Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 94119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
“I know, right?” I said. “All it took was for us to be knocking on death’s door to get it.”
June choked on a laugh and looked at me from the side of her eye. “See? Trouble,” she said. Heat zapped through my veins at being on the receiving end of her playfulness.
“Says the girl reading vampire smut,” I said, and watched June’s mouth drop open in shock. I quickly held up my hands. “Which is totally okay and not at all wrong in any way, shape, or form. All art is subjective et cetera, et cetera,” I said in a panicked voice.
June pointed at me. “Those vampires could teach you a thing or two, Mr. Ladies’ Man.” I felt full to the brim with happiness. June was joking around with me. I’d made it through her protective layer in some way. I felt like the luckiest son of a bitch in the world.
June’s arms were crossed over her chest. I stepped closer and closer until her pupils dilated a little. Tucking my football under my arm, I said, “How do you know they could teach me a few things?”
June’s lips parted slightly, and a rush of breath escaped them.
“Maybe I could teach them a trick or two—in a non-blood-drinking way, of course.”
The sound of pool balls being set came from behind us. Emma appeared at June’s side, but I was still holding her stare. June quickly broke away to smile at Emma. Emma fought to hide her amusement. I was sure she’d heard me. “Pool game? Me and Chris versus you two?”
“You’re on,” I said, and June shook her head.
“I don’t know how to play pool,” she said, and looked my way apologetically.
“No problem,” I said, and headed to the pool table. June came too. “I’ll teach you.”
“Oh, here we go,” Chris moaned, but I ignored him.
I grabbed a pool cue and added some chalk to the tip. “Who’s breaking?” I asked.
“Me,” Chris said. He lined up his shot and pocketed a striped ball first. Chris smiled and waggled his eyebrows at me as he lined up his next shot.
“What’s happening?” June asked, leaning close to me. Goose bumps broke out on my skin as her minty breath ghosted over me.
“Chris keeps going until he misses. Then it’s your or my turn.”
“Okay,” June said, just as Chris sent another striped ball wide.
I offered the cue to June.
“No, please. You first,” she said, holding up her hands.
I pointed at the table. “Emma and Chris are stripes. We’re solids.” June nodded, watching me like a hawk. I pocketed three solids, only to miss the fourth.
Emma pretended to stretch like an athlete across the table. “Get ready for a master class, boys,” she said when it was her turn, and winked at June. June’s smile was wide as Emma began to pocket striped ball after striped ball. I leaned on my cue and groaned.
Chris was beaming, watching his teammate annihilate me and June. When Emma—thankfully—missed the eight ball, I turned to June. “Junebug,” I said, “not to pressure you or anything, but our victory lies on your shoulders.”
June’s head dropped into her hands, and she groaned. She peeked at me through spread fingers. “Jesse, we’re going to lose. You get that, right?”
“No!” I cried. “Not on my watch.” I moved behind June and placed the cue in her hands. “I might be a good football player, but I’m a pretty epic coach too. We’ve got this, Junebug.”
“Okay,” June said, voice raspy. It took me a minute to realize that maybe it was because I’d moved closer to her.
“This okay?” I asked, just in case she was uncomfortable.
“Yes,” she said, pink bursting on her cheeks.
“Okay,” I said, and demonstrated how to hold the cue and position it on the table. “Just…” I adjusted her arm. “Like that,” I rasped.
June tried to maneuver the cue as I’d shown her but couldn’t quite get it. Before taking her shot, she looked over her shoulder, and said, “Could you help me do it, please?”
Standing at her side, I covered her hands with my own, my mouth close to her ear. My heart slammed in my chest at having her this close. “Draw back,” I said, “and then smoothly hit it.” When we hit the cue ball, it sailed into the striped ball. I smiled when the ball rolled into the pocket.
June turned to face me, eyes bright, a huge smile on her face. “I did it!” That beautiful smile on that stunning face was a sucker punch to my heart.
“You did,” I said, voice hoarse. I couldn’t help but add “Could your buff vampires help you do that?”
June’s threw her head back as she laughed, filling the room with the addictive sound. When she faced me again, she said, “No, Jesse. I’m not sure they could.”
“Then a point to me, I guess,” I said, just as a throat cleared.