by Sami Lee
Except maybe for the occasional bouts of isolation that were a side effect of her search for independence. At some point, she’d realized she’d made no lasting connections while living abroad. She’d missed her family, her old friends. Heck, she’d missed Australia and guys who trash talked each other over pool and called each other mate or dickhead with equal amounts of affection.
“You’ve missed your chance now, dickhead,” Blair said, bringing Ally back to the present. She watched the man smirk with supreme confidence as he lined up the eight ball, which Leo had narrowly missed sinking. Leo flipped Blair the bird and Ally hid her grin, understanding the sentiment. She could tell already that Blair could be an aggravating individual, with his tendency toward braggadocio and arrogance.
He was also as sexy as hell for those same reasons. There was something about a man who believed in himself, who knew what he wanted and exactly how to get it, that fired all Ally’s erogenous responses. The way Blair swaggered around a pool table made her all sorts of hot.
But not so hot that Ally wouldn’t enjoy seeing the man taken down a peg or two. That little devil on her shoulder played havoc again, and Ally decided that watching that smirk drop from Blair’s face would be worth losing her bet. She leaned down to grab her handbag from where she’d left it at the foot of her stool. Ostensibly, it was for the purpose of returning her phone to the bag’s side pocket, but the move had the added advantage of causing her loose-fitting top to gape at the front and her denim mini-skirt to ride up.
She was directly in Blair’s line of sight. When he missed the easy shot into the corner pocket and let out a colorful curse, it was Ally’s turn to smile.
“Too bad mate,” Leo said, not meaning it at all. “I guess you missed your chance.”
“That was unfair play,” Blair said, turning those laser-like eyes on Ally in accusation.
Ally widened her own eyes, all innocence. In reality, she was thrumming with a sense of triumph that was difficult to keep under wraps. It always gave a girl a boost to know her cleavage could derail a man’s concentration. “But I’m not playing.”
Blair walked down to her end of the table and stood beside her. The electricity of his nearness made Ally’s skin tingle as they both watched Leo pocket the eight practically one handed. “You realize you just lost your own bet.”
“I’m not a sore loser.”
“I can be.”
“Somehow, I’m not surprised.”
Ally angled her head to look at him. He was already looking at her, as though he had been studying her profile. The notion made Ally’s pulse leap, and the intense focus of his ice-blue eyes kept it high.
They eyed each other for a drawn-out moment. Ally was determined not to shy away from the open appraisal and interest in Blair’s gaze. At long last, he said, “Saw you on the phone earlier. Is your date late?”
Ally hesitated over admitting her date was her brother. Perhaps because the idea of giving Blair Bowman such an obvious green light didn’t seem exactly safe. But she wasn’t going to put him off entirely. “Actually, he’s not coming.”
“You were stood up?”
It was Leo’s voice, filled with a mixture of shock and anger. Ally turned her attention toward him and saw his brow furrowed with displeasure. His reaction filled her with a warmth that sank all the way to her toes before traveling back up again.
If she had been stood up for a romantic date, she’d bet Leo Chatfield would be the type of guy to provide the best possible comfort. Perhaps in the form of ice-cream and a corny movie, followed by a gentle hug that would turn into a few sweet and steamy kisses that would melt her body faster than the ice cream would melt in the tub…
Then he’d bend you over the couch and fuck you like a jackrabbit in heat.
Shut your trap, Satan!
“It’s no big deal,” Ally said, trying to recapture the conversational thread.
“Like hell it’s not,” Leo said. “I hope you’re not going to give the loser another chance.”
Was this his way of trying to find out if she was in an ongoing relationship? Ally felt him watching her carefully and thought perhaps it was. Her stomach flipped because he wanted to know. The heat of Blair’s gaze on her profile told her he might be equally as invested in her answer.
Were they both interested in her? Oh, boy. Wasn’t that going to cause a problem when she had to decide who she wanted to hook up with—if indeed she wanted to hook up with either of them?
Oh, Ally, you know you want to hook up. The problem is you like them both.
That was the real issue. She couldn’t decide which one of her pool players she found more appealing. What would happen if she told them she didn’t want to choose?
Ally’s mouth dried out. Oh, the scenarios that flickered through her mind. She wasn’t sexually reticent by any means. Years as a single woman living in cosmopolitan cities had given her enough chances to gain the confidence and experience she’d need to take on two men at once, but it wasn’t something she’d ever done. She’d never before met two men who appealed to her so equally.
Leo and Blair were obviously good friends. Was a threesome something they would indulge in?
Was she out of her mind to even entertain the idea? Cripes. She hardly knew these guys.
“Excuse me, I think I’ll get those drinks now. Three more of the same?”
Ally didn’t wait for their answer before heading toward the bar. She needed space, a few moments to herself to shake off their destabilizing effect on her. She was actually contemplating suggesting three-way sex with two guys she’d met not twenty minutes ago. It was insane. She could practically hear Corey hitting the roof if he ever found out.
Not that if she’d ever tell him if she did decide to do the insane thing. Ally shuddered at the very thought of her brother knowing intimate details of her sex life.
But he won’t find out, will he, Ally?
Four years overseas—out of sight and reach of her protective family—and she chose her first week back in Ashton Heights to consider doing something completely debauched. She was out of her mind.
And turned-on like nobody’s business. Ally glanced back over to the pool table. Blair and Leo were deep in conversation, but they were watching her.
Both of them.
Ally turned back to the bar so they wouldn’t see her smile or the aroused flush in her cheeks. She had a feeling her little devil was going to get her way tonight. And Ally couldn’t muster the decency to be upset about it.
Nothing turned Blair Bowman on more than a woman who drank beer straight from the bottle and knew how to play pool. Except maybe a woman with all the above and a penchant for wearing brightly colored lingerie.
Most men liked the black. A lot of other guys didn’t care for the lingerie as long as it was easy to take off. But for some reason, Blair liked a woman who wore vivid colors under her regular clothes. It bespoke a boldness he respected in a sexual partner.
He’d noticed earlier that the beer-drinking pool shark named Ally wore a bra that was bright pink.
Now, he barely managed to stifle a curse when she bent over the pool table to line up a shot. She was playing against Leo and totally transfixing Blair in the process. That little denim skirt was driving him mad. It was short enough to give him an excellent view of her supple upper thighs but not short enough to allow him a peak at her underwear. He’d love to know if her knickers matched the bra. If they did, he’d decided he was going to do everything in his power to take this woman home and have his way with her.
Hell. He’d be willing to take her home if she were wearing granny panties. The brief conversation he’d had with Leo while Ally was at the bar had confirmed his friend felt the same way. If Ally was in to the idea, it was all systems go as far as Blair was concerned.
“Wish I’d known what I was getting into when I agreed to this game.” The twitch of Leo’s lips told Blair his comment wasn’t a genuine complaint. The man was clearly having the time of his
life facing off with Ally. “I would have insisted on a handicap.”
Ally sank the red ball in the side pocket with ease and stood. She flipped her long dark hair over her shoulder and arched a brow at Leo. “There you go, selling yourself short again. Are you always so humble?”
Blair answered for Leo. “Pretty much. Leo Chatfield, the humble hero.”
“Hero?” Ally prompted.
Leo gave him a look meant to shut him up, but Blair ignored it. “Leo here—otherwise known as Chats—regularly saves cats from trees and damsels from burning buildings.”
Blair saw the moment Ally put two and two together. She turned back to Leo. “You’re a firefighter?”
Leo looked abashed. The way some women reacted to his profession—making jokes about his hose and asking to ride on his big red truck—tended to make him uncomfortable. Blair considered it a perk of the job. “Yeah,” Leo said at last. “Blue and I both are.”
Ally walked around the table to line up her next shot, not appearing impressed in the least by their careers. “Oh, that’s funny.”
“Why is that funny?” Leo asked.
She looked about to answer but then stopped herself. Her brow furrowed. “Which station are you at?”
Leo answered for the both of them. “Ashton Heights.”
“Huh.”
There was no discernable change in her expression, but Blair sensed there was something she wasn’t saying. “Why do you ask?”
Ally flashed him a smile and went back to lining up her shot. “No reason.”
There was a reason all right, but Blair couldn’t begin to guess what it was. He let the lie go because trying to figure out the inner workings of a woman’s mind was a fool’s errand. Besides, he wasn’t interested in Ally for her mind. Her body would do very nicely for his purposes.
Leo clearly felt the same way. Blair would know it even if he hadn’t outright asked the man only a minute ago. They had the same taste in women, which had always worked very well for them. Lately, Blair had started to get the impression Leo was losing interest in sharing, but he hadn’t wanted to confirm his suspicions by asking Leo about it. He liked the way things were—sexy, fun, uncomplicated. Truth be told—although he’d never admit it to a soul—Blair did better with women when Leo played wingman. Leo’s nice-guy vibe balanced out Blair’s harsh exterior. On his own, his complete lack of sensitivity tended to lose him a lot of points.
“You’re killing me,” Leo groaned.
Anyone else would have thought he was referring to the fact Ally had sunk another ball. Blair noticed the way Leo’s gaze was trained on the girl’s butt and knew the other man was talking about the physical effect watching her bend over the table was having on him.
Ally flashed Leo that devastating grin. “Don’t worry. Your luck could change at any moment.”
Ally’s gaze tracked over Leo’s form in open appreciation, the same kind of look Blair had caught her giving him once or twice while he’d been playing pool.
Jackpot. The woman definitely wanted both of them.
Ally turned her back on them quickly, as though realizing how much she might have revealed. As she leaned over the table, Blair remarked, “I don’t think Leo and I are looking for anything to change. We get lucky often enough.”
The pool cue shot forward and hit the white ball, but for once, Ally’s aim was off. It didn’t even contact the ball she was aiming for, bouncing instead off the side bumper. “Damn.”
Leo winked at her as he moved forward to take the shot she’d missed. “That’s two for me.”
As Ally came to stand beside Blair, he commented in a low murmur. “Don’t worry. Maybe you’ll get two tonight as well.”
Even above the noisy revelry of Friday night at the Sovereign, Blair could hear the way her breath caught. She didn’t turn to look at him, instead watching Leo sink two balls in succession. At length, she posed, “What makes you think I want two of anything?”
Lips twitching, Blair replied, “Two is better than one.”
“Always?”
“We haven’t had a complaint yet.”
She lost her breath again. Her words fairly wheezed out. “I see. You have comment cards?”
Blair liked that she was cheeky even when she’d been pushed off-kilter. “Don’t need them. There are ways of knowing when someone’s satisfied.”
“Is that so?”
She still wasn’t looking at him, but Blair didn’t buy the nonchalant demeanor. She was listening intently to every word he said.
“Usually it starts with the way a woman sighs, those involuntary little exhalations that let you know she likes what you’re doing. Then there’s the breathing. It starts coming faster and faster, making her chest rise and fall, making her feel like she’s losing oxygen…but she doesn’t want it back. All she wants is for you to make her feel so good she can’t help moaning with pleasure.”
Blair noted with satisfaction the way Ally’s grip tightened on the pool cue. She hadn’t slapped him yet and she was still listening, so he figured it was time to go in for the kill.
“I personally love it when a woman twists her fingers in my hair and yanks me closer, holds my head between her legs until her moans turn to helpless cries of ecstasy. I love it when she thrashes beneath me as she comes and comes and I taste her like honey on my tongue. And Leo…he likes to watch. He reckons there’s nothing sexier than a woman’s face in the throes of orgasm.”
Ally said nothing for a long moment. She probably couldn’t speak, seeing as she was biting down on her lip almost hard enough to draw blood. Her knuckles had turned white on the pool cue and her chest was rising and falling rapidly inside her blouse. Blair enjoyed speculating on how hard her nipples might be inside that racy pink bra, and his mouth dried up with the desire to taste her there, to feel the hard little nubs against his tongue.
Fuck. He’d meant to pique her interest with his little speech, had hoped to turn her on. He hadn’t counted on turning himself on so damn much in the process. His dick had been twitching since he’d first laid eyes on Ally, but now it had solidified into a full-blown erection that was going to be difficult to get rid of. At least in public.
He wanted Ally in private. Now.
“Your turn.”
Leo had returned and was watching Ally’s flushed face with interest. He smiled and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Earth to Ally.”
“Oh.” She snapped out of it and stared at the table. “You missed the eight?”
“I did. Your shot.”
“Okay then. Sure. My shot. Yep.”
She stepped forward but stumbled on her wedge heels. With lightning instincts, both Leo and Blair reached out to catch her. Being closer, Leo got to her first. He slipped an arm around her waist and drew her up against him while Blair supported her other side by placing a hand on her hip.
She felt good beneath his fingers and her hair smelled like cinnamon. His erection became painful.
Ally held herself stock still, as though afraid to do so much as breathe. Then she seemed to gather her wits. “Thanks, guys. I’m fine.”
They let her go so she could walk to the pool table once more. Blair sensed the reluctance in Leo, the same reluctance he’d experienced when he’d released her. He hadn’t felt quite this buzzed about a girl in a long while, since maybe the first time he and Leo had shared. His heart was racing a mile a minute, while he usually managed to keep his physiological responses constrained to regions blow his waist.
What was that all about?
Blair picked up his beer but realized the bottle was empty and put it back down on the windowsill. He watched Ally line up the final shot, an easy shot at the eight. “You took a dive,” he said to Leo.
“Who? Me?”
“You just wanted to watch her bend over again.”
Leo’s expression was somewhere between abashed and delighted. “Maybe.”
No maybe about it if the way his gaze fixed on Ally was any indication
. Blair watched too, taking in the delicious sight of her draped halfway over the pool table in a mini-skirt and heels.
“Guys. Do you mind?
She was looking at them with a furrowed brow.
“Mind what?” Leo asked.
“You’re staring.”
Blair grinned. “Hard not to.”
Her cheeks flushed, but she kept trying to scowl at them. “It’s ruining my concentration.”
“Sorry.”
Leo didn’t sound sorry at all, but he made a show of staring at the ceiling as though examining it for mold. Blair simply returned Ally’s glare with a raised brow and refused to even pretend he wasn’t going to drink in the sight of her while he could.
With a huff, she turned back to the game and took her shot. The black ball bounced off the corner pocket a few times but didn’t go in.
“God damn it!”
In a show of abject frustration, Ally walked around the table and pushed the ball into the hole by hand. Apparently, she was a sore loser after all.
Leo winced and shook his head. “Ally, Ally. I wouldn’t have picked you for a cheater.”
“If anyone’s a cheater here, it’s Blair.”
“Me? I wasn’t even playing.”
“Oh, you were playing at something all right.” Ally narrowed her eyes at him. “Playing at putting me off my game.”
Damn, she was cute when she was frustrated. Whether her frustration came more from her losing the game or from pent-up sexual needs, Blair didn’t know, but he really liked the color in her cheeks and the flash of fire in her blue eyes. He decided to see if he could turn her pink blush crimson.