Change the topic, dumbass. He didn’t want to scare her away or make her think he was a paranormal freak when he wasn’t.
He couldn’t believe his luck in luring a beauty like her over here. He circled the pool table and lined up his cue with the ball.
His favorite way to unwind from a bad day at work was to come to the Southend Brewery for a beer, a game of pool, and a game on one of the TVs above the third-floor bar, but he’d never seen a woman like this one here. Usually the women he attracted at bars were young, more than a little tipsy, and as sexually aggressive as sailors turned loose in a whorehouse.
His partner on the force liked to think of them as cop groupies, although Dylan never advertised the fact he was with the North Charleston PD before he decided to take one home. Besides, Reedus was wrong. Usually in this part of the city they were either co-eds or tourists looking for a little naughty fun before returning home to their mundane lives or boyfriends or husbands or whatever. Didn’t matter a bit to them that he wore a badge. They were more interested in what he didn’t wear.
But this one, there was something different about her.
Older than his usual pick up, definitely. He’d guess early 30s.
Lifting his gaze from the end of his cue and toward the blonde across from him, he drank in the sight of her curvy figure. The ball soared forward and clanged against two others that drifted into the corner pocket. He wouldn’t stretch his credibility by saying she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on, but she was close. She had something else too that had caught his attention from across the room before he’d ever glimpsed her pretty face. The way she carried herself. Confident. Classy, even in jeans. Two traits he found sexy as hell, and then to come to learn she was smart and funny, too? Hot damn.
Normally he went for petite brunettes, but he wouldn’t mind a change of taste sampling this leggy blonde for a night or two. Especially tonight, when he needed to erase thoughts of the case that had been eating him up all day.
Was she willing to help him with that?
Let’s find out.
First, he had to sink the rest of these balls to impress her. He took his time finding the right angle—oh yeah, he could nail three in one shot from here—and made a show of leaning over, sliding the stick through his fingers, oh so slowly, and then snapping forward with just enough finesse to hit his target in the right spot. The white ball clanged against the orange No. 5, sending it into a corner pocket, then spiraled toward both the green No. 6 and purple No.4.
The white ball abruptly took a sharp detour to the left, missing his remaining targets completely.
What the-?
Alexandra’s eyes and mouth were wide open, probably a match to his own expression. She blinked and shook her head. “That was…a little weird, huh?” Red began spreading from her neck up through her face.
He scratched at the hair on his head. “Yeah, weird.”
“You sank the five though. Uh, good job. Still your turn.”
“Right.” He bent to find his next shot, narrowed his eyes and spotted three balls clumped together near the middle pocket. That might get him at least two scores. He slid the cue forward then jerked it back when the white ball began slowly rolling toward the left.
He straightened and grabbed the white ball, picked it up and felt its weight in his hand. Damn thing felt normal. He glanced at the woman standing on the other side of the table, her hand now covering her mouth and her eyes glistening with amusement.
She lowered her hand and placed it on her hip. “Are you trying to cheat?”
“What? No. Hell, no. Didn’t you see that? The ball moved—” He bit back a curse and put it where it was before.
He sat his bridge hand on the table, kept his angle smooth, and struck it this time.
Almost every ball on the table rolled out of its way as it bowled forward. It banked off the corner pocket and fell in.
What the—?
He reached a hand out over the table. Had someone turned the air conditioning on full blast? Was there a vent he couldn’t see?
He didn’t feel anything abnormal.
Instead of the impressed cheer he’d been soliciting, he was rewarded with feminine snickering. “Smooth,” Alexandra said, pushing him out of the way. “Let me show you how it’s done, hot stuff.”
She backed her ass up, spread her legs, set up her shot and sent the white ball sailing. She clinked one into the middle pocket, then three more she hadn’t even touched flew into other pockets, one after the other.
“How the hell did you do that?”
She held up her cue and blew the tip. “Guess I’m just better at this than you.”
Something weird was going on here, but hell, that was okay. She wore amusement well. It lit up her face and looked damn attractive on her. He leaned closer. “Still your turn.”
She moved around him to find her next position. He waited until she had leaned down with her cue arranged to follow. He curved over her, resting his hands on the table edge on each side of her, and breathed in the intoxicating scent of strawberries. Mmm. Nice.
Her back lifted slightly, pressing against his chest. “What do you think you’re doing?”
He nuzzled his mouth close to her ear. “Making sure you don’t cheat. Got a problem with that?”
Judging by the way she wiggled her backside against him, he didn’t think so. “You’re in my way.”
He eased up, but didn’t move away completely. He left his right hand resting on the spot above her belt.
She pulled her elbow back, slowly, and sank two more balls. He thought she did, anyway. He wasn’t really paying attention to the table anymore. His mind was distracted by the strip of bare skin his fingers had discovered between her jeans and shirt. Smooth, silky smooth. And hot, so hot to the touch.
She turned her head back to glance at his hand before lifting her gaze to his. “Well go on, then. Keep fondling me. I’m still gonna win despite your little distractions.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yep.”
And then she sank the eight ball.
Game over.
He liked this woman, liked that she gave him a lil bit of hell. “Where are you staying?”
Straightening, she curled both hands around her cue and considered him. “Why?”
“Cause I’d like to know where I’ll be spending the night.”
She laughed. “Presumptuous, aren’t we?”
“Mmm-hmmm. And cocky too.”
“No kidding.”
He couldn’t resist touching the strip of skin still visible between her belt and shirt. Her breath hitched at the contact, so he knew she wasn’t as unaffected as she played. “I live just around the corner. We could be there in less than ten minutes.”
She said nothing for so long, he started to think he’d overshot this one. Handing him her cue, she arched a brow. “My hotel sounds closer.”
They made it there in eight, and if his steps slowed a little when he realized she was leading him to the Lodge Alley Inn, she either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
Too weird.
His place was on the next street over.
But