I Can Fix That

I glanced around the bar and noticed the pool tables in the back. No one was standing near them and I thought of asking Grant to go with me that way.

“Do you play?”

His voice was warm and thick, like honey. I could hardly pay attention to the words coming out of him because I was too focused on the smooth tone of them.

“Hmm?”

He nodded his head to the green pool table, “Do you know how to play pool?” I shook my head no, blushing at how he paid enough attention to me to know exactly what I was thinking.

“I’ve never tried.”

Grant placed down his beer and stood from his barstool, he reached a hand out to me as a suggestion to join him. I laced my hand in his and hopped out of my seat to follow him. With our fingers weaved in eachothers I felt all my butterflies for Grant come rushing back.Clearly my body sensors did not care about the word friends.

I turned back to Ashley to explain where we were going, but she was so deep into whatever Beau was saying. I was sure if the bar was on fire she’d have no clue.

Grant and I approached the pool table, he grabbed one of the sticks and handed it to me. I played with the skinny end of it in my fingers, wondering what the purpose of the chalked tip was.

He set up the balls in a triangle figure and explained the rules, which I only half-listened to due to watching his hands flex. I didn’t need the instructions, though I knew I wanted the yellow ball the most, so I didn’t care about the rest.

“Okay, so now you break it. You want to get as many in the pockets as possible, so pick stripes or solids.”

Stripes, duh.

He came closer to me, and I caught a whiff of his cologne and shivered. Oh yeah, I was going to lose this game for sure. I listened to each instruction he gave me, hoping I could grab enough information to at least attempt at getting one ball in. He positioned my hands on the stick and backed up to check my form.

“Good. Now take the shaft and wrap your hand around it. Yeah, like that. Now put the tip exactly where you want it.”

Oh no.

My whole chest was inflamed and I was sure to look like a walking tomato now.

“I-um. I-“

I was frozen in my movements, I became stiff as a board until I heard his deep chuckle resonate behind me. I turned my head and saw him using his curled fist to cover his undeniable smile.

I lifted my pool stick up and smacked his arm with it. This only made his smile widen and he crossed one arm over the other, watching my every move.

I leaned over the pool table to make my first shot. I was suddenly aware of how short my dress was once Grant was directly behind me, I yanked down the edges of the seam, hoping I wasn’t flashing anyone in the room.

I positioned the stick to the white ball and shot it. The sound of each ball scattering the table was satisfying, and even though I did not get a single one in a pocket, it was fun.

I smiled over at Grant who was watching me intently, he shrugged his shoulders with a smirk on his face as if to say not too bad.

We made our rounds of the game, him doing significantly better than me. It only took a few minutes before all of the solids were gone and all that was left was my stripped balls.

We played over and over, Grant winning each time. I thought at one point he was going to let me win, but he was ruthless. Absolutely no mercy. This man was the Tiger Woods of pool.

“Are you even trying?” He joked at me.

“How can you say that? Look at my stance and tell me I’m not trying.”

My wide-legged position was the furthest thing from attractive, but it showed I meant business. I tried one last time to get the ball in but was unsuccessful.

“I’m going to grab another beer and I’ll show you how to do it again when I come back.”

I watched him walk away and smiled at Ashley who held a tiny thumbs up at me.

“Do you need some help?”