Page 56 of Mountain Void

The team exploded in laughter.

“Your woman is smart, Lorenz,” somebody said.

Charlie tensed, wondering if she should correct them, but Lorenz was faster.

“She is,” he said, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.

Something in Charlie’s chest tightened—again. She wondered if she’d ever get used to these somersaults.

“Ignore them,” Tess said, stepping in beside her. “Ignore all of them. Especially him.” She jerked her chin towards Lorenz. “He’s the one who’ll make your pulse do strange things.”

Charlie huffed a quiet laugh.

Tess took one of the darts and placed it back between Charlie’s fingers, adjusting her grip with quick, confident movements.

“Not too tight,” she said. “Darts don’t want to be crushed. They want to be held gently.”

Charlie nodded, relaxing her grip.

“Lift your elbow. Not too much—just like that. And now, just look at where you want it to go. Don’t think about anything else.”

Charlie drew in a breath, and threw.

The dart struck the board with a satisfying thud.

Yes.

Not bullseye, but close enough to draw a murmur of approval.

“Not bad.”

“Impressive.”

Charlie stepped back, smiling. “Thank you, Tess.”

Tess beamed back. “Next, I’ll teach you to spin.”

“No helping the competition, Tess,” Ry complained.

“It’s my birthday,” Tess replied. “I can do anything I like.”

The rest of the game went quickly. Lorenz was good—though nowhere near as good as Tess. And Ry—Ry couldn’t hit the target to save his life. Scores were called, argued, then abandoned. Eventually, they lost track of the score completely.

Charlie stood in the middle of it all. She knew she should, by all rights, feel like an outsider—here, in this group of people who behaved more like family than friends—but she felt like part of them. She’d been accepted as part of them.

Lorenz’s woman.

She’d been Lorenz’s woman once.

She had to stop lying to herself.

She wanted nothing more than to be Lorenz’s woman again.

He looked at her between throws, and there was something in his expression …

“Let’s call it a tie,” somebody eventually said.

“A tie it is,” Lorenz agreed easily. “Charlie and I need to get going.”