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I pushed the thought away, stepped up to the end of the table, and squared off my stance. He lined up opposite me at the other end, and I ignored how good he looked when he rested his hands on his hips. He worked out occasionally with my brother, and it showed. His toned biceps teased me from beneath his shirt sleeves.
I shouldn’t have liked how cocky he was. I’d never found it sexy in any other guy.
Only him.
Everyone shifted their attention my way, waiting for me to take my first shot.
Aiming for a line drive into a cup without bouncing the ball on the table first was risky. I could miss, or come in too hot, and it could bounce right back out of the cup. But Preston couldn’t block me if I attacked from the air.
I focused on the cup I wanted to hit, the single one at the front of the triangle, steadied my breathing, and flicked the ball forward. It sailed across the table and plunked down directly into the cup with a satisfying plop.
Colin was thrilled. “Nice.”
Preston’s stunned gaze lifted from the orange ball floating in the beer, rising until it met my eyes. For a split second, something flickered through his expression that looked a lot like annoyance. He didn’t like how I’d sunk my first attempt.
But then he brightened and shook his head. “Lucky first shot.”
It was Colin’s turn next, and he decided to go with the bounce strategy . . .
But it backfired.
As it tapped its way across the tabletop, Madison swatted the ball away, knocking it to the carpet below.
With our shots done, all that was left was for Preston to drink. He fished the ping pong ball out of the front cup, set the ball aside, and as he brought the beer to his lips, he studied me.
The intense stare we’d shared across the pool was back, trapping me in my body. How did he do that? The way he stared at me was as if I was the only person he could see. He hadn’t noticed me in years, and now he was making up for that lost time.
I swallowed thickly, breaking his gaze, and nervously tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. Even though I wasn’t looking at him, I sensed his attention was fixed on me, and excitement buzzed through my system.
“You’re up, Preston,” Colin said.
The cup he’d drunk from was set on the counter nearby, and then Preston’s relentless gaze came back to me. The corners of his mouth lifted in an evil smile as he readied to take his shot.
Like me, he went for the direct approach from above. He wound up, released the ball, and I tracked it as it flew toward our cups in seemingly slow motion. Down it dropped, splashing perfectly into one of them.
Damn.
I was disappointed to have to drink, but begrudgingly impressed. His smirk was proud and victorious, and I didn’t understand why I found it so sexy. Hadn’t I left the crush back in high school?
Madison went next, and when the ball bounced high into the air, Colin easily slapped it away. It meant it was my turn to drink, and I peered at the cup with trepidation. I didn’t like the taste of beer, and who knew how long this had been sitting out?
Please don’t be warm.
I took the ball out of the cup and did the same thing Preston had done the last round—I watched him as I drank.
The beer didn’t taste warm or quite as bad when I was preoccupied by the sight of him.
When I finished, I strolled the few steps to the counter, stacked the empty cup inside the one he’d placed there, and returned to my end of the table. Colin had rinsed off the ping pong balls in a cup filled with water and handed one to me.
I made my second shot easily.
Preston and Madison exchange a what the fuck look with each other, and then his annoyed gaze turned to me. He’d been stunned and maybe amused the first time, but this? It was less cute.
“Something you should know about Syd,” my brother said, “is she’s really good at stuff like this.”
Preston’s eyes narrowed. “Stuff like this?”
“Games,” Colin clarified. “Things that use dumb skills. She wins every time.”
