AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You know what I think the key is?” I ask, after our burgers arrive and I take my first, juicy bite. “Cheap cheese. I know restaurants want to be like:Oh, here’s this smoked gouda. But sometimes I want very thin, very melty American cheese that is more additives than dairy.”
“Absolutely,” Charlie says. “There’s something about the onions too. They’re never quite right at gourmet places.”
I nod. “They should be grilled on a really gritty surface, right? Not too clean.”
“I’ll make a note for Mavericks. Keep grill right at health code standards. No higher.”
“I think people would appreciate it!” I insist, laughing.
OK, maybe I’m a little tipsy. After all, there were the cocktails at the wedding, my first beer here, my second beer just arriving…
Easy, Grace.
I focus on the food to soak up some of the booze, just about inhaling it. Then the pool tables behind us open up, Charlie nods back to them. “Do you play?”
Do I?I hide a smirk.
“I’ve played before, sure.” I say it tentatively, as if I have to really think about when and where. We slide off the stools, taking our drinks with us.
“You want to break?” he offers, ever the gentleman.
“Oh, you probably should,” I say mildly. I’m just a feeble lady, you see. Barely strong enough to hold the pool cue. “Loser pays the bar tab?”
Charlie looks torn. “We can just play for fun.”
I fix him with a look. “Loser pays the bar tab.”
Charlie sets his glass on a nearby table. When he leans forward, his undone bow tie dangles from either side of his open collar. He looks ruffled and disheveled and all the other good -ed adjectives, and even though I’m pretty sure I’m about to hustle him out of this bar tab, it’ll be a challenge to keep my focus on the game, and not that delicious mouth of his.
Firm lips. Soft tongue. Hot, and sexy, and—
I take another gulp of beer.Careful.
His shot sends the balls clattering across the table, and one drops into the pocket by my hip.
“Okay,” I say, peering down at the table. “So, that means you’re colors, and I’m stripes.”
Charlie pauses, clearly debating whether to correct me that that it’s solids and stripes. He smiles politely. “It does, yes.”
Next, he flubs a fairly clear shot on his two to the corner pocket. I’m almost certain it was intentional, as to not demoralize me.
I will not be returning the favor.
I position myself over the table, offering up a view of the best the Bergdorf lingerie department has to offer. Charlie’s eyes bounce back up—left, right, anywhere but my cleavage. He winds up staring at the stained-glass light above the table as if it holds the answers to the universe.
I grin. Thisisfun. “Thirteen to side.” My first shot makes a perfect, satisfying crack, sinking the ball in a split-second.
“Oh, fuck me,” Charlie grumbles.
And you know what? I sure would. Yes—he’s a bachelor bro and commitment-avoidant to a pathological degree. But the thin tuxedo shirt is catnip; his top button undone and the sleeves rolled up.
I’m a sucker for a good forearm.
I straighten up, smiling. “Something wrong?”
He smiles . “All right. I see I got played here.”
“Did you?” I adjust myself. “Eleven to corner pocket.”
