Mackenzie laughed. “Not sure about the growing man bit! I’m sure you probably stopped growing in your twenties.” She opened her wallet wide and tilted it in Nathan’s direction, eyebrows raised. Leaning toward him, she nudged him with her elbow. “Oh, look. I’m all out of money, sorry. Guess that means I’ll just have to beat you!” She closed her wallet with a smack and smirked at Nathan.
Nathan threw his head back and laughed at her. “You have no idea who you’re up against!”
Neither do you! Mackenzie thought with a smile.
“I’m the Iron Ridge pool champion.” Nathan proudly pointed to a whiteboard where his name was on the top of a handwritten list.
“Well then, champ, how about you break first?”
While Nathan set up the balls on the pool table, Mackenzie placed her wallet, keys and phone on one of the high barstools beneath a window and wandered over to the selection of cues on the wall. She spent a few minutes pretending to choose a cue, when in reality she was watching Nathan as he pulled balls from pockets and set them up on the green felt-covered table. After he finished he came to her side.
“Can you help me choose the right stick?” she asked with mock innocence. “I’m not sure which one is the right size for someone as short as me.” Mackenzie tilted her head to one side and fluttered her eyelashes at him in a mocking flirtatious way. She pretended to weigh the cue in her hand. “This one feels kind of heavy.”
Nathan laughed. “Somehow I get the distinct feeling you might be teasing me!”
Mackenzie chuckled. “Maybe.” She handed him the cue. “This one’s got your name on it anyway, so I guess I’ll take the other one here.” She indicated a smaller cue in the rack. She pulled it out of its position and inspected the tip before holding it out in front of her. She brought it toward her eyeline and checked it was straight.
“Looks all right to me.”
“How about you break first then?” Nathan said, handing her the white ball.
Mackenzie shrugged. “Sure, if you don’t care.”
“I don’t mind at all.”
Mackenzie took the ball, walked around the table and stood at the other end, opposite him. She placed the ball gently on the table, directly opposite the triangle of colored balls at Nathan’s end. Bending down over the table, she positioned her cue and then paused.
“Would you mind moving please?” she asked sweetly, standing up again. “It’s rather distracting having you stand there watching me like that.”
Nathan grinned and mumbled something under his breath before moving to one side. By now the guys had ordered their meals from the serving window and made their way back from the bar, beers in hand, to stand around the edges of the room to watch them. She overheard Nathan declaring loudly that Mackenzie Jones was about to buy his dinner.
Ha! I’ll show him! Mackenzie splayed her fingers on the green cloth and placed the timber cue in the V between her thumb and forefinger of her left hand, sliding it backward and forward to get the feel for it. Bending down again, she aimed her cue low on the breaker ball.
“Need me to help you?” someone called out.
“No thank you.” Mackenzie kept her head low. She wasn’t about to be put off. “I’m fine.”
“I’d be more than happy to show you a different way to hold a stick,” another man called out with a loud laugh. Mackenzie heard Nathan warn him to be quiet. She ignored them all. She was used to smutty remarks from some of the patients she’d treated over the years. Innuendo was wasted on her – comments like that were water off a duck’s back to a nurse.
Mackenzie pulled her cue backward and then pushed it forward as hard as she could. The white ball flew toward the other balls, making a loud cracking sound and sending all the balls flying across the table. A yellow ball went smacking straight into a pocket and she resisted the urge to cheer. She straightened, waiting for the rest of the balls to come to a complete standstill. They were spread nice and evenly around the table, just as she had planned.
“Your turn,” she told Nathan, smiling at him with saccharine sweetness.
“Nice break,” he said, eyeing the remaining balls on the table.
She shrugged and grinned at him. “Beginner’s luck.”
“Jeez, you can hit pretty hard,” one of Nathan’s workmates called out from his vantage point near the window. “Not bad for a girl.”
“For a girl?” she asked, turning to stare at him. “What are you saying exactly?”
“Er, nothing,” he stammered. “Um, can I buy you a beer?”
“No thanks. I’m working tomorrow. But you can buy me a lemon, lime and bitters,” she said. She turned back toward the table and watched as Nathan pocketed his first ball.
For the next ten minutes they swapped places, moving around the table, bending low and sending balls flying across beneath the overhead lights. Each turn they pocketed balls, rarely missing shots, until it came down to the last ball. The black eight. It was Mackenzie’s turn.
“So, to make it clear, if I get this in, you lose?” she asked. “Which means you buy my dinner.”
Nathan nodded. “I’m pretty sure you know the rules, Kenzie, but yes, to clarify, if you miss and then I get it in, you lose and buy me dinner!”
“And you keep your title of pool champion,” Mackenzie said with a laugh, trying to keep her tone light. She tried to ignore the flutter in her chest at the use of her nickname. Kenzie. She liked the way it sounded coming from his mouth.
“Yes.”
“Hm. So you’d lose face if you lost to a girl?”
Nathan held his hands up in surrender, raising his cue high in the air. “You’ve already proven you’re not a beginner. I don’t know who taught you to play, but you obviously know what you’re doing. No way am I going to say anything about you being a girl. Somehow I don’t think it would be worth it – you might never talk to me again. I said the wrong thing to you once before and I don’t intend to make that same mistake again.”
The way he looked at her caused something inside Mackenzie to take flight. She suppressed the urge to do a happy dance. He was definitely flirting with her. She glanced at him again but he’d somehow managed to paste a deliberately blank expression on his face and it was now unreadable. He pointed back toward the table and she had to drag her eyes away from him.
“Take your shot, Kenzie. If I lose, I promise I’ll take it like a man.”
Mackenzie laughed. “What exactly does that even mean? If you lose you’ll stalk off and sulk in the corner with a beer in your hand?”
Nathan joined in her laughter. “I promise you I won’t sulk. But you still have to beat me. Come on, take your best shot.”
Mackenzie stepped up to the table and bent over, aware her backside was facing Nathan. Her sundress was short and he would be getting a good eyeful of the back of her legs. She forced herself to stop worrying whether or not her butt looked too big.
The pub was crowded now and most people stood around watching the game of pool between them. A few women had joined the crowd, but the men still far outnumbered them. Maybe that was why Nathan was showing so much interest in her – there weren’t many women to choose from. She dismissed the thought and made herself concentrate on the pool table.
Once more Mackenzie placed her fingers on the green felt and felt the cool cue sliding across her skin. She didn’t feel anywhere near as confident as she was pretending to be. There was no way, without a miracle, she’d be able to pocket the ball. She was good, but not that good. She pulled back and then gently let the cue slip forward through her fingers. The white ball slowly headed toward the black ball, barely touching one side and sending the black ball slowly sideways toward the pocket she’d been aiming for. She held her breath. The angle was perfect. She was going to win! The ball stopped against the side of the table, millimeters short of the pocket, and she exhaled in frustration. Nathan would easily be able to get the ball in now.
“Looks like you win,” she said.
�
��I haven’t got it in yet.”
“If you don’t get that ball in, I’ll know you let me win. And I don’t want to win by default.” She glared at him as she spoke. She was serious.
Nathan leaned across the table and she watched his eyes flash toward her face and then back down at the two balls on the table. With a quick flick of the cue, he sent the white ball slamming toward the black ball. She held her breath again as the black ball dropped into the pocket, followed instantly by the white ball. The startled look on Nathan’s face said he hadn’t expected that to happen.
“Yes!” she exclaimed, jumping up and down on the spot like a child who had just won a prize at the show. “I win!”
“By default,” he said with a frown. It was obvious he wasn’t used to losing.
“Are you sulking?” she teased.
“No!”
“Good. A win is a win,” Mackenzie answered, poking him in the chest with the tip of her cue. “Now, what’s for dinner? I feel like one of those steaks. Unless of course you want to play best of three.”
Nathan laughed then and took the cue from her hand, placing it back in the rack on the wall. Mackenzie began pulling balls from the pocket and placing them back on the table.
“Congratulations, Mackenzie Jones, you win.”
“So, does that make me Iron Ridge pool champion?” she asked, turning to look at him.
Nathan shook his head. “No, this wasn’t a proper game. The championship games are only played on Saturday nights.”
Mackenzie burst out laughing. “You’re sulking, Nathan Kennedy, and no one likes a sore loser!”
“What else do you want me to say? I said congratulations and I’ll buy you dinner as I promised,” he said, grinning at her again. Mackenzie was certain if they’d touched, electricity would have sparked between them.
“How about a proper congratulations?” he asked.
Nathan held out his right hand and as she reached to take it, she tripped over her own feet, flailing her arms as she lost her balance. Nathan grabbed her by the upper arms to steady her. His large hands were soft and warm, leaving the burning imprint of his fingers on her bare skin. His face was so close she smelled mint on his breath and for a moment she closed her eyes and imagined he was about to kiss her. The sound of a slap of a hand on Nathan’s back broke the moment and she glanced up to see one of his mates drape an arm across Nathan’s shoulder.
“Looks like you’ve found a good one here,” he said, grinning at Mackenzie. “Any girl who can play that well is worth hanging onto I reckon. Nice to meet ya, Mackenzie. See you ’round.”
Chapter 11
They made their way into the back bar and Nathan steered her gently to a quiet table in the corner, pulling out the chair for her. “So, am I still buying you a steak?”
“Yes please!” Mackenzie said as she sat.
She watched Nathan walk through the crowded room, stopping to chat to people on the way toward the bar where he ordered and paid for their meals. She couldn’t get enough of looking at him. Tonight he was dressed as casually as always in shorts and a buttoned-up shirt. The shirt was untucked over the shorts and the top buttons were undone, giving her a glimpse of a tiny smattering of dark hair. He was tall and toned – easily the best-looking man in the room – and she wasn’t surprised when women turned their heads when he passed. She was surprised, however, when he didn’t even seem to notice. Maybe that’s what his sister meant when she said he was picky.
“Cheers,” he said, clinking his glass against hers a few minutes later.
It had taken him ages to make his way back from the bar through the throng of people. He had stopped to say g’day to almost everyone.
“Thanks, loser,” she laughed, taking a sip of her drink through the straw. She leaned back in her chair and grinned at him.
“You’ve only beaten me once and if I wasn’t so hungry I would have agreed to a best of three competition and then we’d see who the loser is!”
“I like a man with a competitive streak,” Mackenzie said.
“And I like to play to win.”
“As do I,” she replied.
A relaxed silence fell between them.
“So, how was work today?” he asked. “Other than Bev.”
“Busy.”
“And Bev? Will she be okay?”
Mackenzie touched his arm gently. “She’ll be fine, Nathan. I told you that. Stop worrying. She’s a tough lady.”
Nathan smiled. “You’ve got that right. She has to be tough to work here and put up with yobbos like these blokes.” He indicated another group of miners who had just barged through the door, ready for their nightly post-work drink or two.
“Why do you look so different from them?” Mackenzie asked.
“What do you mean?” he asked, puckering his brow.
“Oh come on. You know what I mean. No tattoos, no beard, no bright yellow and orange clothing. You couldn’t possibly look any more different from the other blokes here if you tried.”
One corner of his mouth tilted upward in a teasing smirk. “And how would you know I’m not covered in tattoos underneath this?” He lifted the front of his shirt slightly and then dropped it again, giving her a teasing glimpse of a very tanned, and toned, stomach. Thankfully, she could see no sign of any markings. She wasn’t into the heavily tattooed look many guys (and girls) favored. Nathan smirked when he saw her looking.
“Somehow I didn’t think tattoos would be your thing,” she said hastily, trying to cover her embarrassment at having been caught perving on him. She wished her heart rate would slow down so she could think straight and behave rationally.
“You’re right. Not my thing at all. What about you? You probably have a tattoo hidden somewhere! Plenty of girls do,” he said.
Mackenzie blushed. “You know what they say about regrets? Well I’ve got at least one!” When Nathan’s eyes widened, she laughed again. “Yep, I’ve got the obligatory butterfly on my back.” She touched her left shoulder blade with the fingers of her right hand. “Sadly, it looks less like a butterfly these days and more like a moth. At the time I also wanted to get this flower design on the side of my foot. I am so glad I chickened out after the first one hurt so much. Plus the bloke told me with ankles like mine it wasn’t worth highlighting them with a tattoo!”
Nathan’s eyes widened further in disbelief. “Are you kidding me? He said that?!”
Mackenzie stuck her feet out from beneath the table, kicked off her flip-flops and wriggled her toes. “He was probably right in hindsight. I wouldn’t describe my ankles as delicate, that’s for sure.”
“I don’t see anything wrong with them,” Nathan said, gazing at her feet before letting his eyes trail slowly upward. Her dress had hitched up to mid-thigh when she had sat and she gave it a quick tug back down. Warmth rushed up her neck and face like an out-of-control grassfire. She took a quick sip of her drink and hoped he hadn’t seen the telltale change of color on her skin. Her emotions were all over the place.
“I reckon if I’d gone ahead with the flower I’d picked out, it would have ended up looking like a weed.”
Nathan laughed. “That bad, hey?”
“You have no idea.”
“And you said it hurt?”
“It hurt like hell! More than a swarm of angry wasps attacking me.”
Nathan chuckled. “Because you’d know what that feels like, I presume.”
Mackenzie kicked at him under the table and her toes touched his bare shin. “You know what I mean!”
“Why did you get it done then?”
“I don’t exactly know. Maybe it was an act of rebellion. My father hated tattoos. I think I got it because I was young and stupid and hadn’t given it much thought. All I remember is I’d had too much to drink one night and a group of us were wandering the streets of Sydney after our final nursing exams looking for some fun. We stumbled across this dodgy place where the bloke had more tattoos than teeth and I waltzed in and got it done, just lik
e that.” She shuddered involuntarily at the memory. “How I didn’t end up with some sort of infection, I have no idea! I regretted it the moment he was finished and if I had the money now, I’d get it removed.”
“Why did you choose a butterfly?”
Mackenzie groaned and shook her head. “Who knows? I’m sure it had some sort of tremendous significance at the time. On the other hand, perhaps I thought it was a pretty design. Now it embarrasses me to be honest. Anyway, enough about my so-called body art. You didn’t answer my question. Why do you look so different from the majority of the guys who work in the mines?”
“So you’ve noticed?”
I’ve definitely noticed! Heat tore through her and she felt the warmth start to burn her face at the thought.
“When I first moved here I grew a beard, wore my work clothes everywhere and I fitted in perfectly with these guys.”
Nathan ran his hand through his short hair and then across his freshly shaven face and jaw. Mackenzie followed the trail of his hand across his face. His hand was large, his fingers long.
“The longer I stayed here, the more I realized it wasn’t me. I guess you could say I’m more of a clean-cut kind of guy,” he said.
Tall. Dark. Slim. Clean cut. Well dressed. Mackenzie ticked off the list in her head. “Just the way I like them,” she said without thinking.
She had spoken quietly, almost under her breath, but by the look on Nathan’s face it had still been loud enough for him to hear. He stared at her again and she saw the flash of gold in his eyes. What had happened to her brain? She stared into her drink. Had he spiked it with “truth” tablets or something?
“What else have you noticed about me then?” Nathan asked. He sat back in his seat and crossed his long legs at the ankles, resting his right arm across the back of the empty seat beside him. In doing so, his shirt pulled up at the waist, giving her another glimpse of his perfect stomach. “Or perhaps the question should be: what’s your ideal man?”
Mackenzie remained silent, now completely embarrassed. It wasn’t like her to be so forward and flirtatious and she was positive she was the color of a ripe tomato. At the rate the night was going, she’d need to dig a hole and climb into it very soon! How had she gone from saying yes to a simple game of pool followed by a friendly dinner at the pub to now discussing her likes and dislikes when it came to what constituted the perfect-looking man? And having the discussion with said perfect-looking man?
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