“Here,” I say, leaning over the table and placing my thumb at the corner of her mouth, my eyes tracking my movement as I wipe the leftover sauce away, my thumb moving of its own accord over her bottom lip.
“So beautiful,” I whisper, bringing my gaze up to hers.
Neither of us move an inch or say a word as we stare intently. My stomach flutters and all I want is to pull her over the table and slam my lips down onto hers, but I don’t, inste
ad I pull away slowly and sit back down.
“How was it?” Mel asks, sidling up next to the table and picking the plates up.
“Delicious, amazeballs, fantastic, awesome… would you like me to go on?” Lexi asks, a grin on her face.
“If you’d like to.” Mel winks and steps back taking the plates with her.
I take Lexi’s hand in mine, feeling the connection between us crackle. I’ve never felt this before, and whatever it is, I never want it to stop.
“Is that a pool table?” she asks, her head whipping to the corner of the room.
“Yeah.”
“Can we play?” She claps her hands together, practically bouncing in her seat. The excitement rolling off her in waves.
I grin, standing up and holding my hand out for her. She places her soft one in mine, letting me lead her past the bar where I grab us some drinks before taking her to the pool table. Her hand runs over the blue material, a spark shining in her eyes as she stops next to it.
I let go of her hand reluctantly, taking the triangle and setting the balls up before handing her a cue and tilting my head toward the table.
“You want me to break?”
“Sure.” I keep my mouth shut, not wanting to tell her that if I break, she’ll probably not get a turn.
She leans over the table, setting her hand on it and pulling the cue back, hitting the white ball and sending it right into the balls at the end. She sinks one and jumps up and down.
“I haven’t played pool since…” She lets herself trail off but I know what she’s not saying—since before she went to prison. Shaking her head, she rounds the table before taking her next shot and misses but it doesn’t faze her as she chuckles, holding her hand out for my turn.
“You can take another shot,” I say, not moving from where I’m standing.
“What? That’s not the rules.” She leans on her cue, her hip popping to the side as she stares me down. “Are you trying to let me win, Evan?”
“Me? Never.” I gasp, widening my eyes before stepping forward and placing my hand on the table, lining up my shot before taking it. One after another I sink the balls until I get to the black 8 ball. “Top right.” I line the shot up, taking a breath and hitting the white ball, sinking the black ball before looking up and seeing Lexi’s mouth hanging wide open.
“I should have taken that shot.” She tilts her head to the side, studying me. “Where did you learn to play like that?”
“I used to come here all the time after I was adopted.” I shrug, setting the balls up for another game. “Luke and I come here to let off steam sometimes too.”
“Luke?” she asks. “He’s the guy who stitched me up, right?”
“Yep.” I point my cue at the table when the balls are set back up. “Take your shot.”
She leans over the table again, my eyes trailing the soft curve of her back and down over her ass and back up again. I quickly look away, not wanting her to catch me staring as she sinks two balls.
“Are you and Luke close?” she asks, coming to stand next to me when it’s my turn.
“Yeah… although there’s only so close you can get to him.” I shrug. “I’m close with all the guys.”
I take my shot, purposely missing one so that she gets another turn.
“So you all work and live together?” She doesn’t let me answer before she jumps up and down again after sinking another ball. “I got another one!”
I chuckle, picking up my drink and taking a long pull of the bitter liquid.