I gave him my most disappointed look, and he had the grace to appear ashamed. With a grimace and a sigh, he turned his attention toward Bill. His next lot of questions, we answered easily, while Rhys watched on with a bland expression I couldn’t decipher. Was he bored? Irritated? Indifferent. He was puzzling and distracting.

Why did I care so much?

“Last question,” Bill finally said. “Which animal does not drink water?”

We all looked at each other.

“Camel?” Elijah asked.

“I think they can survive a long time without water, but they still need it,” Dean said.

“It’s a kangaroo rat,” Rhys said, voice quiet so teams nearby wouldn’t hear.

“I’ve never heard of it,” Navin said, scowling.

“Probably because it’s made up,” Ren huffed.

“Write it down,” I said.

Ren nudged me. “What? No.”

Oh boy, he was really ticking me off. “If Rhys says it’s a kangaroo rat, it’s a kangaroo rat. Write it down.”

“Whatever,” my friend muttered.

I practically growled at him. He knew using the word whatever in that manner was a pet peeve. It was a word for petulant teenagers, not for adults. It made adults sound like immature morons.

“Okay, you all got your answers done?” Bill asked as he approached our table. “Hand ’em over. Sorry they were so fucking hard. I think Della must’ve googled a quiz from the fucking MIT website.”

Navin handed over the bit of paper and Bill scanned it. “Hey, looks like you guys might win.” He frowned down at it. “How the fuck did you know it was a kangaroo rat? I hadn’t even heard of that shit.”

A smug smile spread across my face as Ren turned to me with a sheepishly apologetic look. I turned to Rhys, who wasn’t smiling until he caught my expression. His eyes glittered with amusement as he took a swig of beer; I felt an unwelcome flutter of attraction in my belly.

Elijah pointed to Rhys. “Apparently this guy has.”

“Rhys, didn’t even see you there.” Bill grinned as he came around the table to clap a hand on Rhys’s shoulder. “How’s it going? You haven’t been by in a while.”

“Been busy, Bill. How’s you and Della?”

I studied Rhys as he talked to Bill, my eyes drawn to the hand resting flat on the table. He had big hands, big knuckles, long, surprisingly graceful fingers. It had never occurred to me that a man could have attractive hands. But Rhys’s were. I imagined they must have gotten pretty bruised up when he was fighting professionally, and that made me frown.

Thinking about him getting back in the ring was alarming. I was glad he no longer fought. The idea of him taking a hit made my stomach lurch.

Uh-oh.

I shouldn’t care if he fought or not.

But I did.

Oh hell.