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“It’s like the universe is saying happy birthday to me.” Jake stood and added, “Don’t wait up.”
“Good luck, old man,” Dylan said with a smirk.
“Don’t need luck.” Jake strutted off with his chest out.
“I’m gonna go say hey to Kevin and Jody Rivas,” Dylan said as he got up and walked off again, leaving me in the booth by myself with nothing to do but watch the nearest pool table, which was, of course, Ava’s.
The two guys she and the writer were matched up against did a simultaneous fist pump as the eight ball sank into a pocket, obviously winning them the game.
Ava shrugged and grinned at Breckenridge, as if to say,Win some, lose some. He shook hands with the winners, while Ava told them good game and then walked off toward the hall to the restrooms.
I thought about sitting tight, but if this was my chance to get her tonotgo back to the writer, I wasn’t about to let it pass.
I slid out of the booth, not caring that a group of women swooped in and took it over before I was two feet away, and made my way toward the back hall where Ava had disappeared.
Chapter10
Ava
Iwas so off my social game it wasn’t funny.
Going out with Magnolia had turned out to be a welcome change, but it was going on ten o’clock and my week—and my uber-productive day—were catching up to me.
As an introvert, I’d never been a social queen. When I thought back to the parties I’d planned and hosted for Wes’s clients and colleagues and the events we’d gone to once or twice a week, I didn’t miss any of it now. A small-town bar was closer to my speed, but most nights I’d rather just put on some pajamas and curl up on the sofa with my laptop and write.
I exited the bathroom stall, washed my hands, and touched up my lip gloss. My hair looked stringy and unkempt, so I ran a comb through it one last time. I was ready to bow out for the evening. I didn’t think Magnolia would mind—she and Kemp had won their first round and would likely play into the wee hours if they were as good as everyone said. Knox, however, might be a little trickier to convince I was done and ready to go.
I was still considering how best to call it a night when I walked out of the ladies’ room. My attention was immediately drawn to the hallway wall opposite the door. Cash stood there, his gaze zeroed in on me, looking intense but not surprised to see me. Before I could process more, he took a light grasp of my wrist and gently tugged me closer. His lips tilted up ever so slightly as he peered down at me.
“Cash,” I said, catching my balance with a hand on his chest as my brain played catch-up. “What are you doing here?”
“I was helping a buddy turn forty,” he said in a low, growly voice that I felt clear through me. His eyes were locked on mine, then they darted down to my lips, and my heart rate kicked up.
“And now?” My mouth was suddenly dry. When Cash cradled my cheek with one large palm, I was drawn in by some kind of spell that seemed to shut down my brain cells and make it impossible to think.
His eyes implored mine as if he was giving me a chance to put distance between us, but I was locked in place, waiting to see what he did next.
My breath stalled as he leaned his face closer to mine a centimeter at a time. He closed the last bit of space, and his lips crashed down on mine as his hand swept through my hair, to the back of my head, holding me there against his onslaught. I grasped his T-shirt and fell into the sensations that were Cash Henry, tumbling somewhere between the past and the present as it all mixed together—his masculine scent, his decisive kiss, the growl that rumbled up from deep in his chest.
It took a couple seconds for my brain to send the message that this wasn’t what I was supposed to be doing with him. It took less than a heartbeat for my lips to part for his insistent tongue and send back the message that it was very much what my mouth wanted to be doing.
For a few magical moments, it was like no time had passed at all and I was twenty again and Cash was my everything. As I tried to get my bearings, I opened my eyes to see an older Cash. It should’ve stopped me short, but instead, I closed them again and fell back into that kiss. He’d always kissed me like no other man I’d been kissed by, not that there were bunches.
When he rotated us so my back was to the wall and his body was pressing me into it, I let myself be engulfed by his heat. My brain had gone offline, but my body was in full respond mode. An ache throbbed deep within me, and my chest felt lighter than air as I trailed my hands up to the back of his neck.
Cash’s intensity lightened, the kiss becoming more tender and thorough, less urgent and have-a-point-to-make, as if he’d reeled himself in or reminded himself we were in the back hall at the Fly.
The thought penetrated the fog in my head and I broke contact enough to say, “Cash…”
“What?” He sounded dazed, and I loved that kissing me had made him that way.
I couldn’t help smiling as I put a couple inches between us, becoming more aware of the people who were walking by us en route to the restrooms. “Not here.”
“We could get out of here.” He pressed a couple of quick kisses to my lips again, as if he hated to stop.
“We can get out of here but not to do more of that.” I pushed lightly against his chest, which of course didn’t move him an inch, but he did get the message and stepped back.
He caught my hand and wove our fingers together, his broad chest rising as he inhaled deeply. I liked to think he was trying as hard as I was to get his equilibrium back, but who could say? Maybe he kissed random girls in back hallways all the time.
