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Tim Bradford was unable to recall the last time he smiled so much or had such fun. He took the helmet off his head and saw that Lucy Chen was in equally high spirits as well. Even though half of her hair had fallen out of her previously perfect braid and there was a smattering of various colors all over her, the way she grinned wildly so much so that the beaming sun above paled in comparison made him think for the first time that she was pretty. Perhaps it was not a thought he should have about his rookie, but his brain expressed the thought regardless, and it seemed to be an irrefutable fact.
Lucy tucked some loose locks of her plait behind her ear and said, “Thanks for coming with me, sir.”
“Don’t forget your end of the deal,” he reminded her despite feeling as though he put up too much of a fight when she asked him to join her for a paintball game, and then had too enjoyable of a time to ask her for anything else.
“Yeah, I’ll do all of the paperwork for the next two shifts.”
“I said three.”
“But, I think since you liked playing paintball, it should only be two.”
He rolled his eyes and pretended to be annoyed, but it was a fair bargain. “Fine.”
She returned her equipment to the counter and reached for his to do the same out of habit, then her gaze caught on a flyer posted on the wall. After she read it, she suggested, “We should join a league.”
“What?”
“Look! This one plays twice a month. I think it’d be fun.”
“As long as it doesn’t get in the way of studying, sure, you can do it.”
“No, I think WE should do it together.”
“Seriously?”
“Come on, you have to admit that you liked playing paintball. It’s something different than your boring life outside of work.”
“Maybe I like my boring life outside of work.”
Lucy scoffed. “Even if that were true, this could be fun.” She flashed her most intense, deep brown, pleading eyes, “Please.” For some reason, even though he tended to make her life hell, she loved the idea of doing something with Tim that was not work related, and it was clear both of them could agree on paintball being a great activity for them.
He frowned as he pondered an excuse to accept her proposal to team up and play paintball regularly without sounding like it was something he wanted to do with her. Deep down, he knew that the most alluring aspect of the idea was getting to hang out with someone other than Angela who was starting to understand him and working towards developing a unique shorthand with him. Tim responded, “It could be extra training for you, boot. I’m in.” She clapped happily in response and launched into some long, enthused plan about playing paintball together, and he did not mind at all. Her fast talking yammering usually annoyed him, but for the first time, he quite liked watching her spiral excitedly and only interrupted to say, “We’re not getting matching t shirts.”
“Why not?”
“No one would see them anyways. We have to wear gear over it.”
“But wouldn’t matching shirts for team spirit be really cute?”
“Ask the captain of whatever team we’re joining. I’m sure they’ll say ‘no’,” he said, which made Lucy pout but not as much as when the team captain told her matching shirts were unnecessary after their first game. To cheer her up, Tim pointed out, “We won our first game. We captured the flag.”
“No, I captured the flag,” she corrected him.
“Only because I gave you the cover you needed to get it.”
“Guess this means we make a pretty good team.”
“No, it means I’m training you well,” he lied. In truth, when the paint pellets started flying, the other three members of their paintball team were not the ones he relied on; he looked to her to make a plan and execute it with only a few gestures exchanged between them and their growing ability to work together seamlessly.
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, whatever.”
“This is all part of your training, you know.”
She stopped walking towards their cars in the parking lot, and she shook her head. “It’s not part of my training. No other Training Officer does this with their rookie.”
“Every T.O. handles the job differently.”
Lucy tried not to show her disappointment; she thought that they were becoming friends that shared in the excitement of paint flying at them as they strategized how best to lead their team to victory. She resigned to the fact that they were strong teammates but not friends.
Until the day that Tim did not attend one of their bimonthly paintball games.
She hoped to see him, because for the first time since commencing her rookie year, she had gone more than a few days without interacting with him at all. He was in Georgia for two weeks with the Center for Disease Control (CDC) after being exposed to something toxic on the job. She could have lost him, and he would have spent his final moments in a bedroom alone with her sitting on the other side of the door; she still had nightmares about that day, and Lucy knew if she could see that he was alive and okay, she would feel better, but he did not compete in what was a difficult game and the first one their team lost after Tim and Lucy joined the league. She wanted to give him some grief about how all of her attempts to reach out were ignored, and he only snapped at her, which wounded her despite being soothed by the fact that he was doing well.
Tim internally kicked himself for being rude to her after she explained that her version of what she reported in the paperwork detailing what happened when he was quarantined in that house was meant to protect him. It should not have come as a surprise; partners always protect each other on the job, but Lucy protected him during paintball games, too, when the stakes were much lower than their work on patrol. Yet, she protected him just as fiercely even throwing her body in front of his to take a paintball pellet meant for him. In his guilt, he went to her car at the end of shift to wait for her.
“H-hi,” Lucy said, surprised to see him when she assumed their interactions for the day were over.
“Sorry I missed the game last night,” he apologized.
“We lost. We could’ve used you.”
“I doubt that. You’re always the one that captures the flag.”
“Because I usually have you to cover me.”
“That’s the first time you’ve admitted it.”
She smirked. “And the last.”
“Does that mean you don’t want me to provide cover for you tomorrow night?”
“Our next shift is tomorrow during the day.”
“Yeah, and we’re playing a scrimmage game tomorrow night as a rematch for the paintball game I missed. I already texted the guys.”
“Tomorrow night?”
“Do you have plans?”
“I do,” she replied plainly then a smile began to tug at her lips. “I’ve got a paintball game to win.”
He felt his mouth begin to curve in that easy way only she could manage. “You lost without me.”
“I picked the wrong replacement team member.”
“Who’d you pick?”
“John.”
“John NOLAN? Seriously?”
“He was actually willing to show up.”
“But not willing to put his life on the line for you to get the flag.”
“I’ll pick a better replacement next time.”
“There won’t be a next time. I’m not leaving you to take that kind of fire all on your own again.”
“You better not. I’ve got a bruise the size of a grapefruit on my back right now, and it’s your fault.”
“I’d apologize, but you were the one that picked Nolan as your backup.”
“Only because you left me high and dry, which you’re not gonna do again.”
“Definitely not. I’ll have your back tomorrow night.”
“There’s no one else I would rather have at my six,” she replied fondly.
“Me neither. Good thing we’re friends.”
Lucy’s face transformed into one of utter shock, but before she could even acknowledge that momentous change in their relationship, he began to walk over to his truck. They were friends; whether he would admit it to anyone else or even her ever again, Tim told her they had a friendship, and that was enough to make her walk on air for several shifts regardless of his tough Tim tests, because when they were playing a game of paintball, they were friends and teammates becoming the most powerful duo that had a blast every single time if his constant happiness was any indication. It was night and day; on shift, he scowled, and off shift at the paintball park, he had a fixed grin on his face that she absolutely loved, which she thought she would see on shift after she was named Mid Wilshire Shooting Champ, but he remained perfectly stoic until the next time their league had a game. She motioned for Tim to capture the flag while she drew the competition away. After making two perfect shots at center mass, eliminating their rivals, while he had a chance to take the other team’s banner and wave it victoriously, Lucy boasted as she took her helmet off, “I’m the shooting champ for a reason.”
“You’re too proud of that,” Tim responded while removing his helmet to get a better view of her huge happy smile reserved for their wins.
“Hey, you won money when I earned that title, and we won another paintball game because of my skills. If anything, you should be proud of me.”
“I am proud of you,” he guaranteed softly.
Lucy had so much to say about the fact that he actually, for the first time ever, said he was proud of her, but the rest of the team rushed over to congratulate them, breaking their heavy eye contact, and the moment was over.
Tim was not prepared for the paintball league season to end, especially since her rookie year was nearing its close. Before their final championship game, he said, “Hey, there’s a one month break before the next season starts, and the rest of the team asked if we wanted to be co-captains next season.”
“Co-captains?”
“Yeah, because apparently, we make a really good team.”
“We do,” she agreed. “I-I guess I didn’t expect you to want to sign up for another season.”
“How come?”
“You said joining this league was for my training, and next week, my training is over, and I’m a full fledged P2, so there’s no need to do something else for my training.”
“Even when you’re not a rookie anymore, you can always use more training.”
“Bull,” she shot back, unwilling to allow him to keep lying about how much he enjoyed playing paintball just as she had initially suspected.
He waited stubbornly, hoping she would not force the issue, but she kept her eyebrow quirked and crossed her arms for good measure, so Lucy was not going to back down. Tim sighed in resignation before admitting, “You were right.”
“What was I right about?” She wondered coyly.
He was displeased with her being unrelenting, but there was nothing he could do but tell the truth. “I like paintball, and I want to keep playing.”
“Okay, well, I guess I’ll stay on the team for another season if you really want me to…on one condition.”
Tim took one look at her and could read her mind. “No, we’re not getting matching t shirts.”
“Fine, then you’ll have to find someone to replace me that is just as good of a shot and you can trust just as much to have at your six.”
He knew he would never find anyone else that matched that description, so he had no choice but to honor her request. “Don’t you dare design pink team shirts.”
“What’s wrong with pink? I think it would look nice on everyone.”
Tim rolled his eyes instead of replying.
“Actually, I was thinking tie dye, because, you know, that goes with the whole paintball theme, but there should definitely be some pink on it. I’ll start designing tonight.”
“Let’s focus on our game tonight.”
“I’m so ready to win. You know we get trophies, right? Finally, a trophy! I’ve already got a place to put it on my dresser.”
“You know it’s probably a piece of plastic.”
“Who cares? I love all trophies no matter what.”
“Then let’s go get it for you,” he said confidently and proceeded to play his greatest game of paintball just to ensure she would get her shiny piece of plastic that would make her happy. In the heat of the action, he realized how their dynamic had changed; when they would move together, she would tap him on the back to signal that it was time to start their tandem steps, and when he lead the way for them to scurry to another stack of tires to hide behind, Tim touched her on the small of her back. They had become so comfortable being tactile; he only recognized what their partnership had become after things had changed. By the commencement of the following paintball season when Lucy was no longer his rookie, Tim noticed that there was another change to their dynamic, or rather a change in him.
She gave him one little look that quickly communicated to him that he needed to shoot at their opponents while she sought higher ground.
He slightly nodded and commenced the plan to train his paintball gun on the opposing team while she stayed low, almost crawling across the field, and Tim was not even cognizant of what he was doing until he processed the fact that he was staring at her butt while his aim had never been worse. When he joined her on the hill she had chosen, his mouth had gone dry, and though the shield of the helmet obstructed his view, it was as if he was beholding Lucy for the first time. They won their game, she wore her usual sunny smile in their victory, and once they returned their equipment, all he could see was her and think: wow, she is beautiful. He tucked that thought away safely unless his chest warmed at the end of their successful games. Paintball was the one time he allowed himself to see her in THAT way.
Lucy became dependent on their paintball league, too, and not just because she loved having an excuse to wear cute tie dye shirts that Tim only pretended to hate, but also because it was her only guaranteed time to spend with him. She missed how shifts were when they were together- the coordination, the effortless teamwork, the moments where her entire world was just her and Tim. Their games gave her the chance to have glimpses of that comfortability she had grown accustomed to as his rookie. She craved it. She needed it. She loved it. Even when he asked her to be his aide, because in her mind, he asked, Lucy still valued their special time playing paintball where the usual protocols of work were inconsequential, and all that mattered was that they could rely on their partnership abilities, let loose, and enjoy themselves. The added bonus was that she sensed a shift; his eyes lingered on her a little longer, the smiles he flashed at her were a little brighter, and his voice when he bade her good night after every game was a little lower and richer. No one else would notice, but she did, because she knew him better than anyone else. So perhaps she wore darker lip gloss and paid special attention to how she styled her hair for their next game, and Lucy could never admit to herself why, but she did it hoping to see if he would notice.
Tim thought she looked pretty as usual when she gave him her excited grin she always wore as the anticipation for the thrill of paintball started coursing through her veins. They donned their helmets, and soon enough, it was time to spring into action. He could hear loud splats as paint whooshed around them, but beyond his own heartbeat, he could swear he could hear hers, like everything, down to their pulses, were in time. Surprise fire interrupted their stealth approach towards the opposing team’s flag.
She wanted to protect both of them, so she dropped to the ground and pulled him down with her, then Lucy turned onto her back to return fire just as he climbed over her.
One second, he was trying to shield her with his own body, and the next, he was breathless and looking down into her eyes while his brain completely malfunctioned. Tim glanced at her slightly parted lips and thought how easy it would be to kiss her. How close they were together. How their puffs of breath were already mingling in the air between them. How even in a moment of surprise, he felt confirmation that their hearts were hammering to the same rhythm. Tim knew he was not supposed to kiss her, though, because distantly, in the far reaches of his mind, he was aware he had a girlfriend whose name he could not recall whatsoever let alone remember her face. He saw Lucy beneath him, and that was all he really knew.
“Tim,” she whispered, not really ready for his comfortable weight to be lifted off of her, but having the wherewithal to recognize that they where in the middle of a game, and they were close to winning. “Do you want to capture it or should I?”
“Hmm?” He hummed, confused.
“The flag. You wanna go for it this time, or should I?”
If it were up to him, he would vote that neither of them capture the flag and stay completely flush together, but he had to win for her to make her happy, so he nodded, cleared his throat, and rolled over to get on his knees next to her. “I have your six. Go for it.”
Lucy found her feet and darted towards the flag. She took it and waved it in the air as she whooped and danced. He gazed at her for a moment with the sweetest smile, so she launched herself into his arms to celebrate the win and hardly pulled back to meet his eyes while keeping her arms around his neck to stare at him for a few seconds longer than what would be deemed a platonic embrace, but he kept his hold on her, too.
Paintball seemed to become even more intimate after that as if he became hyper aware of every time they drew the other in to hide behind a stack of tires in a narrow spot to duck paint pellets. Tim had a girlfriend, but the closest he was ever with a woman was at the paintball park with Lucy. They hardly mentioned their league at work like it was their dirty little secret that they had twice a month to laugh about where paint had been splattered on them, to fall together in the grass to avoid taking fire while leaving them huddled together “for protection”, to exchange special victory smiles reserved for paintball, to make memories outside of work that were just THEIRS. He could never give up their paintball league no matter what.
When Lucy asked for Tim to pick her up and drive her to one of their games, she climbed into his truck and immediately asked, “What’s wrong?”, because of the look on his face.
“Nothing,” he lied before turning on the engine.
“It’s me. You can tell me.”
He gripped the steering wheel tighter as if it would help him tell her what was plaguing him, but only Lucy could soothe that particular ache. “It’s Ashley.”
“I thought you were good.”
“Depends on the week. Right now, she’s telling me I should quit paintball.”
“Quit? You want to drop out of the league? You’re my co-captain.”
“I know.”
“You can’t quit.”
“I know.” He focused on the road instead of her, but he could hear the alarm in her voice.
“Why would she say that?”
“Apparently, I shouldn’t be spending my time off shift with another gun in my hand.”
“Paintball is totally different! It’s about strategy that we hardly ever have the chance to execute in the field.”
“That’s what I said.”
“She doesn’t understand how fun it is.”
“She doesn’t understand period. Ashley said she thinks my time would be better spent joining her book club.”
Lucy blew out a laugh. “You? In a book club?”
“I don’t even like reading. I wouldn’t even know what to do in a book club.”
“You’re supposed to discuss the nuances of a book.”
“That sounds miserable.”
“Some people use it as an excuse to meet up and gossip.”
He frowned. “That sounds even worse.”
“Definitely not something I would picture you doing. Can’t believe Ashley would even suggest it.”
“I told her I’m not quitting paintball, and when she said she would try it with us, I told her the team roster is set.”
“We could get a sub every once in a while if you really want her there.” Lucy hated the idea of sharing him during her alone time with Tim (outside of patrol), but she would never get in the way or his love life.
He loathed the idea of bringing Ashley into something meant for him and Lucy; it went against nature. “No, she would hate it anyways.”
She wondered what he and Ashley actually enjoyed doing together, since they had zero shared interests, but it was not her place to ask such a question. Instead, she agreed, “Probably. So, I’ve been thinking about our strategy for tonight…”
Tim lifted the corner of his lip happily as he listened to her enthusiastic description of their game plan; he loved sharing paintball with her for endless reasons, and one of them was her passion, which he shared.
Lucy could only dream of a day when she no longer needed paintball as an escape, but since that was nothing more than a fantasy, she had nights filled with visions of reenacting their practice kiss for work that took place in the living room of her apartment and two evenings a month to have him all to herself. She started finding ways to ensure she got him close during the game that followed what was supposed to be a meaningless kiss despite how her heart deemed it was anything but. “Let’s try something different and not go for a higher ground approach this time,” she suggested when everyone went to their positions before the game started.
“We’ll run the risk of taking on more fire,” he pointed out.
“Come on, let’s take a little risk,” she pled with an ulterior motive in mind.
“Sure, besides, we can’t win every time.”
“You really think we could lose?”
“There’s a possibility.” The horn blared, signaling the beginning of the game, but they continued carrying on their discussion as if gameplay had not commenced.
In an effort to side step some paint pellets, she crashed into his chest and clung to him even after the member of the other team firing at them scurried away. “Why would you go along with my plan then?” She asked quietly as she held him tightly. For a fraction of a second, her eyes darted to his lips, and her breathing caught when the memory of kissing him flooded back. They were waiting to go undercover where they would likely have to get closer, but in the real world, all she had were stolen moments to invade his personal space.
“Because I trust you,” he murmured and shut his eyes for an extra long second to memorize the feel of her hand on his chest again like she had when she kissed him. Tim wondered if paintball would offer the same opportunity to capture her lips as undercover work, but he knew he could never be so lucky.
She was aware that she stayed flush against him for longer than necessary to protect herself, and she knew they had to move, since the game was afoot, but she was hoping for a few more minutes with him, so she gave herself a handful of extra seconds to watch the sun glimmer in his eyes and feel the rise and fall of his chest under her fingers before letting go and stepping back. By taking a riskier path, they stayed low and huddled together as they made forward progress towards the opponent’s flag. Lucy was able to smell his sweat, feel his breathe on her face, and grip him tightly in the name of moving together. As an added bonus, she felt him roughly pull her close as they dodged and wove through the rain of paint aimed at them, which was more thrilling than she could ever describe. It was glorious. For the duration of the game, Tim was hers in as much of a capacity as he could ever be given the fact that they were dating other people.
Perhaps he was being too obvious, but since they kissed, Lucy was all he could think about, and paintball was the closest he could get to her after their lip lock sent him spiraling. While still buzzing from yet another win, hard earned due to her risky approach to the day’s game, he said, “You know, it’s been a while since we played in a scrimmage game outside of the league.”
“A scrimmage or two could be fun,” she replied with a devilish smirk. He was gifting her another opportunity to have more closeness to him, and she felt powerless to refuse it.
“We’re not on shift tomorrow.”
“Perfect.”
“The night isn’t over. Where do you want to get victory dinner from?”
“This is a pizza-worthy win don’t you think?”
“Definitely,” he agreed and opened the passenger door of his truck for her to climb in. He loved that paintball games included dinner afterwards; they dined every day on patrol together, but sharing meals was the kind of activity he could never tire of when Lucy was in the other seat at his table.
Neither of them had any idea that they would never be able to play in those paintball scrimmage games, because Tim’s undercover persona, fondly referred to as “Dim” was called, and that undercover assignment he and Lucy were waiting for was kickstarted faster than either could have expected.
After what transpired right after returning from their undercover operation, Tim had to distance himself from Lucy in every possible way, which meant that he made the painful decision to quit the paintball league without a word.
Lucy missed him when she passed him in the hallways at work, and she missed him even more when she showed up at the paintball park to see that there was no sign of him. Heartbroken, she quit the team they built together with the best record in the league solely because playing was not the same without him. Lucy’s life was boring without Tim on patrol or at her side shooting paint pellets, and she hated it. She would have given anything for another chance to feel his fingers graze her skin, listen to his quiet whispers about strategy in her ear, watch his face furrow with focus or brighten with victory, and if possible, bring him close just because.
Tim wanted to pretend that without the stress reliever of paintball, he was miserable, but his more than regular glumness was due to a lack of Lucy in his life.
Everything changed when he asked her out. He could see her every single night and kiss her as often as he wanted to. He never needed the guise of paintball to spend precious time with her again, but there was a certain draw to playing such a game.
She showed up at his house on her day off as was the newly emerging custom, but there was something different about his instructions. “I’m here,” Lucy announced when she walked through his front door using the key he gave her. Since there was no sign of him in the living room, she greeted Kojo with a belly rub before resuming her search for her boyfriend in his backyard where he was grilling. “Hi, babe.”
“Hey,” he flashed her a smile and leaned over, waiting for her to go to him where he was flipping their burgers. When she gave him a quick peck, he abandoned the grill to take her face in his hands and seek the real kiss he wanted. When she obliged, Tim hummed happily before returning to the task of making their lunch. “How was brunch with Angela?”
“Fun, but I missed you. I went over to my apartment and got a bikini like you asked.”
“Are you wearing it?”
She pulled out the strap from beneath her sundress. “Yeah, why? You know, if you want to see me naked, you can just ask.” She wriggled her eyebrows and smirked slyly.
“This isn’t about seeing you naked.” When she seemed to disbelieve his motives, Tim elaborated, “Well, LATER, but I’ve got a surprise for you first.”
Lucy grinned. “What kind of surprise?”
“One sec.” He removed the burgers from the grill and turned it off, then he went back into his house to collect what he bought.
She watched him return to the backyard with two big water guns in his hands.
“I know it’s not paintball, but I thought it could be fun,” he explained before handing her one.
“Do you want to rejoin our old paintball league?”
“It would have its perks.”
“We do make a very good team,” she agreed.
He wrapped an arm around her waist to hold her against him. “I was thinking about how we could conserve water and shower all the paint off together now.”
Lucy giggled. “That’s definitely a perk we didn’t have before.”
“But, I would probably get distracted,” he replied as he pulled back the strap of her sundress to kiss her skin.
“You would definitely get handsy. You used to, you know.”
“Me? No, you were the one that always grabbed me.”
“You’re remembering wrong,” she insisted then sighed when he sucked on her collarbone so deliciously. “Paintball is a lot of fun, but I think we’ve found something we like more.”
“So, I guess you don’t want to try out the water guns?” He asked as he kissed the base of her neck.
“No, no, I love it. We should play.” He nibbled at her ear lobe, and she shuddered. “Tim,” Lucy warned.
He rucked up her sundress to rove his fingers over her thighs. “Let me help you get into your bikini first.”
“I can get this dress off faster.”
“You know I can be efficient when I want to be.”
She snickered as his fingers lazed over her legs. “You’re not being very efficient right now.” He kissed the corner of her mouth, and she positioned the water gun in her hand to spray his face with water.
“That wasn’t fair,” he pointed out, pretending to be upset despite the growing smile pulling at his features. He wiped at some of the wetness that made it into his eyes and stepped back to ready himself with his own water gun.
“I don’t play fair. Before you retaliate, I’m putting my gun down. Hold on a sec.” She bent forward slowly to set her water gun in the grass then took her time to pull her dress off while wiggling her hips, hoping to distract him.
He knew exactly what she was doing, and it was somewhat working considering she was standing in front of him in a dark yellow bikini and nothing else, but he was trying to focus on exacting revenge, so the second her dress dropped to the ground, he started spraying her with water relentlessly.
Lucy’s mouth fell open.
“What? I don’t play fair either,” he shot back and readied himself to shoot more water at her.
She scooped up her water gun and warned, “You’re gonna regret that,” before firing water at will, soaking his white t shirt.
As Tim chased her around his yard, noting that same devilish grin she wore during paintball coupled with her looking just as distracting as she did in full paintball gear, he wondered how he ever focused on a game long enough to win. Unlike her usual stealth during paintball, Lucy laughed wildly as they exchanged spurts of water, which only increased the enjoyment of the far more friendly competition than the usual severity with which they treated paintball games. When he squeezed the trigger and realized he was out of water, he saw a glimmer in her eye and knew she had a little more left, and she was ready to use it. He already felt drenched from head to toe, so he said, “I surrender! That’s the end of the game.”
“Not yet.” She rattled her water gun then aimed it at his face.
“Really, Luce? I said I surrender.”
“Too bad,” she replied smugly.
He knew she was about to douse him in even more water, so he charged at her and lifted her up to throw her over her shoulder and swing her around as she let out breathless laughs until she dropped her water gun. Tim set her down carefully on her back in the grass before stretching out on top of her to pin her in place. During paintball games, he never allowed himself to really savor being in that position, but now, he was able to stay settled on top of her for as long as he wanted just to behold how perfect she looked beneath him. Tim combed his fingers through her wet matted hair and noted, “I got you soaked.”
“You have no idea.” Paintball could never turn her on quite like a spirited water gun fight, plus, their romantic relationship unlocked another level of desire that intensified every moment with him. She loved seeing how happy he was, but even those wide, unabashedly joyous grins he gave her had a newfound heat to them that sent sparks down her spine.
Tim thought that he had never smiled more or had as much fun as the first time he ever played paintball, which was replicated every game as a member of their paintball league; what he was unaware of during his paintball career was that a water gun fight would turn out to be even more enjoyable, or perhaps regardless of the activity as long as he was with Lucy, he was going to have the biggest grin on his face and have the best time, especially when he could taste her victory smile as he kissed her happily.