Page 24 of Bastard Bartender

His fingers draw down my bicep, sending a shiver that has me curling in. “Ah, so she’s ticklish there.” He grabs my elbow and puts it in place. “Pin your elbow to your side,” he says as his fingers continue their dance down my forearm. “Let your arm swing like a pendulum and let the cue do what it’s designed to do.”

My arm is still swinging back and forth in that fluid manner. When I feel like I’m ready, I swing a touch harder, making my stick hit the cue ball, which sends it sailing across the table, hitting the red striped eleven ball and sinking it into the corner pocket.

“I did it!” I yelp, which is silly because I’ve totally gotten one in before. My body is just ready to burst. With my arms up in the air, I go to hug him but think twice and pull back, as if I were about to place my hands on barbed wire.

“You okay there, Poker?” he jokes, and I have to blink a few times before nodding.

“I’m just excited. I like when follow-through ends in accomplishment.” I step back and brush my hair behind my ear. “Thanks for the lesson. You can go back to your shift.”

He ignores my dismissal and grabs a pool stick. “I can hang for a few. I have a break. Am I not allowed to take one?”

“I didn’t know bartenders ever left their post,” Marie says as she sits on a barstool against the wall.

“When you’re working a twelve-hour shift and you tell your boss you want thirty minutes to unwind, he tends to give it to you.” He walks around the table and assesses the balls on the green felt. He motions to Marie and asks, “May I?”

“By all means. Just make sure if you’re bending over, do it on this side of the table.”

“Marie!” I admonish, but Nic just laughs as he leans on the table and lines up his shot.

Marie is now brazenly checking out his ass. Her pupils dilate as she grins and looks back at me with her hands in the air, like she’s squeezing something, and mouths, Oh my gawd. It’s so tight!

I lower my forehead, asking her to behave. More for my sanity. I’m still reeling from being in his arms. Even if it was for a brief moment, it was exhilarating.

“Is Marie still checking out my ass?” Nic asks me over his pool stick.

“Unapologetically so,” I say.

He laughs and takes his shot. He sinks it and then walks to the far side, looking for his next move.

Marie shrugs. “Evette knows I love to check out a man’s assets. I can appreciate a good-looking man.”

“Are you sure your boyfriend approves of this?” he asks her.

“Approves or tolerates? There’s a fine line.” She laughs and then lifts her phone to take a kiss-face selfie. She types in something and then hits Send. “Sammy is the only man for me. Talk about an ass. My guy has one you can bounce a quarter off of. It’s a good thing he doesn’t like to go out because women would be all over him.”

“Was that picture for him?” Nic asks.

“I always send him photos. Sometimes, I’m rewarded with one of his own.”

“Dick pic?” He lines up his next shot. “I’ve never been into them. If you need to send your junk to a woman, then you probably don’t think she’ll come over to see the real thing.”

“Or you do it to entice her about what’s to come.” She waggles her brows. “It’s different when you’re in a committed relationship.”

He aims and misses. “Never been in one of those.”

“Ooh, so the mysterious Nic is afraid of commitment.” She widens her mouth, like this news is astonishing.

He walks over to the chalk and rubs it over the tip of his pool stick. “I didn’t say that. I just happen to believe in passion and fun. I have been known to plan the romantic getaway or two. If you want an adventure, I’m your guy.”

“But incredibly indecisive?” I guess as I line up the cue ball with the purple striped one. I take my shot, and surprisingly, I make it in. I pop up, proud of myself.

“What? No hug?” Nic asks from the other side with his arms wide open.

I look at his well-defined chest, noticeable even through the black button-down he has on, and I shake my head.

“I’m good.” There’s a ball near a pocket, so I move closer to where Nic is standing as I decide to go for it while asking, “Question: do you believe in true love?”

“I’ve seen enough movies to know that just when you think you’ve found happily ever after, the sequel comes out a year later.”