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She rolled her eyes and turned, leading the way to the pool room. His gaze went to her perfect, swaying ass like a magnet. Damn. It almost hurt to look at her. It definitely was awkward to walk after looking at her. Looked like he was going to have to get off the hamster wheel of his life and do something about that and, maybe, see what other possibilities awaited.
Leah
Leah didn't need to bend at the waist and lean quite so far across the pool table to make the shot. She did anyway. Getting a good look at the solid red ball as it dropped into the corner pocket wasn't why. It was because she could feel Drew's hot gaze on her as sure as a branding iron. They made a good team and it was nice to see that wasn't only the case in the bedroom—although that's where every single one of her thoughts was ending up.
"So you came back home and Jess stayed out in Hollywood?" she asked, following up on their getting-caught-up conversation.
"There was more to it than that, but yeah." For once his gaze was on the pool table and not her ass or her boobs as she leaned over the green felt.
Someone was keeping things to himself. Was Drew Jackson keeping a deep dark secret or was it something as
simple and devastating as remorse?
"Do you ever regret it?" she asked, almost completely meaning his decision to come back to Catfish Creek but she'd be lying to herself if she said that was all of it.
He took a slow sip of the single beer he'd been nursing, his focus still on the pool table. "Yeah, but I can't change the past." He refocused his attention on her, sending a delicious shiver down her spine. "What about you? Ever regret moving up to Denver?"
She gave half a second to the idea of living anywhere else but Denver before sending up a quick thank you that she didn't have to worry about ever moving back to Texas. "Nah. I love it up there. It gets crazy cold, sure, but the people are great. I love being near the mountains after the total flatness of Catfish Creek."
He made his shot, sending the cue ball flying across the table into the trio of striped balls. "So what, it's just you and Gray?"
"Believe it or not, I can make friends, but yeah, we hang out." She came around to his side of the table, nudging him out of her way with her hip, relishing the spark of attraction that led straight to her clit.
"Anything serious?" he asked, a rough edge to the question.
Pulling back from taking her shot, she turned to face him. With one hand on her hip and the other wrapped around the pool stick, she gave him a slow up and down while awareness crackled between them. "Why, Drew Jackson, are you asking me if I'm fucking my best friend?"
"Yeah." He nodded, lust turning his eyes dark. "I am."
Straight and to the point. She'd always appreciated that about him—among other things.
"No." She shook her head, her lungs suddenly unable to take a decent breath. Maybe it was because her bra had mysteriously become too small. Or because you're flirting with fire, Leah girl. "It's never been like that for us."
Someone must have put money in the jukebox stationed between the dance floor and the pool tables, because an old school country song came on. It wasn't one of the slow ones or one where someone had been done wrong by everyone but their dog. It was a sing-along drinking song, the kind that included a repeated chorus and sly lyrics that had always made her giggle. This time wasn't any different. Without thinking about it, she laid down her cue on the pool table and started dancing as she sang along.
Drew watched for a few beats before wrapping an arm around her waist and swaying to the music with her as they both sang along. Heat pooled between her legs as her breasts brushed against his chest, his fingers drifted lower on her ass, and that magic something between them took ahold of both of them. Before she knew it, he'd maneuvered them so that her back was against the wall in the one blind corner of the bar by the storage door. No one could see them here.
"I'm glad," he said, his lust-hooded gaze dropping to her mouth. He took another small step forward and pulled her hard against him, his hand now cupping her ass completely
Her pulse sped up and her panties all but went up in flames. "About what?"
A new song came on the jukebox. This one was about the boy who'd gotten away. She refused to read too much into that and instead gave in to the way Drew made her feel when he wasn't breaking her heart.
"You and Gray. I'd hate to have to pound his face in." With one of his legs planted firmly between hers so she couldn't help but grind against his thigh, he moved to the song's slow but relentless beat.
"Are you jealous?" she asked, going for light, but ending up more breathy than anything else.
She was about to tease him with another snarky remark but the dark, brooding look in his eyes made her breath catch. This wasn't a dance anymore. It wasn't a teasing encounter. This was more. What exactly that was she had no frickin' clue but it couldn't be worse than last time he'd made her feel like this. She wouldn't let it. A man could only break her heart so many times before she learned her lesson.
"A little," he admitted grudgingly.
She cocked a brow and glanced up at him—well, as up as she could considering a ray of sunlight would have a hard time getting between them at the moment.
"Okay," he said, his voice rough. "A lot."
His mouth crashed down on hers, hard and demanding. That little admission had cost him and now he wanted to be paid back for it. That was okay. She liked the way he expected his debts to be paid. God, she was desperate for him to touch her but his hands stayed locked on her ass as he rocked her against his thigh. Opening under the weight of his kiss, she relished the way his tongue swept inside, taking her higher. This. This is what she ached for. Not just the touch. But the man. Drew. It was almost too much to process. Heat and desire and need built up like an electric ball in her core, throbbing and growing with every move. Then, he glided his lips down the sensitive column of her throat.
"Jesus, Drew," she panted, half surprised she could even form words. "You're killing me."
