Page 40 of Risk It All
“Hit.” She scowled at him. “On the first try?”
“I’m good at shooting games.”
“This isn’t really considered a shooting game.” Although she considered herself to be a good sport, she couldn’t help but pout a little as she inserted the red peg into one of the holes in her destroyer.
“Well, then I’m good at shooting games and Battleship.”
“Humph.” Her eyes narrowed as she thought. Now she really wanted to win. “J-ten.”
“Miss. A-two.”
“Hit.” She grumbled under her breath as she inserted the peg in the second, and last, hole. “Sunk.”
Even though his expression stayed as stony as usual, smugness positively radiated off him as he put a red peg in the top of the game board.
“You’re trying to punish me for making you play a game, aren’t you?”
A small smile appeared for a microsecond—just a tiny flicker before his typical scowl returned—but it was enough to warm her insides and erase all her annoyance at losing her destroyer so quickly. When it only took four more turns for him to find her submarine, however, all that irritation returned in a hurry.
“How have I still not found any of yours?” she grumped. “C-eight.”
His eyebrows bunched together. “Hit.”
Her hand, which had already been reaching for yet another white peg indicating a miss, paused. “Are you serious?”
His crabby look was answer enough, and she gave a victorious whoop as she grabbed a red peg. It didn’t even sting as badly when his next guess hit the middle of her sub.
“C-nine,” she guessed, unable to hold back a grin. She wasn’t winning, or even close, but it was fun to finally find one of his ships.
“Miss.”
That took the wind out of her sails a little, but she was still hopeful, even when his next turn sank her submarine.
It took only two more turns for him to stumble onto her battleship, but she almost didn’t care, since her next guess had to be a hit. “B-eight.”
“Miss.”
“Wait…what?” She stared at the top of her board. With the latest miss, the single red peg was completely surrounded by white ones. “That’s impossible.”
“No, it’s not. You missed.”
“I can’t have missed. There aren’t any ships with only one hole.” When he lifted one shoulder in a shrug, she narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re cheating!”
“Am not.” He widened his eyes in what she thought was supposed to be an innocent look, but it just emphasized the devilish glint as he ever so casually reached for his board. She popped up as quickly as she could, needing to see his ship arrangement before he could fix things.
All of his ships were clustered in a corner, nowhere near where she’d managed to get a hit. “Did youmovethem?” she demanded.
“Well, sure.”
She blinked, not having expected him to just admit it outright. “You’re not allowed to just move them.”
“Why not? Real ships can move.”
“But—”
“If a ship’s taking fire, you’re just expecting it to sit in the same place, waiting to be sunk?” He tsked. “Not in my navy.”
A laugh sputtered out of her. “In this game, the rules say you can’t move them after you start, not unless you’re a Cheaty McCheaterface.” She reached over and grabbed one of his ships, intending to put it back where it’d been when she’d hit it, but he caught her hand and tried to retrieve it.
