Page 103 of A Rancher's Love

“Me, mischievous?” Ginny laughed out loud, scrambling off his lap and settling on the coffee table in front of him. “Well, maybe. Now open it.”

Everyone had stopped what they were doing to come watch. Tucker shrugged and unwrapped the box.

Inside was a face mask with green light panels and a water pistol that was too heavy and shiny to be for water. “Oh my God, really?”

Luke clapped his hands and used an announcer voice to be heard over the chatting. “I challenge all of you, but especially Tucker, to the ultimate laser-tag birthday throw down.”

“May the best birthday boy win,” Ginny added.

“Or at least die with their boots on,” Caleb offered.

Chaos reigned for the next few minutes as Luke explained the rules—three lives, hits would register on the gun or facemask, masks on at all times—then everyone who wanted a try with the laser guns reached into a bag to pull out a number with the order for play.

Julia’s husband, Zach, did something to the TV, and suddenly there was a split screen showing three different views of a strangely lit place that looked vaguely familiar.

“Is that yourbasement?” Tucker asked.

Luke nodded, slipping head gear onto his forehead and pointing toward the stairs. “We stapled cardboard to the bare wall studs, so it’s more of a maze than a basement right now. But don’t lean too hard on anything or you’ll break through, and that’s not going to be pretty.”

Tucker shook his head in disbelief. He had wanted to play laser tag forever. So damn awesome.

“You are going down,” he said conversationally to Luke. “Just so you know.”

Luke threw back his head and yowled evilly before offering Tucker a death stare. “Bring it.”

Tucker raised one brow.

His friend snickered. “Okay, everyone not playing this round, sit and enjoy the show.”

Round one began. In addition to Tucker and Luke, there were four more players—Dustin, Josiah, Karen Coleman and Tansy Fields.

At the bottom of the stairs, Tucker paused to admire the amount of work that had gone into the set up. Three different sized openings led into the basement proper. Music rose around them to a hard, pounding beat that would cover any noises. On a microphone so he was clearly audible, Zach’s voice carried on the air. “Team one—Karen, Tucker, Josiah. Face masks in place, then enter the maze now.”

The three of them saluted each other, then slipped into the semi-darkness.

Tucker’s heart pounded, and he was pretty damn sure his cheeks were going to hurt from grinning so hard. His laser gun had three bright green stripes along the barrel, and a green glow shone from his head.

So. No shooting green teammates. Got it.

He stepped carefully, turning corners and wiggling through narrow passages. He backed into a side alcove in the hopes it would allow him to hide.

Zach’s voice sounded again. “Team two, face masks in place. There is a green ring and a red ring in the maze. Find your team’s ring and return to base to win extra glory. Team two, enter the maze now.”

Shit. Tucker hadn’t been listening hard enough before. The ‘find a thing and bring it back’ was unexpected. It meant he couldn’t simply sit there and wait for the enemy to come to him.

He inched out of his hiding spot reluctantly, desperately trying to separate out the sounds of music from the potential danger of—

His gun hand lit up, and a high-pitchedzapsounded. He’d been hit from the left. Tucker spun and shot at the same time, accidentally aiming far too low to hit anything.

Except Luke was on his hands and knees, and Tucker’s rapid fire hit him three times in a row and his red lights died instantly.

“Well, damn,” Luke said with a laugh, then he sprawled dramatically and shook with mock death throes.

Tucker chuckled but saluted his friend before inching farther into the maze.

Three corners later he got caught in the crossfire between Josiah and Dustin, and Tansy and Karen. When the music went down and the lights went up, the only one still standing was Karen.

She lifted the gun to her lips and blew across the opening before grinning.