beauty him to keep him alive until we got the AED set up.”

“I’m impressed, Andi, not everyone reacts smoothly in an emergency,” Tamra said.

“I had help,” I admitted before meeting Jimmy’s gaze briefly. “Ty Sheldon is on the jury with me.”

Jimmy’s eyes narrowed. “Ty? Knit Wits Ty?”

I nodded waiting for a tumble of questions, and he pursed his lips before his expression smoothed.

“Well, he’s a good guy to have on your side in an emergency.”

Jimmy’s measured response, minus interrogation had me rushing forward, hoping to cut off any questions.

“He was cool and calm; he helped us save Ted’s life.”

Tamra’s mischievous smile should have warned me. “Too bad you didn’t have to give Ty mouth-to-mouth.”

Jimmy groaned, shooting Tamra a pained look. “I don’t want to think of my sister giving anyone mouth-to-mouth.”

“Jimmy, I’m twenty-nine. Trust me, I’ve done more than that.”

Jimmy looked decidedly uncomfortable. “Yeah, but not with my friends. Knock that shit off. I don’t want to hear about it.”

I arched my brows. “And I didn’t want to see you and Melena going at it in the kitchen when I came over for dinner, but we don’t always get what we want.”

“We’re all adults here. I see Trivia Pete is about to get started. Let me out, and I’ll sign in for our team.” Melena’s soft comment broke up our sibling staring match.

“What about Gina, is she coming tonight?” I asked.

Tamra shook her head. “She texted me that she’s coming down with a migraine and will try to catch us next time.”

“Tell her we miss her and hope she feels better,” I said.

Gina was a great addition when she could join us, but you couldn’t pay me to sit in a noisy bar when I was struggling with an aura or nausea. Migraines sucked. It was just our luck to be down a player. Again.

A subtle buzz ran beneath my skin, raising the hair along my arms. I rubbed them, trying to smooth away the sensation. A quick glance confirmed my suspicion. Ty had arrived. Dressed much like he had for jury duty, he slid into a chair with his team, his back to me.

I bit my lip. It was probably for the best. I’d never hear the end of it from Jimmy if Ty and I hooked up. His broad back and head covered in a baseball cap were far less distracting than if he’d faced me. Watching the wrinkle of concentration in his brows as he considered trivia questions had caused me to miss more than one answer in past games.

Melena returned with our team’s answer sheet, and we sipped at our drinks while Pete finished checking in the other teams.

“Good evening, all. I’m Trivia Pete, your host for tonight’s game.” Pete stood at the front of the room, his mic booming across the crowd of tables. Other nights of the week, you could find him in a Haven polo and jeans, helping behind the bar. But for trivia night, he morphed into his alter ego Trivia Pete with his gray hair slicked back and wearing a tweed jacket with leather arm patches tossed over his usual casual uniform.

“Thank you for joining us at Haven. Please be sure to tip your bartenders and waitstaff. As always, the rules are simple. Complete your sheet and turn it in to me at the end of each round. No cheating by using cell phones. For tonight, you’re a Luddite. The team with the most points wins forty dollars off their tab and the glory of going on the Winner’s Wall.”

He gestured to his whiteboard of champions, listed by week.

Trebek’s Rejects had its fair share of mentions, but the Knit Wits had us beat by one. So close. My pulse picked up as I shared a grin with my table. Our little group may be small, but we had a mighty amount of knowledge between us.

“Last, but not least, the most important of the house rules.” He wiggled his silver brows at the tables of players. “Repeat after me: Even if Trivia Pete is wrong, Trivia Pete isnever wrong.”

I coughed to cover my chuckle as Pete stared first at me, then at Ty’s table. Had the house rule been instituted after a particularly heated debate between Ty and I over the accuracy of Pete’s ruling that snakes killed more humans than mosquitos? Maybe.

Okay, yes.

But I couldn’t help it if I was competitive. And anyone who’d played sports professionally was bound to be just as committed to winning. I shifted in my seat, thinking about how my pulse had pounded as we stood, almost touching, arguing over who was right. Pete had threatened to hose us down, but we’d only subsided when he claimed he’d dock both of our teams points if we didn’t accept his ruling.

“Triboluminescence, which occurs as sugar crystals within candy are fractured by chewing, is common in what popular candy?” Trivia Pete’s dramatic pause as he read the first question made me smile. He went hard for big Trebek energy.