Amusement lightened his eyes. She inwardly moaned in pleasure. He knew exactly how she reacted to him.
"Maybe I'll swing by and watch you play again someday." He stepped back.
"It's a free country." She walked over and picked up her case, making sure she had the money inside and grabbed her car keys. "I can't stop you."
"Would you try to?"
She walked out of the apartment, locked the door, and looked at him. "Honestly? Probably not."
Leaving him standing on the sidewalk, her spirited bravery got the best of her. Filled with adrenaline, she strode as fast as her high heels would allow and slipped into her car before she could yell back at him that she was only kidding.
Flirting wasn't one of her skills. She preferred the bare truth, and often times that embarrassed her when she realized what had come out of her mouth.
She drove away, going the two blocks to the bar. Her mind not on the night ahead of her but back at the apartment with Wyatt. Never had she imagined him coming over with her panties hanging off his finger or mentioning their one-night stand.
Obviously, he hadn't been as drunk as she believed. How much had he remembered?
Had he seen the way she was affected by him watching her play pool? Had he noticed how she came unglued every time he'd touched her? Had he seen how wild she'd gone, kissing him like there was no tomorrow when he'd picked her up?
She parked and walked into the bar. Luckily, the smaller crowd helped calm her nerves.
At the pool table, Charlie, Rabbit, and Davis talked with the server. Not bothering to check her watch, she weaved around the tables and approached the group.
"I'm in." She set her case on the table and smiled at the three men. "Evening."
"Joey." Charlie eyed her. "New rules for tonight."
She groaned inwardly. Small pick-up games often changed with the opinion of the majority. Considering Riverside Bar allotted Friday nights to cash play and she'd arrived too late to voice her preference, she would be stuck with whatever the others had decided.
"Gene's in the restroom, and he needs to leave by nine o'clock. We're going to round-robin it down to two. Then we'll finish the night with partners." Charlie stuck a toothpick in his mouth. "You have until eight o'clock to write down who you'll play with."
Shit. She pressed her lips together. Charlie knew she was new to the circuit in Montana.
If partners were called, she had no one to team up with. She planted her hand on her hip. There was no way she could play singles and stop before the partners finished the competition. She'd be eliminated from winning the pot at the end of the night.
"Charlie," she drawled. "You know I have no one to team up with."
Not to mention, she wouldn't want to take on someone with less skill than her. She could hold her own but couldn't pull a win for the night with someone who couldn’t keep up.
"It looks like you'll have to sit out this time, doll." Charlie smirked.
Her palms itched to smack him upside the head and wipe that look off his face. Not willing to give up, she looked around at the customers.
"Give me two minutes before you write the teams down." She walked to the first table. "Excuse me. Do any of you play pool?"
"I'll play anything with you." An older man, pushing sixty years old or so, winked.
She laughed. "I only need a pool partner tonight."
The man snapped his fingers in disappointment and grinned at her. "You should find Sam. He plays."
"Can you point him out to me?" she asked.
The older man pushed up from the table, searched the room, and then stepped over to her and put his arm around her shoulders. "That's him in the blue shirt."
She followed the direction of his finger and found a man wearing the right color top. "The one with the mustache?"
"That's him." The man patted her back.
"Thanks." She made her escape before his hand wandered.
She stopped at the table. "Excuse me. Sam?"
The man across from her raised his brows. "That's me."
"I need a partner for tonight's pool tournament. Are you interested?"
"Go on, Sam." The guy to Sam's right elbowed him. "You were talking about needing money for the new trolling motor."
Sam leaned back in his chair. "How much to join?"
She waved off his question. "I'll cover the cost and split the pot with you at the end of the night if you'll play."
"You're confident that you'll win." Sam stood and rounded the table. "I can't turn down that offer. Let's do it."
She smiled and walked back to the pool table with her new partner. If she lost, she'd chalk it up to a one-hundred-dollar payment for some much-needed practice before the end of the year's tournament.
Chapter 7Wyatt
STEPPING INSIDE RIVERSIDE Bar, Wyatt's gaze went straight to the back of the room. His reward for scrubbing the apartment from top to bottom and getting all the kids' belongings in their bedrooms, stood beside the pool table.
He walked over to the counter, checking out Joey. She lined up a shot and bent over with her ass in his direction. One time with her wasn't enough.
"What can I get you?"
He turned to the bartender. "Rainier."
"Pitcher, mug, or glass?"
"Glass." He leaned against the bar.
Tonight, he planned to remember everything. Plus, he'd ridden his motorcycle over and never drank more than a glass when he had to get back on the road.
"Hey, boss." Carter gave him the peace sign and nodded his head toward the middle of the room. "We've got beer if you want to pull up a chair."
Tony, Darren, Rocky, and Matt sat around the table. Only Roddy and Frank were missing from his crew. He glanced over at the Tarkio members filling three tables and found his other employees.
"Maybe later." He picked up the glass the bartender sat on the counter in front of him and walked to the pool table.
The only empty
