He sighs. “Damn, that got heavy fast.”
“Sorry,” I tell him. “It probably would have been more polite to make something up. I’m just not good at thinking on my feet.”
“Never apologize for not being a good liar, Miss Nora. I fuckin’ hate liars. Be proud of that honest streak.”
I smother back a smile. “You seem like a good man.”
He chuckles. “I try to be, apologize when I fail, and am always looking to do better.”
I hold out my bottle. “Here’s to trying to do the right thing, sometimes under impossible circumstances.”
He clinks his bottle against mine and murmurs, “I’ll drink to that.”
We both take a real drink of our beers while maintaining eye contact. It makes the moment seem more intimate than it probably is.
He quickly changes the subject. “Are your friends always like that?” he asks, gesturing towards the dance floor.
“What do you mean by ‘like that’?”
“They seem like good time girls. I don’t mean that in a bad way. Just you seem different.”
“Yeah, that’s how they roll. I mean, they’re young, energetic and lookin’ for Mr. Right.”
“And how about you? Are you looking for Mr. Right as well?”
“Maybe. I’ve never given it much thought.” After a second, I add, “Let’s just say I wouldn’t throw a man out of bed for not being ready to settle down.”
He holds my gaze for a bit too long, as if he’s trying to figure me out. Finally, he says, “That’s not a no.”
I give a shrug.
Changing the subject, he says, “It looks like that table’s free now. Do you play pool?”
I nod, knowing that I’ve spent most of my childhood at a pool table. My brothers are pool sharks, and I like to stay in plain sight when I’m in the Hyenas’ clubhouse because I’m safer that way. “Doesn’t everyone?”
I take my beer and stand up. I come up to Jake’s shoulder, and my mind goes to places when I realize just how big he is. He places his hand at the small of my back and escorts me back to the empty pool table.
When he racks the balls, I watch how the massive slabs of muscle in his shoulders shift as he moves. I like everything about this man, much more than I should. He’s a stranger, I remind myself. We’re just shooting pool because our friends paired off and abandoned us. There’s a really good chance Jake never would have approached me on his own.
His deep, rough voice interrupts my internal thoughts. “I’m gonna let you break.”
I grab a pool cue and chalk it. “Is this a ladies first kind of thing?”
He nods. “I’m nothing if not a gentleman. It’s true. You can ask anyone.”
I lean over the table, smiling. Jake has an odd, dry sense of humor that lands well with me.
Lining up the cue ball, I break in one swift punch. The crack of the ball is enough to make Jake take notice. His eyebrows lift in surprise. Stripes and solids fan out across the felt. A striped ball drops into a corner pocket, and a second trails along the side before sinking into another pocket. I straighten and begin looking for my next move.
Jake makes an impressed whistling noise. “Girl, you said everyone plays.”
“That wasn’t an exaggeration. Most everyone has shot a game of pool in their life.”
“Yeah, but you left out the part where you play well.”
“My father always said no one likes a braggart.”
His mouth twitches. “My old man said that as well.”
