Best of My Love (Fool's Gold, #20)(22)

“Just a little.”

She wore jeans and a blue sweatshirt. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she wasn’t wearing much makeup. But when she smiled at him, her whole face lit up.

“Okay,” she said with a sigh. “Tell me again what I’m doing wrong.”

Aidan moved toward her. “Better yet, I’ll show you.”

He positioned the cue ball about a foot from the center pocket, then gently pushed her forward. “Stand with your feet a little bit more than shoulder-width apart. Place your left hand on the table. Bend your fingers like I taught you and rest the cue on your fingers.”

She did as he instructed, then moved her right arm back and forth. The cue stick moved with her.

“Now move with a little more force.”

He watched as she drew back the stick, then thrust it forward. It barely grazed the cue ball. The white ball jumped a little to the left and came to a stop. Shelby groaned, but Aidan saw what she’d been doing wrong.

“You’re moving smoothly in practice, but as soon as you try to put some force behind the movement, you pull up the end.”

“And that’s supposed to make sense to me?”

He chuckled. “I’ll show you.”

He moved behind her so he could hold the cue stick with her. He rested his left hand by her left hand and put his right on top of hers.

“This is your practice movement.” He slowly moved the stick back and forth, keeping it even. “This is what you do when you’re trying to shoot.”

He raised the back of the stick as he brought it forward. “You need to be consistent. There’s no pressure.”

“That’s so geeky,” she muttered. “Okay, let’s try this again.”

She completed the smooth practice shot, then went for the ball. This time she managed to keep the stick level and the white cue ball rolled across the table.

“I did it!”

Aidan straightened. “You did. Now try it again.”

Shelby hurried around to the other side of the table. She got in position. “Is this right?”

He nodded because speaking suddenly seemed difficult. Something was wrong with him. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was a tension inside him. Almost a tightness.

He shook off the feeling and circled around the table to watch Shelby get into position. He checked out her arm extension and how she held the cue, then found his gaze dropping to her butt as she bent over the table.

Her jeans pulled tight over perfect curves. Funny how he’d never noticed her ass before now and—

Shit! He took a couple of steps back and nearly collided with another table. He was attracted to her. How had that happened? They weren’t dating. They weren’t involved. They were friends. Non-sexual, genderless friends.

He told himself not to panic. That this was a natural reaction to close proximity to an attractive woman. It didn’t have to mean anything. He wasn’t going to follow up on what was little more than a biological stimulus response. Like sneezing around pollen. That was all this was. He had allergies and Shelby was pollen. Plus he hadn’t had sex in a while. Circumstances, he told himself. Not intent.

“Like this, Aidan?” she asked as she hit the cue ball.

It rolled forcefully across the table.

“You got it. Now let’s try aiming at another ball.”

He would focus on the game and nothing else, he told himself. He was stronger than biology. Or at least more determined. He had to be. He would not screw up his one chance to improve himself simply because he was a horny guy. He would not be defeated by his dick. Not this time.

*

“ARE YOU SCARED?” Shelby asked, doing her best to keep the tremor from her voice.

“No.”

She and Aidan stood in front of city hall. They’d been summoned by the mayor, something that had never happened to her before. She told herself that Mayor Marsha was a very nice, elderly woman and that there was nothing to be afraid of. But she couldn’t shake the sense of being called to face some kind of higher power.

“You sure?” she asked.

Beside her, Aidan shook his head. “It’s going to be fine.”

“You really believe that?”

“No. Everyone knows it’s never good to be called in to see the mayor, but saying it’s going to be fine sounds better than saying we should run for it.”

She laughed.

The morning was crisp and sunny. There hadn’t been snow in a few days so all the streets were clear. The town looked like a picture postcard, or something from a made-for-TV movie. Nothing bad could possibly happen here.

“We’ll be fine,” she whispered.

“You don’t sound convinced.”

“I’m going to do my best to fake it.”

Aidan put his arm around her and pulled her close. “I’ll be right there with you. Faking it.”

They smiled at each other and started up the stairs.

Things were going well between them, she thought happily. She liked Aidan. He was easy to spend time with. She’d enjoyed learning to play pool and he’d survived his first “girl’s day.” Next up was a baby shower. That was going to be interesting for both of them.

They entered the building and made their way to the mayor’s office on the second floor.