Instant Gratification

“Yes,” Serena said. “Because nothing says romantic like kicking a woman’s ass in pool and then demanding payment.”

Harley took Serena’s drink away. “Honey, your bitch is showing again.”

“Whoops. Hate it when that happens. Especially since you’re the one who has the right to be a bitch right now.” She gave TJ a pointed look.

TJ’s left eye twitched but he said nothing.

Harley said a loaded nothing as well, tossing back another shot, gesturing to the bartender for yet another.

Stone picked out a cue stick and turned to Emma.

Gorgeous.

And just a little cocky.

Bring it, she thought. “Ready?” she asked.

“Oh, yes.”

Finally, something she could be better at than him.

Chapter 12

Stone racked the balls and gestured for Emma to take the break shot.

She gave him a slight bow and bent over the pool table, and he thought, oh yeah. Right there. There’s the best reason on God’s good earth to invite a woman to play pool. Who cared who won or lost when her pants tightened nice and snug across the sweetest ass on this side of the Sierras? Who cared who won or lost when—

She hit, hard and accurately, and three solid balls went in, the one, two and three balls consecutively.

A beautiful combo shot.

All eyes swiveled to him, accompanied by the low chorus of “oooooh.”

Like he didn’t know he was in trouble. He met her amused gaze.

“I’m solids,” she said sweetly.

“You’ve played. A lot.”

“I’ve played,” she agreed. “A lot.”

Oh, Christ, look at her, all cool and confident. It was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. As was that fitted shirt she wore, only two buttons undone. Cerebral and hot at the same time, which was blowing the synapses in his mind at the speed of light.

Not good.

She bent over the table again and blew the rest of his brain completely out.

“But it’s been awhile,” she muttered demurely, rocketing the seven ball in the corner pocket before casually aiming at the five. And making it. She got the four ball in before she missed her last, the six, and he knew he should be at least worried, but goddamn if he wasn’t smiling from ear to ear.

“You look like an idiot,” Harley told him ever-so-helpfully. “Stop grinning and get in the game.”

Right. He tore his gaze off Emma with much difficulty and did as Harley demanded. Luckily he really was good.

And lucky.

He hit every single striped ball in, until all he had left was the eight ball.

Emma was standing there, not so smug anymore. In fact, she now wore an “oh shit” expression. Yeah. She wasn’t always the best at everything, which must be new for her. Plus he could practically read her thoughts. She was wondering what he was going to want. Good, let her worry, because he decided he liked her a little off her game, a little uncertain.

He finessed the shot and the eight ball sank right in, winning him the game and hopefully the girl.

Annie sighed. “I thought I taught you to always let the woman win.”

“He can’t,” Nick told her. “He wants his spoils.”

Stone looked at TJ, waiting for his smartass comment. He was certain his brother had one, his brother always had one. But TJ wasn’t paying him the slightest bit of attention. He was leaning against the bar staring at Harley with a naked, love struck look on his face.

Great. So two out of three Wilder brothers were looking to get their hearts bashed in.

He tugged the cue stick out of Emma’s hand.

She raised a brow.

He raised one back.

“Now?” she asked. “You’re collecting your winnings now?”

Hell, yes, now. Though he had the oddest urge to toss her over his shoulder and take her back to his cave and pound his chest with his fists before sinking into her glorious body, he knew better.

She hadn’t yet decided to sleep with him.

Which made them even. Oh, he wanted to sleep with her. Actually, he wanted to pull off her clothes with his teeth, lick every single inch of her soft skin, bury himself deep in her body and take them both straight to heaven.

Multiple times.

It’d been a long time since a woman had gotten stuck in his head and stayed there. Since he’d felt the long, slow, curl of heat deep in his gut that he felt now. A very long time.

But more than anything, he wanted to talk to her. Peel back a few layers, find out what made her tick. What made her so tough and edgy.

So competitive, so remote. So unwilling to connect. He stepped closer and she reacted with a hard swallow and the sudden fluttering of her pulse at the base of her throat.

She hadn’t expected to lose.

He pulled her off the barstool and met her gaze, and in that beat at least, she was just a soft, gorgeous woman, suddenly looking at him as if maybe she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

Oh yeah, that worked for him.

She followed him outside into the tangible heat. It was only six thirty. They still had hours of daylight left.

Perfect for what he had in mind. “Trust me?” he asked her.

“Hell, no.”

He grinned and pulled out his keys. “You reneging then?”

She put a hand on her hip and gave him a long, even look that stirred him up. “On what exactly?”

“It’s a surprise.”

She stared at him, then laughed. “You are unbelievable.”

“So you are reneging.”