You Should Smile by Renee Lee Read Free Book Online Page A

around, I pushed my ass back into him.  I heard his gasp and swift intake of breath before he gripped me tighter and slammed himself into me against the table.  Leaning in, he brought his mouth to my earlobe and – and bit it – hard.  I choked back a scream. 
    “Pay attention to the training session,” he commanded, hot breath hitting my ear.
    It was then that I remembered we had an audience.  Shit.  Oh shit.  I glanced up to meet the eyes of Chris and Lance who were watching us go through this odd, sexually charged performance.  My cheeks went red.  Chris’s mouth was wide open in surprise.  Lance just grinned a knowing grin as he shook his head.  Thankfully, Paul and Melissa had gone to the bar for a drink and hadn’t come back yet.  Thank goodness for slow bartenders.  I could not have handled them seeing this, too.  
    The other team seemed to enjoy the show immensely.  They were grinning broadly.  Thad was either completely oblivious to it all or too drunk to care at this point.
    He continued.  “Now then, you need to thrust with your right hand and hold steady with the left.”  Guiding my hands under his, he demonstrated the motion of the cue sliding through the chalked area of the skin on my left hand.  From my peripheral vision, I could see his grin emerging.  His breath was scorching in my ear as he whispered so no one could hear, “There.  See how it slides in and out?”  Shivers ran through my body.  As if responding automatically, his hardness grew even larger against me.  I took a deep breath and bit my lip.  For fuck’s sake.  Who knew playing pool could be this sexy?  Ms. L. was cussing me out again – in Spanish this time.
    “Once you get the motion going and feel comfortable, you line your cue with the cue ball and aim the cue ball at a ball.  We’re solids, so you want to hit as many solids in as you can.”  Then, he reached between us and adjusted himself before briefly…..palming…..my…..ass……No one else could see that.  His voice was heated.  “Go get ‘em, tiger.”
    I was flabbergasted.  Embarrassed.  Completely turned on.  Fuck.  Ms. L. was threatening my life.  I turned my head quickly behind me to spit out some sort of retort and he gave me his best panty-dropper grin. 
    “Fucker,” I said loud enough for everyone to hear.  That made everyone laugh, even Thad. 
    One of the new guys we were playing mumbled, “Lucky bastard.”
    Then it hit me all at once.  I was in way over my head.  This was like that scene in a movie where you foreshadow what’s going to happen……and what was going to happen probably wasn’t going to turn out well.  How could it possibly? 
    By the time I hit the fourth ball in a row in, the guys knew they’d been played.  They just smiled at me and shook their heads, though.  I guess it didn’t hurt that we’d provided free entertainment, as well.  I finally missed and, after one of the guys missed, I got to sit back and watch Thad run the table.  I tried not to notice him leaning over, concentrating, hair immaculately tousled, muscles contracting when he pulled through on a hard shot.  When he bent over to shoot a particularly far away shot, I tried to ignore the view of his granite baseball-playing ass.  I tried.
    Within a few minutes, I realized the game was over and he was talking to Lance and Chris about something.  Thad was shaking his head.  Lance was grinning.  Chris just seemed concerned.
    Then Thad’s eyes met mine.  There was something else in his eyes this time.  Lust?  Need?  Fear?  All of the above?

Chapter Seven
    I glanced at my watch and winced.  It was nearly two a.m.  I hadn’t been out that late since....well, since I drowned my sorrows in the depths of alcohol three summers ago over Mama’s Boy. 
    The three of them headed toward me.
    Chris spoke first.  “Shay, uh, we’re headed out.  Do you have a way home?”
    Paul and Melissa had gone in the other area of